The Oculus Quest is a fantastic VR headset with a great assortment of native wireless roomscale games, the ability to play PC VR content both wired and wirelessly, and a great collection of accessories to make it even better. So when I was sent the Kiwi Oculus Quest Earbuds for review, I was delighted to finally have a dedicated audio accessory to just always leave plugged in.
[When you purchase items through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission from those sales.]
The built-in Quest speakers are fine. They get the job done. Instead of resting over your ears such as on the original Rift, they work like the Rift S and Oculus Go in that the sound comes from the head strap itself. This way it’s not extremely loud for other people, but you can still hear the outside world while in VR. Like I said: it gets the job done.
But personally I didn’t find it good enough. The sound wasn’t very loud, it was tough to hear the bass (which is super important in rhythm-based VR games like Beat Saber and Dance Central), and it often resulted in me digging out a wired headset to plug in — which usually flopped off my head if I moved too much.
Kiwi Earbuds Design And Comfort
Enter the Kiwi Quest Earbuds. When you open up the box you get tow individual earbuds on cables that end in 3.5mm audio jack plugs. The Quest already has two audio jacks — one on each side — specifically for earbuds designed like this. They’re labeled L for left and R for right, so just plug them in and you’re good to go.
Since receiving the Kiwi earbuds I have not unplugged them once. They’re very easy to quickly wipe down if someone is going to use your headset or you’re demoing an experience and the cord length is just right at 8 inches. It’s just long enough so that you can move your head freely without it tugging from tension, but just short enough so it doesn’t dangle on your shoulder or neck.
Inside the box are three silicone cap sizes: small, medium, and large and the only color is black. The large size was very comfortable for me and fit inside my ear tightly to maximize sound quality. They’re reportedly made of aluminum alloy and have a very sturdy feel without being too heavy.
Kiwi Earbuds Audio Quality
Audio quality is the only area where the Kiwi Oculus Quest Earbuds don’t quite live up to my hopes, but for something this affordable and tiny you can’t expect studio-quality sound. The main area they seem to lack is in true bass. You can hear it far better than without any earbuds at all, but it doesn’t sound as full as my nicer headphones. Obviously the trade-off there is a worse form factor that wobbles and falls off, less portability, and they’re not a dedicated accessory.
These earbuds aren’t going to completely block out real world sound, which is probably a good thing, but they do a good enough job of helping make sure you can stay fully immersed. Admittedly, the volume does go quite high. I usually have it set to three notches below max volume.
For music games I’d still prefer more bass and a more robust, full sound, but these are good enough and still deliver stereo audio to each ear and work well with apps that take advantage of 3D audio in VR. They stay in securely, which is super important, and for non-music games I didn’t really find myself missing anything here.
Kiwi Oculus Quest Earbuds Review Final Verdict
You’re getting exactly what you pay for here: a $20 pair of earbuds that are comfortable and work great. You’ll never need to fumble around for headphones again or be asked to turn down the volume while in VR. They block out sound well enough too and even if you’re casting to a TV or mobile device for others to watch, you don’t need to worry about hearing the duplicate audio from the real world. This is a great set of earbuds that are now a permanent part of my Oculus Quest and worth recommending to everyone.
Final Score: 
4/5 Stars | Really Good
You can read more about our five-star scoring policy here.
You can get the Kiwi Oculus Quest Earbuds on Amazon for about $20. Alternatively, Oculus sells their own official pair of earbuds for $49.
