Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the right channel of the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova placed into an artificial ear mold with the pre-installed silicone size M ear tip on. I have average-sized ears, and the ear mold above represents my own experiences well enough as a proxy. Size M silicone tips are my go-to for testing since foam tips are not included by some, as is the case here. I will say I had no problems getting a secure and comfortable fit since I was able to get the IEM shells and nozzle deep enough for the ear tips to gain traction in my ear canals, but I also know many will end up with a looser fit owing to the short nozzle. This is where ASUS should ideally have provided additional tips, and I can think of longer dual-flange silicone tips being a good option. Final Audio's Type-E tips should also be nice, and you can also try going one size larger than usual with the stock tips too. At ~5.5 g per side, the Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova is lighter than typical resin-shell wired IEMs and happens to have a smaller shell too—at least the part which goes in the concha. You have some wiggle room to rotate these around for added comfort and fit, while also seeing what works best for the microphone in the stem to pick up your voice. Battery life is highly contingent on whether you have the LEDs on as well as the various other sound features, with ASUS rating a max single cycle battery life of 11.5 hours with ANC and LEDs both off, going down to 6.5 hours with both on. I was able to hit similar numbers with the LEDs off, and fast charging with the case helps tremendously too. It takes no longer than ~1.5 hours to charge the case, so I am quite pleased with battery life and charging times here.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

There is woefully little information available about the actual drivers used in the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova. The specs sheet talks about the driver size being "10 mm neodymium magnets" which immediately tells me there has been a big disconnect between the engineering team and the marketing team. I had to dig deeper, including looking into the predecessor Cetra non-SpeedNova version, to find out these use a single 10 mm dynamic driver that is simply called an ASUS Essence driver, no diaphragm or surround composition detail provided here. We are told the drivers have a rated impedance of 32 Ω with a frequency response range of 20 Hz - 40 kHz, but these don't really matter for TWS sets with their own amplifier inside. I can't even tell you if ASUS is using DSP here, since once again the brand would rather talk to you about anything but factors contributing to the actual sound itself. The built-in microphone is okay if you have nothing else on hand, and certainly not as good as the marketing talk would have you believe. Likewise, I'll say ANC works decently until ~550 Hz to cut down persistent noise, but having good passive isolation from a secure fit is more important. Ambient mode is quite good though, and I will also give props to the auto ANC mode which worked correctly far more often than not. Also seen above are the pre-programmed touch controls on the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova, which generally work as advertised thanks to a large and responsive touch sensor area. The issue is these gestures are not customizable, and whoever thought of requiring four taps for volume up/down deserves to have non-stop nightmares for a while. This alone can be quite frustrating and takes away from otherwise decent ease of use.

Frequency Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature with a slightly elevated bass, smooth treble range, detailed mids, and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with a calibrated IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear that earphones can feed into enough for decent isolation. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and these TWS earphones connected to the laptop through Bluetooth. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For those products that get a full review, I am also using the appropriate ear mold fitted to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in a pinna geometry instead of just the audio coupler. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


The IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups, especially those using a head and torso simulator (HATS). The raw dB numbers are also quite contingent on the set volume, gain levels, and sensitivity of the system. What is more useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova which is seen above. The left channel was separately tested from the right one, and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice, so note how the review sample—a randomly chosen retail unit—shows good channel matching in general, deviating in the upper mids and lower treble which unfortunately is not just a measurement artifact. I dare say that if I had two sides which measured more like the left channel here, I might well have liked this set slightly more too. The response with the anthropomorphic pinna, as is likely going to be the case in your own ears, will be highly dependent on how good a fit you achieve. This is thus a set that is likely to be quite divisive in how people perceive it, and this is before we get to the tuning itself.



Here is the average frequency response for both channels of the ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova plotted against my personal target taken from VSG.squig.link, which also gives you an idea of my personal preferences to better correlate any possible biases. The tuning of a set of headphones or earphones does not have to match my target as long as it is tuned with some direction, makes sense, and is executed well. After all, no one set will appeal to everyone, and having different options is what makes this hobby so interesting and hard to quantify. This is in addition to a second graph using a newer target that's based on a more scientific methodology involving a -10 dB tilt (-1 dB/octave) applied to the diffuse field target for the newer, more reliable B&K 5128 but then compensated for my exact 711 coupler instead. Do scroll down to the targets in my database linked above and see the new 5128 section to the left where you can click on the yellow question mark for a brief primer. The bottom line is this target is closer to what many people are likely to prefer out of IEMs and headphones alike. I have chosen to plot this graph with the frequency response normalized/compensated to the target to make it easier to see where the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova deviates from this target. This helps visualize the various elements of the set's mild V-shaped tonality.

I will say right away that ASUS likely intends you to listen to the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova with ANC on, and probably in the auto ANC mode at that. The good news is that the tuning seen above does not change with ANC on or off, although you will for sure get a different experience with it on. As with many such implementations, there is a sense of built-up pressure in the ear canals with ANC on—the bass also feels somewhat compressed as the mids get favored for vocals. Ambient sound does something similar too, although here it pushes up the mids so you can hear voices and announcements further. Bass extension is decent for a TWS set, with the minor roll-off in the sub-bass not really noticeable in most music or game tracks. There was certainly scope for ASUS to push it up via DSP, but clearly there are bigger issues anyway. Take the mids, for example, which are not great for a set targeting gamers. I've covered this before in other gaming headset reviews but you really can't have lean, recessed mids if you care about listening to footsteps, gunshots, and a lot of other voice cues across game genres. The V-shaped tuning here is arguably less of a bother for simply listening to music, especially given the decent mid-bass emphasis and resolution that helps with music genres such as rock, metal, jazz, even electronic music. I had to use the in-app EQ to get more accurate mids reproduction before I could even consider using this for more competitive gaming. Casual gaming will be served fine with even $10-15 IEMs, let alone these far more expensive TWS products.

On the plus side, the SpeedNova feature does help cut down on latency tremendously. One of the bigger issues with TWS earphones today, even those that support higher bandwidth codecs, is Bluetooth latency on the order of 100+ ms, often much more. With the pre-paired 2.4 GHz dongle, these end up giving a satisfying experience on par with keyboards and mice connected via 2.4 GHz vs. Bluetooth. There's no perceived latency compared to wired IEMs, at least for me. I'll also say the treble output is quite decent here without fatigue and still having some air and sparkle for string instruments as well as harmonic overtones. The problem is that of course you have a large dip in the mid-treble, and the upper mids and lower treble end up being peaky and compressed by comparison. The 5 kHz peak in particular can be notorious for making vocals sound harsh and unnatural, in addition to affecting instrumental timbre for music listening. As it stands, I think anyone prioritizing audio quality and tuning will find EQ a must here, be it for competitive gaming or music listening.


I don't have any other gaming-centric TWS sets here, let alone any that come with 2.4 GHz connectivity in addition to Bluetooth. So this comparison section may not be the most apt depending on where your priorities lie. That said, I will say that the Status Between 3ANC should be of interest to anyone who can afford the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova. You get a very similar feature set, including with a feature-rich app and ANC, and the tuning is more balanced to offer a superior gaming experience in addition to music listening too. There's no RGB of course, and I am sure the ROG logo adds to the cost, but this is my recommendation for most people. We have also seen more expensive TWS sets from established audio brands such as Final Audio and HIFIMAN, but arguably the ZE8000 MK2 is even worse value for money with its tuning—at least without EQ—and the Svanar Wireless offers an even more V-shaped tuning favoring excellent bass with even more compressed upper mids, so it may be an upgrade if you want more of what the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova offers? There are less expensive Svanar Wireless sets now with cut-down features but the same drivers and tuning, so you may want to check those out too.