We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-21 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a wired in-ear gaming headset you can plug into basically anything with a 3.5mm jack and talk to your squad through a real boom mic, choose Turtle Beach Battle Buds; if you need wireless earbuds built for work calls on a PC or laptop, with a dongle and Bluetooth, choose Middle Rabbit SW4. These two look similar on a shelf — both are black in-ear buds with mics — but they are aimed at completely different buyers, and picking the wrong one will frustrate you fast.
• Turtle Beach Battle Buds — biggest strength: A removable high-sensitivity unidirectional boom mic plus wired 3.5mm compatibility with PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC and mobile. That's a genuine chat setup, not a compromise.
• Turtle Beach Battle Buds — biggest trade-off: It's wired, and it has no active noise cancellation — the spec sheet lists noise control as "None." You're tethered to your controller or phone, and outside noise comes in.
• Middle Rabbit SW4 — biggest strength: True wireless freedom for computer work — a plug-and-play 2.4GHz dongle, Bluetooth 5.1, four microphones (two per bud), and app-based control of touch settings and battery levels.
• Middle Rabbit SW4 — biggest trade-off: It's built around PCs, laptops and calls, not around console gaming or a boom mic. It relies on passive noise cancellation and touch controls, which won't suit everyone.
• Pick Turtle Beach Battle Buds if you game across consoles and mobile and want a boom mic on a wire.
• Pick Middle Rabbit SW4 if you live in video meetings and want wireless earbuds that pair to your computer without fuss.
The Battle Buds are, first and foremost, a chat headset that happens to be shaped like earbuds. The headline feature is the removable high-sensitivity, unidirectional boom mic — a proper mic arm that reaches toward your mouth, which is exactly the kind of directional pickup you want when you're calling out positions and don't want your keyboard, your fan or your roommate's TV bleeding into voice chat. When you pull the boom off, an inline mic takes over for phone calls on the go. That two-mic arrangement is the whole personality of this product.
The second thing that stands out is fit. Turtle Beach ships three sizes of ear tips and three sizes of stabilizer wings — small, medium and large for each — so you can actually dial in a seal instead of hoping the stock tips work. For an in-ear headset you'll wear for multi-hour sessions, that matters more than any spec number. They're also light — around 22.68 g — which is the kind of figure that translates directly into "you forget you're wearing them" territory during a long raid.
Sound comes from 10mm dynamic drivers rated 20Hz–20kHz, and Turtle Beach describes crisp highs and thundering lows. I'd treat that as a gaming-first tuning rather than an audiophile one: fine for footsteps, gunfire and voice, not something I'd buy to critically listen to music.
Who should buy it: console and mobile players who want one wired headset that works on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC and a phone, and who value a real boom mic over wireless convenience. The inline controller — master volume, mic mute and a multifunction button on supported devices — is a genuinely useful touch during matches.
Who should skip it: anyone who hates cables, anyone who wants active noise cancellation (there is none here), and anyone whose main job is taking video calls all day at a desk. A wired 3.5mm headset with no ANC is the wrong tool for that. Also note the touch-based control method listed for volume — if you prefer physical buttons for everything, that's worth knowing before you buy.
The SW4 is a work headset wearing earbud clothes. Its core pitch is connectivity: a "plug-and-play" 2.4GHz dongle for lag-free audio, plus Bluetooth 5.1 for everything else. Plug the dongle into a laptop or desktop and you're on a call; switch to Bluetooth and you're on a phone or tablet. For anyone who has ever fought with a computer that refuses to see a headset, that dual-path approach is the selling point.
The microphone story is the other half. Each earbud carries two microphones — four in total — which is a lot of mic hardware for earbuds, and it's aimed squarely at being understood on conference calls and virtual meetings. Combined with 40 milliseconds of latency in its low-latency mode, the design intent is clear: keep voice sync tight enough that you're not talking over people.
Battery is where the SW4 asks you to plan. Middle Rabbit lists roughly 5 hours of average life per charge, a 1.5-hour charge time, and up to about 30 hours total with the charging case providing roughly three extra top-ups. That's a workday-plus of listening if you rotate through the case, but it's not a marathon single-charge figure. There's an app, too, that lets you adjust touch controls, check earbud battery levels and flip between music mode and a low-latency game mode — a genuinely handy feature if you find default touch gestures annoying, since you can disable or remap them.
Sound is 10mm dynamic drivers, 20Hz–20kHz, 32 ohm — the same basic driver size as the Battle Buds, so expect comparable fullness rather than a night-and-day gap. Noise control is passive, meaning the seal does the work; nobody should buy these expecting to silence a noisy office.
Who should buy it: remote workers, students and anyone who spends their day in Zoom, Webex or Skype-style calls and wants wireless earbuds that connect to a computer reliably. The dongle plus app control plus four mics is a coherent package for that job.
Who should skip it: console gamers who want a boom mic, people who dislike touch controls, and anyone who needs long single-charge endurance. It weighs around 45 g including the case, and it's a wireless USB/Bluetooth product — not a 3.5mm gaming headset.
• Best for gaming chat → Turtle Beach Battle Buds. The removable unidirectional boom mic is the differentiator; the SW4 has no boom.
• Best for console compatibility → Turtle Beach Battle Buds. PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC and mobile over 3.5mm, all from one wired headset.
• Best for work calls and video meetings → Middle Rabbit SW4. Dongle plus Bluetooth 5.1, four microphones, and app control designed around exactly this use case.
• Best for wireless freedom → Middle Rabbit SW4. No cable to your controller; the dongle handles the PC side.
• Best for a secure, adjustable fit → Turtle Beach Battle Buds. Three sizes of ear tips and three sizes of stabilizer wings give you more tuning options out of the box.
• Best for low-latency PC audio → Middle Rabbit SW4. The 2.4GHz dongle and 40ms low-latency mode are built for that.
• Best for long single-charge listening → Turtle Beach Battle Buds. It's wired, so runtime isn't a factor at all — the SW4's roughly 5 hours per charge is the number to plan around.
• Best for phone calls on the move → Turtle Beach Battle Buds. Pull the boom off and the inline mic takes over; the SW4 also handles calls, but over Bluetooth rather than a 3.5mm jack.
If I had to buy one for myself, I'd take the Turtle Beach Battle Buds — but only because my priority is gaming chat on a console with a boom mic, and the 3.5mm wired design removes battery anxiety entirely. In my opinion, the removable boom mic plus the three-size tips-and-wings fit kit make it the more specialized, better-fitting tool for that job. If your day is meetings, not matches, buy the Middle Rabbit SW4 instead: dongle, Bluetooth, four mics and app control are exactly what a desk worker needs. Just check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since both sit in different budget tiers depending on the day.
FAQ
The spec sheet lists them as PC, laptop and Bluetooth-focused with a USB dongle, so they aren't positioned as a console gaming headset the way the Battle Buds are. The Battle Buds explicitly list PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One compatibility over 3.5mm.
Neither offers active noise cancellation. The Battle Buds list noise control as "None," while the SW4 uses passive noise cancellation, meaning the earbud seal blocks some outside sound. If blocking noise is your priority, neither is the right pick.
The SW4 is rated around 5 hours per charge, with a 1.5-hour charge time and roughly 30 hours total using the case's extra charges. The Battle Buds are wired over 3.5mm, so they don't rely on a battery for listening.
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