These are the best Steam Deck accessories to pair with your handheld gaming PC—peripherals, power, and protection.
The best Steam Deck accessories will level up your portable gaming experience. If you’ve decided to buy a Steam Deck (opens in new tab), accessories should be the next logical step to push your on-the-go gaming. Valve’s Steam Deck may be the reigning champion of handheld gaming, but picking out the best accessories for the Steam Deck will give you the edge.
It’s not as easy as it sounds picking the good Steam Deck accessories from the mountains of false-economy rubbish out there. Thanks to Valve’s very kind offer to release its CAD files (opens in new tab), sites are brimming with innovative accessories, from the exceptionally practical to the downright obscure—take the Steam Deck joint holder (opens in new tab) for example, which is somehow both.
Thankfully there are also some well established manufacturers now making Steam Deck accessories. From hard cases, to Steam Deck docks with M.2 slots, to SD cards made specifically for gaming, there’s something to give your portable Linux powerhouse a little hand.
Aside from accessories made to keep your Steam Deck safe, stable, and expansive on the storage side of things, you shouldn’t overlook the practicality of a great pair of earbuds, so you can game without being disturbed. A good power bank too so you don’t have to panic when your battery starts flagging mid-boss fight. Oh, and don’t forget to nab a Steam Deck carry case to jam all your new accessories in. I can’t imagine the pain of dropping everything into a standard backpack only to find your Steam Deck screen cracked.
We’ve taken a look here at the best Steam Deck accessories, so you can feel confident whipping your Deck out in public, or at home. We won’t have you pairing your newest toy with peripherals that won’t do it justice.
Best Steam Deck accessories
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(Image credit: Future)
1. Jsaux M.2 Docking Station for Steam Deck
The best dock for the Steam Deck
Specifications
Connectivity: 1Gbps ethernet, 2x USB Type-A 3.1, 1x HDMI 2.1
Material: Aluminium
Features: M.2 slot, rubber grips and feet, tribal decoration
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Reasons to buy
+
Up to 2TB M.2 slot +
Snug and non slip fit+
High speed connectors
Reasons to avoid
–
Edgy patterning is a little odd-
Expensive even without an SSD
Aside from the weird tribal patterning Jsaux has decorated the HB0604 M.2 Docking Station with, potentially to distinguish it from the previous, more affordable model (the Jsaux Steam Deck Dock (opens in new tab)), this is an absolute marvel. Where I initially thought the only option for adding extra storage space to your Steam Deck was to jam an SD card in there, Jsaux has rocked up with a dock containing an M.2 slot for $130.
There’s an option to buy one with an NVMe SSD, either 1TB or 2TB for $200 or $270, respectively. The included SSDs are unbranded with apparent sequential read speeds of 3300MB/s, and sequential writes of 2600MB/s, though the thing to remember is that while the M.2 slot does support PCIe Gen3, you’re still only going to get a maximum of 900MB/s each way, due to the limitations of the USB Type-C connection.
Regardless, not only does this merging of stand and hub let you expand your storage capacity by up to 2TB it also gives Valve’s own dock (opens in new tab) a run for its money.
The official Steam Deck dock offers 3 x USB Type-A 3.1 Gen1 ports, DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.0. The Jsaux Dock on the other hand forgoes the DisplayPort, though it does come touting just two USB ports, though the ones that are there match the official dock’s speed, and on top of that it comes with an HDMI 2.1 port that supports 4K at 60Hz, or 1440p at 120Hz.
Perhaps a little overkill for the Deck but appreciated nonetheless.
Bundled along with the Dock, you get some Deck skins and a portable stand with your purchase. Additionally, the Jsaux dev team has written a script that mounts the SSD automatically to the Deck—a nice extra. There is the tiny issue of being unable to dismount and move the Deck around while in-game, should you be running one directly from the M.2 drive. You’re essentially tethered to the Dock until you close the game and unmount.
Niggles aside, this is a great piece of kit, and while it can feel a little expensive at $130 (the version linked above is far cheaper), nothing quite like this has been made available for the Steam Deck yet; Jsaux is essentially setting the standard.
(Image credit: Future)
2. JBL Quantum TWS earbuds
The best earbuds for the Steam Deck
Specifications
Drivers: 10mm
Frequency response: 20Hz – 20,000Hz
Weight: 0.4oz | 11g
Connection: Bluetooth 5.2 | 2.4GHz wireless
Battery life: 5 (ANC on) | 16 from charging case
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Reasons to buy
+
Good price+
Dual-connection+
Solid noise cancelling+
Easy touch controls
Reasons to avoid
–
Not the most stunning audio-
Nor the longest battery life
Once you’ve paired your buds via Bluetooth, or plugged your dongle into your Steam Deck, just jam them into your ear holes. They swiftly power on and connect, and you’re up and running in a trice.
Honestly, that’s something many of the wireless buds I’ve tested recently will do, and I’m eternally grateful the bad old days of headset pairing has seemingly long gone. Many of the other wireless earbuds also have touch controls, too, but few as eminently usable as the Quantums.
I do have a soft spot for Creative’s Outlier Pro buds—they sound great and the noise cancelling is excellent. But I found myself constantly infuriated by the controls, or rather the complete lack of control as I’m jabbing at the earbuds in order to double tap and get them to just damn well pause for a second so I can buy a bus ticket.
The JBL Quantums, on the other hand, are easy to use and have a basic single tap on the right bud to pause and play, and the same on the left bud to cycle through active noise cancelling, ambient aware, or sound control off. It’s straightforward, easy to access, and doesn’t frustrate the process.
That noise cancelling is decent, too, even if it does inevitably cut down the battery life from eight to five hours. Using the JBL phone app you can tune them to your ear canal, to further enhance the ANC as well. I would say, the Outlier Pro buds do have the edge when it comes to completely blocking the outside world, but the Quantum buds are still impressively effective.
But what about the audio quality? I’ve said they’re not the best-sounding buds I’ve tested, but the sound quality is good. I would steer clear of the QuantumSURROUND feature if you’re running them from the USB dongle on your desktop PC, though—I almost blew out my eardrums with the unreasonable bass thuds in Red Dead Redemption 2 from just a short gallop through the desert cacti.
With that off the bass tones are more subtle. And, in fact, I did bump the EQ to Bass over the Bluetooth connection in order to squeeze a little more feeling out of The War on Drugs, but in general they sound better with a flat EQ. The JBL app will also allow you to enable game mode, which helps sync game and video audio, but the fact you can jam the Type-C dongle into your laptop or Steam Deck and play without delay makes the Quantums incredibly versatile.
And they’re affordable, too. Considering that the Audeze Euclids (opens in new tab)—easily the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever used—are $1,200, that the JBLs are more usable on a day-to-day basis and a tenth of the price is pretty astounding.
I have options for better-sounding, longer-lasting earbuds, but I’m going to stick with the JBL Quantum TWS buds. The still sound good, last a decent amount of time, and are the most versatile and easy-to-use set around. I am most definitely sold.
Read our full JBL Quantum TWS earbuds review (opens in new tab).
(Image credit: Future)
3. Jsaux protective standing case
The best standing protective case for the Steam Deck.
Specifications
Material and finish: Textured Thermoplastic Polyurethane
Colour: Black with translucent backing plate
Features: Kickstand, improved ergonomics
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Reasons to buy
+
Clips on easily+
Durable and ergonomic+
Textured to stop it from slipping+
Built in stand is nifty
Reasons to avoid
–
Doesn’t fit inside the own-brand dock –
Kickstand isn’t adjustable
The Jsaux Protective Standing Case is a simple solution to two problems you’ll undoubtedly have come across when using the Steam Deck: the inability to prop it up without blocking the exhausts, and the fear of the shell being damaged. While these seem relatively insignificant, they can make all the difference to the ease of use, and bring peace of mind when moving around.
