Steam Deck setup
Setup guide
The Steam Deck setup.
The short answer
Plug SANWEAR-HARDWIRE ($99) into the Deck's USB-C port and play. No dongle, no pairing, no battery anxiety: 5ms wired latency and the Audio Cortex does the amplification the Deck can't.
What works, how
Compatibility, in plain rows.
SANWEAR-HARDWIRE
USB-C, direct to Deck
5 ms · plug and play
SANWEAR-LIGHTWIRE
USB-C, direct to Deck
5 ms · September 2026
SANWEAR-GAMETYPE
SANSYNC case into USB-C — no dongle
20 ms
SANCAST 1.0 + any SANWEAR wireless
3.5mm jack → broadcast
Two listeners, one Deck
Rows marked [claim bank: verify] don't ship until engineering signs the claim.
Setup
Three steps. No manual.
01
Plug in. The Deck recognizes UAC audio instantly.
02
Open Soundscape on your phone. Write Combat or Open World to the Cortex once.
03
The tuning lives on the hardware — it's there every session, app closed.
Asked constantly
Before you ask.
Does Hardwire need a dongle for Steam Deck?
No. It's native USB-C with UAC audio. Plug into the Deck's port and it works.
Does it drain the Deck battery?
The Audio Cortex draws minimal bus power — engineering figures land on this page at launch. [claim bank: verify]