Turtle Beach Stealth Pro Review
My Astro A50’s have been my go-to headset for the better part of the past decade. But lately, they have been acting up. I get random noise popping when playing on my Xbox Series X, sometimes they mysteriously don’t turn on and the battery life gets increasingly worse by the day. The writing is on the wall, it’s time to take the old A50s behind the woodshed. Turtle Beach Stealth Pro headset could not have come at a better time and after a few weeks of testing, I couldn’t be any happier.
Turtle Beach’s line of Stealth headsets have an excellent reputation. For instance, we reviewed the 700 Gen 2 MAX headset last year and walked away impressed. It received one of the highest scores we’ve ever given a set of headphones. So it comes as no surprise the Stealth Pro is equally rock-solid and continues the company’s impressive run of delivering gaming headphones that consistently surpass expectations.
I will say, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns for the Stealth Pro. On the surface, the battery life doesn’t even come close to the battery life of the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max. Likewise, the price is a lot to stomach. At $329.99 usd, this makes the Stealth Pro one of the more expensive gaming headsets on the market.
Yet those are pretty much the only two drawbacks with one of them not really being an issue, at all. The Stealth Pro has a neat little feature that I absolutely love as it includes two swappable 12-hour battery packs that essentially provide continuous power. Sure, having to physically get my ass up to swap out the battery is a bit of a nuisance but Turtle Beach has made the process so easy and simple, it literally takes 30 seconds to make the swap. While one battery remains in your headset, the other one is charging on the transmitter that is plugged into the Xbox. It’s a good little system. Not to mention, I do love how quickly it recharges as a quick 15-minute charge delivers three hours of battery life. That is impressive.
Out of the box, the headset looks just as many Turtle Beach headsets do. There is nothing all that fancy or unique about them. There is no RGB lighting, tacky colour scheme, or anything over the top. The model I reviewed is black and grey with leatherette memory foam ear cushions. They feature Turtle Beach’s trademark logo on the earcups, a flip-to-mute mic, and all the controls are on the right ear cup. It’s a simple design and doesn’t stand out from the pack, but this certainly won’t be a grievance with its core target audience. It wasn’t with me.
Comfort-wise; like many TB cans, the headset does fit a bit snugly on my head. Yet you get a tight seal, which makes the noise–cancellation quite effective. I mean I could barely hear anything with the headphones on. My wife can confirm this. Sure, I do a fine job tuning her out at the best of times but this headset truly silenced her. It was amazing! You can adjust the feature as well. Go can go for nearly full noise transparency all the way to 25dB noise reduction at 100Hz.
Super Stealth
Just like other Stealth headsets, it is glasses friendly but my ears did get warm over extended gaming sessions. Not a huge deal breaker by any means but just something I noticed after an hour or two of gaming.
Connectivity is a breeze. Simply plug in the included wireless USB transmitter into the Xbox (yes the one that also charges the spare battery) and turn on the headset. That is it. Connectivity was instant as it recognized my headset soon after everything was powered on. I should also mention the connection was strong. I did not experience any lag, mysterious power issues or any sound popping.
So how do they sound? Just like other Stealth headsets, they sound wonderful. The Pro features 50mm Nanoclear neodymium drivers that deliver crystal clear sounds. Clear highs and rich lows are the name of the game while the bass can pack a punch. The audio comes through crystal clear with no lag or latency issues. Bass and Turtle Beach’s trademark Superhuman Hearing Mode can all; be adjusted via the Turtle Beach Audio Hub app. While I found myself using the headsets factory default settings, I did enjoy playing around with the app. Remarkably, the app is easy to set up and instantly changes the settings on your headset whenever you want. Again, connectivity in all aspects was stupid simple and a breeze.
The attached mic also comes through crystal clear. My Call of Duty bros had no complaints when it came to how my voice sounded coming through the mic. Muting the mic is accomplished by simply flipping the mic up. The transmitter turns red when on mute so you never have to question if you are muted.
I should also mention the headset comes with a little travel bag, which is a great way to store your headset. I do appreciate this was included as it isn’t with many other Turtle Beach headsets.
Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
As I mentioned above, you can connect directly to your iOS or Android device with Bluetooth 5.1 technology and take your Pro on the go. One thing I really like about this is the dual connectivity feature where you can simultaneously listen to your own music, and Discord, or make calls while gaming. My wife really liked this feature as it was the only way she could interrupt me while gaming. But seriously, this is a slick feature I didn’t realize was a feature until I started scrolling TikTok in between COD matches.
Turtle Beach is touting the Stealth Pro to be the king of gaming headsets and in many ways they are. Once again, they have delivered a headset that checks all the boxes. While marketed towards Xbox users, the headset works across all platforms. Its exceptional sound, amazing versatility, and slick battery-swapping feature make this headset feel like a truly premium product. Sure, it’s pricey but it’s quite easily one of the best long-term investments you’ll make this year.