Turtle Beach Stealth Pro wireless headset review – Just can’t wait to be king

It isn’t often I talk about a piece of hardware in regards to potential. Unlike video games, which can receive a ton of patches and changes along the line, hardware is largely finished. Yes, there are updates occasionally, but that’s not always the case for headsets. With the new Turtle Beach Stealth Pro however, I see a device bursting with potential. While there are things I’m not as fond of, with some tweaking it will be on its way to a coronation.

Let’s do what we usually do and start in the box. Inside, you’ll find the Stealth Pro wireless headset, a removable TruSpeak (their brand) mic, your transmitter and battery charging hub, two USB-C cables for charging and connecting the transmitter, along with two battery packs for the headset. Besides this is also a nice little carrying bag, which has an inner pocket so you can keep your hub and cables snug and away from the headset.

The Stealth Pro looks nice and sleek, although bulkier in more of a professional studio headset sort of way. This is largely due to the 50mm drivers inside the ear cups, adding a bit more bass to what you have available. To set up your mic you simply remove the small cap on the left ear cup and plug it in, easy peasy lemon squeezy. The only thing I don’t like about this design choice is that you have to keep tabs on the cap if you want to revert back to using these as headphones more than a headset, not to mention then keep tabs on the boom mic.

Even with that design choice being a negative, I like the overall comfort and sturdy build. A headset like the Stealth Pro is often very uncomfortable given its heft, and Turtle Beach seems to have found a nice middle ground. That said, if you’re used to a smaller and lighter headset, it will take some time to adjust to. On your right ear cup is a volume wheel, built into the ear cup itself, and a button you can assign specific functions to. Underneath are your power, Bluetooth, and Superhuman Hearing buttons, with different patterns on them to help you press the right one. Overall it’s a great ergonomic design, not taking up too much space or adding unnecessary features.

One of my favorite features on any headset is going to be Active Noise Cancellation, and Turtle Beach may implement it the best I’ve seen so far. Firstly, it can be activated no matter how you use it (a function you can assign to the button on the right ear cup). Second, it can reduce up to 25dB of noise, and while it sounds more like a buzzword I can assure you that’s a lot. I use my downstairs A/C as an example all the time, and once again I can’t hear it even slightly. I even went a bit further, listening to music directly next to my wife, and she had to physically tap me just to get my attention. The memory foam ear cups also make a impenetrable barrier to the outside world, so no sound escapes or enters, allowing the Stealth Pro to excel in every aspect. The noise cancellation on these bad boys is just top notch, and probably the best you can get in gaming currently.

The noise that comes through the Stealth Pro is of course more important than what’s canceled out. As mentioned before, the 50mm drivers are the pride and joy of the Stealth Pro, offering a “bigger is better” approach. This leads to a bit more oomph in the bass department as well. All of that means nothing, however, if you don’t tune them well, and these have the ability to blow you away.

Like I’ve said in previous headset reviews, a lot of them tend to go for louder volume to make you think they’re good. I like cranking my headset, but crisp sound is going to help you pinpoint the footsteps of your enemy in a shooter. The Stealth Pro has this in spades, with accuracy that puts them up against anyone else in the headset space. Knowing exactly where gunfire is coming from, where a stun grenade bounced, and every movement sound queue gives you an advantage you don’t get everywhere. Especially when each sound is precise.

This extends to non-competitive games as well, with immersion that really brings you into what you’re playing. The game I always like to use for this testing is Returnal, because there aren’t many games that accomplish setting the atmosphere the way it does. My favorite way it comes together is the rain, with the DualSense simulating every drop through the haptics. Using the Stealth Pro alongside this amplifies the experience, with the sound of each raindrop accentuating what’s happening on the controller. The details matter, and the intricate sound available from the Stealth Pro gives you even more game than you had before.

It’s also great for enjoying a movie, TV show, or music. A lot of devices use or offer spatial sound options, and the Stealth Pro does a good job of making the most of them. Whether I was watching the throne room scene from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, or blasting the BTS concert on Disney Plus (I promise it was for research), the sound was immaculate. I also like what I’ve gotten out of it for music, although I don’t think the Stealth Pros are tuned to their best for it. The different instruments are each audible, and the audio is great, but I never felt like I was listening to a song for the first time. The Stealth Pros overall are no slouch in this department, just not groundbreaking.

Part of the issue lies in the software, which is very disappointing. The Turtle Beach Audio Hub should be your best friend and help you get the most out of your new headset, but it doesn’t (you have to even have a Turtle Beach headset connected just to access it). There are a lot of nice settings you can change, like switching the function of the side button or raising your microphone volume. You can even take all of this with you via a mobile app, but it’s just not enough to make up for a big problem; tuning your audio to its best.

The biggest issue is the lack of good presets. There are a few simple ones in your basic options (sliders for bass, treble, and vocals), and through some online research I was able to find a good one to go with beyond the four presets. But, the advanced equalizer (EQ) is almost useless, with no presets at all. This is such a problem because I don’t know many gamers out there that know how to maximize an EQ themselves. At least give us a bass boost or something.

Instead, I had to mimic a competitor’s EQ settings, meaning I might as well have used their software. Thankfully, what you build is saved from the computer hub to your headset, so it’s available on your phone as well. If I can make the suggestion, however, use a different EQ or spatial sound software for the Stealth Pro (like SteelSeries phenomenal Sonar on PC with 40+ presets), they’ll be even better because of it. Don’t get me started on the Superhuman Hearing either, which seems to put you inside of a can and feels like a wasted button on the headset.

Moving on to the microphone, it is one of the most impressive pieces of the headset. It’s a little long, and I don’t care for its removable nature, but it captures your voice almost perfectly. Just being less fuzzy than the others is a step in the right direction, but all of my vocals I grabbed in videos sounded great, almost as clean as if I were using a streaming mic. They weren’t that loud mind you, but their crispness blew me away. Besides that, the mic monitoring is some of the best out there, one of Turtle Beach’s specialties. All of this, along with being flip-to-mute, puts this mic nearly at the top of any tier list.

You can also use the Stealth Pro almost anywhere, provided your device has either a USB connection for the transmitter hub or Bluetooth. I’ve flittered around plenty of hardware, playing on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Switch, and PC through USB, along with connecting them to my Meta Quest 2, Steam Deck, and phone through Bluetooth. They’re just easy to use and use anywhere, so they get a big win in the versatility department. They also get the W with simultaneous use between the two. I’ve answered my phone easily with game audio deadening to allow me the best connection, and listened to music behind a game. It works, and works beautifully.

Lastly, we’ve got to talk about battery life, which is a huge deal for any wireless device. Turtle Beach has gone the swappable route, and I couldn’t be happier with this. As the Stealth Pro comes with two batteries, you can have a battery charging on your transmitter hub while you play. Not to mention, you can swap in moments while using them, meaning if they die mid-round of a competitive game you can be up and running again in seconds. The charge per battery lasts about twelve hours, so not as good as some, but being able to change them out mitigates any issues.

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