Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 USB Wireless Amplified Gaming Headset 2022 REVIEW

Turtle Beach headset sounds great and has easy-to-use controls but needs better instructions.

Not too long ago, I inherited my fiancé’s Xbox One X. He upgraded to the Xbox Series X when it was first released and since I love playing Red Dead Redemption 2, he passed the older system along to me. I had wanted to add a gaming console to my office so the timing was perfect. The only thing I was really missing was a set of wireless headphones. The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Amplified Gaming Headset was a good option for me to try out.

DETAILS

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 USB Wireless Amplified Gaming Headset is officially licensed for Xbox and is designed to deliver high-quality gaming audio and chat for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One. The battery was tested to last 24+ hours and the headphones offer a low-latency, lossless connection thanks to its proprietary lag-free 2.4GHz wireless.

Users can hear immersive, spatial audio through 50mm speakers and can chat using the gen 2 flip-to-mute microphone. The ear cushions are designed to be comfortable and work well with glasses. The headset features controls on the side of the earcups that allow users to cycle through audio presets, adjust volume, and activate the Superhuman Hearing feature.

SPECS

• Wireless Transmitter: Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S & Xbox One
• 50mm speakers with Neodymium magnets
• Frequency Response 20Hz – 20kHz
• Over-Ear (Closed) Ear-Cup Design
• Fabric with Foam Ear Cushioning
• Flip-up Omni-Directional Mic Design
• Rechargeable Lithium Polymer Battery

USER EXPERIENCE

One of the first things I noticed was that the headset seems to be a one-step upgrade from the previous model that was released in September 2020. This version of the headset has some subtle differences including:

• the inclusion of DTS Headphone: X
• an increased battery life (to 24 hours)
• only being compatible with the Xbox console
• increased sensitivity (99.95 decibels adjusted)
• a mute function
• the amplified audio functionality (Refined earcup acoustics and expertly tuned 50mm speakers are powerfully driven to give you accurate, immersive audio)

The setup of the headset was super easy. You just plug the USB receiver into a USB-A port on your Xbox (we used the one on the front) and the headset automatically connects to it. The Xbox automatically switches over to using the headset as the output audio source. Out of the box, this headset did have a charge to it, but it’s always a good practice to charge headphones before using them – especially for longer periods of time.

To do my first test run of the headset, I fired up RDR2 and played for a while to get used to the feeling of them. I used the standard stereo mode at first, which was very clear and easy to hear environmental nuances (things like steps and tiny animal noises). I liked using that mode quite a bit considering that RDR2 relies a lot on the surrounding environment and what’s going on. After playing with standard stereo for a while, I switched to the Superhuman Hearing setting, and wow, was that a game-changer (no pun intended).

I’ve played through RDR2 twice and I’m now just taking advantage of free play in story mode. There were a lot of sounds I had never heard before using the Superhuman Hearing mode. One of the things I really like about the sound quality is how enveloped I felt with the enhanced sound from the headphones.

As far as noise isolation goes, the ear cups enclosed my ears completely, and even without the sound on, I was able to drown out some of the ambient sounds in the room. Once I started playing the game I couldn’t hear anything around me. It bothered me a little but it really helped me enjoy the game even more than usual.

The headphones were plenty loud. I loved how I could control the sound directly on the side of the headphones. It was very easy to turn the dial up and down to adjust the volume. I really liked that it was an analog dial instead of a button or a touch-sensitive control.

As far as comfort goes, the headset is lightweight and easy to wear with glasses. The box actually states that they are ‘glasses-friendly.’ My ears were comfortable and didn’t get hot or sweaty, but the longer I played the more I noticed that the top of my head was hurting right where the headband was resting.

If I moved it around a little I was able to shift the discomfort for a little while, but it eventually came back. I started noticing it after about 90 minutes of gameplay. It’s not a deal-breaker for me but it was noticeable enough to cause me to stop playing after that long so that the ache didn’t get worse.

Aside from the actual headset’s functionality and use, there was only one issue I had with these headphones – the instructions. After reading some of the instruction booklet and noticing that the parts didn’t match and after attempting to update the firmware via my MacBook Air (the Turtle Beach Audio Hub is available for Windows and Mac), I discovered that the instructions included were for the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max headphones and not the Stealth 600 Gen 2 USB Wireless Amplified Gaming Headset, which is the model I have.

This is something that should be alleviated as soon as possible because the two different models have different hardware options and different setup methods. The front of the literature packet says to upgrade the firmware before using the headphones, but if you visit turtlebeach.com, the Audio Hub page says, “…Stealth 600 Gen 2 USB for Xbox headsets are ready to go! No firmware update is needed. macOS compatibility for these models coming soon.” I didn’t see this bit of information until after I had attempted to connect the headset to the hub a few different ways (using different USB cables, different ports, etc.).

When the headset didn’t connect, I went back to the Turtle Beach website and found this information. As you can imagine, the incorrect instruction packet made the setup process frustrating. The only reason that I got the headset connected is that I plugged the USB receiver into the Xbox just to see what would happen if I did it. It was a last-ditch effort after I had been messing with the Audio Hub/firmware issue for a while.

CONCLUSION

If the correct instructions had been included, this headset would have gotten a higher review. They sound great and they work really well with the Xbox. I wish they had been a little more comfortable but all-in-all, they are a decent set of headphones.

For more information, visit turtlebeach.com, Facebook, and Twitter.