Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX Headset review. Though the market is awash with high performance and equally high cost headsets, you might well think that the last thing we need is yet another headset to throw onto the dogpile. Well, you’d be wrong. The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset is something of a rarity – a true high performance headset that manages to give players above and beyond bang for their buck and which stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best headsets on the market.
Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX Headset Review
Cross Compatibility & Wireless Performance
First things first – the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset (try saying that super fast, ten times in a row), is something of an unexpected swiss-knife when it comes to cross compatibility between gaming platforms. Not only does the headset work with PS4 and PS5 consoles right out of the box, but with just a simple switch the device can also work effortlessly with PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X platforms as well.
As such this basically means that you’re prepared for any platform and the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset makes it easy as pie to get yourself up and running on basically any platform available right now. Even better still, the USB transmitter pairs the headset to whichever platform you happen to be playing on in less than two seconds. There’s no complicated setup here – just plug, play and off you go. Great stuff.
Battery Life
A key factor in any gaming headset worth its salt, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset is something of an absolute titan in this regard. Boasting more than 48 hours of battery life from a full charge with the included USB-C cable, this is one headset that isn’t going to run out of juice after just a few sessions of gaming. In fact, Turtle Beach’s latest 600 series headset is in it for the long run and even outperforms the more expensive Stealth 700 series headsets when it comes to battery life.
Additionally, if you’re pushed for time and can’t give the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset a complete charge, you can still get close to 9 hours of battery life with only 15 minutes of charge thanks to quick charging functionality. Thank Crom for quick charging functionality, eh?
Sound Quality
Arguably one of the most significant areas in which the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset performs above its RRP, the sound quality which this headset is capable of putting out is simply excellent. Instead of boasting the usual 40mm speakers which typically define he mid-range headsets that hover around a similar $130/£130 price point, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset goes one (well technically ten) better by going with 50mm speakers.
The upshot of this as you might expect is crystal clear sound that is in turn buoyed by a full surround sound array that puts you right in the centre of the action. The only area where the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset misses a step is in how it doesn’t properly support the 3D hardware accelerated audio that the PS5 console provides. Other than that, whether its the sensation of incoming rounds zipping past your head in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II or the slowly rotating screech that you get when you pull a massive drift in Burnout Paradise Remastered or Gran Turismo 7, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset still remains a highly competitive headset in the sound quality stakes.
When it comes to the mic that the headset packs in, Turtle Beach hasn’t missed a beat here either with clear, lag-free communications with teammates (or trash talking to fallen foes, if that’s your more your bag) which seamlessly compliments the sound output from whichever game you happen to be playing at the time, thanks to the 2.4Ghz connection that the headset provides. Quite simply, if you own an earlier generation Turtle Beach headset or even a cheaper, off-brand headset, you’ll really notice the uptick in sound quality when you wrap this beast around your ears. Speaking of which…
Form Factor & Comfort
One of the defining factors for pretty much every Turtle Beach headset since the brand’s inception has been comfort and in that sense the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset does not disappoint at all. The ear-cup design of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset remains resolutely comfortable as your ears feel appropriately padded and cushioned, using the headset for extended periods of time never becomes uncomfortable at all, thanks in no small part to the foam cushioning employed in the fabric.
In terms of the physical form factor and the ‘feel’ of the product, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset certainly acquits itself well enough. Though the flip up, omni-directional mic snaps to and fro with ease, the plastic that is used for the frame of the headset itself doesn’t feel quite so premium and lacks some of the finesse seen in other headsets. Of course, for that extra finesse you’re likely going to be handing over a whole heap of extra cash on top of the £129.99\$129.95 RRP that the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset currently sells for, so it’s certainly worth bearing that in mind.
Even with that taken into account, there are still elements of the headset’s design that really appeal to me. Having the volume controls on a rotating dial is, in my humble opinion at least, far easier to deal with than a pair of static buttons and is much easier to adjust during play without having to remove the headset. Equally, the face buttons are chunky and easy to press – again minimising the downtime that you spend fiddling with the headset when you could be gaming instead.
With the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset Turtle Beach has crafted a surprisingly punchy headset that goes beyond what its mid-range price point might infer, even if the lack of 3D audio support and a slightly less than premium feel occasionally rankles somewhat. Nonetheless, effortless cross-platform support, great quality sound and market beating battery life all combine to make the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX headset great value and easily one of the best headsets you can buy right now.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX Headset is out now and can be purchased here.
Review unit kindly provided by Turtle Beach.