Let’s get this out of the way immediately – the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset is quite simply the best PS5 wireless headset you can buy for your PlayStation 5 console right now. That’s a fact – at least as far as this humble scribe is concerned. Another fact is that the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset is also eye-wateringly expensive, clocking in at a wallet burning £299.99 in the UK and $349.99 in the US. Even taking the weighty economics of Turtle Beach’s latest headset into account though, it’s also true that it justifies that hefty price tag and then some, and it’s precisely how it’s worth your money that we’ll dive into in this Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset review.
Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II Headset Review
In this Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset review
Wireless Performance
Straight off the bat, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset is absolutely overflowing with connections. Enabled by Turtle Beach’s proprietary CrossPlay 2.0 system embedded int the supplied USB dongle wireless adaptor, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset supports up to a quartet of USB wireless transmitting sources (though obviously you’ll need to handover the money to buy the additional USB dongles). In practice, this means that you can very easily switch between PC and PlayStation platforms for example, while the newly upgraded Bluetooth 5.3 functionality means that pairing with your mobile device on the fly to listen to music or take calls, has never been easier. Even better still, you can have both channels open, essentially allowing you to keep game and mobile audio connected at the same time without any drop out whatsoever.
In case you’re wondering how all of this switching business happens, Turtle Beach’s now well established QuickSwitch button does the job and is a doddle to reach, as it sits just halfway up on the right side of the headset.
Like just about all of Turtle Beach’s previous wireless headset offerings, setting up the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset couldn’t be simpler. All you need to do is simply plug the USB dongle into a spare connector on your PlayStation 5 console, power up the headset (more on that in a bit), and it pretty much connects right away. Easy peasy.
Battery Life
I don’t think it’s an especially contentious thing to suggest that Turtle Beach headsets have not historically struggled with battery life and the same can certainly be said for this latest addition to the pantheon of Turtle Beach headsets. So right out of the gate, you’re getting up to 40 hours of battery life from the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset, though there is a pretty important wrinkle to this figure which demands attention. That figure accounts for just one of the battery packs that you get with the headset being fully charged, yet with every purchase of the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset you’ll end up with two battery packs which essentially means that you can always have one charging in the charging dock that is handily included with the headset, essentially ensuring that you’ll never run out of juice so long as you remember to swap them over.
A quick word about the charging dock too, if I may. Unlike other battery charging docks that I’ve used over the years, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset charging dock is well made and beautifully easy to use. The battery clips nicely into the dock and a quick release button pops it out again with no fuss (which also means that the chance of damaging the battery is practically non-existent as a result), while a handy glowing LED provides a real-time status as to the charge state of the battery, with amber denoting that the battery is still charging and green denoting that the battery is now fully charged and ready for primetime.
Sound Quality
So while the wireless connectivity is nice to have, the switchable batteries are cool, the charging dock is very well made, the form factor is excellent (more on that below) and the carry case that you get in the box is irresistibly cool, it’s really in the sound quality side of things that the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset manages to justify its lofty price as Turtle Beach’s latest headset arguably veers much more deeply into professional audio enthusiast territory than any headset before it.
Leading the charge in regard to the stellar sound quality of the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset are the 60mm Eclipse Drivers which are nestled inside each of the headset’s earcups. At a high level, these 60mm Eclipse Drivers are simply gargantuan compared to 40mm and 50mm drivers that have preceded it in other headsets and that increase in dimensionality is felt in a very palpable way with the 60mm Eclipse Drivers pushing massive amounts of air to fashion the sort of low-end resonance that other wireless headsets could only hope to achieve.
Beyond the enormity of the audio drivers within the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset there is also a lot of elegant engineering under the hood too, which contribute to its ultra-premium offering for audiophiles everywhere and this is realised chiefly by the woofers and tweeters on each side of the headset, allowing Turtle Beach’s newest offering to provide true bass frequency separation and essentially banishing muddy crossover noise into the bargain.
Furthermore, the Turtle Beach Stealth II Pro headset also brings an extremely broad frequency response range of 10Hz to 40kHz to the table as well. The upshot of this is that even when stress tested at peak volume with sub-bass or high-treble frequencies on the go, the audio output you get from the Turtle Beach Stealth II Pro headset is always remarkably clear and never crackly at all in the slightest.
The Turtle Beach Stealth II Pro headset also packs in true high-resolution audio too, with support for 24-bit/96kHz wireless sound standard as certified by the JAS (Japan Audio Society). What this means in real terms is that there is practically no drop off in sound quality or latency, while best-in-class Bluetooth codecs ensures that when switching to mobile audio, the fidelity and latency of that audio is not compromised either. As you might well expect, Turtle Beach’s Superhuman Hearing technology returns to greatly aid its use in FPS and other such titles where precision 3D audio is a must-have. From hearing the tiniest footsteps of a creeping enemy Shell in Marathon to the distant roar of a charging Elite in Halo: Campaign Evolved, the Turtle Beach Stealth II Pro headset certainly won’t let you down when you need it most.
As ever, Turtle Beach’s customisation-tastic Swarm II software is also part of the package, allowing users sufficient latitude to muck about with everything from the bass boosting, sound profiles and more in addition to its completely customisable 10-band Graphic Equalizer. Put simply, if you’re in the mood for tweaking your shiny new headset to within an inch of its life, the latest version of the Swarm II software totally has you covered and then some.
Form Factor, Comfort & Overall Design
Clocking in at a decidedly chonky 382g in weight (393g if you attach the boom mic included in the box), I can safely say that this headset definitely comes down on the heavier side of the ledger, and so it’s something of a miracle that the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset is as comfortable as it is. Bolstered by its anodized aluminium design and supported by its diamond-edged controls, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset absolutely feels like an ultra-premium piece of technology – something that should be out of reach to the masses and yet here it is, available to all.
As to other aspects of its design, the dual-layer memory foam cushions and athletic fabric both contribute to make the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset supremely snug and comfortable to wear, while the sliding rods on either side of the cushions which allow you to tailor the size of the headset, don’t click or make any kind of other sound – they just slide. You know, as it should be. Glossy, extraordinarily comfortable despite its weight and oozing an ultra-premium finish through every aspect of its design, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset both arguably looks and feels like the heady price tag which is attached to it.
Final Words
Turtle Beach has never lacked a range of premium headsets in its ever-growing line-up over the years, but the Stealth Pro II headset feels, looks and sounds like a different beast altogether from what has come before in every way – including its elevated price tag. Representing a dizzying fusion of next generation sound capabilities, agile wireless cross-compatibility protocols and the sort of form factor and physical presentation that the likes of Apple or Sony would kill for, I can safely say that the Turtle Beach Stealth II Pro is the best PS5 wireless headset you can buy right now.
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II headset is out now.
Review unit kindly provided by Turtle Beach PR.