Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Wireless Gaming Headset Review
Wireless console audio perfected
NOTE: Turtle Beach graciously sent me a final retail unit of this gaming headset to review at my discretion alongside marketing assets and technical information. I don’t receive a kickback if you decide to buy one, and none of the links in this article are affiliate links. I wasn’t sponsored to write this, and I had full editorial control over this article.
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A few years ago, I wrote an article praising Turtle Beach for a dramatic shift in their design direction. The launch of the original Elite Pro headset, and its follow-up the Elite Atlas, marked a huge shift away from the lower-cost build and boomy sound profiles associated with the company, and brought true high quality features to their gaming products.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 carries on this legacy, with a $150 price point that’s seriously competitive. I love almost everything about this headset. In fact, even though the company sent me the Xbox version to review, I also bought the PlayStation model out of my own pocket. I wanted to compare the two versions (and indeed there are a few differences), and I also just liked the headset so much that I wanted to be able to use it with all of my systems.
Like the company’s Roccat Elo 7.1 Air I reviewed recently, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 ticks every single feature box, and does so with a surprising level of quality for the money.
OVERVIEW
The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 is a $150 closed back wireless gaming headset, available in Xbox and PlayStation versions. The Xbox version works with Series X|S and One consoles, and the PlayStation version works on both PS4 and PS5. Both models can be used with a PC, though you’ll need an Xbox Wireless adapter to connect the Xbox model whereas the PlayStation edition works on PC out of the box. Finally, the PlayStation version works with a docked Nintendo Switch.
In addition to connecting wirelessly to consoles, the headset also has Bluetooth support. It only supports SBC, the most basic Bluetooth codec, but it’s still decent for listening and it also allows you take phone calls or hear notifications/a podcast/music while you’re gaming.
Battery life is rated at 20 hours, and like the Stealth 600 Gen 2 that’s actually a conservative estimate. In the box, you get a short USB-C cable for charging, and some basic literature.
Controls come in the form of clicky physical buttons and also through the Turtle Beach mobile app. This app allows numerous adjustments and customizations, and I highly recommend you download it if you pick this headset up. There’s a more basic version of the app on PC as well, but it’s mainly for firmware updates.
It comes only in a standard black and silver color scheme. If you’re looking for more color options in a wireless Turtle Beach headset, try the cheaper Stealth 600.
SOUND QUALITY
Powerful. Punchy. Detailed. Awesome.
The Stealth 700 Gen 2 presents a slightly amped-up sound signature. It’s a little more fun and aggressive than a true “neutral” response, with a deep and luxurious bass response and just a little bit of extra sizzle up in the treble. It’s absolutely wonderful to listen to, and I had a great time whether gaming, watching movies, or listening to music.
Bass response is textured and accurate, with a punch and authority that makes this feel like a premium product. The midrange is just a little bit cold but still relatively accurate. Vocals in music are sometimes just a touch harsher than the source, but it’s minimal enough that it’s not an issue, and it has the effect of making them stand a little forward in the mix. Similarly, the upper treble has a bit of emphasis, which gives a little extra sparkle to certain sounds. But it’s nowhere near the point of nightmare knife stabbing sibilance as something like the DT990.
You can’t really do better for the price, only different. This competes very well with other excellent-sounding gaming headsets, like the Cloud Alpha and Cloud II Wireless, which are my personal headset benchmarks. The Arctis Pro Wireless and Cloud Orbit both sound a little more balanced and refined…but those both also cost twice as much.
It has a better bass response than the Stealth 600 Gen 2, and like that model, it has better-than-average imaging and soundstage. You shouldn’t have any trouble locating enemies in games. It’s even easier to do so if you turn on Superhuman Hearing mode, which drops away all sounds except positional information. This mode was fun for me to play around with, but I prefer the excellent standard sound for most applications.
The sound signature here is also a good match for Microsoft and Sony’s spatial audio modes, but even in good old stereo listening it’s a wonderful sonic experience.
If you don’t like the Signature Sound EQ, the Stealth 700 has three other EQ modes available: Bass Boost, Bass and Treble Boost, and Vocal Boost. I liked the quality of the standard mode so much I didn’t spend much time with these. If you want to tweak things even further, there’s also a Custom EQ mode you can tweak in the app. It’s not a full graphical EQ, instead allowing you to boost or cut Bass, Treble, or Vocal ranges, but it still offers a high level of sound customization.
The only other console-focused headset I can think of with a custom EQ like this is the Razer Kaira Pro, which sounds a little bit less precise than the Stealth 700’s default tuning.
The Stealth 700 Gen 2 performed tremendously well in all of my reference music and gaming tests. Like other headsets I’ve used with Turtle Beach’s “Nanoclear” speaker drivers, it nails a perfect balance between accurate audio and fun listening that should be enjoyable for just about anyone.
COMFORT
These have a perfect fit and feel on my head, especially once the clamp lightened up after the first afternoon of use. It has a little bit of bulk to the frame, but it’s nicely balanced by the design and the impressive padding.
The headband pad is the same delightful squishy memory foam part used on the Stealth 600 Gen 2, but the ear pads are several levels better. They’re huge, thick, and plush, and completely surround my ears without touching them. Their intense memory foam is covered in a layer of cooling gel, giving these an exciting “Oooh” moment every time I put them on. And the adjustable glasses-notch “ProSpecs” relief system from the Elite Pro returns here. Just pop the ear pads off and you can make the glasses divot deeper by pulling a small tab.
I found these immediately comfortable the moment I put them on, with just a little bit too much clamp. The clamping force settled out after one long gaming session though, and they’re a delight to wear. There’s plenty of rotation and swivel to the cups to help achieve a good seal, and I have about four extra clicks of adjustment range on each side on my larger-than-average head.
Every gaming headset and headphone should aspire to be this comfortable.
BUILD/DESIGN
The industrial design of the Stealth 700 Gen 2 mimics the new look of the Stealth 600 Gen 2, but everything is scaled up in size by about ten percent. The material choices are also nicer. Most of the frame is made of dense matte plastic. The headband is reinforced with metal, and the top of the headband has a nice rubberized coating on it.
As far as the shape goes, the ear cups use an interesting shape I haven’t really seen on competing models but it otherwise has a classic standard headphone look. The rotation hinges at the top of the cups are nice and damped, and feel very smooth when moved. The adjustment sliders are stiff and clicky, though they do lose a little of their tension at the largest extreme of their adjustment range.
My favorite design touch is also a bold statement about Turtle Beach’s confidence in their sound tuning. When you look inside the ear cups, the Nanoclear driver is right there, staring back at you proudly. Aside from a thin transparent mesh and some structural framing, the entire driver is exposed. A lot of headphones and headsets use some kind of foam at the back of the ear cup to help tune the driver, usually to tone down the treble. Here it’s just defiantly exposed. The audio quality deserves this level of confidence.
They’ve used this same design touch in the past, and I love it. So good to see it return!
The microphone is hidden inside the left ear cup and folds down, clicking into place. It has a small lateral adjustment as well which will bring it closer to your mouth, though it’s not as clicky-feeling as the lateral swing on the Stealth 600 Gen 2.
Feel-wise, it’s not quite as sturdy as the metal-infused Elite Pro models, but still feels like it’ll hold up well for years of normal gaming use.
FEATURES/MIC QUALITY
The Bluetooth connection is painless to get up and running. Bluetooth has its own dedicated pairing/multi-function button, and long-pressing it turns off Bluetooth. On the Xbox version, the Bluetooth and Game audio channels are essentially de-coupled, with Bluetooth having its own dedicated volume control you can remap to the second volume dial in the app. The PlayStation version uses the main volume as a Master setting, and the Bluetooth volume is a secondary source that’s also governed by that main volume.
There’s a little bit of extra lag in the Bluetooth audio, and the quality is just a hair worse-sounding than the standard connection. But it’s still a great feature to have, and perfect if you get a call in the middle of gaming or want to listen to a podcast while you play.
The Xbox version of the headset connects directly to the console, and like a controller, it can turn the console on. One of my main issues with the Razer Kaira Pro was that if I was listening to something over Bluetooth and decided to turn my Xbox off, the headset would also turn off and kill my Bluetooth audio. Impressively, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 doesn’t have this problem.
Every function of the headset can be controlled by the wheels and buttons on the back of the left ear cup, and downloading the mobile app opens more options. The top volume wheel always controls volume, and the bottom one is remappable to many different functions like Bluetooth volume and mic monitoring. The Xbox version of the headset offers a game/chat balance choice for that second wheel that’s absent on the PlayStation version as Sony’s OS doesn’t support it. The mode button is also remappable to things like Superhuman Hearing or toggling between EQ settings.
Battery life is rated at 20 hours, and unless you max out the volume and have Bluetooth running at all times, I can say you’ll easily beat this number during use. The estimate is conservative on the order of several hours, making this one of the best gaming headset batteries out there. The lack of RGB lighting helps out with this, and that’s the only real premium feature not available here. The original Stealth 700 did also have a basic active noise cancelling mode, but I’ll take the numerous build upgrades, sound upgrades, and extra battery performance in the new version any day.
Mic quality is great on the Xbox version, and good on the PlayStation version. The mic seems to have much more bandwidth to play around with on the Xbox version, with a cleaner, more natural sound. The PlayStation version still does pretty well as dongle-based wireless headsets go, but has more obvious digital noise and compression artifacts. Both mics do a slightly better job cancelling out background audio than the Stealth 600 microphone.
For short samples of both mics, click here.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 is a wonderful headset. It has excellent sound quality, brilliant comfort once the clamp settles, a great mic that’s even better on Xbox, and a solid build. It also offers a phenomenal set of features for the price.
Its closest competitors I’ve used recently are the Razer Kaira Pro and the HyperX Cloud II Wireless, both of which I loved last year. The Kaira Pro offers RGB lighting and a similar feature set alongside a more traditional visual look…but its ear pads aren’t as nice and I don’t like how it powers off every time the Xbox does. The Cloud II Wireless offers fewer frills in a sleeker package. That’s fine in a vacuum, but there’s no denying that the Stealth 700 Gen 2 offers more features and Bluetooth support for the same price.
I was kind of blown away by this headset, so much so that I bought a second one. In fact, all of the Turtle Beach models that I had the pleasure to try out this week were very impressive, and the Stealth 700 Gen 2 and Roccat Elo 7.1 Air both work well enough that I would have awarded them praise in my end- of- the- year round- ups had I tried them in time.
If you want a console-focused wireless headset with brilliant sound, comfort, and a huge features list, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 should be at the top of your shopping list.
