Turtle Beach Stealth 500 review

With three different platform options—Xbox, PC, and PlayStation—the Turtle Beach Stealth 500 caters to all kinds of gamers looking for a budget wireless headset. I've been checking out the PC version for the past couple of weeks, aimed at PC Gamers who put freedom of movement at the top of their priorities list, and don't mind sacrificing some of the less important greebles to satisfy their need to live untethered. That said, I'm hard-pressed to find anything truly missing from the headset despite its price.

Getting it out of the box, it's clear the Turtle Beach Stealth 500 leans away from the super sleek circular look of headsets today that try to look like EVE from Wall-E. Instead it opts for a subtle matte look with a thin, shiny ring around the ear cups that are actually shaped like ears, and don't protrude from your head like technological space buns. It comes in a couple of different colours, black or Arctic Camo, the latter I'm far less attracted to but there's at least some relief from the patterning with the white trimmings.

The Stealth 500 design certainly takes cues from the likes of the extremely comfortable Arctis Nova Pro Wireless with its floating headband, which is attached simply by clicking it onto small toggles on either side, each with three levels of adjustability (I suppose that makes it six levels, then). There's no Y rotation on the ear cups, and the headband is a little thin by comparison, which means it's a little less effective at distributing weight and getting into a good position against the Nova Pro, but it's still one of the most comfortable headsets I've worn both in and outside of its price range.

The plush memory foam earpads don't smoosh my face, though the pleather will likely start to disintegrate as we often see even with premium headsets—luckily they're replaceable as standard. All that in an understated design with all the useful buttons of easy-to-distinguish shapes on the left earcup and a cute flip mic, too.

That flip mic makes for a practical mute control, and even has a couple of different positions so you can move it away from your face, but after two weeks of use the connection has already started bleeping if I nudge it a little, muting and unmuting itself while in the upright position (not in use). Flip mics are always a bit hit or miss where connections are concerned, and while the mic audio quality was never going to be as good as a headset with a boom mic like the similarly priced Barracuda x Chroma, it's clear and well-rounded audio record quality. More than good enough for everyday chat and I won't end up losing a non-detachable mic either.

I'm not entirely sure why Turtle Beach is advertising it as an omnidirectional microphone—no one I know wants their headset mic to pick up sounds from all directions. Thankfully there's a good adjustment on the noise gate and sensitivity in the software that helps block background shuffling. At the end of the day, if mic quality is important to you, you're better off putting the money saved on this gaming headset toward one of the best gaming microphones.

Listen to our mic test:

As for the audio quality of the Stealth 500's closed cans, we're not looking at the most accurate sound reproduction. I've definitely noticed a difference switching from the Arctis Nova Pro and Razer Kaira Pro, with far less impressive bass and vocals with cutting sibilants, though overall the soundstage is warm and clear. Bass Boost in the software doesn't do a lot to help with weaker lows, but I still had a far better experience listening to drum and bass than I was expecting for less than $90. The Turtle Beach Stealth lineup also benefits from the Superhuman Hearing feature in the Swarm 2 software, which does make a palpable difference in amplifying soft sounds for easier footstep detection.

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The Swarm 2 software isn't the most comprehensive but it takes moments to download and covers the basics well. Plus it has its own equalizer that lets you create and save presets either to the software or to the headset's onboard memory. You can also assign hotkeys to switch on Superhuman Hearing, noise gate and the like, which is always appreciated.

When it comes to everyday use, the Stealth 500 is smashing for wandering the house untethered with easy controls on the side for song switching and mode changing. In wireless mode the connection is unphased as I move through rooms and even lets me get further from my PC than the Arctis Nova Pro ever did. With around 30 hours of battery life, I managed a good few days of use before it started beeping at me. Once that starts you have about 15 minutes before it cuts out altogether, so there's enough time to find the wire. It has a super fast charge, too, topping up from half to full-charge in 5 minutes while still in use.

The main problem for me has been trying to block out ambient noise. With no active noise cancellation on the earcups, and pretty bad sound isolation, unless I have music blasting I can hear most everything going on around me—sirens, dogs barking, people singing and chatting in the house. Just something to be aware of, though it shouldn't be an issue if you game in a quiet spot.

If ambient sounds aren't much of an issue in your house, and you can save just under double the cost of the Stealth 500 or find Turtle Beach's own open-back Atlas Air in the sales, you'll see what you're missing out on when it comes to sound reproduction. Comparing it to the wireless Turtle Beach Stealth Pro, which sits at more than double the price of the Stealth 500, I'm more likely to reach for the latter on a daily basis. While the audio quality leaves something to be desired, I'm not sitting hunched over with 422 g of weight on my head with the Stealth. What little weight I'm left to yolk with the Stealth 500 (about half a pound) is properly distributed with the headband.

As for major competition in its price range, the similarly flip-mic touting Corsair HS55 gives the Stealth 500 a run for its money audio-wise, and can often be found cheaper, but is nowhere near as comfortable for everyday use. Then there's the Corsair HS80 that's often found at only $20 more than the Stealth 500's RRP and comes complete with floating headband and superb audio, but sub-par battery life and no Bluetooth connectivity. Basically at the low end, there will always be sacrifices.

Thankfully, the Turtle Beach Stealth 500 manages to hit all the most important marks as an entry-level wireless gaming headset and throws in peak wireless capability as the cherry on the cake. If you can save up the extra $30-50 and get a headset in the middling price range I'd recommend doing so, as you'll be able to nab better audio quality and maybe some active noise cancelling for that price. But you could do a heck of a lot worse than the Turtle Beach Stealth 500 for a budget.