I have spent a lot of my time this past year with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, a gaming headset product that is as complete as it gets. Its rich feature set, unrivaled compatibility, and overall performance is simply difficult to contend with. So, color me “surprised” when Turtle Beach threw their own “Pro” level, highly compatible and feature heavy competitor into the ring. Not holding anything back, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro offers full wireless compatibility with all the latest gen platforms. It brings in active noise cancelation, dual wireless connectivity, and loads of customizability. The headset even comes with hot-swappable rechargeable batteries.
Let’s dive into the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro Wireless Gaming Headset to see what Turtle Beach’s flavor of “Pro” is like.
Turtle Beach Stealth Pro Specs
| Drivers: | 50mm Nanoclear™ Drivers with Neodymium magnets |
| Driver Noise Cancellation: | Variable Active Noise Cancellation, >30dB Noise Reduction @ 100Hz |
| Driver Frequency Response: | 10Hz – 22kHz |
| Microphone Type: | Unidirectional Noise Cancelling, >35dB Noise Reduction @ 3kHz |
| Microphone Frequency Response: | 100Hz – 8kHz |
| Microphone Sensitivity: | Boom: -22dBFS/Pa / Built-in: -26dBFS/Pa |
| Wireless Dual Connection: | Simultaneous 2.4Ghz & Bluetooth |
| Gaming Wireless: | 2.4Ghz Lag-Free Wireless |
| Range: | Up to 50’ / 15m |
A purchase of the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro Wireless Gaming Headset comes with a removable TruSpeak™ boom microphone, two rechargeable battery packs, a transmitter & charging station, a 3-foot USB-C cable, a 6.5-foot USB-C transmitter cable, and a velvet cloth carrying pouch.
Build, Features and Comfort
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro is an over-ear closed-back headset featuring 50mm Nanoclear™ Drivers with Neodymium magnets and a removable noise cancelling boom mic. The ear cups use leatherette wrapped memory foam for their cushioning while a similar cushioning is used for the headband.
The right ear cup houses a USB-C charging port, a Superhuman Hearing button, the main power button, a Bluetooth pairing button and a remappable multi-function button in the center of a multi-purpose wheel control.
On the left ear cup, you have the headset’s main removable boom mic, which flips up to mute. When the mic is removed, the headset’s dual imbedded mics automatically take over as the headset’s main audio input. The headset also comes with a cap that can be used to cover the opening left by the removed boom mic.
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro uses Bluetooth 5.1 dual connectivity and 2.4Ghz wireless to connect with a wide variety of gaming platforms. As the model being focused on here is the Xbox licensed version of the Stealth Pro, the compatibility is as follows…
| Connectivity (Wireless Transmitter): | Xbox Consoles, PlayStation® Consoles, PC, Mac® and Nintendo Switch™ |
| Connectivity – Bluetooth®: | iOS, Android, PC & Mac®, Nintendo Switch™ & other Bluetooth® Equipped Devices |
The Stealth Pro’s wireless transmitter does more than just provide the 2.4Ghz connection between the headset and your gaming platform. It also charges your headset’s battery packs. As the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro comes with two battery packs, this allows you to actively use one battery in your headset while having a backup battery always charging at the same time. The lifespan of one of the Stealth Pro’s batteries is 12 hours of playtime. This is more than enough time for the replacement battery to charge when you need to swap them. If you are in a pinch, it takes only 15 minutes of charge time to get three hours of play time. Also, whenever you replace your headset’s battery, the headset boots up without you having to press the power button. This is pretty handy whenever you are in a rush to get back in the game.
On the rear of the transmitter, you have a toggle switch for changing the transmitter between Xbox and PC transmission modes as well as a passthrough USB-C charging port for recharging your various other devices. The transmitter also gives you visual cues of your connection and mic muting status through its illuminating LED ring.
As the latest and greatest Turtle Beach flagship headset, the Stealth Pro is a complete gaming audio package. The headset sports an attractive yet calm appearance. It has a kind of quiet style that allows it to fit in practically any gaming or listening environment. However, it still does well to maintain that gamer DNA with its Turtle Beach branding on its sides and headband. More importantly, it is a headset that stays comfortable throughout long periods of use. Turtle Beach’s ProSpec technology is again present here, alleviating the cushion pressure where glasses frames meet the headset. The ear cushions themselves are quite soft while doing a solid job at passive sound isolation.
Before getting into customization features and performance, the physical feature set of Stealth Pro is solid. You have a headset that connects with the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and even the Nintendo Switch with a 2.4Ghz wireless connection. If you want to take your Nintendo Switch on the go or dive into some mobile Xbox gaming via Xbox Game Pass, the Stealth Pro will continue to support you through Bluetooth.
Thanks to the removable boom mic and imbedded dual mics, you can walk out the door with a now lower-profile Stealth Pro headset while still retaining the ability to chat on the go. The Bluetooth pairing button doubles as a media controller when connected to your mobile device. It uses a control scheme that is familiar to anyone that has used a mobile headset with a single control button. Single presses Play and Pause media, double-presses move to the Next Track, and triple presses trigger the Previous Track. Single presses also pick up incoming phone calls and hang up when pressed again.
Thanks to the headset’s dual connectivity, you can be simultaneously connected with your console via the transmitter and your phone through Bluetooth. This allows you to be on phone calls while you play, with both inbound sound sources coming through at the same time. Couple that with the Stealth Pro’s swappable battery feature and you have yourself a headset that is dead set on maintaining endless uninterrupted gameplay. Throw in active noise cancelation and you are ready to close yourself off from the world, whether you are gaming at home or outdoors.
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro’s build, comfort level and rich feature set impresses from right out of the box.
More Features and Performance
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro offers a considerable level of customization thanks to its free mobile and PC Audio Hub apps. Through the Audio Hub app, you can finetune the incoming sound of both the 2.4Ghz and Bluetooth connections separately, finetune your mic sound presentation, remap the functions of the center button and wheel on the right ear cup, and control various other quality of life options.
PC Audio Hub
Mobile Audio Hub
Whether you are using the PC or mobile version of the app, the Audio Hub grants an impressively granular level of control of your headset. Practically every feature has a slider bar that lets you manage their levels with accuracy. Outside of the EQ presets, you can manage and customize the equalizers for both incoming and outgoing sound. You can even set and save different EQ settings for the 2.4Ghz wireless and Bluetooth sound presentations separately.
The function remapping feature for both the center button and wheel control on the right ear cup is a nice touch. The options that you have for remapping the center button are limited but practical. Since you already have dedicated buttons and controls for Bluetooth media, Superhuman Hearing, and mic muting, there are only so many features that you would want to assign here.
I was fine leaving this button to toggle Active Noise Cancelation, as that made the most sense to me. However, I would have liked the option to use this button to hop between ANC, Ambient Sound, and Off. That would have given me the option to hold conversations with nearby people on the fly without missing out on incoming in-game sound.
By default, the remappable wheel controls the headset’s master volume. By holding down on the center button for three seconds, you can toggle to the wheel’s secondary function. This secondary function is what you are able to remap. Here, there are many more options available, giving you a lot of flexibility over what you can control on the fly from the headset. For the Xbox setting, I chose to go with Game & Chat Mix since it is a setting I finagle with often.
Thanks to dual connectivity, you are able to access and customize all of your headset’s functionality, regardless of the platform you are connected with. When on PC, you can simply use the Turtle Beach Audio Hub on that platform directly. When you are gaming on the Xbox or even just your mobile device, the mobile version of the app gives you all of the same controls and features. As far as software features are concerned, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro gives you everything you will ever need with a high level of accessibility.
Diving into sound performance, I spent most of my time with the Stealth Pro using Turtle Beach’s vanilla EQ preset, Signature Sound. Signature Sound delivers a solid sound presentation with crisp highs and impressively full lows. The bass in this EQ is strong without being overwhelming, allowing you to enjoy ground rumblings and explosions at satisfying levels. Before even considering the Superhuman Hearing function, the presentation of highs from this headset allows you to pick up footsteps and gunshots clearly. This is especially good since Signature Sound is Turtle Beach’s flavor of “balanced”. If you never swap to a different EQ, you can live happily with the Stealth Pro and Signature Sound. It is a vibrant and well-balanced sound presentation that allows you to compete with the online world.
When Superhuman Hearing is activated, the lows and bass from the sound presentation are noticeably suppressed. Of course, this is by design. Superhuman Hearing suppresses the sound ranges that are less involved with enemy positional sound cues. In that regard, Superhuman Hearing definitely works. The depth in ground rumblings and explosions are flattened out, so your immersion may take a slight hit. However, you will not miss the sounds of gunfire, reloads or footsteps. I found myself using this feature mostly in Apex Legends. I would only turn on the feature in Battle Royale when there are five or less teams remaining. It definitely helped to keep me from getting snuck up on.
I also left it on outright during the more chaotic modes, like Gun Run. With throwing knives being the last weapon to get a kill with in order to win in that mode, Superhuman Hearing was especially handy here. I was able to not only pick up the “wooshes” of knives being thrown around me, but I easily was able to grasp from where they were being thrown. Thanks to that we were able to bag this win here, since we knifed them before they knifed us. 🙂
In Destiny 2, Superhuman Hearing took more away from the immersion than it provided with enemy sound cues. This was fine since I was more than happy to stick with Signature Sound throughout my playthroughs. Thus, the sound presentation was quite enjoyable while remaining effective in helping me hear my enemies. In Trials of Osiris, I was still able to pick up the movement invisible hunters with ease without having to lean on Superhuman Hearing. Whether it was the Stealth Pro’s sound presentation or simply good matchups, I found going flawless again last weekend to be particularly easy.
Diving into mic performance, the detachable boom mic performs quite well. After fiddling around with Noise Gate and Mic Monitoring, I was able to easily find the exact settings that I would stick with for the entirely of my run with the Stealth Pro. Noise Gate helped to keep ambient sounds from leaking into my voice chat when I was not talking. When I was talking, Mic Monitoring, as expected, kept me aware of my own volume and helped me curb my accidental yelling during sweatier matches. When I spoke, ambient sounds would be picked up by the boom mic, but they would be at low levels. As such, party members were fine with what they were hearing from my end.
As for the imbedded mics, they activate whenever you remove the boom mic. You can control their muting and unmuting by holding down the Superhuman Hearing button for two seconds, or by using the app. They are pretty handy to have whenever you are gaming on the go, as I cannot imagine anyone wanting to walk around outside with a boom mic sticking out in any direction. Again, fiddling with the Noise Gate feature helps combat the ambient sound leaks whenever you are not actively speaking. However, the imbedded mics do not isolate sound as well as the boom mic does. They are fine for a quick call outdoors, but your call participants will be noticeably treated to your ambient sounds whenever you speak. Depending on the noise in your environment, you can still have some pretty manageable calls and conversations with the imbedded mics.
What I found particularly impressive was the Active Noise Cancelation on the Stealth Pro. I took the Stealth Pro to a busy bar for some daily mobile gaming, and I liked what I experienced. The ANC does a solid job at suppressing ambient noises and chatter, and the passive sound isolation from the ear cushions help even further. I never expected the headset to perfectly block out the sounds of an active bustling bar, but it did at least suppress my surroundings enough for me to stay immersed in my game. Ambient Sound also worked well, where I was able to easily have conversations with people nearby while still listening to the media playing on my phone. While I was only expecting a “serviceable” level of performance form a gaming headset’s ANC, the Stealth Pro exceeded that.
Final Thoughts
Coming in at $329.99, Turtle Beach’s Stealth Pro is a solid universal gaming solution. Speaking specifically about the Xbox version, this one purchase will satisfy all of your wireless gaming audio needs. It is fully compatible with all of the latest gen platforms, while even being ready for on-the-go Bluetooth gaming with the Nintendo Switch or your mobile device. The removable boom mic allows the headset to have a sleek and clean form factor that is appropriate for outdoor wear. Going further, the headset has an impressive battery life and the hot-swappable battery feature ensures that the headset stays powered practically all the time. Lastly, thanks to the Audio Hub PC and mobile apps, you have full control of your headset’s features, no matter where you use it.
The Stealth Pro’s audio presentation is impressive, backed by surprising solid Active Noise Cancelation. The boom mic does a good job at projecting your voice while Noise Gate functionality helps with filtering out ambient sound. The imbedded mics project your voice clearly and give you the option to leave the boom mic at home. However, they can struggle somewhat with filtering out external sound sources in noisier outdoor environments. Nevertheless, that does not take too much away from an otherwise solid product.
I do find it interesting that the Xbox version of the Stealth Pro is compatible with all platforms while the PlayStation version is compatible with all platforms except Xbox. That is just something you might want to keep in mind when considering your purchase. If you are curious about checking out the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro headset for yourself, you can do so by clicking here.
† As usual, there are no affiliate links contained within this post. We were provided a pair of Turtle Beach Stealth Pro Headphones and some stock images for review purposes and were not compensated for this review.
