Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3)  Headphones Review

These headphones have a V-shaped sound profile. There's plenty of bass, so sound effects like explosions feel exciting and rumbly, although all that boom can make mixes sound a bit muddy at times. At the other end of the spectrum, a big peak in the mid-treble lends these headphones a bright, somewhat piercing tonality. On the plus side, this huge peak keeps vocals present even during busy fight scenes, but sibilants like S and T sounds are painfully loud.

Connecting via Bluetooth or wireless dongle doesn't hugely alter the sound of these headphones, but having the mic active shelves off the highest treble frequencies. You can also change the sound of these headphones in a few ways. We've taken a few graphs showing how the EQ presets change frequency response and how different Superhuman Hearing settings change the sound. Superhuman Hearing is designed to amplify different parts of the spectrum that gamers may find useful to better hear sounds like footsteps.

It's worth noting that these headphones have a relatively high noise floor when chat or mic monitoring is turned on and at its maximum setting. We also noticed a popping sound during our testing, which some users reported as a problem with the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Wireless.

These headphones have bad frequency response consistency. They're prone to inconsistencies in bass delivery because the ear cup pads' design makes them a little tricky to seat correctly over your ears. It's essential to take your time when putting these headphones on to achieve consistent sound from one wear to the next. You may also notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or wear glasses because the seal between the pads and your ears can break easily. Since these earpads are specially designed to contour around the user's head, if you replace them, it's important to ensure the new ones are properly seated in their housing and correctly oriented before wearing them.

These headphones have decent bass target compliance. The entire bass range is boosted relative to our target curve, so there's plenty of thump and rumble on tap. Explosions sound immersive and exciting. A big peak across the mid- and high-bass adds even more punch to kick drums but can make mixes sound muddy and boomy at times.

These headphones have excellent mid-range target compliance. The small peak in the lowest low-mids is a continuation of the peak in the high-bass and helps to keep sound effects feeling full. A small peak in the mid-mids ensures vocals are present, but they might sound a touch too forward at times, especially if you like to listen loud. Finally, the high mids are generally well-balanced, with a slight emphasis that keeps vocals audible during busy fight scenes.

The treble target compliance is okay. The low treble is generally well-balanced, if a little inconsistent, so the upper harmonics of vocals are rendered slightly dull or harsh depending on the note sung. A big peak across the mid-treble renders sibilants like S and T sounds piercing and painful. That said, some users might find this bright and present sound keeps dialogue at the forefront of dense combat scenes.

These headphones have a great peaks and dips performance, meaning they don't deviate much from their V-shaped sound profile. The bass and mid regions are well-controlled, with a few inconsistencies that won't be very noticeable during gaming. However, the treble range is a bit more varied, with narrower and larger peaks and dips that can make vocals sound louder or quieter, depending on their pitch.

These headphones have impressively well-matched left and right drivers, so most objects are correctly located in the stereo field. The only area with audible problems is in the high-mids, where amplitude and phase differences between the left and right drivers can make centrally-panned elements like voices feel slightly pulled to one side.

Although results show some issues with group delay, you likely won't notice any issues during regular listening since the delay that rises above the audibility threshold is so narrowband.

These PRTF results show very good interaction between the headphones and your outer ear. Their over-ear design means sound interacts with your outer ear, so sound feels a bit more 'out of head' than it does with many closed-back headphones. That said, it still doesn't resemble audio produced by two angled speakers in a room, as it doesn't feel particularly open or spacious, especially when compared to other open-back headphones like the Drop + Sennheiser/EPOS PC38X.

These headphones have good harmonic distortion performance. You can listen at high levels without reducing the clarity of the audio they reproduce.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) are a sleek upgrade to the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Wireless. They come in 'Black' and 'White' versions. The 'Black' version is entirely black, while the 'White' version has white earcup shells, a white mic, and a white outer headband but keeps the black earpads, yokes, and inner headband. Neither version features any colored highlights like the Gen 2, and the Turtle Beach palm tree logos are also nixed. Instead, these feature the brand's name in a modern typeface on each ear cup. Altogether, the new design choices give the headphones a sleeker, more adult feel.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) are comfortable headphones. They're broadly similar to the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Wireless, but are slightly heavier and have a slightly weaker clamping force. However, the clamping force is still relatively high and may cause some users fatigue, especially since the cups don't distribute the headset's clamping force very evenly. Consider the Turtle Beach Stealth 500 Wireless if you like the feature set of the Stealth 600 (Gen 3) but would prefer a lighter clamping force.

The ear cup cushions are deep, large, and contoured to fit the shape of your head well. The ear cup design allows users who wear glasses to form a better seal with these headphones than with the previous generation, and the firm headband provides good support. On the other hand, the yokes are not very adjustable, so users with larger heads may find it difficult to get a good fit.

These headphones have good controls. On the plus side, there are numerous buttons available, and many of the parameters you're most likely to change, such as volume, connection mode, and sidetone, have their own dedicated buttons or sliders. You'll also hear feedback tones when you reach the minimum or maximum volume, switch connection modes, change between EQ presets, power on or off, or pair with a new device.

Unfortunately, the buttons feel haphazardly placed and are hard to distinguish from one another. It's possible to often hit the wrong button before finding the right one. They're also quite hard to press, which can cause the headphones to slightly dislodge, breaking any seal you've formed with the ear cups. It's worth noting that the secondary wheel only controls the Game / Chat mix on the Xbox version of this headset. On the PC and PlayStation versions, it controls Variable Mic-Monitoring. You can see a diagram with a list of controls. In that diagram, note that the Bluetooth button is also a multi-function button that can be used to play, pause, and skip through audio content.

As with most over-ear gaming headsets, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) aren't very portable. They won't fit in smaller bags, but that's probably not an issue for most gamers who'll likely leave these near their couch or computer desk. Like their predecessor, you can fold them flat, which you might find more convenient for storage. It's worth noting that these headphones can be used via Bluetooth and without their dongle; however, this results in significantly higher latency, making them unsuitable for many games.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) have an okay build quality. Like the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Wireless, they're mostly made of plastic and cloth. Unfortunately, the plastic used in this version feels cheap. The hinges and yokes have a lot of give, and we expect this to worsen over time, especially if you tend to frequently flip your microphone up and down. On the plus side, the headband feels sturdy, and the ear cups are very comfortable and fairly easy to remove and replace. The lightweight plastic feels weak, but it does help to keep the weight down. If you're interested in comparable headphones with superior build quality, consider the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 Wireless.

Due to their heavier weight and lower clamping force, these headphones exhibit mediocre stability, which is noticeably inferior to that of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Wireless. While they'll stay on for most gaming sessions, if you're an active gamer who likes to move around a lot or headbang when your favorite soundtrack is on, these could slide off your head. On the plus side, since these are wireless headphones, you don't have to worry about getting a cable snagged on anything.

• Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) headphones
• USB dongle (compatible with Xbox/PS/PC/Nintendo)
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable (29.5 in/0.75 m)
• Quick start guide

These headphones don't have ANC, so you're reliant on their passive isolation to block out any noise around you. They're better at blocking out treble-range noise than bass and mid-range sounds. Almost no bass-range sounds are blocked out, so if you're gaming by an open window, you might find the rumble of a passing bus engine making its way into your audio. Additionally, if you're gaming in a busy shared space, the chatter of anyone around you will be audible. It's important to note that the peaks in the low- and mid-bass shown on our graph are an artifact of our testing process: putting headphones on won't turn up outside noises.

These headphones do a bad job of isolating you from more real-world noise. They're especially poor at blocking out bass-range sounds like rumbly plane engines, but they also don't do a great job isolating you from the sounds of an office. They do block out some sound, but these aren't the headphones to wear if you want to focus on your work undisturbed. On the plus side, they will block out higher-pitched sounds, such as A/C hum, via their passive attenuation. The peaks in the low- and mid-bass shown on our graph are an artifact of our testing process.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) have an okay leakage performance. Audio leakage is fairly well-distributed across the frequency spectrum, with a couple of peaks around the low- and mid-mids and low-treble. That means your audio will be audible and comprehensible to people nearby you if you're listening at a loud volume.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) have a very good microphone recording quality. The mic's response is flat across almost the entire human vocal range, which ensures your voice sounds natural and detailed to anyone listening. The response is shelved off from the mid-bass down, and the mid-treble up, but these parts of the spectrum aren't as important as the mid-range for capturing the human voice. Additionally, reducing the mic's ability to capture these ranges helps to keep sounds like rumbly engines or high-pitched A/C whine from being recorded. The upshot is whoever you're gaming with will hear you well.

The mic's noise handling is great. Even in noisy environments, the person on the other end of the line won't notice a drop in your voice's audio quality, and background sounds will be almost inaudible. The lowest rumble of a train engine and some quick, sharp sounds like a car horn might make their way into your audio, but they won't be distractingly loud. In general, even if you're in a busy room, the people you're gaming with will be able to make your voice out clearly.

These headphones have an amazing battery life. The manufacturer advertises them as having a continuous battery life of 80 hours, and we measured over 85 hours, which is a fantastic result that will enable you to complete multiple long gaming sessions without needing to recharge. They also have an auto-off timer that can be configured to switch off after 5, 10, 20, or 30 minutes of inactivity. Unfortunately, these aren't the quickest to charge. They can take just over four hours to reach full charge. It's also worth noting that the USB charging cable that comes with these headphones is only 0.75 meters (29.5 inches) long. This won't be an issue in most situations, but if you want to game while charging, you'll likely need a longer USB cable.

The Turtle Beach Swarm II app is very good. It works on iOS and Android as well as PC and allows you to control a variety of functions, including audio level, power options, LED brightness, and hotkeys. You can also adjust the microphone noise gate, sensitivity, and monitoring, as well as switch between different EQ presets. You can also use it to turn on Superhuman Hearing, which, depending on the settings you choose, amplifies certain parts of the frequency spectrum. This can be useful if you want to better hear the footsteps of anyone sneaking up on you in an FPS game, for example. You can see a video demonstrating how the PC app works and how the mobile app works.

These headphones can't be used via a wired connection. The USB cable that comes with them is only for charging.

These headphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.2, allowing you to pair them with devices such as your phone and console. Unfortunately, while they can connect to a Bluetooth device and a dongle simultaneously, you're unable to hear audio from both at the same time. To switch audio sources, press the QuickSwitch button on the headphones. It's worth noting that while you can choose to game via the Bluetooth connection, the Bluetooth latency is much higher than the dongle latency, so many gamers will find Bluetooth unusable for this purpose.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) have great non-Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Their low 37 ms latency ensures you won't notice a delay between your game audio and video. We tested the Xbox version, which supports Xbox Wireless and can also be used with PlayStation and PCs. If you only game on PlayStation, you'll want to buy the PlayStation variant.

These headphones come in three platform variants: PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. All three will work wirelessly with your PC using the USB dongle.

All three platform variants of these headphones (the Xbox, PC, and PlayStation variants) work with PlayStation using the wireless USB dongle.

These headphones have three platform variants: Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. To use them with an Xbox, ensure you select the Xbox platform variant, which includes the Xbox Transmitter. This transmitter features a small physical switch for switching between regular USB and Xbox modes.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) don't have a dock, but they come with a wireless USB dongle. We tested the Xbox version, which can be switched between Xbox mode and regular USB mode (for use with PCs and PlayStations). The PlayStation dongle doesn't have a switch and cannot be used with your Xbox.