The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Wireless are decent wireless gaming headphones. They have a surprisingly well-balanced sound and a low latency wireless connection. Their battery performance is great, and they're comfortable too. Unfortunately, they have a bulky, plasticky design that doesn't feel very durable. They also have very few customizable features, especially compared to other competing gaming headsets. Note that we tested the PS4 variant of this headset but expect similar results for the Xbox One-compatible model.
Our Verdict
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are best used for gaming and neutral listening. They have a surprisingly well-balanced sound that delivers a good amount of bass without being overpowering. They also have a low-latency wireless connection for gaming or watching movies but don't support Bluetooth. This, combined with their bulky design, makes them less than ideal for casual uses like commuting or sports.
- Well-balanced default sound profile.
- Low-latency non-Bluetooth wireless connection.
- Decent overall microphone quality.
- Mediocre build quality.
- Disappointing controls.
- Lackluster customization options.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are good for neutral listening. They're decently comfortable and have a rather well-balanced default sound profile. They have a deep, extended bass that delivers great rumble and punch without overpowering instruments and vocals. Their soundstage is also fairly spacious for headphones with a closed-back design.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are disappointing for commuting. They have a bulky design that doesn't fold into a more compact format. They barely isolate any noise and aren't compatible with most mobile devices since they use a wireless USB dongle to connect.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are mediocre for sports. While they have a somewhat breathable design, they'll still make your ears sweat more than if you were using in-ears. They have a bulky, unstable fit and aren't compatible with most mobile devices since they use a wireless USB dongle to connect.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are sub-par for office use. While they have a well-balanced sound and comfortable fit, they don't help block out the noise of your chatty colleagues. They also leak quite a bit, which can be bothersome to others. The PS4 variant should work wirelessly with most PCs, but an adapter may be required for the Xbox One model.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are decent for wireless gaming. They have a well-balanced sound, a decent mic, and a low-latency wireless connection. They have a couple of built-in EQ presets but not many other customizable features. You're also limited by console compatibility - you have to choose between a variant for either the PS4 or the Xbox One.
You can only use the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 wirelessly, so they're not suitable for wired gaming.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are passable for phone calls, provided you're taking them from your PC. They don't support Bluetooth, so they aren't compatible with most mobile devices, but they're not bad for video-conferencing since their microphone quality is decent in environments that aren't too noisy.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 13, 2021: We've changed the photo in Portability.
- Updated Feb 18, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
There are two variants of these headphones. We tested the PS4 variant, which uses a wireless USB transmitter to connect and has the Turtle Beach Virtual Surround Sound feature. The Xbox One variant connects directly to the console over Xbox Wireless and supports Windows Sonic Surround Sound. We expect both models to otherwise perform similarly.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are decent gaming headphones with well-balanced sound but feel more fragile than other gaming headphones we've tested. They're an alright wireless option for gamers on a budget, but their limited connectivity options and software support reduce their overall value compared to competing models.
See our recommendations for the best gaming headsets and the best wireless gaming headsets.
The HyperX Cloud 2/Cloud II are wired gaming headphones, while the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 are wireless. If you're playing on console, the wireless Turtle Beach could be a better option since they provide better range. However, the HyperX are better built and more comfortable. The HyperX also have a better-sounding microphone, which is great for online multiplayer games, but the Turtle Beach sound a bit better balanced.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 are the newer version of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600. The Gen 2 are better built and more stable, and they charge using USB-C instead of Micro-USB, which is more convenient. They also have improved noise isolation and leakage performance. That said, the Gen 1 have a more consistent audio delivery and a more neutral sound profile with a more extended bass response that some may prefer.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 are wireless gaming headphones; you can only use the Astro A10 wired. The freedom of going wireless is convenient but comes at the expense of keeping an eye on battery life. As for the headphones themselves, the Turtle Beach are more comfortable and have a slightly better-balanced sound profile, while the Astro are better built and feel a lot more durable.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Wireless are slightly better gaming headphones than the Turtle Beach Stealth 600. The Stealth 700 are Bluetooth-compatible and support more customization options in the Turtle Beach Audio Hub. They also have active noise cancelling, although it's not very strong. The Stealth 600, on the other hand, have a better-balanced default sound profile, are a bit comfortable, and have a slightly better battery life.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 performs very similarly to the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless. Both headphones have similar sound profiles, but the Turtle Beach packs a bit more bass and performs a bit more consistently across different users. Unfortunately, its app is pretty bare-bones and doesn't allow for much customization. The SteelSeries also feels a bit better made, although it still feels plasticky. Both headphones have a decent microphone, though the SteelSeries one performs better in noisy environments.
The SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017 are much better gaming headphones than the Turtle Beach Stealth 600. The SteelSeries have more connectivity options, which make them more versatile for not only use with different consoles but mobile devices, too. They're also better-built, have more customization options, and a much better boom mic. The Turtle Beach are less heavy, but the Steelseries are otherwise better in nearly every respect.
The Astro A50 Gen 3 are better wireless gaming headphones than the Turtle Beach Stealth 600, though both are good. The Astro are more comfortable, have a better control scheme, and feel significantly more durable and well-built. While their out-of-the-box sound profile isn't quite as well-balanced as the Turtle Beach, Astro's Command Center software gives access to a graphic EQ and presets. The Astro's microphone also does a much better job separating your voice from background noises in loud situations, though, in a quiet environment, the mic on the Turtle Beach sounds fuller and more natural. The Turtle Beach also have much lower latency with their USB receiver, so you shouldn't experience any lag or delay while gaming. Their battery also lasts longer and charges much quicker.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 and the Astro A20 Wireless are both decent wireless gaming headphones. The Astro feel much better built and are easier to use, but the Turtle Beach are more comfortable. While the Turtle Beach also have a more neutral sound profile by default and longer battery life, their microphone doesn't perform as well as the Astro's.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 and the Turtle Beach Stealth 300 are very similar, apart from differences in connectivity. The Stealth 600 have a greater range since they're wireless, so you can more conveniently game from your couch. However, since the Stealth 300 are wired, they're compatible with all consoles and mobile devices that have a regular audio jack.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 are better gaming headphones than the Turtle Beach Recon 200. While they both have the same battery life, the Recon are wired. The Stealth use a wireless USB dongle for low-latency audio, have a companion app with a few customization features, and give you channel mixing controls. The Recon isolate more noise and are compatible with more devices.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 are better wireless gaming headphones than the Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero Wireless. The Stealth 600 are more comfortable, have a more accurate sound profile, and work wirelessly with both PC as well as PS4, instead of only for PC like with the Atlas Aero. That being said, the Atlas Aero feel slightly better built, though they still feel quite cheap and plasticky overall. They also have a virtual surround feature, and their battery lasts much longer off a single charge.
We've upgraded our Headphones Test Bench to 2.0! This update brings several key changes to our tests and usages, making it easier than ever to interpret our sound results based on your personal preferences. You'll also find a brand-new interactive graph tool featuring multiple targets (including our own!) for you to explore and compare.
For a full breakdown, check out our changelog, which includes detailed commentary from our test designer explaining the rationale behind our update.
We'd also love to hear your thoughts: your feedback helps us keep improving, so join us in the comments!
Test Results
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have a pretty simple gamer-centric style and share a similar design to other Turtle Beach headsets. They're plasticky - most of the headset has a matte finish, but the ear cups have glossy accents. The model we tested was all-black, but they're available in white as well. The stripes around the ear cups, along with the Turtle Beach logo, are blue on our PS4-compatible model, but they're green on the Xbox One compatible variant.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are comfortable headphones. They're rather lightweight, and their headband is fairly well-padded, so they don't put too much pressure on the top of your head. They tend to fit quite tightly, but their ear cups are fairly spacious and have decent padding as well, so they shouldn't feel too constricting. The mesh fabric covering the padding doesn't feel as pleasant as the smoother synthetic leather of the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Wireless but does help with breathability a bit.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have sub-par controls. Most controls you'll need for gaming are there, but they're not the easiest to use. There are channel mixing dials for you to adjust the in-game and chat volume levels, but they're small and close to each other. There's also a power button, and a "mode" button to cycle through onboard EQ presets, but it can be difficult to tell them apart when you've got the headset on. On the upside, the mic mute feature is pretty straightforward - you mute the mic by flipping it upwards, and the headset plays a tone when it's muted/unmuted.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 are fairly breathable, thanks to the mesh fabric used to cover their padding. They'll still likely create a good seal around your ears, which prevents a good amount of airflow. This can make your ears quite warm after a couple of hours of gaming but isn't as bad as other Turtle Beach headsets we've tested, like the Turtle Beach Recon 200.
Like most gaming headphones, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 aren't very portable. They have a bulky design with large ear cups that can't fold inwards. Since these headphones can't fold into a more compact format, they can be quite a hassle to carry around, especially if you don't have a bag or a backpack on you.
These headphones don't come with a carrying case or pouch.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1's build quality is mediocre. They're very plasticky and don't feel like the most durable headphones. The ear cups feel solid enough to withstand being dropped a couple of times without suffering too much damage, but the frame and hinges feel more fragile. The hinges especially are loose, and simply adjusting the fit of these headphones makes them creak. For a better-built pair of headphones, check out the updated version, the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Wireless.
These bulky gaming headphones have a fairly stable fit. They'll stay in place while gaming, but they're not made for sports. They fit tightly enough to be fine if you wear them while walking around the house, but they'll quickly fall off if you try running or working out with them.
- Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 headphones
- Wireless USB dongle
- Micro-USB charging cable
- Manuals
- Turtle Beach decal sticker
These wireless gaming headphones have a very well-balanced sound profile. It's fairly neutral with a bit of extra intensity on vocals and instruments, which can help make dialogue in your favorite games more pronounced. Their sound profile can change a bit depending on who's wearing them, so you might find they have more or less bass or emphasis on vocals than what's shown here, but the difference shouldn't be too drastic.
These headphones have decent frequency response consistency. If you wear glasses, have long hair, or have a narrower head, you might find they have less bass than someone else, but the difference shouldn't be that noticeable. There's also little variation in treble performance, which is good.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have great bass accuracy. Their bass is very well-extended, which means they can effectively deliver the deep rumbles of an explosion or jet engine. The entire range is also very balanced, so they reproduce various thump, punch, and kick sounds at even levels.
The mid-range accuracy is great, ensuring a clear reproduction of vocals and lead instruments. The response is a bit uneven, with a bit of extra intensity in voices and dialogue, but it's not too extreme.
These gaming headphones have great treble accuracy. The response is very even and well-balanced but slightly underemphasized. Some might find they lack a little bit of detail and brightness, but this shouldn't be an issue for most people.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have good peaks and dips performance. The most prominent peak is situated between the mid-mid and high-mid ranges. This makes these headphones sound a bit forward and adds extra intensity to voices. It can also make the bass and treble sound a bit weak in comparison, but shouldn't be too noticeable.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have excellent imaging. Their weighted group delay is within good limits, never crossing into the audibility threshold. This results in a tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. The left and right drivers of our test unit were also well-matched overall, especially in phase and amplitude. There's a small mismatch in frequency across the range, but it's not very audible, so objects in the stereo image (like voices, instruments, footsteps) still sound properly placed.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have a mediocre soundstage performance. The PRTF response has good accuracy, but the accuracy and distance aren't great, suggesting suggests a natural but small soundstage that'll sound more like it's coming from inside your head than in front of you, like speakers. On the upside, their mesh padding helps them sound more open than most closed-back headphones.
These wireless gaming headphones are advertised to have Turtle Beach Virtual Surround Sound on the PS4 model and Windows Sonic Surround Sound on the Xbox One variant. They also feature Turtle Beach's SuperHuman Hearing feature, which could help with sounds like footsteps.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1's weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. They distort in the bass range at higher volumes, but this generally isn't too noticeable for most people. There's also more distortion in the higher frequencies, but it's still within good limits.
These results are only valid for the PS4 variant of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 with these test settings.
However, we were unable to determine the firmware version. If you own these headphones and know where to find it, let us know in the discussion section below.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 have bad noise isolation. Although they're closed-back, their breathable mesh pads let in a lot of ambient noise. They don't isolate in the bass range, letting in all the low rumbles of bus engines or city traffic. They're not effective at blocking out speech in the mid-range and don't do a very good job at cutting out sharper sounds in the higher frequencies.
The leakage performance is sub-par. It won't sound as full and speaker-like as what you might expect from open-back headphones, but it'll be more noticeable than that of in-ears and earbuds. On the plus side, their leakage isn't too loud, so it should only be an issue if you're listening at high volumes or someone is sitting close by.
These wireless gaming headphones have a boom microphone that isn't detachable but that you can flip upwards to mute and conceal.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1's microphone's recording quality is decent. Speech recorded or transmitted will lack some airiness and brilliance but has enough detail and presence to be easily understood and will sound fairly full-bodied. However, you might find your voice sounds a bit sharp and piercing at times, especially on sibilants like S and T sounds.
The microphone's noise handling is alright. It does a decent job at parsing speech in quiet to moderately loud environments, like at home. However, it struggles to separate speech from ambient noise in very loud places, like a gaming convention.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have a great battery. They last for about 16 hours of continuous playback, which should be enough for most gaming sessions. They also automatically turn off when not in use, which can help save power, and you can use them while charging. However, you can't use them wired with a regular audio cable.
The Turtle Beach Audio Hub is a poor app that offers practically no customization option and feels notably useless for the PS4 variant of the Turtle Beach 600. You can reduce the volume level of voice prompts, but there are otherwise no sound or control customization options. The Xbox variant seems to have a mic level monitoring feature, but we didn't test it.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 don't support Bluetooth, unlike the Turtle Beach Stealth 700.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 have a great non-Bluetooth wireless connection. While the line-of-sight range is only okay, they have great, low latency. It's great not only for gaming but also for watching movies since there shouldn't be any noticeable lip-sync issues.
You can't use the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 wired with an audio cable.
The PS4 variant of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 is fully compatible with the PS4 and most PCs, with their wireless USB dongle. The Xbox One variant requires a separate Xbox Wireless adapter for compatibility with PCs that don't have it built-in.
The PS4 variant of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 we tested isn't compatible with the Xbox One. However, there's an Xbox One-specific model available that connects directly via Xbox Wireless.
The PS4 variant of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 1 come with a wireless USB dongle that has no additional input options. The dongle is compatible with most PCs as well as the PS4 Pro.
The Xbox variant of this headset doesn't come with a dongle - instead, it uses Xbox Wireless to connect the same way your controllers do. If you want to use it on PCs that don't have Xbox Wireless built-in, it requires an Xbox Wireless Adapter.