Turtle Beach Stealth Pro review: An exceptional but pricey Xbox headset

The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro is one of the best Xbox wireless headsets around. Here's what Sean had to say about the pricey new headset.

I am incredibly fussy when it comes to headsets. I’ve purchased three this year alone and sent them all back for different reasons, but I’ve been testing Turtle Beach’s new Stealth Pro for Xbox wireless headset for a month now, and I can safely say that I’ll be sticking with this pair of cans for a good while longer, thanks to its excellent sound quality and a slew of premium features.

Turtle Beach Stealth Pro for Xbox review

Let’s rip off the Band-Aid. The Stealth Pro is not cheap, costing an eye-watering $329 / £279.99/ €329.99. However, I believe the tech packed into the headset does justify its price tag. Sporting a sleek and minimalist design, the Stealth Pro is unassuming and could easily be used as a pair of regular headphones when the removable mic is detached. Underneath the nondescript exterior is a wireless headset packed with tech and features such as active noise cancelation (ANC), swappable and rechargeable batteries, noise-canceling microphones, Bluetooth for dual connectivity, and much more.

While all of that is great, none of it matters if the headset is uncomfortable, which is probably the main reason why I don’t get along with so many. All the marketing and advertising speak will tell you that certain headsets are fluffier than a cloud and lighter than a fart carried away in a stiff breeze on a cool summer’s day, but until you get them on your head, you won’t know if they’re a good fit for you. Thankfully, for me, the Stealth Pro is a dream with its leatherette memory foam padding and ear cushions, and while it is quite heavy, I happily spent long sessions of around four hours with the headset on my noggin, fully immersed in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor without a care in the world. The one tiny gripe I have in the comfortability department is that I wish the earcups were slightly bigger, as I could feel my ears pressing up against the cushions. The headset may not suit those with larger ears.

Turtle Beach Stealth Pro review: A superb Xbox headset that will cost you

The left earcup hides one of the headset's most-useful features — a battery that can be recharged and swapped. Turtle Beach gives you two of these batteries that last for about eight to ten hours a pop, so you never have to worry about the Stealth Pro running out of juice. Swapping the batteries takes less than 30 seconds. The second battery sits in a charging puck that plugs into your Xbox or PC via USB, which means it’s always there, ready to go. This puck also doubles up as a wireless transmitter, which has an impressive range and one of the most annoying features of this whole setup. The puck has a bright LED ring that lights up different colors to indicate your headset connection or if your mic is on mute. While that is handy, the LEDs are pretty bright and can’t be turned off. I have my Xbox in my bedroom, and for some reason, the puck would randomly turn on while my Xbox was on standby in the dead of night, illuminating my room so much I thought I was being beamed up to the mothership.

On the right earcup, you’ll find four buttons and a handy remappable scroll wheel. The power, Superhuman Hearing (more on that in a bit), and Bluetooth controls are located on the bottom of the cup, and to be honest, they’re not great. All three buttons sit almost flush, and aside from the Superhuman Hearing button, it’s hard to tell what you’re pressing — again, this is a minor gripe. On the side, the scroll wheel can be used to control volume or remapped using the Turtle Beach Audio Hub app to control things like mic sensitivity or the mix of game and chat audio. A button in the middle of the wheel turns on and off ANC and is also used to change the wheel’s function. With the headset connected to Spotify via Bluetooth and my Xbox, I could independently and quickly adjust the volume of either source on the fly while in a game with the wheel, which was super handy.

The Stealth Pro’s detachable boom microphone is another highlight. When playing with friends online, I was told that my voice was coming through crystal clear and loud. When listening back to a couple of recordings, I was quite surprised at how much the mic managed to reduce some of the background noise, though the hum of my fan was still present. The mic sensitivity, noise gate, and EQ preset can all be changed using the Turtle Beach Audio Hub app, which, again, is an excellent touch. The headset also features a built-in microphone for if you’re using it as a standard pair of headphones. The mic here is fine, and it works well enough for phone calls.

On the inside of each cup, there is a 50mm driver, which produces some excellent audio. I was honestly surprised at how good the Stealth Pro sounds. The audio is crisp, and both the treble and the bass are superb, and this was before I took a trip to the Turtle Beach Audio Hub app to fine-tune the headset to my liking. The app is clean and intuitive and offers different EQ presets and the ability to create your own. After tinkering around and boosting the bass a little more, I found myself lost in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor with the low drone of the lightsaber feeling weighty in my ears and blaster shots squealing past me — I was fully immersed. This immersion was also helped by active noise cancellation, which blocked out the noise of my fan sitting several feet away. At first, I found the ANC to be overly aggressive, but that was quickly adjusted in the app. One feature I’m not too keen on is the Superhuman Hearing mode which, when turned on, highlights enemy footsteps and gunshots, giving you a better idea of where an enemy is in a multiplayer game. While this works and gives you an advantage in multiplayer games, it reduces the overall sound quality. Thankfully, you can quickly toggle this on the fly using one of the buttons on the headset.

Overall, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro is excellent and easily the best wireless Xbox headset I’ve ever used. The sound quality is exceptional — especially if you tweak it to your liking using the intuitive and easy-to-use software — it’s comfortable, the mic is decent, the active noise cancellation is superb, the programmable volume wheel and dual connectivity are extremely useful, and the swappable batteries are the icing on the cake. Outside of some minor issues, it’s hard to find fault with the headset. Of course, all of these features do come at a premium, but I believe the Stealth Pro is worth it.

Turtle Beach provided a sample for this review.

Written by Sean Carey

Avid Xbox and achievement fan, Sean has committed to playing the best RPGs, racing games, and first-person shooters Xbox Game Pass and his precious free time will allow. Prior to joining TrueAchievements, Sean gained a degree in journalism from Solent University.