Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware and Software
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro may not have the visual impact of what you may expect from an older, stereotypical gaming headset, but in a world where most of these are becoming more muted in design, the Stealth Pro still looks quite gamer-centric. Its black finish is contrasted with a lighter smoky gray metal around each side. The gray can also be found in two braided cables that connect between the headband and the ears. Turtle Beach branding can be found around the headset multiple times, including its logo on the right earcup and its name on the left side and engraved at the top of the head. There is no RGB LED lighting here, although this is probably a good thing for its battery life. Appearance-wise, the Stealth Pro does not really do anything offensive, but it fits into the modern day look for a gaming headset.
The construction of the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro is made up of plastic with some metal elements, including the aforementioned ring around each side. The plastic is matte in finish with a smoother finish on both sides of the ears and a rubberier feel around the top. Unfortunately, the plastic on the side of the ears are major fingerprint magnets, which is annoying because these are also high-touch areas. Moving on, there is also metal if you extend the ears out, which reveals the hidden metal headband. Finally, the padding on the top and on the earcups are made of a synthetic leather. All of these materials make for a very well-built headset. I did not hear any creaking in the plastic, even when the Stealth Pro was stretched and flexed. Parts like the extending ears and the swiveling cups move smoothly.
Taking a look at the ears of the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro, the cups are covered in synthetic leather with a notable amount of memory foam underneath to increase the comfort. As usual, Turtle Beach has employed their ProSpecs padding with softer and squishier foam near the front of the earcups where glasses arms would normally be. These are over-ear headphones, so the ear cups sit around your ears rather than pressing on them. These cups can also be easily removed, as they sit on plastic frames that pop out easily from the rest of the headset. Removing this reveals the exposed 50mm neodymium drivers, which have a frequency response of 10Hz to 22kHz. This is larger than the typical human hearing range on both sides of the spectrum. Turtle Beach has also included active noise cancellation on the Stealth Pro with over 25dB noise reduction at 100Hz. We will see what this translates into our listening tests later on in our review. Otherwise, these ears swivel on the headband, as you can see in the photo above, so you can rest the headphones on your neck comfortably.
Turtle Beach has placed all of the controls on the right earcup. Starting on the side, we have a large wheel with a button in the middle. The wheel functionality changes based on whether the Stealth Pro is connected to a console or a computer. When plugged into an Xbox, it controls the volume mix between Game and Chat. When plugged into a PC, the wheel acts as a volume knob. The middle button is used to turn the active noise cancellation on or off. These two buttons can be remapped later in Turtle Beach's software, but we will go over this later. Underneath, we have three rubbery buttons. The one at the most front is a Bluetooth button that serves multiple purposes. First, it is used to pair to your device. Once paired, it also works as Play/Pause, Forward, and Back, depending on the number of presses. It can also be used to answer or end calls. One neat thing to mention is the fact you can connect to Bluetooth and the wireless transmitter at the same time. The middle button is the power button, which turns on or off the Stealth Pro if you hold it for two seconds. Finally, the last button is the Superhuman Hearing button, which is made to emphasize noises such as footsteps and other movement cues. This button is textured with extra dimples to make it easier to feel. At the back of the right earcup is a USB Type-C port, which can be used for charging or updating firmware. There is also a multicolor indicator LED for pairing status and battery life.
The left earcup shows a few more interesting things. First of all, missing from the photo above is a cover that normally would hide everything underneath here. Instead, you can see the battery pack. Turtle Beach has included two of these batteries so you can swap them out on the fly without any disruption to your gaming. Underneath the battery, you can see a large hole, and this is where you can attach the included boom microphone. One neat thing that has been implemented is the fact you can still mute your microphone by swinging it up. This is because this plug integrates a swiveling switch that will mute in the upright position. On the other hand, if you do not want to use a boom arm, you can also rely on the two mics built into the headset itself. We will explore how well these capture sound later on in our review.
Finally, at the top, you can see the headband on the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro. With extending arms on each side, the leatherette headband at the top sits with memory foam underneath to create a soft and supple resting spot at the top. Moving down, the arms extend out to reveal the metal band inside, which helps with the structure and rigidity. The arms extend out smoothly and there are visual indicators to show users how much each side has extended.
One thing I will say about the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro is the fact these are quite large and weigh quite a bit at 418g. This is even heavier than the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX. As such, after a while you will start to feel the weight of these headphones. The plush ears and headband do make the wearing experience a bit easier and help alleviate the weight by distributing it evenly around the head. The leatherette seal is good if you like the feel, but some may want a more breathable layer. I will say they are a bit low for clamping force, as you can easily dislodge your head from the Stealth Pro with some shaking. Fit and feel will still vary from user to user, so if it is possible, I recommend trying the headset out before purchasing it.
As for accessories, you can see everything that is included out of the box with the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro. Starting from the left, we have the transmitter and battery charger combination pod. This plugs into your console or PC and works to transmit sounds to the Stealth Pro. At the back of the puck, there is a USB Type-C port to plug into your intended system, switch to choose between the Xbox or your computer, and a USB port for charging only. At the top, you can see the second battery slotted into its charging location. Finally, there is a translucent ring around the transmitter. This lights up based on the different pairing statuses and the charge of the docked battery. It also changes color when the microphone is muted.
Next, we have a large fabric bag, which is folded in half in the photo above. This is used to carry the Stealth Pro around. Underneath, we have two USB Type-C to Type-A cables, which are used for connecting the transmitter and to your headphones. One is 1m in length, while the other is 2m. Finally, we have the included boom arm microphone. This connects to the headphones via a 2.5mm plug. It is a unidirectional microphone with noise cancellation capabilities of reducing over 30dB at 3kHz. It also has a frequency response of 100Hz to 8kHz. The arm it sits on is generally pretty flexible and stays in place when you put it there, and it is wrapped in a flexible rubber housing for durability.
Turtle Beach's software is the Audio Hub V2, which downloads as a Windows built-in app or from the Mac App Store on macOS. You can also install the app for your Android or iOS device, but as we have already explored this in the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX review, I will be looking at the desktop software. On Windows, this is a 45MB MSIX download, which is readily available on Turtle Beach's website.
As for Audio Hub V2, you can see the front page on launch shows the product name, its status, a volume slider to adjust the output, and its firmware version. If you need to update the firmware, you can do so by pressing the cogwheel in the bottom right corner. Otherwise, all of the settings are divided up into four tabs, labeled at the top as Dashboard, Equalizer, Customize, and Hotkeys. Under Dashboard, you can see there are many sliders to change different boost levels, microphone levels, active noise cancellation, and Superhuman Hearing. I do like the fact you can adjust the level of each individual area rather than restricting users to a binary option of on or off. Under Equalizer, users can fine tune the equalizer with ten different frequencies. Under Customize, users can change the auto shut-off time, as well as the levels of voice prompts and tones when using the Stealth Pro. Users can remap the right side-facing button and wheel. Finally, under Hotkeys, you can set key combinations to change audio settings. Overall, these options provide a good amount of customization for most users. The only thing I would want fixed is the text, as it is quite hard to read at this size.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
