Gamers lucky enough to have nabbed a PlayStation 5 already - or who are getting one soon - are probably eager to ensure they also have the best possible headset for their beloved new console.
While Sony has released its own branded PS5 headset, there's much more excitement about what's coming from third-party manufacturers like Logitech, Astro and Razer.
Turtle Beach is one of the main gaming headset brands in New Zealand and its Stealth 700 Gen 2 is a great option for the PS5.
It has fantastic battery life, solid sound, a mostly great design and comes for a fair price - but it's not a perfect headset.
I've been using a set of Stealth 700 Gen 2 headphones with a PS5 for the past few weeks and here are my thoughts.
The good
The battery life of the Gen 2 has been doubled from Gen 1, now giving a generous 20 hours of playtime before you have to plug it in. It's very satisfying hearing the automated voice tell you "battery level: high" every time you turn these on, day after day.
Obviously the most important aspect of any headset is how they sound and the Stealth 700 Gen 2 produces crisp, clear audio with that all-important nice, deep bass.
Of course, Turtle Beach's trademark sound settings are ever-present, including the superhuman hearing mode that's especially helpful in shooters.
The tech specs:
- Speaker Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz
- Speaker Size: 50mm Nanoclear neodymium drivers
- Battery: Rechargeable 1000mAh Lithium Polymer
There's no annoying digital hum in these as there is in the wireless Razer headset I use with my Xbox Series X, which is a big plus.
Years upon years of making gaming headsets means Turtle Beach knows a lot about how to do mics well and that's definitely the case with the Stealth 700 Gen 2.
The microphone is very high quality and accurate across the vocal spectrum, including for deeper-voiced players who can sound bad through other headsets.
You can flip the mic up to automatically mute it, which is somehow even easier than pushing the big mute button right there on the DualSense controller.
This unit retails for just under NZ$300, which is a competitive price.
One other improvement Turtle Beach has made to the Gen 2 unit is how sleek and understated it is. I love the minimal aesthetic design - mostly just a tasteful black over the whole unit, with little Turtle Beach logos on each earcup.
This is a far cry from other gaming headsets out there that are more designed for 14-year-olds hyped up on Monster Energy drinks with flashing lights, gross enormous branding and all sorts of visual pollution going on.
The Stealth 700 Gen 2 looks great and its synthetic leather with memory foam cushioning feels lovely to the touch, but it's not an entirely comfortable set of headphones.
The bad
Although I dig the stripped back, less garish look of the Stealth 700 Gen 2, I do wish the design was more forgiving of gamers with bigger heads.
The earcups push inward in a way that makes them a little tight compared to other headsets. Of course you can loosen them using the adjustable headband, but that more elevates the headband off the top of your head rather than decreases the push-in of the earcups.
This is more of a negative about PlayStation rather than Turtle Beach, but I don't like that you have to insert a USB dongle to connect to rather than wirelessly direct to the console. Not only does it use up a port, but it means the headset has to reconnect every time you turn the console on, which simply means holding the headset close to the dongle but still costs a few seconds.
There's quite a lot of bleed with the Stealth 700 Gen 2. This means unless you've got the volume down on them, people nearby you will likely get annoyed at the sound leaking out of them.
In terms of sound quality, I do prefer the audio quality in the JBL Quantum 800 - but you have to fork out extra cash for them and they of course have active noise-cancelling, which helps.
You also have to pay extra for non-gaming headsets that can still be used on the PS5, such as the Sony WH-1000XM4, which you can plug into the DualSense controller. They sound fantastic - but the mic absolutely sucks for in-game chat.
If you're not gaming but rather watching movies, TV or listening to music via your PS5, the WH-1000XM4 is superior to Turtle Beach's products.
But nobody should consider these headphones for a primary use other than gaming, so that's beside the point.
The verdict
PS5 owners looking for a solid headset should definitely consider the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2.
They sound great, have great mic quality and have a solid set of features that are easy to control via dials on the headset itself and the companion app.
Some gamers may want to spend more and get a wireless headset with active noise cancelling, but for what the Stealth 700 Gen 2 costs I can't see people being disappointed with what they get.
Newshub was supplied a Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 headset for this review.
