Turtle Beach are becoming the one-stop shop for peripherals right now. While they’ve built their own legacy over the years, they’re now also buying up other manufacturers like PDP, with brands like Victrix and Roccat all now falling under the same umbrella. While expansion is the key here, they’ve not forgotten what they built the brand on originally, and with the Stealth 500 they’re setting out their stall for this year’s gaming audio crown. They might just win it too.
In recent years, the Stealth headset lineup has iterated, rather than reinvented. The general form and design stayed the same for years, while they steadily updated batteries and connectivity. Not so with this year’s release, as the all-new Stealth 500 boasts a complete redesign, bringing it bang up-to-date.
Now, the old Stealth headsets weren’t ugly per se, but they were definitely showing their age. The first thing you’ll notice with the new Stealth 500 is how sleek and modern it looks, fashioned wholly out of black materials, it is almost as stealthy as its name implies. The build is mostly plastic, with a rigid plastic headband, but it has the added benefit of making this one very light headset. I’ve worn this thing for whole days and never had a moment of weariness, and that’s a huge boon if you live with your headset on.
One of the new features for Turtle Beach is a floating headband. Taking a swift glance over at Steelseries’ homework, they’ve decided this is the best way to do headbands, and frankly, I’d have to agree. It conforms to your head shape, you can barely tell it’s there, and there are three settings to adjust it for different sized heads. It’s absolutely spot on.
There’s a host of controls on the left earpiece, with a master volume dial and a chat volume one below it. These are slightly plasticky, but they’re not too cheap-feeling. You’ve then got a USB-C port for charging, and a series of buttons, letting you access power, Bluetooth and Mode settings without any issues.
You can connect via the 2.4Ghz wireless dongle – still USB-A if you were wondering – or over Bluetooth. Our version was branded as being for PlayStation, but it also played happily with my PC, Nintendo Switch and my Samsung Z Flip 6. For most people, it’ll slot easily into your setup.
You’ve got an easy level of control via the Swarm II app, available on both desktop and mobile. This handles all your firmware updates – it’s likely the first thing it’ll do when you hook it all up – as well as letting you customise your EQ settings and various other features. It’s mostly seamless and straightforward (though the updating process threw up a few errors along the way), and given that you’re unlikely to be more than a few feet from your mobile at any one time, it just adds to the ease of use.
As standard there are four EQ settings, but you can create you own profiles as well, utilising a 10-band EQ to get things sounding exactly the way you want them. I normally like the Turtle Beach Signature Sound, but here it felt a little muddy and lacking definition, but I was soon able to dial in more top end to bring out the detail. This was more apparent when listening to music via mobile than while gaming on PS5, and it feels as though the Stealth 500 loses a little definition over Bluetooth that isn’t the case via the wireless connection. Still, you can definitely remedy it via the EQ.
The Swarm II app also give you detailed control over the microphone setup, including noise gate and mic monitoring. The mic itself swings down from the main body of the left earpiece – retaining an old Stealth design aspect – and it angles slightly towards your mouth, though without any ability to further customise its position. It definitely does the job during online play, though it’s not as precise as the microphones you’ll find on more expensive headsets.
Gaming is of course the primary order of the day though, and Star Wars Outlaws sounded utterly fantastic via the Stealth 500, with the soundtrack swelling powerfully at the right moments, while there was more than enough detail for the stellar voice acting to cut through. Hopping back into Overwatch 2, the 40mm drivers did an excellent job of delivering other player’s positions to me, and the familiar push and pull of the gameplay was given a nice spark by the Stealth 500’s audio delivery.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 500 is priced at £79.99, putting it primarily up against Sony’s Pulse 3D and Microsoft’s own Wireless Headset – this has been out of stock for a while, so a refresh might be coming. It benefits over Sony’s offering by including Bluetooth, and some might prefer the more standard styling. I’m a big fan of the Microsoft Wireless Headset, but the Stealth 500 pips it for comfort, thanks to its floating headband.
