Premium headphones never sounded so good with Turtle Beach’s latest release the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max headset. Toting complete Xbox compatibility, a staple in the 600 and 700 Gen 2 series, this headset goes far beyond what is advertised.
Let’s get right into it.
Design and Functionality
The Stealth Turtle Beach 700 Gen 2 Max is a heavy-duty headset, and you know that right from the get-go when you pull it out of the box. It feels durable in its massive navy-blue plastic frame which is held together with a beautiful bronze-coated headset bridge that gives the device a colorful personality of professionalism. It just oozes with good looks and design, which is a huge plus if you’re a streamer and you’re trying to get the right look on camera. While it may not be the sleek black look of the Elite line from Turtle Beach, it lies somewhere in between not quite breaking the bank ($199) and feeling elite with its style. In short, it’s pretty.
The three best parts of its design style are the earpieces, bridge padding, and the way the headset hides the microphone (discussed in a later section). The earpieces are some of the most comfortable I have worn in my life. As you know from past reviews, I’m particular about earpieces and how comfortable they are with glasses, as well as the distribution of airflow which I think a lot of people discount when looking for the right headset. The earpieces, much like with the 600, feel like you’re wearing air. They’re not part of the obvious experience, which is great, and they don’t require much if any adjusting to get comfortable. They’re not relevant, which is relevant when reviewing them. You never want your earpieces to feel obtrusive, rather you want them to be non-existent, which is what the Stealth Turtle Beach 700 Gen 2 Max headset earpieces feel like. They provide so much comfort for long streams and they prevent glasses from pressing against the side of your head. They’re perfect.
Equally as important as the earpieces comfort is how much airflow passes through them. As I have mentioned before in my Elite reviews, heat trapped in the earpieces from your noggin (because that is the main exit for body heat) can be an uncomfortable experience. Years ago, when I reviewed the Elite headset from Turtle Beach, that was a huge complaint. The heat was trapped and it made me sweat. I used that headset for my Death Stranding review and 55 hours of sweating is not fun. I don’t know what material Turtle Beach has changed with their 600/700 Gen 2 headsets, but it has so much airflow that it makes a guy like me happy as heck. I wore this headset for five hours for a Castlevania: Symphony of the Night stream this past week and my ears were happy. No heat was trapped, it had good airflow, and I sincerely hope that TB keeps using this material. It’s beautiful.
As for the padding on the bridge of the headset, it’s comfortable. As I mentioned in the 600 review, there is enough padding to keep headaches from occurring. My early headset reviews always seemed to mention the bridge of the headset and how it was hit or miss. Recently with this headset and the EPOS headsets, the industry seemed to have gotten the memo about bridge padding and comfort. The bridge on the Stealth Turtle Beach 700 Gen 2 Max doesn’t squeeze your head, nor does it feel like a rigid piece of plastic is pushing down on you. The padding hides it all and it’s a comfortable experience. You’re welcome to bite your thumb at this piece of the review, but I’m telling you that bridge padding and comfort is a huge part of good headset design.
On the functionality side of the tracks, the Stealth Turtle Beach 700 Gen 2 Max is one of the best experiences I have had with a surround sound headset. It’s top tier for the good spatial quality it delivers with the 50mm Nanoclear drivers. Its closed capabilities also allow for almost zero inference from the outside world. For example, my wife was watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians and I didn’t once hear that dialogue while in a Zoom call. Turtle Beach will never know how thankful I am for that, but I’m eternally grateful. Gosh, I wish this was a joke. Awful reality television show aside, the delivery and comfort with this headset are more than the price point tells you. I would probably pay $250+ for a headset experience like this and it would be worth every penny, especially if it keeps reality out of my ears.
Flip-tech and dongles
A technology design that I was introduced to with the 600 series when I reviewed it was the switchable dongle and Bluetooth options in one headset. Starting with the former, the dongle still gives me the willies when it comes to imagining life without it. If I lose that dongle, I lose all capabilities to use this headset on my PlayStation. While I solely and firmly blame Sony for having one of the most incompatible pieces of hardware when it comes to Bluetooth acceptance, and the PS4/5 seriously needs to open more to compatible BT hardware, the idea of having a dongle dangling that system’s headset option fate is unnerving. And as mentioned before, I have kids and they pick up stuff, drop stuff, and lose stuff. That little dongle is vital for the PS experience, a system that I use the most.
On a more pro-dongle side of the tracks, the dongle’s ability to switch between Xbox and all other options with the flip of a dongle switch is interesting. I know that there are some major drivers stored in that dongle that enhance the Xbox experience. Switching the dongle over to all others opens a lot of possibilities, including the Nintendo Switch. There is a lot of functionality in that dongle and it’s impressive how easy it is to use. For that, I appreciate the dongle and what Turtle Beach put into it.
On the flip side of that coin, the Bluetooth capabilities of this headset are darn good. Much like what I found with the EPOS H3 Hybrid/PRO headsets, being able to connect and communicate through my PC/Mac/iOS/Android devices is brilliant. I saved myself about 10K using this headset at the University of Maryland’s commencement which my students were running the production for (9 hours total). The ability to hook the headset up to a phone and use the headset with the Discord app to communicate seamlessly is welcomed. The fact that I had 40+ hours with a fully charged headset to play with and not have to worry about losing battery life was breathtaking. Good, clear sound and comfort is something you can’t replace on a long production shoot. The ability to mute by flipping up the mic was even more convenient, especially when folks in the audience want to talk with you about your broadcast camera and they can’t stop talking about it. It’s a camera. Move along.
Speaking of which, let’s move along.
Conclusion
The Stealth Turtle Beach 700 Gen 2 Max is a remarkable headset that delivers good design, fantastic functionality, and multiple platforms to experience it on. It’s one of the better headsets I have reviewed in the last two months.
