The Stealth 700 Gen 3 is an impressive gaming headset that exceeds the mark in sound quality, microphone quality, fit, construction, and battery life. While upgrading its firmware can be more finicky than other similarly-priced headsets that generally work right outside of the box with little-to-no adjustments, it’s clear to me that this headset will last players a long time and offer them an excellent audio experience while gaming.
Turtle Beach’s Stealth 700 gaming headset has become one of the brand’s most premium headsets, often boasting higher-quality audio drivers, sublime comfort, and ridiculously long battery life. This year, we have seen several third-generation additions to the Stealth lineup along with a new entry in the form of the Atlas Air. The Stealth 700, however, has remained absent from the updates…until now. At $199.99, it’s taken the throne of Turtle Beach’s highest-priced headset introduced in 2024 and boasts serious competition to the Atlas Air (which I reviewed but a few months ago). All of this beg the questions – how does it hold up and how does it compare?
Strap in, folks. The Stealth 700 is no joke as a headset. It’s just…finicky. Finicky and particular, just like me.
I have been using the Stealth 700 for the past several weeks (coming from the Atlas Air which had solidified itself as a proper audiophile’s daily driver). It’s impressed me on the audio front, it’s fit my head moderately well, the microphone quality (along with its supposed AI-based noise-reduction) is top notch, battery life is impressive (it has quick-charge!!), and it’s been great for gaming. By these statements alone, you should be assured that the recent generation of the Stealth 700 meets the minimum for what should be considered a premium-tier headset. However, attempting to update this headset and getting it ready to play has been nothing short of a chore, and it’s all thanks to its dual transmitters for multiplatform wireless audio.
The newest and most-prominent selling point of the Stealth 700 Gen 3 is its dual transmitters, meaning that you can plug one USB receiver into your computer/laptop and another into your console of choice (XBOX or PS5). On paper, that sounds awesome! Imagine playing a game on your PC and then moving to another room to play some Destiny 2 with your friends on your PS5. In practice, it works that simply, which is great. But…like all of Turtle Beach’s recent products, firmware updates conducted via Swarm II (which I’ll discuss at the end of this review) are necessary. This go-round, I was forced to use my phone and the Swarm II mobile app to update the headset and receivers, and they all had to be in the same room at the same time.
I opted into plugging both receivers into my computer to update them, which worked just fine for me. I am not 100% sure that plugging the “console” receiver into a computer for updating is something consumers should do, but I wasn’t in a position to lug my computer to another room or my PS5 to my office to update the receivers. There were several firmware updates that needed to be done during my review period, which meant that I often had to unplug the console receiver and take it back to the office just so I could keep the headset up to date.
I bring this up at the start of the review before talking about the Stealth 700’s other features because of how it defies the notion of a premium headset working right out of the box. The hassle of needing to update all of the receivers AND the headset via the mobile app (and not the PC app, mind you) defies a critical element of a premium headset. I would expect the finickiness of updating and getting the best fit to be something found in a lower-quality headset, specifically one that cuts corners and has several compromises to make the headset somewhat appealing without breaking the bank. The Stealth 700, by its $199.99 price point alone, can be considered in the “breaking the bank territory” and should not require users to jump through hoops to get things working as they should.
Perhaps some more time was needed to get the Stealth 700 in a position to be used for heavy gaming without the oddly specific and hassle of updating everything. Maybe another month in the developmental oven may have helped, maybe not. Either way, day-one buyers of the Stealth 700 have been placed in a position of firmware update hassle.
It’s been a month, though. I’ll wholeheartedly admit that things have been incredibly smooth in every other aspect of owning and using the Stealth 700. It’s just that updating this thing is frustrating when it comes to needing to grab the receivers. As of now, the process of updating everything (both receivers and headset) whenever Turtle Beach releases a new firmware update is the Stealth 700 Gen 3’s biggest drawback.
Seeing as the firmware update is the biggest drawback for this $199.99 headset one month in, you should now be relieved, as just about every other aspect of this headset is worthy of praise and consideration as we get closer to the holiday season. Let’s get to why.
The Stealth 700 Gen 3 has an impressive soundstage thanks to its 60mm Eclipse dual drivers. Turtle Beach boasts that these drivers offer stunning audio clarity and deeper bass. Compared to the lower tiers of Stealth headsets, I totally see it. Without fiddling with the EQ at all, the Stealth 700 produces a bass-heavy without drowning out the mids or the highs. In my review of the Stealth 600, I was disappointed with the default EQ muting most of the levels and requiring EQ adjustments to produce a wider soundstage. Not here – right out of the box, I was able to enjoy multiple types of music and hear some of the finer details regardless of genre.
When it comes to construction and its comfort, the Stealth 700 is heavy and looks massive when worn. It is far heavier than the Atlas Air. When I was on a video call, the individual on the other end said that I was wearing a “humongous” headset compared to what I was usually wearing. Size concerns aside, it gripped my head when I was able to position it just right. The top band has some cushioning on it to make the tightness less noticeable, but you should expect this headset to feel tighter than others after making the proper adjustments to have the headset fit your head.
The Stealth 700’s earcups are a hybrid of leatherette and athletic fabric, making them feel soft to the touch with no scratchiness or fuzziness. Even better, thanks to the hybrid fabric, my ears did not sweat when wearing this headset for longer periods of time. The cushions themselves have memory foam inside of them, allowing them to confirm to my head quite well. Unlike some of the other headsets I’ve used, these cushions are large enough to encase the top of my ear while leaving a smidgen of breathing room at the bottom for my earlobes. This headset claims to have ProSpecs glasses-friendly technology, but there were moments where I felt one side of my glasses to feel like they were digging into my head behind my ear because of the Stealth 700’s tight fit.
One last note on the fit – this headset does not let sound out or in. I’ve seen some Atlas Air users claim that their audiophile-grade headsets have a degree of sound leakage because of the open-air backs. The Stealth 700 Gen 3 has no such issue, which may or may not be a bad thing if you live with someone else. I was unable to hear the doorbell ring and my partner talking to me when I was wearing the headset while listening to music at a low volume, so expect to have the outside world completely drowned out. I don’t expect you to take this headset on the train or a plane, but…they’re sure equipped to keep the music in and the world out!
The Stealth 700’s microphone is excellent, comparable to the Atlas Air’s microphone. For a gaming headset, it’s important to ensure that the mute function works (it does!) while also capturing your natural voice. In my multiple Teams, Discord, and Zoom calls, there were no roboticness or sounds of my typing captured by the headset. When I was using the headset to have a call on my phone, I tested it out by having a conversation whilst doing the dishes – the recipient on the other end of the line could hardly hear the water running let alone the typical clamor of dishes and silverware moving in my sink. I had to make some slight adjustments to the microphone’s EQ (out of personal preference), but most users won’t need to make those types of changes for everyday use cases.
The battery life on this headset is rated for around 80 hours of use. In my testing, I was able to get around 60 hours of regular use (swapping between my PS5, PC, and Pixel 9 Pro XL) before the headset petering out and telling me that it was on low battery. It turned itself off after a few minutes of not being used, so it was smart in preserving its battery, but I wasn’t able to hit that 80-hour mark. For comparison’s sake, it lasted a smidgen longer than the Atlas Air.
You’re probably wondering why I keep bringing up the Atlas Air during this review. The Stealth 700 Gen 3 comes in at $199.99, while the Atlas Air is $179.99, making them easy to start a comparative discussion thanks to their price. Both of these headsets are the higher-tier offerings from Turtle Beach, with only a few differences separating these headsets. The Atlas Air is targeting audiophiles, offering extreme comfort and an incredibly wide soundstage for those in the market to listen to more music than play games. The Stealth 700 Gen 3 seems to be made for console and PC players over all else, boasting CrossPlay Multiplatform technology (thanks to its dual receivers) and a long battery life. At the end of the day, much of these headsets pros blend together in regular use, so it’s hard to make a firm statement about which of these two you should choose if you’re stuck in the market for a ~$199 headset. However, if you are intending on using a headset on your console AND your PC on a regular basis, there’s no doubt that the Stealth 700 Gen 3 is the better offering. Otherwise, if you’re the kind of person who is planning on a headset for one platform, the Atlas Air feels and sound far better, even though there’s a small degree of sound leakage.
Let’s say you’re settled on getting the Stealth 700 Gen 3 – which model should you purchase? This is where I have one final quibble with this headset: Each model has unique pros and cons. The XBOX and PS5 versions have unique colorways, but they miss out on the HiFi 24-bit audio quality, 16-bit & 32kZh sampling rate microphone, and Waves 3D audio found only on the PC version. While you can use the XB/PS5 version on the PC just fine, it’s an incredibly weird decision to make the console models arguably inferior to the PC model.
I digress.
The Stealth 700 Gen 3 is an impressive gaming headset that exceeds the mark in sound quality, microphone quality, fit, construction, and battery life. While upgrading its firmware can be more finicky than other similarly-priced headsets that generally work right outside of the box with little-to-no adjustments, it’s clear to me that this headset will last players a long time and offer them an excellent audio experience while gaming.
