2023-10-08 14:00:00
Turtle Beach is one of the best manufacturers of audio peripherals for video games. The manufacturer’s headsets are recognized for their sound quality, comfort and durability. They are equipped with the brand’s exclusive 3D surround sound technology, providing an immersive audio experience for gamers. The manufacturer offers various product lines and models for all budgets, ranging from simple and basic specimens to more prestigious models, designed for professional players. Today, following trying our hand at the Stealth Pro 300, we are focusing on the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max, the first phase of which was initially released on May 8, 2022.
A design as effective as ever
Turtle Beach headsets don’t tend to change a lot over the years and models. The manufacturer’s signature is still identifiable, which means that the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max looks a lot like the brand’s other helmets.
The finishes are largely plastic, with some metal reinforcements in the ring. The build quality seems, as always, good and solid, so there probably won’t be any issues with durability. The earcups have a thick layer of padding that fits the contour of the ears perfectly and isolates ambient noise very well. On the other hand, during the first week of testing, we found that the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max was a little tight and gave a feeling of compression which subsequently gradually eased with use.
A non-detachable boom acts as a microphone, located on the left earcup. Once folded down, it blends completely into the structure of the headset and allows you to open or mute the microphone in one movement. When the latter is open, it is possible to orient it slightly towards us to optimize the capture of our voice.
Still on the left earcup, there is the power button, a Bluetooth switch for alternative connections, a button that can be configured between different options and finally two dials, one to control the general volume (in theory) and the other, mappable, to adjust tone levels (Superhuman Hearing, game/chat, etc.). Unlike its predecessor, Stealth Pro, the ergonomics of the buttons are well thought out and the customization at your fingertips is more than welcome!
Finally, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max has a simple USB key to act as a dongle (unlike other models which have a small box to plug into USB)
A program with little onions…
To briefly go over the technical aspects, the drivers are 50mm neodymium and have a frequency response of 20Hz to 22kHz. The autonomy that the manufacturer indicates is 40 hours, but varies depending on use. Despite charging via USB-C, the recharge time is a little long, more than 2 hours to be at only 75% and more or less 2 hours 30 minutes for 100%.
The Xbox version of the headset is compatible with all consoles (PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC) via the USB dongle.
As with the Stealth Pro, it is essential to pair the headphones with the manufacturer’s mobile application “Audio Hub”. And how tedious it was! This time, the application automatically recognizes the model, but asks for a headset update. It is therefore imperative to plug it into a PC with the charging cable. You then need to go to the Turtle Beach website, download the PC application corresponding to the model and update.
And then the trouble begins…
The Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max might no longer connect via Bluetooth to our phone: we tried on three different smartphones and the headset systematically rejected the connection. We took the process once more on PC to restore the headset and redo the update so that we no longer had any problems.
With the updated headset, it is finally possible to personalize the sound experience through the application. Two tabs allow configuration. The first is used to manage the balances of Superhuman Hearing as well as the customization of treble, bass and vocals.
The second tab concerns the microphone and allows you to manage the noise gate (microphone opening sensitivity) then to manage the level of in-game invitations. It also offers the possibility of customizing the second wheel (game/chat, Bluetooth volume , Superhuman Hearing volume) as well as the choice of the mode button to activate Superhuman Hearing or even chat amplification.
The settings stop there, but they offer everything necessary to properly configure the sound experience, according to our convenience. In use, however, it’s a very different story…
…which counts as butter!
Helmet on the head, customization of the parameters made, all that remains is to play and discover the performance of the helmet. And there’s the surprise: the choice of the wheel, previously personalized via the application, does not seem to have been taken into account! After a brief return to the application, nothing seemed different or abnormal. The headset restarts, the connection is established once more with the console and the wheel seems to work, as we had configured it. At least, the time to realize that it was necessary to choose Superhuman Hearing management, for the magic to work once once more.
But what interested us was being able to manage the game/chat mixer and to our great dismay, even following restoring the headset settings once more and redoing the update, the headset still does not respond to our needs. order ! So, either we manage the sound of the game/chat directly from the Xbox and the friend groups tab, or we can manage this type of balance, but taking the risk of exploding our eardrums several times, since the volume headset will always be at maximum.
Once once more, the mobile application unfortunately spoils the experience, especially since the performance of the headset is very satisfactory. The worst thing is that this is not the only fault. When playing with the dials, the left earpiece experiences false contact, the sound crackles, cuts out and returns. If you leave the dongle’s operating range and return to it, magic, the correct settings for the game/chat wheel and the general volume of the headset work, until you turn it off the headset (this tip works one out of four times), there is therefore a software problem with the headset which still needs to be updated by the manufacturer, more than a year and a half following its release…
To return to the classic performance of the headset, if we ignore its software defect, the quality is there. The sound test was carried out on the latest Forza Motorsport and the depth of sound is just as good as on the Stealth Pro, the sound of the engines and the subtlety of the grain of the track and the cars are truly astonishing. On FPS like Insurgency Sandstorme, Hell Let Loose, Battlefield 2042 or Call of Duty, the sound design works wonders and the immersion in the game session is very pleasant.
We are really surprised by the performance of the headset and the depth it offers on different types of games. The immersion is total, whether for car games, FPS or action-adventure games like Gotham Knights, where the noise of the city and the environments is perfectly rendered and accurately immerses us in the filthy streets of the city of crime. Generally speaking, we find that the sound experience of the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max (€169) is very close to the Stealth Pro (€329). For the price, it’s a very good deal.
On the other hand, Superhuman Hearing seems less efficient, more muddled and less subtle than on the Stealth Pro. It is still effective when activated to highlight receding sounds, but we used it much less.
Comfortable, autonomous, nomadic
After testing the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max for more than a week and over different gaming sessions, we can say that the wearing comfort is very appreciable, we do not particularly feel any friction or heaviness during use.
On the battery side, the promise of forty hours of autonomy seems to be kept and, surprisingly, we tend to say that depending on use, it can even last one to two hours longer. Charging is done directly via the headset’s USB-C port, with the supplied cable, but it takes more than two hours and thirty minutes to recharge the equipment.
The Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max can also be portable thanks to its pole which, once retracted, is hidden in the structure of the helmet. The latter being connected to the game console and a telephone simultaneously, it is possible to take a call while continuing to play, the sound of the game being recessed so that we can follow our conversation correctly.
The microphone is, all in all, quite decent, even if the feedback from people in groups of friends notices a slight echo of their voice in the background and hears us with a weak “cavernous” sound effect.
Concerning the portable aspect, we are clearly mixed. The helmet still remains imposing and is not finesse. For listening to music or series, it fulfills its role, allowing us to isolate ourselves if we are on public transport, but without sublimating this type of listening. Finally, our more compact Marshall headphones render hits better in this aspect.
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