Turtle Beach has continued to carve out a niche in making high-quality headsets for an affordable price, and that trend has continued with the release of the Stealth 600 Gen 3. When I covered the Gen 2 back in 2020, I praised its ease of use and noted that the features it brought were solid and good value. Well, I’m pleased to share that the third generation of the Stealth 600 has many new features and improvements, but for the same affordable price as its predecessor. It’s a bit of a no-brainer.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3 continues to be adaptable in every circumstance, and that’s partly due to the fact it can be used on any platform you want, whether it’s Xbox, PlayStation, PC or Nintendo Switch, and even the Steam Deck and mobile devices. I tested it across each and found the functionality simple enough; it comes with a USB dongle that can be used on your console of choice but also has Bluetooth 5.2. There’s a button on the headset that you can press to switch between the USB receiver and Bluetooth, so it’s easy to bounce between consoles/PC and your wireless devices, although I did fumble with finding the button when wearing the headset.
“…I’ve found my time with it to be useful in almost all circumstances…”
Wearing the headset itself is a comfy endeavor. I’ve mentioned my large head before, and how some headsets feel like they won’t make the cut long-term, but the Stealth 600 Gen 3 fits comfortable around my oversized noggin, with a stretchable strap on top and extendable cups. The ear cushions use “athletic weave fabric and memory foam”, which in real terms means that it clamps comfortably onto my ears without making them sore or sweaty, even during longer game sessions. Of course, it’s bloody cold in Melbourne right now so I haven’t tested them in warmer weather conditions, but for now, they certainly do the trick, even after 3-4 hours of straight use.
Another large selling point for me is that the battery life has improved drastically, now boasting 80 hours before needing a charge. At full charge, I’ve used the headset for several gaming sessions and have not needed to charge it again. That’s certainly in the 40-50 hour range for me without needing to charge, which in real terms is around 3 weeks of gaming, so it’s certainly nice to have a headset that doesn’t need plugging in regularly.
It also offers a unidirectional flip-to-mute microphone, with AI noise reduction. When gaming with my squad, they noted that they couldn’t hear things in the background like usual, including my needy Golden Retriever bouncing around next to me or my husband gassing up his Sodastream in the nearby kitchen. They noted that my voice sounded a bit more echo-y coming through on their side compared with other headsets I’ve used, so keep that in mind.
Out of the box, the Stealth 600 Gen 3 sounds great, especially for its low-mid price range. While it might not have the heavy bass or satisfying depth of a more premium set like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5, it certainly packs a decent punch. It uses 50mm Nanoclear drivers, which are said to deliver vibrant spatial audio. I tested out the headset with multiplayer shooters like xDefiant and found it useful for detecting the footsteps of enemies nearby; I also checked it while playing through Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, noting that the soundtrack and high production sounded stellar.
You can also tune this via the Swarm II app, which is most effective on PC where you can activate Superhuman Hearing, which makes hyper-focusing on certain sounds even more effective. I’d say this is mostly useful for competitive shooters, while most gamers will find themselves relatively happy just on the standard EQ settings. A physical button on the headset also lets you change those sound settings on the fly, which is super handy.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3 won’t necessarily blow your socks off, but it’s half the price of the premium headsets that will. This makes it an incredibly solid choice for those that are looking for a decent headset, flexible across multiple devices, for a fraction of the price. For a mid-range headset like this, I’ve found my time with it to be useful in almost all circumstances, while also being quite comfortable to wear for long sessions. As someone who bounces between console and handheld devices constantly, it’s nice to have a headset that just works, sounds great, and doesn’t need charging frequently. At less than 180 bucks, it’s an affordable all-rounder.
Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3 is available now.
A Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3 was provided for the purpose of this coverage.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
