Audio Performance

I'll split the audio performance analysis into two parts - gaming and music. Even though the headset produces the same sound regardless of what it's being used for, you won't necessarily look for the same things while annihilating your virtual opponents as you will when listening to your favorite tunes.

Gaming

I started working on the Turtle Beach Stealth 450 right after I was done with the SteelSeries Arctis 5, a headset that stunned me with its accurate spatial positioning. I was sure that anything coming after it was going to be in a bad position - no pun intended - simply because the Arctis 5 inevitably spoiled me. Boy, was I wrong.

When it comes to the ability to locate your targets in a virtual 3D world, the Stealth 450 is absolutely phenomenal. It's one of best gaming headsets I've ever tested in that regard. Just to clarify, I'm talking about regular stereo mode here - my experiences with the virtual 7.1 surround sound feature are outlined below. While playing Battlefield 1 and PUBG, I had a permanent feeling of being aware of everything that was happening in close proximity. All that translated to being able to regularly get a jump on my enemies (and being called a cheater in the process, but hey, welcome to multiplayer gaming). Awesome!

Although Turtle Beach focused on accuracy, there is also a distinctive bump to the lower part of the audio spectrum. I can't pinpoint it to a certain frequency without getting a $2,000 microphone system, a pair of synthetic ears, and a quiet room in order to record a frequency response graph, but if I had to guess by ear, I'd say the bump happens at around 70-80 Hz. What it does in practice is to make all sounds with a deeper component hit harder and sound more exciting. You'll notice and enjoy it just about everywhere, whether you're shooting your favorite guns or violently crashing into your opponents on the race track.

It probably goes without saying that I heard and understood my teammates with ease while using Discord, TeamSpeak, and Skype. As for passive noise isolation, it's okay, but not perfect. If your keyboard is equipped with louder mechanical switches, such as the Cherry MX Blue or its equivalents, and the game you're playing isn't too loud, you'll be able to hear the mashing of your keyboard. The same is true the other way around - if someone's sitting close to you, they'll be able to hear what you're listening to. This is most likely caused by the design of the ear cushions, which are covered with "breathable" mesh fabric instead of dense pleather.

The Turtle Beach Stealth 450 successfully finds a fine balance between excitement and precision, which has it cater to the broadest possible number of gamers. For a wireless headset costing no more than $85, that's quite an achievement, and also a clear explanation for why so many famous Twitch streamers use it over more expensive models.

In all fairness, it also needs to be said that they use it without the microphone. We'll get to that on the next page of the review.

Music

Between the Natural Sound and Bass and Treble Boost audio presets, I'm confident that just about any owner of the Stealth 450 will find it great for music listening. When you're buying a $85 wireless headset, you don't really expect it to excel in anything but games, but this one delivers music performance that's in line with many $100-$150 hi-fi headphones.

The aforementioned bass bump results in a lively and exciting presentation, and the precision of the mid and high range translate into sweet vocals, clarity, and a ton of detail. The sound stage is also surprisingly wide for a closed-back pair of headphones.

I couldn't find a single genre of music that sounded boring or that the Stealth 450 seemed to struggle with. You don't need to worry about the sound degrading due to the headset's wireless nature, either.

Since the headphones themselves are quite compact and light, you can also use them for listening to music on the go, by connecting them to the source with a 3.5-mm audio cable. Just keep in mind that they can't work in passive mode at all, so you'll still need the battery to be charged.

7.1 Surround Sound

The Stealth 450 supports DTS Headphone:X 7.1 Surround Sound you can activate by installing the drivers and opening the Sound section of the Control Panel. Once there, open the properties of the headset and switch to the "Turtle Beach Audio Settings" tab. There are three surround sound presets available - Game Mode, Movie Mode, and Music Mode. Each of these has a slightly different tuning.

While I wouldn't necessarily call the 7.1 surround sound capability of the Stealth 450 bad, it's best that you take it for what it is: a virtual surround system, one that emulates eight speakers by physically only using two. It can be sort of fun to play around with, but it won't make you any more aware of your in-game surroundings or anything like that. For accuracy and proper spatial positioning, stick with stereo mode.

Of course, turning the virtual surround sound on also has a heavy impact on the overall sound quality, and not in a good way. Overall, I can't think of a single reason why someone would use the Stealth 450 in surround rather than stereo mode.

Superhuman Hearing

Turtle Beach goes through great lengths to convince you that Superhuman Hearing is that one killer feature that will make you buy their headsets. After trying it out extensively, I'm not sold.

They don't dive into the specifics of the technology. However, from what I can gather by using the only tool that never failed me, my ears, it's a software equalizer that boosts the mids and highs while simultaneously softening up the bass to prevent it from suppressing quieter sounds, such as footsteps of your enemies and distant gunfire. By doing so, everything except the bass essentially becomes significantly louder. Perhaps that can be beneficial in some games. Not the ones I play, though.

Take, for example, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. After activating Superhuman Hearing, I actually had a much harder time hearing someone walking on the floor above me or moving in the building adjacent to the one I'm in. That's because the game interprets such footsteps with a deep, bassy "thunk", which Superhuman Hearing effectively kills. Keep in mind you're also messing with the way the developers wanted the game to sound, and you're completely changing the lovely sound signature of the Stealth 450.

Your mileage may vary, though, so do assign the feature to a global hotkey (doable through the driver) and try it out.