I’m an enormous fan of the ultra-lightweight headsets that make up the RIG model. I’ve been utilizing them for a very good few years, and by no means fail to marvel on the sheer weightlessness that they provide. Even after being taken over by NACON a few years again, it’s that feathery nature that continues to be RIG’s USP.
However now Turtle Seaside are muscling in on that sector of the market, delivering their very own ultra-lightweight headset to the plenty. It comes within the type of the Turtle Seaside Stealth 500 Headset, Designed for Xbox.
A light-weight Turtle Seaside headset
Regardless of for those who’re a gaming veteran or are comparatively new to the scene, for those who play video games, you’ll know of Turtle Seaside. They’ve obtained a ton of headsets accessible throughout the market, every masking its personal little area of interest part. There are a budget ones, the mid-rangers and the absolutely pimped out hyper-expensive choices. It signifies that Turtle Seaside has your again it doesn’t matter what you’re after. However I don’t suppose that they’ve ever created a headset that’s so light-weight in all of their time. In reality, it’s so mild that selecting up the field will confuse you as as to whether there’s something really inside…
The Turtle Seaside Stealth 500 headset is an effective wanting factor. All black in color, it’s unmistakably Turtle Seaside. And that’s not simply due to the daring silver lettering that adores the outer sides of every earcup. It seems like a high quality product in hand, regardless of that mild nature, and also you’ll haven’t any points with sticking this one in your head for hours at a time. Once more, that 232 gram weight just about calls for you achieve this.
Working a suspension-styled materials headband on the underside of the plastic skeletal body, adjustment of the Stealth 500 is easy, operating an analogous path to the overwhelming majority of different headsets that don’t have slidable bands. As an alternative, a pull and push notch association lets you shift the five hundred by numerous measurement ratios, making certain that it ought to be good for becoming to plenty of head sorts. And the very best factor about that system? When you’ve obtained it arrange the way you prefer it, there isn’t any want for any adjustments to the fitment, leaving you protected within the information that each single time you chuck this in your head, it’ll be good.
Reminiscence-foamed earcups
Every of the earcups then feed properly off the underside of the scarf, aesthetically pleasing as they match however nonetheless permit a little bit of motion. These oval cups match absolutely over your ears too, encasing issues to make sure that each single little little bit of audio that’s pushed by the 40mm drivers goes the place it must – into your ear canal. Pleather cushioning with an entire ton of squidge and reminiscence foam sponginess ensures some excellent consolation too. And properly, that cushioning is kind of deep, and at no level have we ever felt our ears pushing towards the drivers inside. That will look like a small level, however it’s one thing many gaming headsets get mistaken… In reality, comfort-wise, the Stealth 500 is about nearly as good as you will get.
From there, the controls are all located on the left cup, together with a flip-to-mute mic that’s good. There’s zero room for flexibility with this mic, and you might suppose that originally it appears a bit quick in size, however we’ve had no complaints with it in use; teammates and colleagues more than pleased with the way it delivers tones. You’d not anticipate something in any other case from Turtle Seaside although.
A few properly positioned quantity dials permit simple modification of each the grasp quantity and that of some sport/chat balancing, with appreciation being given to Turtle Seaside for splitting these onto two separate dials. Maybe it could have been good to have some notches on these to permit simple dialling in, however it’s no huge deal actually. Round these controls, sitting on the identical cup are a ton of different buttons – energy (clearly) which doubles as much as swap on Turtle Seaside’ Superhuman Mode, an EQ button, Bluetooth button and Fast Switcher, as you shift from Bluetooth to wi-fi and again once more.
Bluetooth or Wi-fi
Out of the field the Turtle Seaside Stealth 500 Headset will deal with audio from plenty of sources, whether or not by way of built-in Bluetooth (good for cell phones), or by the included USB-A dongle (Xbox, PlayStation or Change). That dongle is tiny too, a lot smaller than many we now have used over time, and by plugging it into the console of your selection, you’ll be capable of utilise the two.4GHZ wi-fi capabilities of the Stealth 500. It’s actually the way in which to go too, with a low-latency promise making certain that we’ve witnessed nothing however immediacy with our audio by Xbox Collection X|S.
That’s important too, as any type of audio lag while gaming generally is a killer – actually so relying on the video games that you just play. For us, we’re not often discovered frequenting the cut-throat world of a web based a number of shooter, or equally fast-paced video games, however have discovered the Stealth 500 to be greater than up for the job by plenty of racers (The Crew Motorfest, principally), some multiplayer golf by Golf With Your Mates and extra slower-paced puzzlers. And once more, as a result of mild nature we’ve discovered ourselves carrying this for nights on finish, pleased with every part delivered.
We also needs to point out the audio high quality, which, as anticipated from Turtle Seaside, is great. The Stealth 500 delivers wealthy, deep audio that matches completely with our most well-liked soundscapes. It additionally will get lots loud, making certain full immersion, while there’s little or no leakage out the opposite means; these cups creating a stunning seal to make sure you can swap off from the surface world.
It’s additionally able to powering by these nights like there isn’t any tomorrow. We usually don’t observe battery life, relying as a substitute on intestine feeling. And this headset undoubtedly delivers. Turtle Seaside promise some 40-hours of battery life earlier than requiring a success of cost by USB-C (a really quick cable included within the field, however principally simply use any USB-C cable you’ve got kicking round), and we predict they’re just about on the cash there. We’ve actually not discovered ourselves struggling to repeatedly seize for this headset.
What’s to not like?
So what’s there to not like in regards to the Turtle Seaside Stealth 500 Headset for Xbox?
Effectively, we’d a lot want to not have to make use of a dongle for wi-fi connectivity, and would love Turtle Seaside to get some full Xbox integration in place to liberate a valuable USB-A port on console. And it have to be stated that preliminary setup has been a bit flakey, requiring a full console reset and a few fiddling round to be able to get the dongle to pair up with the headset. These frustrations are lengthy previously, however we’ll admit it was an early concern. And albeit, getting linked to Turtle Seaside’s Swarm Android App has been nothing however a problem.
Since that point, connection has been strong, however other than that, we’d have additionally most well-liked among the buttons and controls to be break up throughout each cups. There’s nothing mistaken per se with how they’re arrange on Stealth 500, however it may often really feel a bit cluttered.
The construct does have a considerably plasticky really feel, which is a trade-off for the light-weight design. Nevertheless, contemplating the load, value, and Turtle Seaside’s repute for high quality audio, this headset affords wonderful worth. Whereas we’re not about to ditch our beloved SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X Wi-fi headset or Turtle Seaside’s personal Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX for the Stealth 500 as our essential headset, it’s a improbable possibility for informal gaming classes.
The place to purchase the Turtle Seaside Stealth 500 Headset for Xbox
Big thanks exit to Turtle Seaside for offering the Stealth 500 Headset for evaluation. Hit up Turtle Seaside direct to get a unit for your self. You must anticipate to pay £80 or much less.
