More and more often we as gamers get a bunch of new peripherals to help us enhance our gaming experience. The most consistently updated and offered peripheral at least in my view are gaming headphones. I see all types and of all kinds and from different manufacturers. For this review, it’s once again Turtle Beach. Yes, I am a fan of Turtle Beach as I am quite the consistent gamer and I love their affordability and what you get for the money you spend. So when I get an opportunity to review a new set, I jump on it. Last year I did a review on the Turtle Beach Stealth 700’s for the Xbox One (If you missed it check it out HERE) and I loved them, in fact I still use them. They were comfortable, wireless, had great sound and inexpensive. Much of what those headphones were the Stealth 300’s are now, except for the wires. Good thing is, Turtle Beach stayed true to what works and didn’t make any changes to their format in making quality headphones. The Stealth 300’s are just another representation of that and at just $79.99 you get good comfort and great sound for your PS4 or Xbox One.
Design and Comfort
The version of the Stealth 300’s that I have for this review are for the PS4. The color scheme is all black with blue accents (Xbox One version is Black with green accents). The design for these headphones are pretty much the standard for their gaming headphones in the Stealth series. Not much has changed in terms of the overall look but they do feel a bit light at 1.2 pounds and they’re still quite sturdy. The earcups are soft and have an isolated, closed design that give you an up close experience that bring you into the game when you play. These earcups are super comfortable on the Stealth 300’s with Turtle Beach going with memory foam as opposed to some second-rate generic foam. They’re tightly wrapped, super soft and the experience you’ll have with them is perfect for long hours of gaming. They won’t have you sweating like crazy and hot because that memory foam does a really good job of heat absorption and with it being summertime right now, that matters. Coupled with the headband, the 300’s give you a stable set of headphones that sit on your head without pressing downward into your head and without slipping, all while being pretty comfortable.
Wearing glasses
If you wear your headphones for long gaming sessions and you wear glasses then you know what that experience can be like. The Stealth 300’s have a solution. Turtle Beach’s ProSpecs Glasses Relief System technology on the Stealth 300’s help out with people like me who wear glasses. The ProSpecs system is not as complex as the name may imply. It’s simply just an added foam cushion that’s placed strategically onto the earcups that create more of a passthrough for people who wear glasses thus alleviating pressure when wearing your gaming cans for long hours. I can’t begin to tell you what it feels like to wear glasses and have on a pair of headphones for hours on end only for it to lead to a skull throbbing headache afterwards. With these headphones thankfully that drastically minimizes that feeling although you should get in the habit of taking breaks when wearing headphones for an extended period of time. Kudos to Turtle Beach for this one. I’ve avoided wearing certain gaming headphones completely for the glasses aspect alone.
Battery Life
Battery life on the Stealth 300’s to me is it’s best feature. Time after time we play our games and when we’re done we’re spent. We take off our headphones and hang them back up and we forget that out headphones need to be recharged. I’m so guilty of this. The Stealth 300’s have an expected battery life of 40 hours. That not too shabby. Of course, how you play your games in terms of volume, bass boost and all of the sound settings will ultimately determine how long you can play your game for on one charge but anything close to 40 hours is impressive. It gives you some extra time to remember to charge your headphones if by chance you forgot. It’s the worst thing to forget to charge your headphones when you’re ready to play and now have to use your cellphone earbuds to communicate if you’re running a raid in Destiny or playing Fortnite or PUBG. Not everyone has multiple sets of gaming cans so being able to hold a charge for a long period of time is a big plus.
Sound
Sound on the Stealth 300’s is why you would buy them in the first place. Sound quality on the Stealth 300’s is the feature that I would put slightly under the battery life but no less significant. Sound on these headphones are great. The Stealth 300’s pack 50mm drivers for big sound and a more broad sound for games where there is a lot going on. I’m a Destiny 2 player primarily and it’s important for me to be able to hear my fireteam members but also other sounds around me. The Stealth 300’s do a good job of not having to force me to turn up the volume too loud to compensate for weak drivers. The Bass Boost preset gives me the just the right amount of thump.
The microphone on the Stealth 300’s gives me the same mixed vibe that I got with the Stealth 700’s. Although the mic is crisp and clear when I speak. I really just hate the fact that it’s so short and compact. I know that TB tucked it away nicely for the sake of the aethestic and to ensure that it’s not easily broken off but for me it’s a nuisance thing, I like my mics to wrap around a little more and be somewhat adjustable, this mic being so short and fixed just bugs me a little bit but overall the mic sounds great to person on the other end. Function is not a problem. Sound and sound quality is not an issue here, it’s better than those of the Recon 200 and comparable to the Stealth 700’s and you are not able to use the Turtle Beach app for sound settings.
Final thoughts
Turtle Beach makes some of the best headphones in the gaming realm. They don’t fail and it’s always nice to able to get a set of gaming cans that not only sound good but look good and are comfortable. The Stealth 300 checks all of those boxes. There aren’t many negatives with these headphones. I only have two and one of them isn’t really a negative as much as it’s a preference. The short mic kinda bugs me and in the day and age of fewer or no wires, having a wired set of headphones can be a drawback, depending on who you ask. Not at all a dealbreaker though, some headphones have wires and some don’t. What you can appreciate is what you get for just $80. Great sounding headphones with attention to design detail and added comfort for everyone and those who wear glasses, like me. With the Stealth 300’s you get a solid pair of headphones that just remind why Turtle Beach is one of the best in the game. If you wanna pick up a pair of these you can head straight to Turtle Beach’s website HERE and get em.
