Turtle Beach always keeps their lineup fresh with new updates to their headphone line up or refreshes overall to their existing lineup. I have a personal preference for Turtle Beach and inexpensive headphones. I will occasionally use expensive gaming cans, but if expensive isn’t for you and you’re in the market for a new set of headphones that won’t break your wallet then Turtle Beach has got you covered with the Recon 70 gaming headphones.
I’ve always said that inexpensive doesn’t mean cheap. It’s true especially nowadays. You can go a long way for very little money. Turtle Beach does a really good job of giving you a lot for very little. The Recon 70’s are only $40 and while I don’t expect much from a set of gaming cans that cost $40, I was pleasantly surprised by the Recon 70’s.
DESIGN, FIT & SOUND
The design of the Recon 70 is a kind of an Elite Atlas headset on a diet. You can see where the design inspiration comes from. The Recon 70’s of course are much more scaled back and plasticky. Not a bad thing, it’s actually what a gaming headset would like in most people’s minds. I have the PS4 variant which is black with blue accents.
The Recon 70’s are lightweight but hefty, meaning they don’t feel cheap. The headband is a bit snug and the padding isn’t ideal for long hours of gaming but my expectations were reasonable. Same thing applies to the earcups, they’re fairly comfortable good for gaming since they fit pretty snug to your face but over time that comfort will wear off a bit and you’ll have to rest your ears. If there was a little more padding these cans with would be that much better but it’s not a deal breaker. You can just adjust them a little bit by sliding the earcups up and down and you can get to a pretty good comfort level with these headphones. It’s trial and error. Comfort aside, “How do these cans sound?”
Sound on the Recon 70’s are not bad. They sound just as good as or better than what you would expect gaming headphones at this price point to sound like. I hate to keep bringing up the fact that headphones are $40 because it seems as if I’m discrediting these headphones it’s actually quite the opposite. They’re better than I thought. I personally go back and forth between the Elite Atlas and and the Elite Pro 2’s with Pro Amp but sometimes I just want to game without all of the complexities of setting up my audio profile. The Recon 70’s are plug and play. Right into my PS4 controller and I got audio.
The Recon 70’s have 40mm drivers within those earcups and the sound is pretty good for what the Recon’s are. Playing the Division 2, Destiny 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3 was a nice experience. Some games have a variety of sounds mashed together but the games I play all the time were handled well on the Recon 70’s. My gunshots and bombs had pop in the Division 2 as well as in Destiny 2. Background noises and voices weren’t lost or muffled and I was able to play my game with solid and immersive audio every time. Explosions didn’t sound bass-less and clock radio like so that was a plus. The surround sound isn’t that great but it’s doable, it works in the most basic sense. If you don’t have to use it, try not to. Multiplayer audio? Pretty damn good. Talking to my friends while playing complex games was a breeze and seamless experience, I sounded like myself and not like a much younger or older version of myself on the mic. I was crisp and clear and my friends too.
The volume control is on the side of the earcups and the microphone is just a flipdown that isn’t detachable but it works just fine. Nothing to tinker with, no additional settings, no apps. Simplicity is what you get with the Recon 70’s and it keeps gaming sessions smooth
SHOULD YOU BUY EM?
The Recon 70’s offer a really solid price point and an overall clean look at just $40 bucks. That’s a hard bargain to just gloss over. For the money, I got some pretty good sound, really good mic audio and a nice clean looking set of gaming cans. There’s no doubt that you’ll feel pretty good about this pick up. The Recon 70’s aren’t the most comfortable or even the best suited for long hours of gaming but it’s a tradeoff that you should be fine with. It’s always good to stop and take a break anyway. You can get the Recon 70’s for the PS4 and there is a variant for the Xbox crowd and the Switch crowd so nobody is left out and yes, you can use it for PC gaming as well. There are also quite a few dope colorways so you got options. If you’re interested you can pick up a pair HERE
