Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X Gaming Headphones Review

Manufacturer Description:

“No controller adapters, no cables, just completely Wireless, DTS Headphone: X 7.1 Channel Surround Sound that puts you in the center of the action. Designed for Xbox One, the powerful Ear Force Stealth 500X delivers incredible interference-free wireless audio and chat complete with Mic Monitoring through a comfortable, functional headset design with up to 15 hours per charge. DTS Surround Sound Modes with genre-specific presets for music, movies and games further customize your listening experience. The Stealth 500X also includes a mobile cable for mobile gaming, music and movies anywhere you choose.”

Manufacturer’s Specification:

• Headset Power: Battery: Rechargeable Battery (up to 10 hrs)
• Console Chat Connection: USB
• Audio Connection: Optical
• Mobile Devices: 3.5 mm
• Digital Signal Processor: Digital Signal Processor for independently controlled chat, game and mic signals
• Audio mute: Audio mutes automatically when carrier signal is lost
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Polymer
• Shut down: Automatic shut down after approx 10 minutes of carrier loss or silence to conserve battery power
• Weight: 11.3 oz
• Speaker Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Battery life: >10 Hours
• Digital Wireless RF wireless carrier reception: 5 GHz
• Speaker Impedance: 32 ohms
• Earcup Design: Around-Ear (Closed)
• Microphone Design: Removable Omni-Directional Microphone
• Speakers: 50 mm with Neodymium Magnets
• Audio input: Optical TOSLINK digital audio input compatible with 48kHz digital audio stream
• Audio output: Optical TOSLINK digital audio output pass-through of digital input stream
• Digital Wireless RF wireless carrier transmission: 5 GHz
• Cable Length: 6 ft/1.82 m
• Chat/Mic Input/Output: USB
• Surround Sound Processing: DTS Headphone:X 7.1
• Wireless Connection: RF with Intelligent Channel Hopping
• Wireless Range: Up to 30ft
• Power: USB

Design:

Much like the Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500P, the Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X shares the same design aspect. Focusing on wireless entertainment, this particular brand of headphones offers superior surround sound performance sans the wires.

The headphones are well-built, which fits comfortably on my head. Each ear cup has its own set of controls, with the left ear cup housing the microphone and volume controls, and the right ear cup housing the surround and the preset buttons. There is also a separate volume control for both game and chat along with various levels of microphone monitoring.

The outer design is made from matte and glossy finishes sporting the black and green color scheme, matching the colors of the Xbox One (if you have the original black-colored console).

Setup:

The Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X would require you to plug in the headset by running an optical cable from the console to the receiver which you will need to plug on the Xbox One’s USB port. That’s just the physical part, once set up you would need to configure the audio options on your Xbox One as well to get the best possible sound output.

Problem is that the USB ports on the Xbox One are located at the back with another one located on the side. I don’t have much space on the side and rear of my console hence placing the USB receiver can be quite of a hassle. I’d prefer it if was like on the PlayStation 4, where the USB slots are located on the front.

The 3.5 mm audio cable support allows the Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X to be used on other peripherals as well, even the PlayStation 4 – though it only works on stereo mode and will lack the surround effects that make it so great.

You can also download the Ear Force Audio Hub application for Windows that will let you load various presets that you can place on the headset depending on where you will use it. This includes specific presets for various games. One preset I tried was specifically for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Performance:

Utilizing on the DTS Headphone:X virtual 7.1 surround sound feature, the Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X allows you to choose various modes that would suit your listening style: Game, Movie, Music and Stereo. Each of these presets have their own sub-sound options as well: natural sound, bass boost, bass and treble boost and vocal boost. These options were provided so you can freely choose what mode you want to listen to when using the headset.

I enjoyed the Game mode as the best among the presets, even while watching movies or listening to other tunes. Bass is more emphasized, yet it is not overwhelming and offers just the right amount of Low Frequency Effect.

Despite some hurdles while operating the headset (there is no way know which surround preset is activated), the Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X excellent audio output for games. Bullets fly through my rear and sides for action games and creepy atmospheric sounds emulate when I play a horror game.

Supplied Accessories:

• Guide: Quick Start Guide, Preset Reference
• Ear Force Stealth 500X Headset
• Ear Force Stealth 500X Wireless Transmitter
• Turtle Beach Sticker
• Removable Microphone
• Cables: Mobile Cable, Digital Optical Cable (6 ft), USB Charging Cable (2 ft)

Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Comfortable build
• Excellent surround audio output

Cons

• Configuring presets can be a hassle since you need a Windows PC

Conclusion:

The Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth 500X wins our hearts (or ears for that matter) as one of the best performing gaming headsets out there. The price might be on the premium side, but its performance is definitely worth it. It ranks up as one of the most comfortable and excellent sounding headsets we’ve tested.