In our last we review, we covered the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX for Xbox Series X|S & Xbox One. The new MAX line of the Stealth 700 Gen 2 wireless headset featured twice the battery life, more features, and virtually universal compatibility across all current-gen gaming platforms. However, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 was not the only headset to get the MAX treatment. The new Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX for Xbox Series X|S & Xbox One is yet another wireless headset model touting a 48-hour battery life and expanded platform compatibility. The Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX comes in at a more affordable $129.99 price point while still offering the kind of audio quality and sound features that Turtle Beach is known for.
Let’s dive into the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX for Xbox Series X|S & Xbox One to see what $129.99 gets you.
A purchase of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX wireless headset comes with the headset, a 2.4 GHz USB Transmitter, and a USB-C to USB-A charging cable.
Build, Features and Comfort
The Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX houses 50mm speakers that are optimized for use with Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, DTS Headphone: X, and Sony 3D Audio for PS5. Design-wise, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX is quite similar to the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX. The headset matches the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX with its overall frame, logo placement, leatherette headband cushioning and foldaway mic design. However, this headset takes a different route from the Aerofit™ cooling gel-infused memory foam ear cushions. Here you have dual-foam cushioning under a mesh fabric skin. Turtle Beach’s ProSpecs technology is still in play here, where there is softer foam in the section of the cushions that encounter your glasses frames.
The foldaway mic along with all of the headset’s controls reside on the left ear cup. From the rear to the bottom of the ear cup, you have the game volume dial, a dual-purpose dial, a Mode button, the main power button and the USB-C charging port.
The mic on the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX flips down fully to open up and activate, and flips back up to mute. By default, when you unmute the mic, mic monitoring is active. This allows you to hear yourself as you speak so that you can avoid shouting during gameplay. When muting and unmuting, the headset plays informative beeps that help indicate when the mic changes between the two states. The USB transmitter also contributes to this feedback, illuminating it’s LED in green when the mic is active and flashing in red when the mic is muted.
Like with the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX’s USB transmitter has a switch that lets you toggle the headset between two connection modes. When the USB transmitter is set to Xbox, the transmitter offers full game and chat capabilities between the headset and the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S family of consoles. In this mode, the dual-purpose dial controls incoming voice chat volume. When the USB transmitter is set to USB, the headset can then be used on the PC, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. While in this mode, the dual-purpose dial then controls the intensity of the headset’s mic monitoring feature.
Moving onto the buttons, the Mode button toggles the sound presentation through four Turtle Beach EQ’s: Signature Sound, Bass Boost, Bass and Treble Boost, and Vocal Boost. The main power button turns the headset on and off when held down. However, quick presses activate and deactivate Turtle Beach’s Superhuman Hearing mode.
As far as comfort goes, Turtle Beach’s Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX is light, even more so than the already light Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX. The ProSpecs sections on the ear cup cushions coupled with the mesh skin of the cushions themselves allow this headset to play very nicely with glasses frames. Being of mesh and foam, the ear cushions are especially breathable, allowing the headset to be worn comfortably for long periods of time. I would use them for five hours straight without noticing any wearing fatigue whatsoever. On top of that, the controls are straight forward and easy to develop muscle memory for.
I was also impressed by the level of sound isolation I got from the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX’s foam and mesh ear cups. It was not near the level of isolation you get from leatherette cups or even the Aerofit cups seen in the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX. Being of mesh and foam, I did not expect that to be the case. However, the ear cups on the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX still do a pretty good job at isolating the headset’s sound.
Overall, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX sports a solid build.
Performance
The default sound presentation of the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX is the Signature Sound EQ. It is a good balance of highs, mids and lows. While sound does not come with the same kind of punch you get from the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX’s Nanoclear drivers, it is still a very solid sound. Enemy audio queues come through nice and clear while other ambient game sounds and background music are presented cleanly. Since I have a Dolby Atmos license, I was able to enhance the experience further with overhead sounds, completing the immersion. At its base, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX and its Signature Sound EQ is up to the task.
As for the other EQ’s, Bass Boost pulls back on the high and mid ranges while the low ranges get a bump. If you want to enhance the audio impact from gunshots, vehicle sounds and explosions, and you do not care too much about enemy audio queues like footsteps, this is the EQ for you. Vocal Boost pulls back on the high and low ranges allowing you to focus on spoken word. I was not sure what application this EQ has in gaming, so I did not experience too much time in this EQ. I felt the same about using the Bass and Treble Boost EQ in a gaming scenario. However, it played well in media consumption, like listening to music on YouTube. Bass is deepened and percussion sounds are crisper, making music-listening flourish with this EQ.
Superhuman Hearing continues to work as advertised with the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX. With a quick tap of the power button, sounds that are not associated with gunshots, gun reloads, or footsteps are significantly suppressed. While many of the accompanying game audio may not sound pretty, enemy positional sounds project especially clearly. Of course, this is the point.
In Apex Legends, I found myself toggling on Superhuman Hearing only when there were four teams or less left or when I thought I heard someone while I was looting. Otherwise, while I just roamed the map in relatively safer areas, I was happy with the sound I got from Signature Sound. Nevertheless, Superhuman Hearing continues to be handy as it helped me bag yet even more wins in Battle Royale matches.
The mic on the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX is like the mic on the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX, projecting your voice clearly and sharply to your teammates. However, it is a bit sensitive. More so, it does not have the Noise Gate feature found on the Stealth 700 Gen 2 MAX. So, whenever the mic was not muted, it projected my background sounds to my teammates, even when I was not talking. So, I made it my business to mute myself whenever possible to avoid presenting my teammates with the sounds of the streets.
Final Thoughts
While the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX’s mic is a bit more sensitive than I would like, I am still impressed by the sound presentation, platform compatibility and feature set of this headset. At $129.99, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX has a lot to offer to those not willing to make a $200 plunge. You get solid sound and a Superhuman Hearing feature that simply works. Having across the board compatibility with the bulk of current gen gaming platforms makes this $129.99 headset into a quite a deal.
If you have $130 to spend on a wireless gaming headset, the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX is a solid headset to consider. If you want to check out the Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX for yourself, you can do so by clicking here.
† As usual, there are no affiliate links contained within this post. We were provided a Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX for Xbox Series X|S & Xbox One headset for review purposes and were not compensated for this review.