Thank you Turtle Beach for sending us these headphones to review!

Turtle Beach's Stealth 700 has traditionally been the most feature-filled headset of their lineup, and often the one which sounds the best, or close. I reviewed the Gen 2 and Gen 2 MAX, and found them to be excellent headsets that sound great with some standout features, though there was room for improvement. With the Stealth 700 Gen 3, they could have just improved this and that and called it a day. Instead, they offer the biggest feature set improvement between generations I've ever seen. There is one area which isn't necessarily better, but we'll get to that later.

In previous models like the Gen 2, there were Xbox and PlayStation/PC versions, though the MAX refresh added a switch to the Xbox version to support both when flipping a switch between the two modes. Then, you could also connect to a single device over Bluetooth; in this way you could hear both the console/PC via the USB dongle, and your mobile device via Bluetooth. This has been a tried and true combination, and was a big draw to their products. In 2024, Turtle Beach started to add Bluetooth to most of their product line, though with a simpler switch sources button, rather than hearing both simultaneously. When the Stealth 700 Gen 3 was announced, I expected more of the same, with improved comfort and design language like the rest of the line. What we received is far more than that, offering insane wireless connectivity.

Instead of just one USB wireless transmitter, perhaps with a mode switch to enable Xbox mode, the Gen 3 instead includes two separate USB transmitters. It's worth pointing out that if you don't often use an Xbox, buy the PC version, because it's supposed to have two USB dongles with the same features. I can't confirm this, as I have the Xbox version. With this version, one dongle is labeled 'Xbox', and the other ‘USB'. The USB dongle works on pretty much anything but Xbox, including PC/Mac/Linux (unofficially), PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and more. The Xbox dongle works on Xbox, Windows, and with a special driver, Linux (unofficially). The Xbox dongle is limited to 16-bit @ 48kHz, as it shows up as an Xbox controller. The USB dongle supports a bit higher quality audio, at 24-bit @ 48kHz. The PC version of the headset promises 24-bit @ 96kHz support, though I cannot confirm this. Whatever the case, you switch between the two dongles very quickly, at the press of a button on the back of the right ear cup.

So, the Stealth 700 Gen 3 supports connecting to two different devices at once via USB dongles. If this was all it did, that would be neat, and perhaps remarkable, but it's not all. It supports connecting via Bluetooth, at the same time as a dongle. I expected it to support connection to a single Bluetooth device, for a total of three devices connected. But, instead, this supports Bluetooth multi-device input! What this does is the headset connects to two Bluetooth devices at the same time, and while only one device can play audio at once, it instantly switches between the two without user input. So, this means you can connect to two devices via USB, and two devices via Bluetooth. All at the same time - which means four devices at once. This is absolutely unreal, and unlike any other headset I am aware of. This connection flexibility allows all kinds of use cases.

I have a day job that unfortunately is not Christ Centered Gamer. In my case, I work from home. I am fortunate enough to have a job where I login to remote servers, and my team is all across the country, so going to a local office is not required. I have a mobile phone, my personal desktop, and a work laptop. I also have a work phone, though thankfully I rarely have to worry about calls on it, though it does happen on rare occasion. Using this headset, I can connect to my work Mac via either USB or Bluetooth, my personal desktop PC via the Xbox dongle, and my phone using Bluetooth. Or, I could connect to my desktop PC via the USB dongle, my Xbox via the Xbox dongle, and my phone and Mac via Bluetooth. I could even connect to both phones with Bluetooth, my PC with the Xbox dongle, and my work Mac with the USB dongle. No matter what, this incredible flexibility is simply unmatched. And, all this without wires. Yes, you do have to switch between dongles with a button, but this is hardly a big inconvenience considering the functionality on offer.

It also helps that the Stealth 700 Gen 3 has three separate wheels; the one on the right cup controls Bluetooth input volume, and the top wheel on the left is dongle volume. The third wheel controls chat volume by default, and can be customized in software. This way, you can control the volume of everything, making it easy to decide what you want louder at a given time. It can adjust things like mic monitoring level, bass/treble boost level, and noise gate volume.

As for buttons, each ear cup has two. The right cup has the Bluetooth button used for pairing and play/pause when connected to Bluetooth sources, and the ever important dongle source switch button, used to switch between the Xbox and USB dongles. Interestingly, the active dongle will glow green or red (red for mic mute, green for mic on) and the inactive, or standby one will glow yellow. The left cup has the power button, and the mode button. The power button also enabled/disabled 'Superhuman Hearing', a Turtle Beach exclusive mode I don't care for. You can assign what the mode button does, but the options are limited; the default is cycling EQ modes, which I recommend. You can also use it to enable/disable noise gate, if you wish.

There is both a Windows and Android/iOS app, though for now, only the mobile app can update the firmware on the Xbox version of the Stealth 700 Gen 3. The features are largely the same, and you can set various sound modes, mute the microphone if flipping it up to do so is too cumbersome, adjust the sensitivity and monitoring levels, adjust the noise gate, set EQ modes for both the sound and microphone, and more. There is no shortage of features, and the app seems to work well enough. The only odd bug I ran into was needing to update the firmware on some of the other Turtle Beach headsets I was comparing it with, or Swarm II would crash. Odd, but not the fault of this headset, necessarily.

The build quality is comparable to the old model, with redesigned hinges that seem like they are likely to last longer. I like the new look, and the blue with copper accents is sharp, though black is probably more appropriate if I have to turn on my webcam for work. The headband adjustment no longer has a visible metal band, but it uses a thicker plastic band instead. The ear cup has a larger opening than the old one, which is great for my ear, and it's reasonably comfortable overall. Among Turtle Beach's headsets, I would give the Atlas Air the knod in comfort, among other things. But it's pretty comfortable overall, and feels fine to wear and hold. I do wish it had a place to store the multiple USB dongles, though, as if you lose one, you can no longer update the firmware. You need both plugged in to do so. I plan on attaching them both to the headset with velcro dots once I'm done reviewing them.

Now, to the big elephant in the room: How do they sound? Well, in my estimation, they sound good. But just good. They do not sound as good as the Atlas Air (my current reigning Turtle Beach headset champ), or even the previous model, the Stealth 700 Gen 2. However, the reason is somewhat complicated, because the issue with the sound isn't something most people would notice or care about. But if you are audiophile-enabled and know what good is supposed to sound like, then these will likely sound a bit off to you. That is the response both myself and a good friend of mine had when listening to them the first time.

The basic frequency response is the most important aspect of any headphone and how they sound. In this area, the Stealth 700 Gen 3 is fine. I personally bumped up the bass and mids a tiny bit, because the treble is a bit hot, but not obnoxiously so. Nothing is missing when listening to music or playing a game, and they don't lack in apparent detail, or high frequencies. Without a critical ear, they sound really good.

However, if you have a trained ear, something sounds off. I have a theory on what the issue is, but I can't prove it. So take it with a grain of salt.

This Stealth 700 Gen 3 is not the first set of headphones to use this Eclipse 60mm driver. The first set is actually the Recon 500, which I reviewed a few years back. In that review, I pointed out the benefits and challenges of such a design. Here is the excerpt:

"Next I would like to point out the new technology on display - the Eclipse 60mm dual drivers. Based on the diagrams and marketing, it is my guess that these drivers are fairly similar to concentric, or coaxial, drivers that some high-end speakers use, including several from manufacturers like KEF. In this case, the tweeter is located right where the dust cover for the woofer would normally go. You can see right in the earcup that in front of the center of the tweeter there is a dispersion circle, no doubt to keep it from being too shouty.

"The advantages of this design are several, but the main one in this use case is that it's small, and makes tuning the high and low frequencies much easier, and in a small space. One potential downside compared to a single driver is that the designer has to compensate for any potential phase or integration issues any time there is more than one driver, even if a concentric design does make some aspects of it easier. Phase or integration issues can lead to a 'busier', harder to pinpoint sound. Given the design here, I have no real way to know if this is a problem for this headset; all designs are tradeoffs. But given a larger driver's general inability to do treble frequencies well, I have no doubt that the small tweeter in the middle helps with that."

Given the price point of that headset, I assumed any perceived 'busyness' could have easily been because of an implementation detail for a relatively low-cost headphone. But with the Stealth 700 Gen 3 being $199.99, the gloves are off. I considered two possible causes of the odd echo, or busyness, in the sound of this headset. As someone who has modded headphones, I'm not unfamiliar with headphone tuning. I thought it might be possible it's the larger ear cup allowing a certain amount of echo, so I tried some smaller ear pads I have laying around, and that didn't help.

Some headphones have a similar problem with a single driver because they don't properly deal with the back wave of the driver. Every speaker radiates sound in both directions, forwards and backwards. What a headphone, or any speaker really, does with the rear radiation is important in making it sound clean and detailed. Most of the Turtle Beach headphones I've used (and taken apart!) have a unique design that does a great job managing the back wave. So I don't think that's the problem here. So, all that leaves me with is the Eclipse 60mm driver. As I said in the explanation earlier, it's likely an integration issue between the larger driver and the smaller tweeter. It's a shame; while I wouldn't call it a fatal flaw, in my hearing it's a flaw nonetheless.

While I may not love the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 for Xbox, I do like them a whole lot. They are comfortable, well-built, and the wireless connectivity, supporting a maximum of four devices, is better than anything I've seen before. Like all of TB's wireless headsets (save for the Atlas Air!), I do wish it had a 3.5mm input; that would make it perfect, on the input side. The Eclipse drivers are a mixed bag, with a good frequency response, along with an off-sounding treble that makes it hard to recommend for those who care about the best sound above all. Thankfully, Turtle Beach still sells the Atlas Air, so if you want great sound with good connectivity, we still have that. If you're listening, Turtle Beach, please make an Atlas Air Pro with the crazy connectivity this 700 Gen 3 offers, while keeping the fantastic sound quality of that model. Pretty please?

All of that to say, can I recommend the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3? For most non-discerning listeners who want the incredible connectivity and functionality on offer, absolutely. For those looking for the best sounding gaming headset of the year I've heard, I recommend checking out the Turtle Beach Atlas Air, if open back is an option for you. Otherwise, I'd recommend listening to them first and deciding for yourself. I am an audiophile, so I do indeed make mountains out of molehills. This is a good headset, it's just not great.