Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX review: "A quality and great-value proposition"

Making revisions to popular pieces of technology can be a tricky business. Lucrative, sure – but tricky nonetheless. That's partly because hardware manufacturers can so often forget the fundamentals, or lose sight of what really matters when pursuing new feature sets. With that in mind, it's easy to see why the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max just works: much like its predecessors, this gaming headset is brilliant at the basics on a budget. 

If you already own a Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 and are trying to work out whether it's worth upgrading to the Max, you might want to hold off until you really need to. But if you're looking for your first gaming headset, or need to replace one without breaking the bank, then it's easy to recommend and could well be the best gaming headsets for you. With this investment you get what the Stealth series has offered players for years now: solid form and functionality, albeit now with some key quality-of-life improvements.

Design & features

Perhaps "quality of life improvements" is underselling the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max. If you're operating multiple consoles in your home, then it's difficult to overstate just how quickly the Max will change your life. I know that sounds hyperbolic, but being able to effortlessly connect this gaming headset to an Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and docked Nintendo Switch with the easy management of a USB transmitter is truly awesome.  This alone makes it worthy of being in the best wireless gaming headset conversation.

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For whatever reason, cross-console compatibility has been an endemic problem within the gaming headset market, and I certainly appreciate being able to so easily shift between different platforms with the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max – and without needing to conduct pairing rituals, or mess around with platform-specific Settings menus, every damn time. It's this improved functionality where the Max really sets itself apart from its predecessor, and it's a massive improvement on what came before. Some will complain about having to keep track of another USB dongle in their lives, but that's a small inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. 

Speaking of small inconveniences, don't you just hate it when you have to recharge your headset a couple of times a week? You won't have that problem with the Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max, with my testing supporting Turtle Beach's claims of a 48+ hour battery life. Whether I was using the headset to play lengthy gaming sessions, watch films on my laptop, listen to music on my phone, or just chat with friends while idling on the Xbox Series X dashboard, it was good to know that my me time wasn't about to be interrupted by a battery warning. It's a huge improvement over the 15 hours offered by the Stealth 600 Gen 2, and more than justifies the additional $50 that the Max will set you back.

Performance

It's worth celebrating the quality of life improvements here, because so little else has changed between the Max and its predecessor. We launched our Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 review back in 2020 and what we said then about the comfortability and quality of sound remains largely the same: this Turtle Beach headset is brilliant at the basics, but it isn't going to change your life. 

The Max is lightweight, though it lacks flexibility. The headband is comfortable enough, but some may find that it runs a little hot. The closed-back cups are of a decent size, but some will likely find that they sit a little too tightly over lengthy gaming sessions. Thankfully, the flip-out microphone returns – an economic design decision that helps the headset keep a low profile – and the clarity of voice chat is solid for a peripheral in this price bracket. 

The same can be said for the performance of the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max – it's really damn solid for a wireless headset of this price. The mix is balanced and the virtual surround sound is clear, helping to loosely discern player positioning in bustling multiplayer matches. I think some will no doubt yearn for deeper bass, and less throttling of the mids, but the sound profile is good enough to circumvent any major complaints. 

Should you buy the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX?

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max is one of the most attractive budget-to-mid-range wireless gaming headsets on the market, with its cross-platform functionality, solid quality of sound, and attractive battery life helping to nudge it ahead against its closest rivals within the price bracket. Some may wish for a little more weight in the sound profile, and flexibility with the headband, but those same complaints could be levied against the Max's predecessor. This is a revision that improves elements on the periphery, and it's all the more a quality and great-value proposition because of it. 

How we tested the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 MAX

The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max was tested over several weeks, and was used during lengthy play sessions, movie marathons, and opportunities to listen to music.

The Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max was used to play single-player games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Powerwash Simulator, as well as multiplayer experiences such as Halo Infinite and Diablo 3. I also tested the headset with Blu-ray movies and TV shows streaming over Disney Plus.

You can read more about how we test gaming headsets here, and more about our general approach to hardware in our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If you're looking to browse the big hitters of some other top brands then check out our rundowns of the best Razer headsets, and the best Sennheiser gaming headsets.