I’m about to candidly reveal to you that I’ve actively carried out a gaming cardinal sin: I’ve never bothered to use a headset. Unless a title has specifically stated that’s the only way I can play, or I’ve wanted to avoid disturbing another, I tend to crank the TV volume up high.
I’ve been a damn fool.
Sound is such an integral part of our video game experiences. When visuals perfectly marry together with audio, it’s a stunning union that heightens our playthrough. We’re moved by it. Regardless of the emotion we feel – sorrow, joy, excitement, fear – the combination of these two facets is why we feel the moment so intensely.
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I know this well. Not only because of my passion for games, but because I studied film and TV studies at university. I’ve written essays on the importance of soundtracks, as well as given presentations about the added immersion of non-diegetic sound. You’d think such knowledge would have made me wiser, but alas, I’ve continued on in ignorance.
Once I enveloped my ears in the comfortable embrace of the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Headset (Gen 3), I realised the error of my ways. Its spatial audio eclipsed me, helping to bring the fictional worlds I traverse to life. Every crunch of leaves underfoot, or the call of a companion on the battlefield, amplified my connection.
Listening to Lucanis flirt with you in Dragon Age: The Veilguard had never been sweeter
When I was reviewing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I used my headset for hours at a time. At first, it was out of necessity, for my partner would choose the most inopportune moment to start hoovering. But soon it became habitual because of how vivid my sense of immersion was. The outside world faded away as the sounds of Arlathan Forest or the eerie warble of the Fade came through in impeccable clarity.
It also made my time with Phasmophobia increasingly more jarring when a whisper of “mummy” sounded in my right ear. I almost broke my neck trying to turn fast enough to ensure someone wasn’t sitting beside me, yet I knew no one else was in the house except my sleeping partner upstairs.
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The only issue I have with this headset (and I use the term “issue” very loosely) is the fact that I can’t hear how loud I’m being when I’m running from a ghost, screaming for my life. Nor when I criticise my allies for telling me that an enemy is attacking but I can’t tell from which direction. It’s a comical experience for anyone not trying to sleep to prepare for an early shift the next day. Yet, I wouldn’t want the Stealth 700 (Gen 3) to allow random external noise to permeate my experience because of the disconnection it would create between me and my playthrough.
Connection to your console is seamless too, and thus I assume it is for PC users. I simply inserted the USB wireless transmitter into my PlayStation 5 and voilà, it connected. For those concerned you may lose said dongle, fear not, for Turtle Beach provides you with two. Obviously, it’ll prove difficult to use it for crossplay if you only have one to hand, but I’m planning for the eventuality of when one of them goes missing.
While I can’t comment on crossplay here due to the lack of a gaming PC, I can talk about the ingenious ability to listen to music via Bluetooth while your game audio remains unaffected. This isn’t an option I’ll choose often, mainly because I prefer listening to one or the other. Still, I appreciate not being forced to choose when I’m feeling especially indecisive.
I can’t think of a single element of the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 (Gen 3) I would change, except for its price. Retailing at £179.99, this isn’t for the casual gamer among you. Due to the continued strain that is the cost of living, far be it for me to downplay the price of something merely because it does its job well. How impeccable something is matters little when you have mouths to feed, including your own. Be that as it may, I will say this: you pay a pretty penny, yet each one you spend is worth it if you’re in the market for a new headset. It sounds like pure snobbery to say, “You get what you pay for”; unfortunately, that saying is very apt in this instance.
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A review sample was provided by Turtle Beach.