Turtle Beach’s Elite Pro line of gaming audio products carry a significant premium, but they’re justified by excellent build quality and performance, as seen in the Elite Pro Tactical Audio Controller (T.A.C.) mixing amp. The Elite Pro Tournament Headset also demonstrates this quite nicely. The $199.95 price tag is steep for a wired gaming headset, and Turtle Beach is downright stingy with the included accessories, but the headset’s supremely comfortable fit and fantastic sound more than make up for these deficiencies. It pushes past the Astro Gaming A40 TR as the best wired gaming headset available, and earning our Editors’ Choice.
Design
The Tournament Headset was clearly built to be Turtle Beach’s most high-end piece of gaming gear. The construction consists of both anodized black metal and solid-feeling matte black plastic for the headband and outsides of the earcups, and leather-covered memory foam for the large over-ear earpads. A secondary padded headband sits suspended under the main headband, presenting a tension-adjustable strip of fabric-covered memory foam for the top of the head. The result is one of the most comfortable gaming headsets or headphones I’ve tested. The supple leather and soft memory foam of the earcups in particular ensure that the unit can be worn for long periods of time without issue.
The boom mic plugs into a port on the left earcup, and can be removed, replaced, or simply flipped up out of the way. The mic is mounted on a thin, flexible metal arm that can be easily adjusted; it’s a nice mic, but you can upgrade the headset’s voice abilities with Turtle Beach’s $30 noise-canceling headset mic.
Connectivity and Accessories
The headset itself has no controls or attachments besides the boom mic and the short connector cable. Said cable extends only a few inches down from the bottom of the left earcup, where it terminates in a 2-inch black plastic tube with a proprietary audio connector inside. The connector is for the included headset cable, a 3-foot wire that terminates in a single four-pole plug for most game consoles and mobile devices. The tube helps ensure the cable is connected securely, both because of the tight fit it provides and because of a series of three slits on the side that, when a cable is correctly aligned, show a series of three orange stripes on the cable’s connector.
Besides the headset itself, the mic, and the cable, the Tournament Headset doesn’t include any accessories. A carrying case of some form and either a Y-splitter or a separate cable (options that are standard in wired headsets that cost a fraction as much as the Elite Pro) would have been nice. If you want a cable that terminates in two three-pole 3.5mm plugs instead of the single four-pole plug so you can use it with a PC or other device that has separate ports for headphones and microphone, you need to pick up the $30 noise-canceling mic, which includes the extra cable. You can also just spend a few dollars on a third-party Y-splitter, but requiring that is downright inexplicable for a high-end gaming headset. On the bright side, the Elite Pro T.A.C., Turtle Beach’s aforementioned $200 mixing amp accessory for the Elite Pro (and other gaming headsets), can work with just the headset’s default single four-pole connection.
Game Performance
Game audio sounds excellent on the Tournament Headset. I played the Nioh beta demo on the PlayStation 4 both with the T.A.C. and with the headset plugged directly into my DualShock 4 gamepad. While the T.A.C.’s Superhuman Hearing audio preset brought out more subtle sounds than a balanced response would, on its own the headset still presents a great deal of clarity and richness. The sounds of footsteps and wind rustling grass were both very crisp, and the low, ominous tone when an enemy noticed me was distinct against the game’s soundtrack.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes sounded similarly strong. Both information coming through my radio and the distant chatter of enemy soldiers were clear and easy to follow even against the steady sound of rain and the game’s low, sweeping background music. Gunfire also sounded distinct, along with every other sound effect.
Music Performance
The Tournament Headset is more than capable with music as well, offering performance comparable with that of dedicated music headphones around its price range, such as the Sennheiser HD 598. The frequency response isn’t as flat or studio-focused as the Sennheiser option, but the Elite Pro covers all frequencies with no noticeable holes or deficiencies, and just slight sculpting.
The acoustic guitar notes in the opening to Yes’ “Roundabout” are crisp and full, with the texture of the string plugs clearly present, and the electric bassline gets all of the presence it needs to stand in the front of the mix when it kicks in, without completely obscuring the sharp hits of the high-hat. Miles Davis’ “So What” sees similar balance, with the upright bass getting full, prominent low-end, but leaving just enough subtle crispness in the higher frequencies to let the details of the string vibration come through.
As for low end, while the Tournament Headset doesn’t produce overwhelming bass response, it thumps appreciably when playing our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” at maximum volume levels, and there’s not a hint of distortion.
Conclusions
Turtle Beach’s Elite Pro Tournament Headset offers fantastic audio quality and one of the most comfortable fits we’ve seen in this category. It’s an excellent headset that justifies its premium price tag. It’s just disappointing to see Turtle Beach be so stingy with accessories; for $200, a second cable or at least a Y-splitter should have been included. Despite this, the Elite Pro headset is a stellar piece of gaming audio gear, and earns our Editors’ Choice for high-end wired gaming headsets. If you want to save a bit of money and get wireless convenience, the Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum is another excellent headset that’s only a slight step back in comfort and build quality.
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Turtle Beach Elite Pro Tournament Headset
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