Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 SuperAmp Headphones Review

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 headset looks and feels premium. They have essentially the same design as the Turtle Beach Elite Atlas. It comes in black for PS4 or white for Xbox One, but both are compatible with PC/Mac. The headset has large ear cups with a metallic headband. There are also magnetic plates on the ear cups that are swappable, so you can design the headset to your liking. They have thick earpads and come with a sleek-looking amp to put on your desk. These headphones were designed for gaming and their looks show it.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 are very comfortable headphones. Just like the Turtle Beach Elite Atlas, they can be a little tight on some heads, but for most, the thick pads deliver a comfortable enough experience for long gaming sessions. The pads are decently breathable and the cups are deep, so your ears shouldn't touch the drivers. The headband is well-padded and decently flexible, which supports the weight of the headphones. However, some people may not feel an air-tight fit, as some gaps can be created by the large cups.

The controls are simple but effective. The volume wheel on the amp is satisfactory to use thanks to small clicks when raising or reducing the volume. However, the in-line remote on the cable is dedicated to only a mic-mute switch, without any other controls. On the upside, all controls are easy-to-use, and the feedback is good. Unfortunately, some controls are only accessible from the Audio Hub app, which isn’t the best for console players since you can only access it on your phone. The Audio Hub on PC/Mac acts like any other gaming software like SteelSeries Engine or Logitech Gaming Software, but you can also use your phone if you want. Unfortunately, although the DAC/Amp adds an extra level of control, it isn't as good as the SteelSeries Arctis Pro GameDAC.

This headset has a poor breathability performance. It will make your ears fairly warm after long gaming sessions and were not designed for workouts. Closed-back over-ear headphones trap heat inside the ear cups and there isn't much airflow. The leather pads also aren’t as breathable as the slightly porous pads on the Logitech G433 or Astro A50 Gen 3 Wireless 2017. The warmth shouldn’t be too much of a problem if you take breaks from time to time, allowing the ears to cool off a bit.

Like most gaming headphones, the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 are not very portable. They're bulky with large ear cups, making it difficult to carry them anywhere you go. They do however lay flat thanks to pivoting ear cups. Unfortunately, they don't come with a case, which is disappointing. On the upside, you can use them wired with the 1/8"TRRS audio cable without the SuperAmp which makes them a bit more portable.

These headphones don't come with a case or a pouch.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a good build quality that feels sturdy. The full metal headband and the thick plastic build make the headphones feel solid and they should survive a few drops without too much damage. Even the detachable microphone feels well-made and malleable. The earpads and cup backplates are held by magnets, so if you drop the headphones they can simply come off, and it reduces the risk of them breaking on impact. However, the size adjustment sliders are made from plastic and could be the weakest point of this headset.

This headset isn't for physical activity and shouldn’t be used for running. The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 headphones are bulky and were designed for gaming in a stationary position. They're tight enough on your head to not fall at any movement and you shouldn't have any issues while gaming. However, they're also not wireless, meaning the cable can get stuck on something and pull the headphones off your head. On the upside, the cable is detachable.

• Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 headphones
• SuperAmp
• Detachable microphone
• 1/8" TRS cable
• USB cable
• Optical cable
• Manuals

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a sub-par frequency response consistency. In the bass range, they show more than 6dB of variance across our human subjects, which is quite significant. However, in the treble range, their delivery is decently consistent across multiple positions/re-seats.

The bass of the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 is great. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is excellent. The response throughout the range is even and flat but consistently overemphasized by about 2dB. This makes the bass slightly heavy, but without sounding too boomy or muddy. Also, their bass delivery varies significantly across users, and is sensitive to the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. The response here represents the average bass response and your experience may vary.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a very good mid-range. The 5dB dip in low-mid makes vocals and lead instruments a tad thin, but it will also create more room for the thump and rumble of the bass to come through. Mid-mid and high-mid are flat and even, which is important for producing well-balanced and clear vocals and instruments.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have an above-average treble performance. The response up to 4kHz is even and well-balanced, but the 10dB dip at 5kHz could negatively affect the presence and detail of vocals and lead instruments. The sharp peak around 9kHz means the sibilants (S and T sounds) could sound a bit sharp and piercing on certain tracks. This will mostly be noticeable on vocals and cymbals.

The imaging performance is excellent. The weighted group delay is at 0.23, which is quite low. The GD graph also shows that the entire group delay response is below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our test unit were very well-matched, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (instruments, voices, footsteps), in the stereo image.

The soundstage performance of the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 is poor. The PRTF graph shows some pinna interaction, but the resonances that are activated are not accurate and therefore won't result in a large and natural soundstage. Also, the closed-back design means that these headphones won't sound as open and spacious as open-back headphones.

The isolation performance is sub-par. These closed-back headphones don't have ANC (active noise cancelling), and therefore don't provide any noticeable isolation in the bass range. This means they'll let in all the rumble and low-frequency noises like the sound of airplane and bus engines. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they achieve 10dB of isolation, which is decent. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, and computer fans, they provide 26dB of isolation, which is above-average.

The leakage performance of the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 is sub-par. A significant portion of their leakage is between 300Hz and 5KHz, which is a broad range. The overall level of the leakage is also moderately loud. With the music at 100db SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 47dB SPL and peaks at 65dB SPL, which is noticeably louder than the noise floor of an average office.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a great boom microphone. In quiet environments, speech recorded or transmitted with this mic sounds full-bodied, relatively detailed, and intelligible. In noisy situations, it can separate speech from background noise to a great degree even in very demanding situations, like a gaming competition.

The boom microphone has a great recording quality. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 92Hz results in a recorded/transmitted speech that sounds full-bodied. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 7.6KHz results in a speech that is clear, intelligible, and relatively detailed, but may lack some airiness. The response between the LFE and HFE points is even but shows a 5dB bump around 4KHz. This makes speech a little bit bright sounding, which is good for cutting through game audio and sound effects, but also means that this microphone doesn't sound quite neutral.

The microphone is great at noise handling. It achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 39dB SPL in our SpNR test, indicating it's capable of separating speech from ambient noise to a great degree in almost all environments.

Even if they have a Bluetooth connection, they can only be used if the headphones are wired to the amp. This means they don't have a battery to use the headset wirelessly.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 are compatible with the Turtle Beach Audio Hub software that offers EQ presets, mic monitoring, noise gate, chat boost, and surround sound settings. It’s also available on mobile devices since these headphones are Bluetooth compatible. Unfortunately, it isn’t as customizable as the SteelSeries Engine due to the lack of a parametric equalizer. For console players, you'll only get access to certain settings and controls on the app, meaning you'll need to make those changes on your phone. For PC gamers, the Audio Hub will act like any gaming software; you will have direct access on your PC, but also your phone. However, we didn't manage to get the headset to work with the software on PC or Mac.

Unlike the SteelSeries Arctis Pro GameDAC, the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a Bluetooth-compatible DAC/Amp that allows you to mix and control audio from your phone while gaming. Unfortunately, it does not support NFC and the SuperAmp itself is not compatible via Bluetooth with the PS4 or Xbox One. Even if this headset has a Bluetooth score, they can't be used wirelessly in any way. The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a wired connection, so they practically don’t have any latency, which is great for watching movies and obviously, gaming.

Update 01/20/2021: We've fixed the Wired Latency that was previously showing as N/A. Since these headphones are on an old test bench, we simply put 0ms latency via TRRS to fix the Wired Gaming score, which was too low and greyed out. We couldn't retest the latency via USB as our methodology has changed on Test Bench 1.4. We expect it to be higher than the TRRS connector, but you still shouldn't notice any delay when playing games.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 have a wired connection that goes to the amp, and then to the gaming console. The amp serves as a volume knob as well. You'll need to buy the right version of this headset for your console, but both models are compatible with PC/Mac. If you don't need the amp, consider the similarly designed Turtle Beach Elite Atlas which may offer a better value for most users unless you really need the Bluetooth connectivity of the SuperAmp.

The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 come with the SuperAmp that is connected via USB to the console, but with a 1/8” TRRS audio cable to the headset. It also comes with an optical cable for compatible platforms. The SuperAmp is fully compatible with the PS4 (audio and mic) but you will have to purchase the Xbox One variant if you want it to work with the Xbox. However, you can use them without the SuperAmp and just have them connected via the 1/8"TRRS audio cable to have mic and audio support for both consoles. For a dock with more control options and inputs, take a look at the Astro A40 2019.