Turtle Beach vs ASTRO (2021): Which Brand Should You Buy Your Next Wireless Gaming Headset From?

When it comes to gaming headsets, it’s hard to go wrong with Turtle Beach and ASTRO. After all, their cans have an excellent price-to-quality ratio. The question is, which one can give you a better bang for your buck?

On that note, we compare the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 and ASTRO A20, two popular wireless models at a similar price point with comparable specs. In short, putting them side by side should give you a better idea overall of what each brand can bring to the table.

Turtle Beach vs ASTRO Comparison Chart

Design and Comfort

Arguably, the Stealth 600 looks a lot better than the A20.

Once you see them, the first thing you’ll likely notice is the two are unmistakably gaming headsets. That’s a good thing, if you’re into the whole gamer aesthetic. However, they look wildly different from each other.

First off, the Stealth 600 sports smooth rounded corners that make it sleek and somewhat passable as an “ordinary” premium headset. Meanwhile, the A20 is blocky, making it stick out but in a bad way. But at the end of the day, design is still subjective.

Both are comfortable in their own right. The Stealth 600’s cushioning is even made to accommodate glasses, but the A20’s memory foam gives it a slight advantage on this front.

Performance

The A20 sounds better than the Stealth 600.

The two have a frequency response that ranges from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and the difference is the Stealth 600 has larger 50 mm neodymium drivers than the A20’s 40 mm counterpart.

Now the Stealth 600 has bass boost, and yet it delivers a pretty balanced performance. In other words, it has the accuracy and clarity for games and music. On the other hand, the A20 lacks a bit of oomph in the bass department, but it has the better sound quality in general, despite having smaller drivers.

In gaming, the Stealth 600 has a few features that up the ante. For starters, it has what Turtle Beach calls Superhuman Hearing, which basically gives more emphasis on subtle sounds, such as footsteps.

Last but not least, the two have decent virtual surround sound and a chat and in-game audio balancer, so there’s that.

Battery Life and Connectivity

Both are rated to last up to 15 hours on a single charge at the very least.

In terms of battery life, the two are more or less equal. They’re both said to go up to 15 hours before needing a recharge. Neither has much of a problem living up to that, but needless to say, that really depends on how they’re used.

Connectivity is where their difference becomes clear. For example, the Stealth 600 for the Xbox One uses an Xbox Wireless direct connection, meaning you won’t need a dongle or anything along those lines. The trade-off is you’ll need an Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows if you want to use it for the PC. In contrast, the A20 uses a transmitter for pairing, so you’ll be using a peripheral right off the bat.

Verdict

Neither one really blows the other out of the water.

Based on this comparison, it’s safe to say that Turtle Beach focuses not only on aesthetics but also on features, while ASTRO centers more on raw performance.

Between the headsets, it’s a really close match, and there’s no clear winner here. To help you decide, just take this into consideration: The Stealth 600 has more features and arguably better design and connectivity, and it’s more affordable to boot. In comparison, the A20 has the better comfort and sound quality. However, the differences aren’t big enough to be meaningful. Really, the takeaway is they’re proof you don’t have to break the bank to get a quality pair of wireless gaming headsets.

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