Turtle Beach XP Seven Series headset review: a new era of tournament-grade gaming audio

Get out of your seat -- okay, you don't really have to do that. Turtle Beach, however, is certainly hoping its new headset won't have you stuck there. After months of teasing, it's finally here. This is the Seven Series, the company's first set officially bred for Major League Gaming tournaments. It's a contractual title that's already been bestowed upon Astro's well-performing Mixamp and A40 systems. But for Turtle Beach, this is a first: we've never seen the company go after a demographic quite this wide, one that demands not just cross-platform gaming support, but a design versatile enough for everyday listening.

The Seven Series lineup includes the computer-focused Z, the mobile-geared M and the cross-platform XP. For this review, we'll be focusing on the XP bundle ($280), which includes a headset, a virtual 5.1 surround-sound-enabling Audio Control Unit and a console adapter dubbed the Console Interface. (For the time being, those last two pieces won't be sold as standalone products.) While the headset itself might seem like the star of the show, in our eyes the ACU and CI offer the most exciting prospects. Together, they allow for virtual surround sound and voice chat with any set of wired headphones on any platform (much like the Mixamp) while also putting Turtle Beach's tried-and-tested custom audio presets at your fingertips. So what's it like to use? Join us past the break where we'll lay it all out.

Gallery: Turtle Beach XP Seven Series headset review

Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio/Video

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