Review: Turtle Beach Ear Force PX5 Wireless Headset

Few gaming peripherals possess the reassuring utility of a wireless headset.

Whether it's listening for the muffled footsteps of an enemy's approach or experiencing the frenetic whir of bullets whizzing by your virtual face, donning a decent pair of cans can bestow both a tactical advantage and plenty of added immersion. Midnight button mashers also get those all important sound-suppressing ear cups, invaluable for keeping relationships intact.

Turtle Beach's new Ear Force PX5 headset does all this and more. A lot more. While cosmetically, this latest Dolby 7.1-blessed iteration resembles the company's previous offering, the X41, once you fire it up you'll quickly discover all manner of shiny new bells and whistles. And the buttons... so many buttons.

The left and right ear cups alone are like love poems to a NASA mission control panel, with a large power button, an audio preset button, a volume control dial, an Xbox 360 voice chat plug, and a USB port for PC configuration of the former. You'll also get a Bluetooth volume control rocker, a mic mute button, a pairing button, and a mysterious button labeled "Main" on the right side – after some trial and error, I discovered this reverts you back to your primary audio preset. There are eight of those audio presets by the way (well, 13 counting Visceral Games new additions), and you have the ability to add even more based on your sonic predilections.

So yes, it actually takes some practice (and patience) learning each button's location and function. This is made slightly easier because the PX5 also happens to be quite chatty. The headset talks to you, informing you of key events like powering on, when you enter Bluetooth mode, and what audio preset selection you've made. You also get a warning for when your batteries are about to go belly up, which unfortunately is frequently.

Inside, the PX5 is armed with dual Bluetooth radios, 2.4-GHz wireless functionality, and a transmitter capable of processing Dolby Digital 7.1 audio streams.

As you might imagine, it's those dual Bluetooth radios that offer the most unique addition to the PX5 feature arsenal: The ability to connect to both your console and your cell phone simultaneously. That means adding your own personal soundtrack from your smartphone while Noob-tubing is a snap (I preferred "In the Hall of the Mountain King"). It also means you can take phone calls while solving murders in L.A. Noire. How's that for multitasking?

If you're feeling ambitious and/or nit-picky, you can even plug the headset into your PC and set up additional audio presets for use in specific games, as well as adjust mic levels for yourself or anyone else sharing the PX5.

Turtle Beach recently teamed up with the audio team from Visceral Games to create five additional presets (three for traditional story mode play-throughs and two for multiplayer). Combined with the company's Advanced Sound Editor, a piece of online software that lets you tweak sound signatures even more, it's a nice value add. I found myself quickly overwhelmed with what were, for me, needless sonic tinkering options. Not everyone will agree of course, but creating sound signatures for individual games and gaming modes was simply too much work. I'd rather be, you know, playing games.

Don't worry if you don't want to jump down the feature rabbit hole though, the default mic and audio settings are more than adequate on the PX5, providing clear voice chat capabilities for the Xbox 360, the PS3 and your Bluetooth-enabled phone.

As far sound and comfort are concerned, the Ear Force PX5 is unrivaled. As you'd expect from a headset aimed at gamers, it has a bit of a bass bias, but the mids and highs are also well represented. As I mentioned previously, you won't find it hard to find a sonic preset that suits you. For me, the "mid-boost" setting not only added some welcome vocal clarity to games, but also brought ambient sounds to the forefront.

Yet as much as the PX5 gets right, it's still a wireless headset. That means you'll get the occasional hissing and crackling during gameplay – especially if you place the base unit next to any 802.11 emitting devices like routers or (ahem) gaming consoles. Yes, given that the 2.4 GHz frequency is the same one that a/b/g/n run on, you may experience some interference depending the PX5's location. After I separated mine from the offending equipment, most of those sonic distractions faded away.

I was also left underwhelmed by the simulated 7.1 surround. In fact, the difference between and the 5.1 and 7.1 wasn't even noticeable. But you aren't buying the PX5 for 7.1 – or at least you shouldn't be.

Finally, be prepared to invest in some rechargeable batteries. The very thing that makes the PX5 stand out from other headsets (dual Bluetooth radios) is the same thing that makes it an unstoppable, unrepentant, battery eating machine. I got well below Turtle Beach's 15 hours of battery life – an unsatisfying 9 hours – although I was rocking the Bluetooth stereo and making more phones calls than any sane person normally would.

To be clear, none of these faults diminish the fact that the PX5 is arguably one of the best gaming headsets currently on the market. So if you're hunting for a pair of great sounding wireless cans that'll augment your gaming experience, answer your calls, and let you watch those Netflix movies in silence, look not further than the PX5. Sure, it's spendy. But can you really put a price on a gadget that (almost) eliminates the need to get off the couch?

WIRED Supreme comfort and great sound for epic gaming sessions, at least as long as the batteries last. A multi-tasking champ: lets you listen to your music, answer phone calls, and play your games on a single headset. Console agnostic (mostly) – works with the 360, PS3 and PC. Boom mic is removable and pleasingly flexible, perfect for flinging clear and unambiguous insults at your enemies.

TIRED Clunky (and frankly, unnecessary) software for adding more audio presets than you will ever use. Depressing battery life. Lackluster simulated 7.1 surround sound. Costs almost as much as your console.

Photos by Jon Snyder/Wired

See Also:- Ear Force: Portable Surround Sound System for Gamers

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