Turtle Beach Earforce Z60 DTS Headphone X Review

Introduction

Turtle Beach are one of the leading names in the gaming audio market. They’ve got one of the most recognisable brand names in gaming and they’ve built themselves a great reputation for providing gamers with a wide range of headsets that cover virtually all budgets and formats. The headset I have at my disposal today is targeted at the mid-market, with a very reasonable price tag of around £79.99. This isn’t so expensive that it’s into the premium grade, but still more than enough money that you’re going to be expecting a great range of features and solid performance.

The Z60 is designed to work with PC, as well as mobile platforms and comes equipped with a great range of features that should provide us with some impressive audio, or at least I’m hoping it does! The Z60 is the first headset on PC to utilize 7.1 channel DTS Headphone:X Surround Sound and it pushes this new virtual surround technology through a pair of powerful 60mm drivers.

The Z60 comes equipped with a detachable boom microphone, a USB controller with built-in soundcard for plug-and-play compatibility with desktop PC/MAC and a hard wired 3.5mm cable on the headset for plug-and-play mobile use.

The USB in-line controller is really nicely designed. Not only is this the DTS Headphone soundcard, but it features all the controls you could ever need in a compact unit. The game and chat audio are on separate control dials and there’s a dedicated microphone must switch on the side.

One of the cooler features, which I’m really looking forward to testing, would be the mode switch, which allows you to tailor the surround mix for different kinds of media, such as movies, music and gaming.

The microphone is fully detachable and has an adjustable boom to help you find the optimal speaking position. I really like detachable microphones as it’s not often I need one and it bugs me when it’s in front of your face and not being used.

The headset itself has a sleek and somewhat understated look. There’s a nice mixture of soft matte finish plastics and some glossy back covers on each of the drivers.

The headset is trimmed with a little bit of red detailing to help keep it looking a little bit interesting. There’s a thick foam padding on each ear cup and a very comfortable feeling fabric coating that will be very welcome during those long gaming sessions.

The headband is thick and durable to help keep the headset in place, but it’s also very light weight so that it doesn’t become bothersome during extended use.

The interior of each ear cup is big enough that the headset will fit over-the-ear. Combine this with the thick padding and the closed back design and you should find it very easy to get lost in the game world and block out virtually all external noise.

The side extenders lock firmly at each position and there’s a good range to each side; perfect for a wide range of head sizes.

Each ear cup can be rotated to lay flat, which is a lot more comfortable when you’re wearing the headset around your neck between games.

Overall, a very nice looking headset that avoids much of the garish flair we often see on gaming headsets. It feels durable, lightweight and initial impressions are that it’s very comfortable.