Turtle Beach Ear Force XO Four Gaming Headset Review

Performance

Setting up the headset was very straight forward, the documentation included did ask that you update the Xbox One to support the headset, but the console has been on the market for a while now and these updates had already been installed on the test system we used. It was as simple as connecting the hub to the controller and plugging in the headset to get things working as they should. The whole process took about two minutes from getting the headset out of the box.

After putting on the headset, the first thing I noticed is that it was pretty uncomfortable, the fit is super tight to the ear, enough to cause a little pain after 5-10 minutes of wear. This is due to the firm padding in the ear cups combined with the very strong head band that effectively clamps the headset to your head. Having previously owned headsets similar in design to this one, I was expecting the fit to be a little uncomfortable at first, it takes a bit of breaking in before the fit becomes comfortable and the headset will mould to your ears after a few hours use. Fortunately at time of writing I’ve actually had this headset for six weeks and as I suspected, 5+ hours of use and the headset is no longer uncomfortable, although it does still fit rather tight. The advantage of this tight fit is that the drivers are held close to your ear drums, giving you a very direct and punchy sound. The seal around your ears helps keep airflow restricted and provides better bass tones, while also working wonders at blocking out external noise, completely.

I fired up Forza 5 for a few rounds and immediately found favour with the large 50mm drivers, the bass is deep and detailed which adds an impressive wow effect to the engine noises. The rest of the soundscape it equally stunning, crystal clear highs and warm mid tones, no matter how chaotic things got. A few games on Battlefield 4 with a bit of party chat going proved equally successful for the headset, especially given that BF4 is known for its EQ boosts on the heavy bass notes of explosions, but the XO Four didn’t miss or distort a single beat. Having volume control over chat and gameplay is a big advantage too, as this allowed me to find the right balance for chatting while in team play, or to crank the game volume up when I wanted to enjoy every detail of the battlefield. The closeness of the drivers to your ears does mean that you lose some of larger soundscape of your environment, but in death match gameplay, or in-car views on games like Forza, you feel really involved with your immediate surroundings.

The microphone may not be anything special, but it’s certainly on par with just about everything else in this price range. Skype calls were crystal clear via Xbox One and the added bonus of being able to hook the headset directly into my phone worked without issue for both listening to music, or for taking calls via the XO Fours boom microphone.