One of the more interesting features of the Wii U is that someone can use the GamePad to play games while someone else does something completely different on the TV. This is a terrific feature if you have kids; but what about the fact that you may not want the sound from the GamePad interfering with anything else in the room. Enter the Ear Force NLa headphones from Turtle Beach.
Priced at a reasonable $30.00, The NLa headphones are an on-the-ear type of design with ear cups that twist for comfort if you want to wear them around your neck. The NLa’s connect simply to the headphone jack found on the top of the Wii U’s GamePad controller. This makes setup super quick with no need to hook up power or fumble around the on the back of your console with any digital optical ports. The headphones can also be used for the 3DS which is an added value, or any other mobile device for that matter.
In my review about the Ear Force Kilos I was critical of their build quality as compared to their price point. For $50 less here you are getting nearly the same build quality with the NLa’s. The differences are that there is a bit less padding on the part that touches the top of your head, 40mm speaker drivers, and the ear cups are just foam instead of the leatherette used on some of Turtle Beach’s over-the-ear designs. Even though it is touted on the packaging, this design allows for very little sound isolation. These are acceptable compromises for the price though.
In addition to Turtle Beach’s own branding on the ear cups there are subtle Wii U trademarks on the headband. Similar to other Turtle Beach headsets the microphone, which cannot be removed, tucks neatly up along the lines of the headband when not in use.  You can actually use the NLa as a hands free headset for your mobile phone if you are so inclined. Whether you are using it with your phone or to play games on the Wii U, the microphone needs to be pretty close to your mouth in order to get the best voice quality. In my testing with the microphone situated further away from my face the voice quality wasn’t reduced, it was just a lot quieter.
For a combination of headphones and a microphone that costs $30 the fidelity of the sound is pretty good. That being said, the bass is really lacking here and this fact is made even more pronounced coming off of reviewing the Kilo headset, which features a built in bass boost. The games in my Wii U library aren’t the most taxing when it comes to sound, those games being Super Mario and Nintendoland, but what I played sounded crisp and clear. To try and get a better-rounded impression I also listened to a number of songs on my iPhone and tested them using the Netflix and YouTube apps on the Wii U. It is safe to say the NLa’s do not compare to a quality set of headphones when it comes to audio quality alone.
When using apps on the Wii U one thing I found a bit weird was that some apps worked fine and others did not. For whatever reason I could not get YouTube videos to play sound through the headset yet Netflix worked just fine. Another note about using this headset with other devices is that its size prevents it from being all that portable. I haven’t tried them myself regarding portability, just sound, but if ‘gaming-on-the-go’ is one of your criteria when purchasing a headset you may be wise to investigate other options that are available including Turtle Beach’s own M1 line of in-ear headphones.
In conclusion, Turtle Beach’s EarForce NLa’s don’t offer the best audible experience but they do offer more than acceptable sound quality for their price point.  Their biggest issue is that they lack any real sort of bass. With the included microphone the NLa’s can also be used for other devices such as the 3DS and mobile phones so there’s good value packed in here.  Sure there are options that offer superior sound quality but if $30 is your price point you can’t really go wrong here.
