The Turtle Beach Atlas Air is a rarity in an industry dominated almost entirely by closed-back gaming headsets. This $179.99 PC-focused wireless headset is of the open-back variety, which lets air pass through the earcups for more natural audio. The Atlas Air also has strong sound quality, a great microphone, and an incredibly long battery life, making it an Editors’ Choice winner. If you prefer the noise isolation associated with closed-back headsets, check out Razer BlackShark V2 Pro ($199), our Editors’ Choice winner for general midrange wireless gaming headsets.
What Is an Open-Back Headset?
Open-back headphones sound more natural than traditional closed-back models and, due to the airflow, let you clearly hear everything around you. The trade-off? Zero sound isolation for blocking out distractions and generally weaker low-frequency oomph. Closed-back headsets dampen outside noises, feature more thump, and keep your tunes from leaking out, but you lose the more natural airflow and the audio balance that comes with it.
Many audiophiles and audio professionals prefer open-back headphones for critical listening and mastering music, while closed-back headphones are designed for casual listening and recording. However, the Atlas Air won’t necessarily have the same accuracy as an open-back headset designed for music because gaming headsets aren’t typically tuned for a purely accurate signal. So you should decide whether you prefer an open, natural sound or beefier bass with less background noise.
Design: A Light, Comfortable Feel
The Atlas Air’s unique design is apparent as soon as you see its big, circular earcups. They float on springy bands like a microphone shock mount instead of being directly attached to the headband by a hard strut or pivoting hinge. This keeps the outward-facing metal grille's ring unimpeded by the headband or earcup back. The design also gives the cups enough flexibility to let them naturally rest against your ears, aided by the mesh-wrapped elastic suspension that stretches along the headband's underside. This flexibility is important because the Atlas Air doesn’t have many ergonomic adjustments; you can only tweak the tension of the headband's suspension using two small Velcro tabs.
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I have a fairly large head, and the Atlas Air fits comfortably without me needing to fiddle with the headband. The earpads are large and round, generously padded with soft memory foam, and wrapped in a breathable fabric. It helps that the headset feels quite light at 10.6 ounces, half an ounce less than the BlackShark V2 Pro and a full ounce less than the $329.99 SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. This lightness is due in part to its all-plastic construction. On the upside, the plastic body doesn’t feel flimsy. On the downside, it lacks the sturdiness of a headset featuring metal structural elements, such as the Nova Pro Wireless. Still, it’s light and flexible enough to wear for long periods of time.
Besides the metal grille rings indicating the headset’s open-back design, the earcups' backs feature large discs with glossy finishes. The right earcup’s disc is just for show, but you can freely twist the left earcup’s disc, which control's the headset’s volume. The left earcup also holds all of the headset’s other controls and connections along the front and bottom edges, including power, source, and Bluetooth buttons; a USB-C port for charging; a 3.5mm port for wired use; and a short, hinged connector for the detachable boom mic. The mic is a capsule with a removable foam pop filter mounted on a flexible rubber arm that you can flip away to mute.
Platform: It's Mainly for PCs
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air is primarily a PC-oriented gaming headset intended for use with the included 2.4GHz transmitter. It also supports all major game systems and phones over a lower-quality Bluetooth connection.
Turtle Beach’s Swarm II software offers customization options and Waves 3D-based spatial audio. It provides a 10-band EQ with custom preset support and a separate mic EQ. It’s a fairly simple app that covers the gaming headset basics. However, it isn’t nearly as powerful as the SteelSeries Sonar software (compatible with the Arctis headset line), which features a parametric EQ and extensive, multi-source mixing controls for streamers.
Mic Quality: Good Mic for Making Recordings
The Atlas Air’s microphone is a massive jump over the cheaper Turtle Beach Stealth 600, both in design and sound quality. The flip-down boom arm is flexible (unlike the Stealth 600), so you can move it into an appropriate position for your head shape and how you speak. The microphone is clear, too. Our test recordings were free of noticeable fuzz and generally crisp without being sibilant. However, the test recordings also contained occasional volume dips, indicating overly zealous AI noise cancellation.
Sound Quality: Balanced and Natural
Fortnite on PC sounded loud and clear using the Atlas Air. I easily picked up nearby footsteps and distant gunfire, and the periodic music blasts demonstrated fairly strong bass. In addition, the headset’s Waves 3D spatial audio provided generally good directional imaging that let me discern the approximate area where a threat was located. The tech isn't as precise as the THX Spatial Audio on high-end Razer headsets or the 3D audio on headsets connected to a PlayStation 5, but it’s tactically useful.
The Atlas Air's design creates a good sense of space. It doesn’t improve the spatial audio imaging (and limits just how thunderous low frequencies can sound compared with closed-back headsets), but it's more open, natural, and less isolating.
In our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the bass synth notes and drum hits reach just deep enough to provide a decent low-end presence, but they aren't palpable or head-rattling. In addition, the sound doesn't distort at maximum volume levels.
Likewise, Yes’ “Roundabout” sounds excellent through the headset. The opening acoustic guitar plucks receive a good sense of resonance and clean, clear string texture. When the track fully kicks in, the different elements in the busy mix get equal attention, with the bassline, guitar strums, drums, and vocals all identifiable and detailed. The default audio profile doesn’t have quite as much treble response as I’d like, but it’s still a very strong performance. You can boost the higher frequencies to taste in the EQ, but doing so takes away a bit of the treble's subtlety.
Verdict: A Top-Tier Open-Back Gaming Headset
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air is one of the few open-back wireless gaming headsets, but it's more than that. The headset is comfortable, offers a good sense of space, and has an excellent microphone, earning it our Editors' Choice award for open-back headsets. Its more airy sound doesn’t mean more accurate spatial audio imaging, so whether you prefer this over a closed-back headset will ultimately be a matter of taste. If you aren’t looking for an open-back model, check out the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, which has many of the same advantages as the Atlas Air, plus PlayStation and Xbox options.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air is a rare wireless gaming headset with an open-back design that delivers detailed, natural sound.
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