By: Aaron Lai
August 9, 2024
As you may or may not know, my hometown hockey team plays in an arena called the Scotiabank Saddledome. It is unique for its shape, with a reverse hyperbolic paraboloid roof that resembles a saddle and a slightly bulbous exterior down the sides. It is quite iconic as a staple of Calgary's skyline built for the 1988 Olympics. However, as this arena is now almost forty years old, a replacement building, Scotia Place, was announced a couple of weeks ago. Personally, I have always liked the design of the Saddledome. Not only does it fit in with the cowboy vibes that complement our annual Calgary Stampede, but it is unlike any other arena around North America. Prior to the announcement of Scotia Place, I had expectations that the new building would look like any other gray and glass box. So far, I have been mildly impressed with the concept designs of Scotia Place, but it is still clearly more modern with a bit less personality. On the other hand, there are drawbacks to the old Saddledome design. It may work as a hockey arena, but there are problems as a music venue. In fact, many artists avoid coming to Calgary due to the poor acoustics in the building. Furthermore, the roof is not capable of holding up the grand stage pieces that are common for touring musicians. All in all, I am hopeful to see what the new arena brings, but a part of me will miss this iconic structure. In related news, we have already covered a few products that Turtle Beach has launched as part of their brand takeover from ROCCAT, but today we have a product that has and will always be in Turtle Beach's arena. Moving forward, all PC peripherals will carry the Turtle Beach name, so it is no surprise our Atlas Air wireless gaming headset does too. What new amenities does the Atlas Air bring to the table? Will it help us easily move on from the past? Let us read on to find out!
Today's review unit of the Turtle Beach Atlas Air arrived from Turtle Beach's fulfillment offices in Elwood, Illinois. Traveling with FedEx and their International 2Day shipping, this brown corrugated cardboard box arrived in an adequate condition with no holes, dents, or other marks to be concerned about. Inside, Turtle Beach has packaged the box with a good amount of packing materials to ensure the Atlas Air arrives unscathed. Thankfully, that is exactly what happened. This was shipped to our APH Networks location here in Calgary, Alberta.
Looking at the retail container of the Turtle Beach Atlas Air, you can see they have fully embraced the purple and black scheme seen on their other recent products like the Vulcan II TKL Pro. The retail box displays the Turtle Beach name and logo at the top in large print, while the product name can be found at the bottom. A descriptor of "Wireless Open Back PC Gaming Headset" is listed below. In the middle, there is a scaled-down image of the product with two primary features highlighted. This includes the floating earcup design and its two wire-free modes of wireless over a USB dongle and Bluetooth. Around the back, there are more features and highlights to cover, which we will discuss in the review.
Before we continue on, I have grabbed the specifications from the manufacturer's website for your viewing pleasure:
Compatibility
PC - Windows 10 & up, USB 2.0 or higher
PS5™
PS4™
Nintendo Switch™
Bluetooth® Equipped Mobile Devices
Xbox Series X|S - Wired Only
Xbox One - Wired Only
Technical Specifications
Connectivity
- Wireless Transmitter: PC, PlayStation® consoles, and Nintendo Switch™
- Bluetooth®: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch™, & other Bluetooth® Equipped Devices
- Wired 3.5mm Connection: PC, PlayStation®, Nintendo Switch™, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, & Mobile Devices
Drivers
- Driver size: 40mm High-Precision Drivers
- Driver Frequency Response: 20Hz - 40kHz
Microphone
- Microphone Type: Uni-Directional, Detachable Flip-to-Mute
- Microphone Frequency: 100Hz - 16kHz
- Audio Cable: Braided 3.5mm 4-pole with volume control
Earcups
- Athletic Weave Fabric, Memory Foam
Battery
- Rechargeable 800mAh Lithium Polymer
Dimensions
- Dimensions : 198 x 167 x 102 mm
- Weight: 301g with microphone
What's in the box
Turtle Beach® Atlas™ Air Wireless Open Back Gaming Headset
USB-A Wireless Transmitter
Removable Microphone & Windscreen
1.8m / 5.9ft Charging Cable (USB-A to USB-C)
1.8m / 5.9ft 3.5mm Audio Cable
Carrying Pouch
Quick Start Guide
Out of the box, the Turtle Beach Atlas Air is sitting in a large black drawstring bag, which is great for carrying the headset around. The carrying pouch also has a small internal pouch to hold all of the additional accessories. This includes the two extra cables. The first one is a wired 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable measuring 1.8m in length. Interestingly, Turtle Beach marks which end should plug into your headphones, which is made clearer by the fact one of the connectors is TRRRS, while the other is TRRS. The cable is sleeved, has a Velcro strap for organization, and features an inline volume wheel. The other cable is a braided USB Type-A to Type-C cable for charging the headset, and measures 1.8m long. Additionally, we have a short USB dongle with a Turtle Beach logo and a multi-color LED to indicate connection and microphone status. Lastly, the package includes a detachable microphone with an included windscreen. A quick start guide is also included with the accessories.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
