Page 4 - Conclusion
With the incoming Turtle Beach Atlas Air, there are many aspects that will garner attention. From a physical stance, the Atlas Air shows an agile finish with its suspended mesh headband and floating, open-back ear cups. The build may look underwhelming with its plastic exterior, but everything fits well together and leads to a featherweight end result. In terms of comfort, this airy construction makes the headset easy to wear for long periods without any fatigue. I also appreciate the addition of Bluetooth, wired connectivity, and a strong battery life. Other features I like include the flip-to-mute microphone and accessories like the carrying bag and microphone windscreen. In terms of sound quality, the Atlas Air is also a strong competitor. Its output was clean and detailed. All three frequency ranges showed favorable aspects for an overall fun sound balance. Furthermore, its open-back design enables a wide and realistic soundstage that was appreciated in both music and gaming. On the other hand, the Atlas Air has a handful of tradeoffs. Firstly, the lightweight design easily shifts around on your head, making it feel like it may fall off. Secondly, the open-back ears means there is minimal sound isolation and noticeable leakage. There are also some areas that Turtle Beach needs to fix. The output volume is too low by default and should be more linear over its range. The Swarm II software is still a continued work in progress. Finally, the Atlas Air's wireless range is limited, resulting in choppy audio when you are not in line of sight from the source. At the time of the review, the Turtle Beach Atlas Air is available for $180. This is a notable cost for a pair of gaming headphones, but I think the Atlas Air can command this premium price. It is clear Turtle Beach has the right idea with the Atlas Air and its concept, but I do hope they can resolve the aforementioned issues to make it a clear winner.
Turtle Beach provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Networks Review Focus Summary:
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks, but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Networks Numeric Rating is 7.0/10
Please note that the APH Networks Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other publications.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air is a premium gaming headset that impresses with airiness in its light and open-back design.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
