I review premium headphones for a living even I was surprised how great this budget gaming headset sounds

Date:
Sun, 19 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Description:
Dont want to spend too much on a gaming headset? I tested the perfect budget option for you.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Turtle Beach Atlas 200: two-minute review

The Turtle Beach Atlas 200 is a wired gaming headset. Available for $69.99 / 59.99 for the PC version and $59.99 / 49.99 for the PS5 and multiplatform versions, it sits firmly at the affordable end of the market. But dont let
the cheap price fool you: this is a surprisingly capable headset.

Ill admit that the multiplatform version I tested here is not the most feature-packed headset Ive ever gotten my hands on. While its 3.5mm jack
means youll enjoy lossless audio, it cant offer the hi-res audio its PC-focused stablemate can. Nor does it offer selectable sound profiles, EQ settings, or driver software. Its an uncomplicated product, in every sense of the word.

When I stuck it on my head, though, any concerns I had about its feature set melted away. Thats because the sound its capable of happily rivals any of the best wired gaming headsets at this price range. Trying it out with Hades II , I was impressed with how clear it was, capturing the swish and slash of
combat perfectly. Meanwhile, the crack of my rifle while taking out opponents on Counter-Strike 2 felt deeply convincing with plenty of low-end heft.

The Atlas 200s soundstage also feels well apportioned the stereo field feels nice and broad, while the separation of different sounds helps sound effects stand clear from atmospheric noise and background music. The only real criticism I have here is around the headsets claimed spatial audio: while its audio definitely feels immersive, there isnt quite the same height and rear-firing effects youll get from true Dolby Atmos style headphones.
However, I imagine the immersive PC Audio enhancements offered by the PC versions USB Audio Adapter go some way toward rectifying this.

And the Atlas 200s foldaway mic offers yet more pluses to help compensate for this. Not only is it easy to flip away, but during my testing, this automatically muted any sound reaching our testing laptop. The mic is also crystal clear thanks to its effective noise gate, I found that clacking keys and even the music I was listening to was very thoroughly quashed, making it far easier for those youre gaming with to hear your every oath and utterance.

This is only the start of Turtle Beachs smart design with this headset. Its plush memory foam ear cups and floating headband make it super comfortable to wear, even over longer periods. I often find the clamping force of many cheaper headphones makes my ears ache after not too long, but the Atlas 200 didnt crush my cartilage.

There is one small misstep for me, though. Given that the headsets height is adjusted by moving a velcroed strap on the inside of the headband, its impossible to adjust its height on the fly. This isnt helped by the fact that the Atlas 200 seems to be designed with the larger head in mind while my swollen dome happily fit it on every setting, colleagues of mine with more diminutive noggins did find the earcups sat quite low on even the tightest setting.

Despite this, though, its hard for me to argue that the Turtle Beach Atlas
200 is anything but an accomplished budget gaming headset. It sounds very credible for the price, and its all kinds of comfortable at least if you
have a capacious cranium. Fundamentally, if youre looking to only spend
around $50 / 50 on a gaming headset, Id happily urge you to snap it up.
(Image credit: Future) Turtle Beach Atlas 200 review: price & availability Launched on September 12, 2025 List price: PC $69.99 / 59.99; PS5 and multiplatform $59.99 / 49.99

Released on September 12, 2025, the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 is available now. The price youll pay is based on which platform youre buying for: the PC version has a list price of $69.99 / 59.99, while the PS5 and multiplatform versions both have a list price of $59.99 / 49.99. Each version has slightly different specs, so bear in mind everything Ive said in this review pertains to the multiplatform version.

In terms of additional options, the Atlas 200 PC and multiplatform versions only come in black. However, the PlayStation 5 offers black or white
colorways naturally, the latter is an excellent choice if youre keen for
your console to match your headset. Turtle Beach Atlas 200 review: specs

Price

$59.99 / 49.99

Weight

9.9oz / 280g

Compatibility

Any device with a 3.5mm jack

Connection type

Wired (3.5mm)

Battery life

N/A

Features

Flip-to-mute mic with noise reduction

Software

N/A (Image credit: Future) Turtle Beach Atlas 200 review: design and features Supremely comfortable Height adjustment not well designed PC-exclusive
version offers far more features

Slipping on the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 for the first time, I was pretty impressed with its build quality. Despite being pretty affordable as gaming headsets go, theyre comfortably, even luxuriously, made. A featherlight 9.9oz / 280g build, floating headband, and memory foam ear cushions meant that they were comfortable even during epic gaming sessions I often find cheaper headphones can make my ear cartilage ache after an hour or so, but these
never outstayed their welcome.

Turtle Beach also claims that their ProSpecs technology means they offer glasses-friendly comfort. Despite not being a specs-wearer myself, I asked my colleague Nikita Achanta from Toms Guides reviews team to give them a go, and she found them perfectly comfortable even with glasses.

One element of their design I find less persuasive, though, is how you adjust the height of that floating headband. As you need to unstick, adjust, then restick the velcro straps on the headsets inside, its basically impossible to change their height while youre wearing them, meaning I often had to use
trial and error to get the right setting.

The headsets height range is also not great you can adjust its height by an inch / 2.5cm, max. Exercising some radical self-awareness here, I have a pretty big head, yet the Atlas 200s entire height span seems to fit me pretty comfortably. This made me suspect that if youve got a smaller nut than I, you may struggle to find a cosy fit. And, indeed, when I asked Cesci Angell, my littler-noodled colleague, how she found them, she remarked they did sit a little low for her liking. (Image credit: Future)

Fortunately, Turtle Beach doesnt make this mistake elsewhere. The Atlas 200s foldaway mic, for example, is simple to adjust, clicking firmly into place in three positions up, out, and halfway between with a satisfying clonk. Its also poseable, making it easier to curve it to sit in the perfect position in front of your mouth when it is in use.

When it comes to features, the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 is uncomplicated to the point of being almost no-frills. Its chunky 50mm Nanoclear drivers offer an expansive frequency range of 20Hz - 20kHz and are optimized for spatial
audio. Meanwhile, it offers no wireless connectivity, although its wired
3.5mm cable means you can enjoy lossless quality audio and can hook it up to any gaming device.

But thats largely your lot: unlike its platform-exclusive PC version, the multiplatform version doesnt offer high-fidelity audio, sound profiles, or driver software for tweaking settings. And on-device controls are limited to
a single volume dial, which does at least offer granular control over the loudness of your game audio. Design & features score: 4 / 5 (Image credit: Future) Turtle Beach Atlas 200 review: performance Expressive audio and wide soundstage Mic does great job of isolating voice Spatial audio not that convincing

But no matter how comfortably a headset is designed or how fully featured it is, thats all irrelevant if it doesnt have the aural grit to back it up. So does the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 deliver the goods?

At first, I wasnt entirely sure. Firing up Hades II , I was impressed with
how the wind noises surrounding me were crisp and immediate without being overly bright. Meanwhile, the mids were deftly handled, rendering the background music competently while allowing the slashes and impact of combat to cut through. But there was one element I was unsure of: bass, with it sounding decent but not necessarily booming like that of the Corsair HS55 Stereo .

That is, until I dived into Counter-Strike 2 . Not only was the whizzing of the bullets rendered by the treble, but the heft of the low end ensured the combat I was plunged into felt sufficiently visceral. Every time I popped off a headshot, the boom of the sniper rifle in my hands made it feel every bit the instrument of death it should be.

Stereo separation is also impressive on the Atlas 200. During the opening titles of Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 , I felt like I was submerged right in the middle of the soundtrack, with the piano sitting slightly to the left, beautifully textured strings to my right, and the vocals right down the middle. Once Id gotten into the game, this persisted, with the cranking of mills around me in the opening moments perfectly positioned in the space. (Image credit: Future)

Possibly the only thing Id question about the Atlas 200s performance is its optimized for 3D audio claims. Yes, elements are well separated, but Ive plenty of experience testing some of the best headphones for spatial audio, and I did not get the same sense of height or rear-firing audio that you can get from the Epos H3 wired headset, for example. Triangulating would-be assassins in Counter-Strike 2 often took a good half a second of wheeling around, so I would moderate your expectations of how immersive this headset actually is.

Fortunately, that foldaway mic did not disappoint. I tested it out by recording audio while playing some games, and it works perfectly, cutting out all registered noise the second I folded it away, making it great when you need moments of privacy. On top of that, its noise gate works well in minimizing background sounds even while typing, I couldnt really discern any of the clack of the keys in my recording.

Keen as ever to try to push things to breaking point, I even tried cranking out some drum & bass while testing, but the Turtle Beach was wise to my tricks. There was naturally a little pump of some trebly beats in the background that coincided with the syllables I spoke, but the gate kept
things deathly silent in between, doing an impressive job of maintaining the clarity of my words. Performance score: 4 / 5 (Image credit: Future) Turtle Beach Atlas 200 review: value

All in all, I was seriously impressed with how the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 performed. Yes, it makes a few promises its specs cant cash Im not totally swayed by its 3D sound credentials, for example but it also offers excellent comfort and really rather decent sound.

And thats before you even consider its cost. With a price of $59.99 / 49.99, this wired gaming set is very much at the affordable end of the market, and yet it never feels cheap to the contrary, what it can do is actually pretty impressive for the price. If sound performance is your big priority in a budget headset, the Atlas 200 should make you very happy indeed. Value score: 5/5 Should I buy the Turtle Beach Atlas 200?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Design & features

Although it packs a limited feature set, the Atlas 200 gets high marks for
its comfy, well-built design.

4 / 5

Performance

Aside from average 3D performance, the Atlas 200 sounds impressive and has a great quality mic.

4 / 5

Value

Once you view these strengths through the lens of the Atlas 200's price, it's pretty clear: this is a fantastic value headset.

5 / 5 Buy it if

You want awesome audio for a great-value price
For a headset that costs a mere $59.99 / 49.99, the Atlas 200 offers great audio, with accurate treble, expressive mids, and colossal bass.

You want excellent comfort
If this headset is comfy even on my fussy ears, that should mean youll find them soft and forgiving enough to wear for even longer gaming sessions. Dont buy it if

Youve got a small head
With the Atlas 200s quite large height only being adjustable by about an
inch, it doesnt leave a lot of wiggle room for those who have smaller heads.

You want loads of features
The Turtle Beach Atlas 200 doesnt have all that many extra capabilities. If youre looking for sound profiles, true 3D audio, wireless connectivity, or customizable settings, youre better off looking elsewhere. Turtle Beach Atlas 200 review: also consider

Turtle Beach Atlas 200

Corsair HS55 Stereo

Epos H3

Price

$59.99 / 49.99

$59.99 / 49.99

$55 / 57.82 / AU$104.31

Weight

9.9oz / 280g

9.6oz / 284g

9.5oz / 270g

Compatibility

PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck

PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck

PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck

Connection type

Wired (3.5mm)

Wired (3.5mm)

Wired (3.5mm)

Features

Flip-to-mute mic with noise reduction

Flip-to-mute mic

Flip-to-mute mic

Software

N/A

N/A

N/A

Corsair HS55 Stereo
Another budget banger, this wired gaming headset has a list price of $59.98 / 49.99 but also offers excellent sound and superb comfort. The only criticism we did find however, is that its low-end can occasionally overplay its hand, so it might be one for pure bass-heads only.

Read our full Corsair HS55 Stereo review .

Epos H3
Slightly pricier than the Atlas 200 but also slightly nice-ier, the Epos H3
is our top pick for the best wired gaming headset for a reason. It sounds fantastic for a headset that costs under $100 / 100 and is super comfortable to boot. However, its 3.5mm cable is proprietary and hard to replace, so if youre prone to losing things, you might wanna give this one a miss.

For more information, read our full Epos H3 review . How I tested the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 Used the headset over several days Tried it out on a variety of devices and games Tested out the mic by recording while gaming

I tested the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 over the course of several days. First, I used it while playing multiple games on several different platforms,
including on PC and Steam Deck . I played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to test out its capabilities with soundtracks, Hades II for general effects, and Counter-Strike 2 to try out its surround sound capabilities.

I also tested the foldaway mic by recording myself while gaming. Not only did I test out its general audio quality, but I also tried out its flip-to-mute functionality and assessed how well it filtered out background noise by
typing and playing music.

In terms of my expertise, I've been reviewing audio gadgets for over five years and have gotten hands-on with dozens of cutting-edge headphones. I've also been a committed gamer for 35 years, first cutting my teeth on Super Mario Bros. and Alex Kidd in the halcyon days of 8-bit gaming. Now I
regularly game on PC, Steam Deck, PlayStation 4 Slim , and Nintendo Switch 2
. First reviewed: October 2025 Read more about how we test



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/gaming-accessories/turtle-beach-atlas-200-rev iew


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