The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are open-back gaming headphones. Turtle Beach claims their floating ear cups and headband conform "to the contours of your head," providing a lightweight, comfortable fit. They come with the gaming-friendly niceties we expect from the brand, like Bluetooth compatibility, a flip-up-to-mute microphone, and a fully featured companion app. But how do they play out in practice?
Our Verdict
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air aren't the best choice for sports and fitness. Like many over-ear headphones, their bulky design means they're not easy to throw into a bag. They're also only reasonably stable, so they'll likely fall off if you take them for a jog. Their open-back design means you'll hear the clangs of people dropping weights at the gym along with your audio, while anyone nearby will hear your audio. On the plus side, they're comfortable, have good controls, and have good build quality, so they'll do the job of accompanying you on a long walk in a pinch. That is, if you can stand the confused glances coming your way.
Comfortable memory foam earpads.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- Not very stable.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are poor for commuting and traveling, but they're not designed for those purposes. Although these headphones are comfortable and have a long battery life, you'll find it difficult to transport these bulky over-ears either on your person or in a bag. They're also very bad at blocking out street noise and the sounds of airplanes. If that doesn't bother you, other people might be bothered by you, as these cans leak a lot of audio.
- Great mic recording quality.
Comfortable memory foam earpads.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- Terrible noise isolation, by design.
- Not very portable.
- Not very stable.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are inadequate for office use, largely because their open-back design means they leak a lot of audio and don't block out the sounds of people talking or typing. On the plus side, their great microphone recording quality means they're useful for calls, and the person on the other end of the line will hear you clearly. They're also comfortable headphones, and their battery life will easily last you through a few days of work without needing a recharge.
- Great mic recording quality.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- Terrible noise isolation, by design.
- Not very portable.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are very good for wireless gaming, though they won't work wirelessly with your Xbox. When connected via their wireless dongle, they provide a low-latency connection suitable for gaming. Their comfortable fit and long battery life mean you can enjoy several gaming marathons between recharges. They have a generally bright sound out of the box that keeps dialogue sounding clear, even during busy cutscenes, although sibilants can be piercing. Fortunately, you can customize their sound using their excellent companion app. Their mic has a great recording quality, so anyone you're gaming with online will hear you clearly, even if you're gaming by an open window and a train passes by. That said, they do a poor job blocking out external sounds, so you might not enjoy gaming in noisy environments, as you'll hear what's happening around you.
- Great mic recording quality.
- Excellent microphone noise handling.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- Terrible noise isolation, by design.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are great for wired gaming. You can plug their included analog cable into your gaming rig's TRRS port for full audio and microphone capabilities. It's also the only way to connect these headphones to an Xbox. When connected this way, there's virtually no latency. By default, their sound is bright. Explosions lack a little rumble, but these headphones provide plenty of boom, making sound effects exciting. Dialogue is clearly audible even against dramatic scores, although sibilants like S and T sounds are piercing. These cans have a great microphone, so anyone you're gaming with will hear you, even in a noisy environment. However, since their open-back design means these headphones don't block out much audio, you probably won't want to game in noisy environments, as you'll hear everything around you.
- Great mic recording quality.
- Excellent microphone noise handling.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- Terrible noise isolation, by design.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air have decent audio reproduction accuracy. They don't deviate much from their generally bright sound profile, although some inconsistencies in the treble range can render sibilants like S and T sounds a bit piercing. Like many open-backs, they lack a bit of low bass, and the low bass they do reproduce sounds a little loose and weak. Moreover, while these open-backs produce more spacious-feeling audio than similar closed-backs, that audio still sounds like it's coming from inside your head. Still, the distortion performance is impressively low, so you can listen at high volumes without encountering distortion artifacts.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air do a terrible job of blocking out noise around you. Everything from bassy rumbles to office chatter will be audible. They also leak a lot of audio. These headphones are best suited for use in private, enclosed spaces.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air have a great microphone. Your voice sounds accurate and true-to-life. The mic also does an amazing job of separating your voice from any surrounding noise, so the sound of a bus passing by your window won't compromise your intelligibility.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air have good frequency response consistency. People with thicker hair might notice a drop off in bass, but this can be avoided by brushing your hair back around your ears. Most people will experience consistent audio between wears.
- Companion app with graphic EQ and presets.
- People with thick hair might notice a drop in bass.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Jan 08, 2026:
This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.0, which adds the following tests: Stereo Mismatch, Group Delay, Cumulative Spectral Decay, PRTF, Harmonic Distortion, and Electrical Aspects. We've added new performance usages and updated the text throughout the Sound tests and side-by-sides.
- Updated Dec 15, 2025: We've converted this review to Test Bench 2.1, which features minor updates to our sound tests.
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Updated Mar 26, 2025:
We added a reference to the Audio-Technica ATH-ADX3000 in the Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance box.
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Updated Dec 19, 2024:
Several Sound tests have been updated following Test Bench 1.8. There have also been text changes made throughout the review, including to the Usages and Product Comparisons to match these results.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
There's only one variant of the Turtle Beach Atlas Air. You can view our model's label. If you come across another variant, let us know in the comments.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are open-back gaming headphones, of which there aren't many on the market. The Drop + Sennheiser/EPOS PC38X and the Corsair VIRTUOSO PRO are both open-backs and good for wired gaming, but you can't use them wirelessly like the Atlas Air. On the other hand, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless are good for wireless gaming but are closed-back and have a passive soundstage that feels less immersive and spacious than the Atlas Air.
In Turtle Beach's own lineup, the Atlas Air are a step up both in quality and price from the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) Wireless. Not only can you use them via a wired connection with full audio and microphone functionality, unlike the Stealth 600 (Gen 3), but they also have better build quality and deliver more consistent audio from wear to wear. For more, check out our article on the best Turtle Beach headphones.
If you're looking for more headphones, consider our recommendations for the best gaming headsets, the best open-back headphones, and the best wireless gaming headsets.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are better gaming headphones for most people than the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless. The Turtle Beach are open-back headphones that have a noticeably better mic than that of the SteelSeries. On the other hand, due to their open-back design, they leak more audio and perform worse at blocking out noise. However, neither pair of headphones does a particularly good job of isolating you from sounds in your environment. The SteelSeries come in three variants, so get the version that matches your gaming platform. That said, they support Xbox Wireless if you get the 7X version. The Turtle Beach only support PC and PlayStation wirelessly, though you can always use the wired connection with other consoles.
The Drop + Sennheiser/EPOS PC38X and the Turtle Beach Atlas Air are both solid open-back gaming headphones. You can only use the Drop headphones via a wired connection, but they're more comfortable and have superior imaging, demonstrating better quality control. On the other hand, the Turtle Beach can be used wirelessly with PCs and PlayStation consoles, have a companion app to adjust their sound profile, and have a better-performing microphone system.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air and the Corsair VIRTUOSO PRO are both open-back gaming headphones. The Corsair produce audio more closely resembles speaker-like pinna interaction, and deliver audio more consistently from wear to wear. On the other hand, the Turtle Beach can connect to your PC and PlayStation wirelessly, have a better microphone, and come with a companion app to tweak their sound to your liking.
The Turtle Beach Atlas Air are better gaming headphones than the Turtle Beach Stealth 600 (Gen 3) in most circumstances. The Atlas Air have a superior build quality and deliver audio more consistently with each wear. You can also use them via a wired connection, unlike the Gen 3. On the other hand, the Atlas Air can't be used wirelessly with Xbox, unlike the Xbox version of the Gen 3. While the Atlas Air produce more spacious and immersive-feeling audio, that also means they leak more audio and are worse at blocking out noise, which could be important if you game in a shared space. That said, the Atlas Air are significantly more expensive.
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Test Results
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