Turtle Beach Recon 200 Headphones Review

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 are plastic gaming headphones covered with a faux carbon fiber finish. They also come in white if you prefer a more flashy look. Unfortunately, they still retain a fairly gamer-like look as their boom microphone isn't detachable.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 are decently comfortable headphones. Their plastic construction is lightweight, and their ear cups are well-padded. However, only a small part of the headband has padding, and you may touch the plastic parts of the band if you have a larger head. These headphones may also feel tight for some users.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have disappointing controls. As these are gaming headphones, they lack more casual features like music and call management. However, they have volume and microphone monitoring wheels. You can easily mute the boom mic by flipping it upwards. Also, they have a preset audio slider for PS4 and Xbox One. Xbox One, in particular, is optimized for Windows Sonic for Headphones virtual soundstage feature, though we don't currently test for that. Still, either setting works regardless of the console you're using, and there doesn't seem like there's much of a difference other than audio volume.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have poor breathability. These headphones have a tight fit which creates a seal that doesn't really let air circulate. They can trap heat in their ear cups during longer listening sessions, which can cause your ears to sweat more than usual, especially if you wear them while you're on the move.

Similar to most other over-ear gaming headphones, the Turtle Beach Recon 200 aren't very portable. While the ear cups can swivel to lay flat, their bulky, plastic design can't be folded for easier storage. Their mic also can't be detached to make them easier to store.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have an okay build quality. Their plastic construction feels cheap. Parts of the headphone are also thin and can break if you drop them. Luckily, the headband is reinforced with metal which gives it slightly more flexibility and sturdiness. Unfortunately, since the audio cable isn't detachable, you may need to replace the entire unit if it gets damaged.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 are decently stable. Their relatively high clamping force keeps them from moving around, especially when sitting in one place during a gaming session. However, their non-detachable audio cable can snag on something and pull off your headphones if you're not careful.

• Turtle Beach Recon 200 headset
• USB-A to Micro-USB charging cable
• Manuals
• Turtle Beach sticker

Whether you're using the 'PS4' or 'Xbox' setting on the ear cup's slider, these headphones have a fairly boomy sound profile, in part likely due to their always-on Bass Boost feature. Their overemphasized bass response emphasizes the thump and rumble of sound effects in action-heavy games, though some users may find this gives some mixes a boomy quality. Thankfully, their well-balanced mid-range should result in clear, present, and detailed in-game dialogue.

Although our original testing measured a quieter frequency response than our Xbox or PlayStation passes, once level-matched, there isn't much of a difference in frequency response between these settings.

The frequency response consistency is passable. Depending on these headphone's fit, seal, and positioning, bass, and treble delivery can vary noticeably across users. You may also experience a noticeable drop in bass if you wear glasses or have thick hair, as this can interfere with the ear cups' seal against your head.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have poor bass accuracy. The entire range is overemphasized, resulting in plenty of extra thump, punch, and warmth, though this comes with the consequence of generating excess boominess in some mixes. It's worth noting that the bass delivery is somewhat sensitive to fit, seal, and positioning. This measurement represents an average response, and your experience in the real-world may vary.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have excellent mid accuracy. A slight overemphasis in the low-mids slightly clutters in-game dialogue as well as vocals and lead instruments, but these harmonics should still be present and detailed in the mix.

The treble accuracy is decent. There's a slight peak in the low-treble that causes dialogue, vocals, and lead instruments to sound slightly harsh, while a rise in the mid-treble makes sibilants like S and T sounds piercing. However, this treble accuracy performance represents the average response. As fit and positioning can affect sound delivery for different users, your experience may vary.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200's peaks and dips performance is okay. The peak in the high-bass brings a lot of boominess. The following dip in the low and mid-mids also thins out dialogue, vocals, and lead instruments, nudging them to the back of the mix. The uneven mid-treble gives sibilants, like cymbals or S and T sounds, an alternatively dull and piercing quality.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200's stereo imaging performance is great. The weighted group delay falls mostly beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in a transparent treble and passably tight bass. The L/R drivers are also well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response. This ensures accurate localization and the placement of objects (like voices, instruments, footsteps, and video game effects) in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have a middling passive soundstage. Due to their closed-back design, the soundstage doesn't sound overtly open or spacious and may feel like it's coming from within the listener's head rather than all around you.

These headphones are compatible with Windows Sonic Spatial Audio, which is available on Windows and Xbox consoles. This can help create a more immersive audio experience. Keep in mind that the Turtle Beach Recon 200 don't work passively and need to be on for them to work. If you run out of battery life, they stop working.

Unlike their successor, the Turtle Beach Recon 200 Gen 2, they aren't compatible with 3D Audio on PlayStation 5. However, you can still use them on PS4 consoles. It amplifies the audio when using the 'Always On' bass boost feature. Since these headphones have a 'PS4/Xbox' slider on their ear cup, if you select 'Xbox' when connected to your PS4 (or vice versa), audio sounds a bit louder than when using the correct settings.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. While there's a peak in the mid-treble and the high-treble at moderate listening volumes, this may not be noticeable to all listeners. The frequencies otherwise fall within good limits, which should result in clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Turtle Beach Recon 200. Our results are only valid for these settings. Note that we tested them using 'Xbox' mode on the slider.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have poor noise isolation performance. They do very little to block out noise from the bass range, like bus or plane engines. They perform slightly better in regards to mid-range noise, which helps cut out some of the chatter from other people in cafes or office settings. Thankfully, they do a great job of blocking out high-pitched ambient noise, like the hum of an AC unit.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200's leakage performance isn't bad. If you like to crank up the volume to your favorite tunes, those around you may hear some of it, even in louder environments like an office. It can also sound fuller than in-ear headphones or earbuds that leak audio mostly from the treble range.

The boom microphone has a satisfactory recording quality. Your voice should sound fairly clear and natural, though just a little thin. However, a peak in the treble range may make sibilants like S and T sounds sharp and piercing. If you're looking for Turtle Beach headphones with a better recording quality, try the Turtle Beach Recon 500.

The mic's noise handling performance is mediocre. It struggles to capture speech in loud environments. However, those on the other end of the line shouldn't have trouble understanding you if you're gaming at home in a reasonably quiet room.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 have decent battery performance. Although they're wired headphones, they have active features like Bass Boost that use an internal battery. They have just under 16 hours of continuous playtime, which is great for long gaming sessions, though it's worth noting that their battery life can vary depending on your usage habits. However, unlike their successor, the Turtle Beach Recon 200 Gen 2, they don't have passive playback, and you won't be able to use your headphones once the battery dies. While it takes some time to charge them back up, you can listen to your audio while charging.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 come with a 1/8" TRRS audio cable that can be plugged into PC, PS4, and Xbox One with full audio and microphone capabilities. They also come with a USB-A to micro-USB cable for charging.

You can plug the Turtle Beach Recon 200's 1/8" TRRS cable into an Xbox One controller and receive audio and use the boom microphone.

The Turtle Beach Recon 200 don't have a base/dock. If you're looking for gaming headphones with a dock, check out the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017 or the Astro A50 Gen 3 Wireless 2017.