by Out of the box the Atlas Air is underwhelming. It’s an open-back wireless gaming headset that puts a lot of emphasis on its lightness, which explains its rear view. It weighs a light 301 grams and, compared to some of the competition in this price range, it definitely feels less like an expensive jewel in the hands and more like a blunt weapon.
Don’t expect fancy swivel cups with joints that will wear off in a few years: this thing feels like you could pull it off like a snap band. People with huge heads, you’re in luck. Pushers, shovers, known klutzes: this could be for you.
This utilitarian approach extends to its interface. A large volume wheel is attached to the left cup, which means you won’t accidentally disassemble your headset or switch it to Bluetooth mode while adjusting the volume. The detachable mic is a throwback to a dumb relationship, and few would argue with the brutal simplicity of this approach, I think.
There’s a power button and two buttons that toggle between Bluetooth and wireless modes, and an LED that indicates power or low battery. Its battery has an advertised life of 50 hours, and I only charged it twice during the three weeks I spent using it.
Air Atlas Specifications
Link: 2.4GHz wireless (Type-C dongle), Bluetooth 5.2, USB Type-C cable, 3.5mm analog cable
Type: Over ear, open back
Frequency response: 20 – 40,000hz
Drivers: 40mm with Waves 3D Audio
Microphone: High bandwidth unidirectional 16-bit 32kHz
Weight: 301 g
Price: $150 / £160 / AU$299
The whole idea is headphones that promise to work. It is aesthetically restrained, and the polyurethane shell does not feel expensive in the hand. His headband is made of a flexible mesh that could some clock as cheap, until its benefits shine. This band is adjustable with velcro and is probably the main factor contributing to the lightness of the Atlas Air and its excellent comfort during long gaming sessions.
It’s difficult to give an objective ‘comfort’ for headphones as a lot usually depends on the size of the head and the habits of the person using it, but as a big man with hearing who spent over four hours in session at a time. this review, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so unburdened.
I mean, look how far these cans stretch. The cushions here are 300mm apart:
The memory foam cushion cups float, that is to say, they are not technically attached to the band at all but are firmly secured by a total of 12 elastic bands. As you can probably imagine, this adds to the stretchability of the unit as a whole. Securing the two most important components of a headphone together in this way might seem a bit dubious in theory. Although it remains to be seen how the Atlas Air will fare in the long term, in my opinion it feels much more secure than cups that resemble a band, or are usually held by thin metal hinges. I’ve had headphones worth more than double the Atlas Air break within six months of use based on these mechanisms: some outside-the-box thinking might be welcome.
Over the three weeks I spent using this thing for review – both at my desk gambling and also using it as a Bluetooth headset for walking and commuting – the featherweight comfort of the Atlas Air is the quality that impressed me. It has other strengths, but boy, does this thing seem to dematerialize after you put it on your head.
But that’s just one big feature of the Atlas Air pitch; the other is his audiophile chops. It’s little wonder that half of the contenders on our list of the best audiophile headphones for gaming are open back. Note that the listing is also for “headphones” – not gaming headphones. It’s a fairly niche demand, and its drawbacks are often too severe to be included in a device designed specifically for gaming.
Open-back headphones attempt to reproduce sound more accurately by removing the back of the speaker enclosure, which eliminates the errant sounds that may arise from a reverberating enclosed speaker. Certainly, the sound is truer to its source – almost on a par with monitor headphones – but there is the problem of sound leakage, which cannot be avoided under this design principle, which undermines one of the main reasons we use headphones.
Buy if…
✅ You want an exact ‘audiophile’ sound: The Atlas Air sounds great thanks to its open back design, with a huge focus on staying true to the sonic source material.
✅ You are a stickler for comfort: While not the lightest headset on the market, it feels lighter thanks to an unorthodox approach to design.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You make a game in a high environment: Open-back headphones have the disadvantage of letting in ambient sounds, to a greater degree than conventional non-ANC headphones.
❌ You play in a very quiet environment: Likewise, if you’re concerned about sound leaking, an open back is not a great choice.
But the difference is not insignificant, and it doesn’t take an audiophile to notice (although an audiophile might care). Playing Animal Well on my HyperX Cloud III—a headset I use a lot because it’s always on my desk—I was impressed by the dank, subterranean atmosphere: the labyrinthine world was almost oozing with paraphrase extremely threatening. Moving to the Atlas Air, the atmosphere of the game changed fundamentally: the ooze took on more details. Distant calls and cries that were otherwise obscured at lower frequencies were faintly visible in the distance. It was less a soup of foreboding mood, and more a subtlety-laden environment that I was transported sonically. Actually, I was in the well.
When closed back headphones work that’s basically the big difference you should expect. But one should also expect, as a byproduct of the open-back design, sound not only leaking out but flowing in. At low volumes this can be a concern, although I was particularly worried about oozing when using the Atlas Air for. a purpose not expressly designed for: walking down a busy street while listening to ambient music. The Bluetooth functionality here (it also has a 2.4GHz wireless dongle which is a much better option for actual gaming, and a 3.5mm jack for the luddites) makes it tempting to consider the Atlas Air a wireless headset perhaps on-the-go. as well as a gaming head. But this certainly won’t live up to a mid-range set of headphones with active noise-cancelling (ANC) capabilities for that use case: ANC and open-back are essentially mutually exclusive concepts.
This is, according to Turtle Beach, the first open wireless headset “designed for PC”. Of course this isn’t the first open-back gaming headset – I reviewed this Audio-Technica model a few years back – but the combination of wireless and open back seems to be new here. As someone who generally prefers an open back and can cope with its inherent disadvantages, this combination is very welcome. Which leaves one final consideration: how is the son?
As you can hear in the example above, it is perfectly clear and, reflecting the qualities of the speakers it is connected to, there is no truck with lower frequencies by accident. In other words, it doesn’t add bass to my voice like some students do, and it practically cuts through all the associated details thanks to its 100 to 16,000 Hz frequency response.
What is the verdict, then? As someone who prefers the detail and ‘truth’ of open-back headphones, I love this marriage of that principle with wireless functionality and a great microphone. This appeal to my niche interests is a bonus in the form of a strange and flexible form. The Atlas Air is a niche, and you probably shouldn’t buy an open-back headset without understanding the drawbacks. If your gaming PC is set up in the same room as the family TV, for example, this probably isn’t for you. But if you’ve been waiting for a wireless open back for gaming, well: this is it. And it is done very well.
