The brand-new Turtle Beach Atlas 200 is now available, the latest wired gaming headset and the first of its kind from the brand to be officially licensed by Sony itself.
I've been testing the PS5 headset for almost two weeks now, and while I'm enamored with its white and blue colorway and little Sony logo details, it's that $59.99 / £49.99 price tag and the sounds its mighty 50mm Nanoclear audio drivers make in spite of it that have truly won me over.
The Atlas 200 for PS5 is a great example of why you shouldn't judge the best gaming headsets and their quality by their price.
With the spooky season on the horizon, I chose to dig out Still Wakes the Deep for testing, and the headset's 50mm Nanoclear audio drivers picked up on every nuance of the creepy and isolating soundscape of the cursed 70s-set horror story. As much as I adore horror games, I actually don't get scared all too often, but the powerful sound managed to get me totally lost within the game's plot.
For the first time in months, I jumped, even if it was just the sound of parts of machinery falling down around me in-game that set me off. Of course, it helps that the Atlas 200 is equipped with spatial audio support and is optimized for Tempest 3D AudioTech on the PS5. Yet whether I was catching up on terrifying horror games or getting in some Marvel Rivals matches before the start of season four, this Atlas 200 became a contender for one of the best budget PS5 headsets down to its sound alone.
The build quality of the headset was just as grand. There's ample padding on either cup, and its soft fabric coating makes it super comfortable to wear for multiple hours.
Comfort is a huge deal for me when it comes to headsets, as I wear glasses every day. Nothing is worse than the tight feeling of your frames digging into your temples. I never had that issue in the weeks spent with the Atlas 200, and overall, they were pretty glasses-friendly. The fabric mesh-covered headband had a nice spring to it, and never felt restrictive on my head, either.
If its low price and great sound and comfort have piqued your interest, I do need to bring up that flip-to-use microphone. If you don't have any of the best microphones for streaming and gaming as part of your Sony setup, and want to rely solely on a headset for chatting to your friends online, this is not the headset for you.
The unidirectional mic is attached to the left cup, and the second I took it out of its box, I thought there was a manufacturing mistake - that's how cheap-looking it was. Some headsets have bulbs of foam that you attach to the mic tip to help dampen harsh sounds while you're talking, and avoid any annoying audio peaking. There is foam here, but a minuscule amount, which I initially thought was actually part of the packaging.
I spent a good few seconds pulling at the flimsy piece before I realised it was part of the headset. The worst part is, it doesn't even work. This mic sounds terrible, no matter how much you adjust the audio settings on the PS5. During testing, my voice sounded like that of a muffled pilot making a plane announcement, and not of the quality I'd be willing to expose my friends to during hours upon hours of Marvel Rivals.
If you aren't streaming and don't play online games, I recommend just ignoring the mic altogether. Really, this headset feels more suited to single-player PS5 game fans, who want high-quality PS5 accessories but don't have the biggest budget in the world.
When it came to playing games like Still Wakes the Deep or finishing off the last parts of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus, the sound the Nanoclear drivers of the Atlas 200 could muster was impressive.
It's a sound quality I plan to experience again and again, especially with my Silent Hill f pre-order on the way. If you're after a wired, budget-friendly PS5 headset and prefer your solo gaming experiences, it's one I recommend for your future spooky experiences, and any other PS5 games - just maybe avoid it where online games are concerned.
- View all Turtle Beach PS5 headsets at Amazon
- Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3:
$199.99$182.99 at Amazon - Turtle Beach Stealth 600: $99 at Amazon
- Turtle Beach Recon PlayStation headset: $14.88 at Amazon
Not a PlayStation fan? Check out our guides to the best PC headsets for gaming, the best Xbox Series X headsets, and the best Nintendo Switch headsets instead.
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