The Turtle Beach Elite Atlas headset is an impressive workhorse that comes in at a reasonably priced $99.95. In comparison to other high-end headsets of its type, it does a great job of delivering quality sound, good voice relay, and brings a comfortable fit. Now, it would even be better if it had that flip mic instead of the one that detaches, and if it found a way to make ears less sweaty. Minor complaints in the long run for a well-built headset.
A gorgeous PC headset from Turtle Beach that delivers solid sound, amazingly quiet mic play, and a comfortable fit. While everything is not perfect with the headset, there are far more pros than cons. Without further delay, let’s get right into it.
Comfort and Fit
When playing a long game, be it on PC or console, and wearing a headset to chat it up with friends, it can be an uncomfortable experience at times. In the past, having a headset on for a long period of time meant that it would gradually become an irritating experience, mostly on top of my noggin. I have a sensitive head, so typically the bridge between the ear cushions would either squeeze my poor sinuses to pain, or just rub skin the wrong way and force me to constantly adjust the headset. That’s why I have never been a huge fan of headsets, until I got a hold of the Turtle Beach Stealth 300 earlier in the year. The padding on that was comfortable and never bothered me for long periods of time (and trust me, Destiny 2 had me online for a LONG time).
All of this being said, the design of the Elite Atlas, which is why we are here today, brought about some concerns for me. While the Stealth 300 had nothing but hard plastic and nice padding to press down, the Elite comes with a solid metal bridge connecting the ear cushions with a layer of padding underneath. The problem, in concept, is that that metal bridge isn’t going to move or give way, which almost guarantees the headset’s durability. You’re making an investment, so that thing should take some abuse at times. The metal bridge guarantees that abuse will have to go pretty far before actually damaging the structure of the headset.
The flip side to that coin is that the unflinching metal is also inflexible when it comes to comfort, at least that is what I logically expected. If it’s durable, then it should be inflexible. It makes sense, right? Much like communism on paper, yep, totally makes sense. What was actually delivered was solid comfort with some flex to not feel incredibly tight on the sides of my head or pain on my noggin.
I have used the Elite Atlas for the last two weeks, and I not experienced any pain during gameplay. I can guarantee you that I have clocked over 40 hours with them, mainly with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (chatting with friends, listening to audio), and I have no issues with the construction of that metal bridge. It works, it fits, it flexes when it needs to, and, more importantly, it doesn’t irritate. That was a major concern, and it has been put to bed. In addition, my glasses don’t press against the sides of my head either. That was another deterrent from purchasing headsets in the past, but I never felt a thing with my glasses with the Elite Atlas. To put that in perspective, my glasses have thin metal arms that should press painfully against my head when I’m wearing huge ear cushions, but the headset had enough flexibility to prevent that from occurring. That’s a big deal for a blind nerd like me.
All is not comfortable, though.
An unexpected negative for the Elite Atlas headset was the amount of heat the padding on the ear cushions produced. Within the first hour, inside a room temperature of 73 degrees, my ears became hot. The padding used for the ear cushions, while trapping sound really well, tends to trap heat even better. Today, I took my headset off and found the area around my ears to be a bit damp with sweat. I’m not sure I have ever had that happen before, but it happened.
All in all, the heat simply cannot outweigh the overall comfort of the headset. It’s a pretty headset to put on, it’s comfortable after a period of hours, and it just feels good. I wish it was a bit cooler, but you might be sacrificing the comfort of the ear cushions for that exchange. I’m not sure I’m ready to do that quite yet.
Functionality
Headsets generally talk a good game, but delivery is optional on occasion. The functionality of the Elite Atlas has a lot of different offerings with it in terms of sound quality, mic quality, and…removable plates? Okay, let’s start there.
First day out of the box, I lose the magnetic plate on the side of the headset. I find it in my backpack, and I’m convinced that I broke it. It takes me a few minutes before I realize that those are magnets. Then it takes me even longer to realize that those were meant to be removable. Now I’m baffled on why someone would want to do this in the first place, until I realize eSports is a HUGE deal on the PC side of the tracks, and people need to feel unique/special when yelling terrible things at each other while they compete for championships. Somewhere in the near future, Turtle Beach is going to bring custom plates to switch in and out, so it will make even more sense for a dummy like me. I hope, and this is really a huge hope, that gamers can submit designs for these plates. If that is the case, then sign me up. Just please price them reasonably.
Jesting aside, the headset features 50mm Nanoclear speakers, which do deliver very sharp sound without sacrificing pretty much anything. For example, I was playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey while reviewing these, and I could hear the sounds of Greece everywhere, especially when it was coming up from behind trying to kill me. The movement of the sound was smooth as a Colt 45, and the delivery of sound was clear as a whistle. When I moved my character around the screen, I could hear the surround sound shift with the movement — and it was seamless. I was incredibly impressed with the sound quality of these suckers, and I’m not sure I can go back to the Stealth 300 after hearing the Elite Atlas in action. Even pushing Netflix or a football game via WatchESPN brought some spectacular sound to the experience. It was impressive.
Equally as nice, the Elite Atlas mic was as quiet as a mouse. One aspect of the Stealth 300 that I didn’t particularly care for after months of using it was a small hollow sound when I spoke into the mic. I knew I was online and available for chatting before my team did with that headset. The Elite Atlas is different. There is no noise that indicates the mic is on, as it is simply silent. There are moments with it that I forget the mic is active thanks to the echo training I received from the Stealth 300. It’s brilliant with the Elite Atlas, as is the voice delivery, which was noticeable to my party on PS4 before I even mentioned that I was testing the Elite out.
One small blight on all this beauty is the lack of a mic that can flip up. The Stealth 300 features a mic that flips up into mute, and hides comfortably to the side of the ear cushion. The Elite Atlas doesn’t feature that at all. While you can disconnect the mic (literally pull it out), there is not good solution to do a fast mute when you need, like if you have a screaming child in your ear and you respect your teammates enough not to want to deafen them and make them never want to have kids. There’s no easy way out of that with the Elite Atlaswithout pushing the mute button on the volume controls, which is not as easy as pushing your mic into mute position. Anyway, it’s a small complaint, but one that should be addressed in the next iteration of the Elite Atlas series. That mic is just beautiful on the Stealth 300.
Other Points of Interest
The Elite Atlas definitely lean towards more pros than cons in design, comfort, and functionality, so it helps it even more that it can be used for PC gaming, as well as mobile and console gaming (this does include the Switch — bless its soul). A big advantage that this headset has over the Stealth 300, which has to be charged to use, is that there is no charging necessary. You simply plug it into the controller or 3.5mm input, and go. I like that about it, as I have cats and kids that tend to tear up the micro USB chargers on a regular basis.
Overall, the Turtle Beach Elite Atlas headset is an impressive workhorse that comes in at a reasonably priced $99.95. In comparison to other high-end headsets of its type, it does a great job of delivering quality sound, good voice relay, and brings a comfortable fit. Now, it would even be better if it had that flip mic instead of the one that detaches, and if it found a way to make ears less sweaty. Minor complaints in the long run for a well-built headset.
