Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 200 Amplified Headset Review

A Closer Look and Performance

The headset comes hard-wired with a standard 4 pole 3.5 mm cable. This means you can connect it directly to your console controller, mobile device, music device, or just about any other audio device with a 3.5 mm input. However, the only thing I must stress is that if you are using it on PC for chat functions, you would need a y-splitter cable; it will work as headphones on PC as is though.

The headset comes with a built-in battery that will provide amplified performance for up to 12 hours. When it does start running low, you can charge it up using a micro USB cable. Don’t worry, you can charge it while using it too. Personally, I found just plugging the headset into a USB power bank while I was gaming was more than sufficient for a top up. Although, with 12 hours of battery life, it’s not like you’re going to be doing this very often.

The design of the headset is pretty fantastic, with its white carbon fibre vinyl effect on the back of the ear cups. Furthermore, the sleek matte white and greys on the rest of the headset. There is a Black version available, but I think that the white version looks far superior.

Metal \m/

The headset does feature primarily plastic construction, as is commonplace on most Turtle Beach headsets. The upside of this is that the headset is surprisingly lightweight. In fact, it’s shocking how light it is. It’s easily one of the lightest Recon models to date for this level of specification.

There is a decent level of customisation to the fit of the headset as well. The headband can be extended to suit gamers both young and old with relative ease. You’ll be happy to find that the headband is reinforced with a metal band also. Despite its lightweight design, the headset feels pretty rigid. It should survive more than a few knocks and bumps with relative ease. Of course, it’s not as durable as some of their flagship models but at a fraction of the price that’s to be expected.

The drivers feature a closed-back design, and with the leather padded ear cups, they do a suitably good job of blocking some unwanted ambient noise. They’re not completely soundproof, but it does help a little.

Controls

All the primary controls are built into the headset, which is handy for ease-of-use while gaming. You will find a power button on the side which can toggle PlayStation 4 and Xbox compatibility. I’m not quite sure why this is needed as both consoles use the same standard 3.5 mm connection, but it is what it is and it works. Above that, you will find two volume controls; one for mixing your chat audio and one for mixing your master or game audio. Again, nothing too fancy, but everything is within easy reach for when you need it.

For those who like to chat with their friends while gaming you will find there is a pre-fitted boom microphone on the left ear cup. I don’t chat or use online gaming that often these days though. Thankfully, when it’s not in use, you can simply fold it up out of the way, and it will automatically mute itself.

The fit of the headset is very comfortable. There’s ample padding on the ear cups, as well as ample padding on the headband. It may not look like it’s very thick padding but it is very forgiving and the lightweight design of the headset means it’s not very encumbering anyway.

Powerful Sound

Despite only featuring 40mm drivers, compared to the 50mm drivers they often use in their bigger headset, this headset still packs a mighty punch. Of course, a lot of this performance comes from the built-in amplifier. While you would normally be relying on the power of your console controller to provide the power for the headset, the Recon provides its own. This means it is able to drive audio harder and louder than most headsets. It is not audiophile grade processing, but it certainly adds a big wow factor to the experience.

Despite having obviously boosted capabilities when it comes to audio performance, it’s a focused and clear sound of which Turtle Beach has become renowned for. It leans quite heavily on the treble and provides brilliant clarity that is well suited to competitive and online gaming. Furthermore, it is well suited for providing natural chat audio while using the microphone.

Punchy Bass

It gets down low with the bass too, registering as low as 20 Hz and providing plenty of thump for those big action sequences. It sounds way punchier than any headset of this price range really should. Of course, that is far from a complaint. The midranges are well taken care of as well, maybe lacking some of the crunch that I would like when it comes to listening to guitar heavy music but hardly lacking in detail at the same time.

This is a gaming tuned headset after all, and it reflects that as such. Overall I’m really happy with the way it sounds. We have had a few people try it out in the office and it really is quite remarkable how good it sounds, especially considering how light the headset feels.