Secretlab TITAN EVO Gaming Chair 2024 Edition
design and assembly
On opening the Secretlab Titan Evo’s massive box I was struck by just how premium the experience felt. I’ve put together a few gaming chairs in my time and this was by far the most considered. Not only was everything neatly laid out and labelled, but each part was also consistently branded and served as a constant reminder that you’d invested in a known name. Even the included toolkit featured a cleverly branded multitool, it just all feels very high end. Guided by the world’s largest manual the construction process was simple and all up I went from box to seat in around 15 minutes.
With it all put together there’s nothing overly unique about the Secretlab Titan Evo’s silhouette, at a quick glance it carries all of the shape and styling you’d expect from this kind of bucket racing seat. That isn’t a slight on this gaming chair though, it’s sophisticated in its simplicity and will look equally appropriate in an office setup as it will behind a gaming PC.
You’re offered three sizes and three upholstery options, I’ve been testing the ‘Regular’ Secretlab Titan Evo with the brand’s knitted SoftWeave Plus fabric in both the Cookies & Cream and Black3 colourways. They’re part of an eye-watering 65 different options which on top of simple colours also feature collaborations with game franchises, eSports teams, and even the Red Bull Racing F1 team.
Fabric upholstery on gaming chairs is a relatively recent trend, the Secretlab Titan Evo is my first experience with it and I was particularly impressed with the SoftWeave Plus fabric. Soft to the touch and without that squeakiness you associate with faux leather, I found SoftWeave to be a far more comfortable option for day to day use. Plus, on hotter days I didn’t find my legs sticking to the chair or building up a rather disgusting pool of sweat. Unlike the AndaSeat Kaiser 4 where your colour choice bizarrely only affects the front of the chair, I was pleased to see the same material completely wrap the Titan Evo.
Across the board the Secretlab Titan Evo feels incredibly high quality and the standard of finish is superb. There’s not a thread out of place and while there’s a decent amount of plastic across the various panels and covers, they feel thick and sturdy. The same is true of the base hardware, it’s a pretty traditional setup but it’s well executed with paddles that are responsive and a gas lift that offers a good range of adjustment.
performance
It’s all well and good for the Secretlab Titan Evo to look great, but it’s a chair at the end of the day, so what it’s like to sit in is what matters most. In this way, the Titan Evo really surprised me because the ‘proprietary sculpted pebble seat base’ makes it one of the more unique chairs I’ve used. Ahead of testing, Secretlab told me that the Titan Evo runs considerably firmer than most thanks to the cold-cure foam it uses compared to more traditional foam options and they certainly weren’t lying. The Secretlab Titan Evo is the firmest gaming chair I’ve tested but despite taking a bit of getting used to, I can see what Secretlab are going for.
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The basic premise is the Titan Evo’s firmer, flatter seat allows for better weight and pressure distribution and I found this effective in testing. It’s not the most luxurious chair to sit in, you won’t sink into this chair and feel your troubles melt away, but I remained comfortable throughout a few hours of solid work. There’s plenty of room across the surface of the seat to allow for the occasional wiggle around and the rounded front of the cushion supported my legs rather than cutting into them like I found with the AndaSeat Kaiser 4. In this way, the Secretlab Titan Evo feels more ‘grown-up’ than other gaming chairs, this isn’t a little one-person sofa to game from, you get the sense it’s helping your posture or at the very least encouraging you to not embrace bad habits.
The Secretlab Titan Evo has a few other hidden tricks to help find your perfect fit too. Hidden inside the backrest is a four-way adjustment system that cleverly lets you dial in the contour of the lumbar support and I was impressed with how granular these changes could be. I’d recommend taking the time to play around with the adjustment dial on either side of the Titan Evo as it’ll take a good deal of trial and error to get right but there’s a valuable pay-off when you do. I’m not generally one for intrusive lumbar support, but with a few twists here and there I found a non-zero position that was more comfortable than leaving the backrest fully flat like I usually would.
All the standard adjustment options you’d expect from a gaming chair are present on the Secretlab Titan Evo and across the board they work as you’d hope with a couple of standouts that go above and beyond. The included memory foam headrest pillow is gorgeous, a fuzzy black marshmallow of joy that simply sticks on magnetically. It’s everything the actual seat cushion isn’t, luxuriously soft and squidgy and I’d often catch myself getting distracted letting my head sink into it.
The Titan Evo’s armrests are well crafted, secure and, unlike the AndaSeat Kaiser 4, their party trick poses a genuine use if you can stomach the bill. You still get the traditional adjustment options we’ve become accustomed to with gaming chairs, but with another hidden magnetic connector the top cushion of the Titan Evo armrest pops off and can be replaced with a couple of alternate options. You’ll get firm PU CloudSwap tops in the box as standard or you can fork out an extra £65 to upgrade to the excitingly named Technogel or PlushCell options. I’ve not tried either so I can’t speak to their differences or quality, but I applaud Secretlab’s ingenuity – even if they do seem rather pricey.
summed up
There’s a definite swagger in a chair brand only offering a single chair and I can’t help but respect it. Secretlab knows what it’s doing when it comes to gaming chairs and every part of the Secretlab Titan Evo is proof of that. While it may only offer one chair, across size, colour and positioning there’s plenty of ways to make the Secretlab Titan Evo your own. This is a well designed, well built gaming chair that while noticeably firm, is also noticeably comfortable in the long run too.
Price is an interesting consideration with the Secretlab Titan Evo across the board actually because £499 puts it in a middle ground in the premium gaming chair market. A little chunk more than options from Boulies or Noble, but comfortably below the lofty heights of Razer or the Logitech/Herman Miller crossovers, the Titan Evo does a decent job of riding a price v performance line. It’s still a lot, but a clever design, neat extra flourishes and superb overall build quality make it easy to justify.
