ASTRO A50 Gaming Headset Review

Astro Quality: Improving The Best Headset Around

You can find some amazing gaming headsets at a low price, but they don’t tend to have all of the bells and whistles that a classic Astro headset has. The Astro A50 gaming headset is an overall improvement on the popular A40 model.

Astro has been one of the most dominant headset manufacturers in the gaming world for as long as most people can remember, and that’s for a good reason. Their headsets are built from the ground up to provide the most immersion possible, and they’re built to last.

The A50 isn’t a budget headset, and you might have to save up to get your hands on one, but it’s a high-end piece of gear that is bound to impress you. In our review, we’ll cover the key features of the A50, compare it to some of the other gaming headsets you can buy, and we’ll give our opinions on it.

Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound For Unparalleled Immersion

A gaming headset is nothing without awe-inspiring audio quality. If the audio quality is poor, you might as well use it as a paperweight. However, Astro has been leading the headset market for what feels like forever, and they’ve perfected the tuning of their audio drivers. The tuning software used in the Astro A50 makes even the softest footsteps register in its audio drivers. So, you’ll never get caught off guard.

On top of the A50’s top-notch audio tuning, it also includes the latest version of Dolby Surround Sound technology. The surround sound feature allows you to pinpoint exactly what direction different audio cues are coming from. In a multiplayer game, that means that you’ll know where every enemy is firing from, and you’ll be able to react in record time.

These advanced audio features aren’t solely for multiplayer games, either. They help to bring the game worlds that you love to life. The level of immersion that you’ll experience with the Astro A50 is unmatched by other headsets in its price range. If you want your games to be even more immersive, you can pair your Astro A50 with a high-end gaming monitor for equally crisp visuals.

Flip To Mute Convenience

Sometimes, you don’t want your gaming buddies to hear everything you’re saying. Whether you’re having an immature breakdown over a messed up play, or if you’re trying to chat with your family, you’ll find that muting your mic is a necessity sometimes.

In most headsets, the mute controls are located on an awkward control pad that dangles from their main audio cables. That design can be frustrating to use in the middle of a game, and it doesn’t look good.

Luckily, Astro has designed the A50’s mic to automatically mute when it’s raised. You can completely shut your voice off from the gaming world with a single hand motion, and the placement of the mic makes it extremely easy to do so.

PS4 Wireless Mode

Cables are annoying. We all know that. They get in the way when you try to move, and you always have to worry about ripping them out of your headset when you get overtly excited.

The Astro A50 is a completely wireless headset. It can form a wireless connection with PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and the only cord you have to worry about is the one for the base station.

With most wireless headsets, you have to worry about how much battery life they have left. That’s not a problem with the A50. The base station that we mentioned earlier has a digital timer on it, and it displays exactly how much time the headset has left before it needs to be charged. If you were wondering, the headset can be used for 14 hours on a single charge.

Balanced Audio

If you’ve used cheaper headsets, you know how annoying it can be when your teammates are louder than the game you’re playing. It’s difficult to care about the game when you can’t hear anything other than your friends screaming.

The Astro A50 gaming headset has a built-in audio balancing feature that solves that issue, though. You can easily adjust the balance between chat volume and game volume. The two settings are changed individually. So, you can easily set them up the exact way that you want.

Long-Lasting Comfort

How comfortable a headset is can make or break it. A gaming headset is likely to be used for hours at a time, and an uncomfortable gaming headset can cause some serious cramps and headaches.

Astro has focused a lot of their attention on how comfortable the A50 is. The ear cups and headband are padded with a breathable foam material, and the ear cups are designed to go completely over your ears. The headband uses a unique adjustment mechanism, too. Traditionally, a headset would be adjusted by sliding the arms into notches inside of the headband. That system makes it impossible to get a perfect fit. The A50 utilizes two springs and a locking mechanism to allow you to adjust each arm down to the millimeter.

Noise Cancellation

Background noise can destroy even the best gaming experiences. The Astro A50 headset utilizes large ear cups to seal off most background noise. This noise cancellation feature won’t completely block out the outside world, but it will make your experience more enjoyable.

Mod Kit Ready

The Astro A50 is great on its own, but there is room for improvement in any headset. The A50 makes it easy for users to personalize their headset by designing it to accept the A50 modification kit.

With the mod kit, you can easily slip a faux leather headband onto the headset, and you can add extra padding to the ear cups. Not only does this feature make it a more comfortable headset, but it also increases the effectiveness of the noise cancellation feature.

Long Lasting Battery

As we mentioned in a section above this one, the A50 has a 14 hour battery life. That’s not the longest lasting battery, but it’s plenty of battery power for long gaming binges. In addition, the base station will keep track of the amount of time the headset has left before it needs to be charged. So, you’ll always know when it’s almost time to take a break.

Base Station Included

The A50 removes the possibility of tangling your charging cables. It works as a charging station, and it works perfectly as a headset stand. Considering how expensive stands can be, that’s a welcome addition to the A50’s overall package.

It’s not just a fancy charging port, though. It can also maintain a wireless connection with the A50 headset, and it can monitor the amount of battery life that the headset has. The amount of battery life left is displayed on a digital clock. So, you don’t have to do any guess work.

Astro Command Center Compatible

If you’re into streaming and recording your games, you’ll be happy to know that the A50 is compatible with Astro’s Command Center software. The Astro Command Center is easily downloaded to your PC, and it allows you to adjust the audio capabilities of your A50. It allows you to filter out things that you don’t want your audience to hear, adjust the individual volume levels of every game noise, and adjust the audio that is recorded by your recording software.

Conclusion

While the A50 is a little pricey, we’d suggest it over any other gaming headset available. Other gaming headsets try to include as many features as possible, but they rarely get them all right. The A50 gaming headset doesn’t have as many bonus features as other high-end headsets, but each feature that it has is done to perfection.

The mic is ridiculously accurate and convenient, the audio is jaw-dropping, and the design is incredibly comfortable. You won’t get the steel frame of a SteelSeries headset, and you won’t get the fancy bass features that a lot of Turtle Beach models have, but it is the most solid headset that we’ve reviewed.

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