Astro A50 Review: Headset You Will Never Forget
Notwithstanding the lowly tag, Astro Gaming is still a gold standard for its virtual surround sound services in the gaming community. The Astro A40 headset improved the bar set for replication by 7.1 channels and remains one of the highly recommended gaming headsets. We were very interested to try the new Astro launch, the Astro A50 headset, with a so big pedigree.
With the A40 wireless update the Astro A50, audiophilic performance and 5.8 GHz wireless connectivity are promised. At $300, we predicted some very strong sound rates for the A50 to cost $50 more than its predecessor. To see how fine it feels, we realized we had to log in a lot of rough video games to test the A50. With our drink and treats in our pocket, we sat down to see what the A50s could do for some long games sessions. It’s a hard job, but you remember, well, well, well, you do.
Unboxing
The Astro A50s come in a wide two-piece case with a strengthened outer shell of black carton. Pulling the package off shows graffiti influenced by fun games to get you ready for the fight. The A50s are inside a two-part plastic inset with a hard-shell, concise guide for the corresponding setup. The headset includes a large variety of attachments, including a portable mixamp that operates and powers the headboards, a wooden frame, an optical controller communication cord, a 2.5 mm voice chat cable and two USB mini cable to USB cables, one for control from the computer mixamp and one for reloading headboards from the mixamp.
Design & Features
Nearly entirely covered in matt black, the Acer A50s appear to have been an advertiser in Terminator 2. The headphone is rendered extremely modern by the hard plastic exoskeleton headband and the earpiece contacts.
The ear pads are made of fluffy, fuzzy black padding, which looks like a pair of 70s cans which offer the overall model a futuristic dichotomy. A large swath of the same padding is carried on the headband. The earpieces rotate so that for extremely long sessions you can wear the A50 around the collar in the gamer style. The left piece has a swing-down microphone and is equipped with a 1⁄8-inch Xbox chat cable input and a mini-USB charge input. The microphone cannot be removed, so it naturally drags to mute.
The right earpiece is equipped with a digital dial volume, a power button, and the three-way switch. We note, however, that mostly volume and definition seemed to be labelled when we changed settings. Astro promises that it will launch technology in future, which might be really interesting to program your own mixing amplifier EQ. We placed the switch in the place it came for our test, the fifth spot. The outside of the right front panel is actually a red-and-white key enabling you to adjust the volume of voice chat or player sound individually during digital playback. The key often acts as a dual offline volume control.
Luxury
The soft padding on the headbands and ear pads makes the Acer A50, however heavy, pretty comfortable. After a few hours, they stirred up our head, but it wasn’t bad, and our ear tiredness seemed to match, and it seemed time to take some break. It should be a welcome addition to those who schedule games throughout the day to take out the ear piece and carry the ear pads.
Sound
Astro’s A50 delivers amazing sonic sound and a very practical 7.1 surround reproduction that generates a spectacular sound-package gaming experience. If you want to learn how we came to the conclusion, read on, but be advised, because we’ve become big fans of this device, we’ll be a little gushy.
Together with the perfect sound design of the high Budget shooter, the immersive action created by the headphones gives an impression of true sonic space. We grew used to this eventually, so we started moving through the simulated arena. When we struggled with the enemy, we quickly were hit by massive thunder-filled blasts and strafing bullets that seemed to travel from left to right. Helicopters constantly flew above and struck the sky with dense, sleek images of their beautiful weapons. The walls of stone halls were echoed by high, piercing guns in dozens of different tones and iterations.
Several minor gaps remained as we turned around in the match and the drivers tried to link sounds, but few. The digital “alt” offered the battlefield a strong subtext, but we wanted to make it even darker. The explosion of strong noises from battle was enticing, but we were also struck by the nice articulation of the Acer A50s with the small details, such as shoes in sepulchers, or bullets cascaded from the sides of a weapon and beautifully ringing on the pavement below. The reproduction of conversation in the combination was clean, straightforward and forward with all the details emphasized.
Although the sound feature of the Acer A50 was a little bit bright, we couldn’t complain much because the focus was also extremely clear and narrow, a little too much for our taste. We continued to experience the remarkably immersive experience when testing other games, including Pubg, Red Dead Redemption and NBA 2k13. The 2K13 soundtrack of Jay-Z made it possible for us to listen to the hip-hop Acer A50 with style as “virtual sound system” pumped music with palpable force over the cheering crowd. Many other brilliant musical moments also occurred during our test, with low stinging brass and slightly bent strings and thickening drums.
Final Words
The Astro A50 has continuously impressed under each test scenario. A50 made every game title we play more entertaining and engrossing with its extremely influential and instinctual sound. It is a must try for the audiophile, the serious gamer or anyone who only loves great sound because we’ve tested the Astro A50 with passion and patience and it totally deserves a try.
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