Astro A40s

[Whorax]

Hey guys.

 

Will be looking to buy a new headset soon. Was pretty convinced that I wanted the Steelseries H Wireless up until a few hours ago when I realized I could get Astro A40s for half of the price and I could spend the extra $150 on a K70 RGB or something of the sort. I guess my questions to those of you that have them are, how do you like them? Are they worth the money? Are they reliable? I've went through three or four pairs of Turtle Beaches in the past five years, mainly because they've all broken, whether it be cracking plastic or sound going out.

I'm by no means a stickler on audio quality seeing as I currently have a Turtle Beach x12 that I don't even think is meant to be used on the PC, therefore I'd think just about anything will be an upgrade. I think I'm still only interested in the A40s though, so please don't make other headset suggestions.

 

Also, just a general question, how do you guys manage cables from your wired headsets? Do you just twisty tie your unused cable?

 

Edit: Oh, and also, do you need the mixamp or whatever it is if it will only be used on PC?

[MrGoat]

The astro a40's are my biggest regret purchase ever, just don't.

[Whorax]

The astro a40's are my biggest regret purchase ever, just don't.

Really? Why's that? I'm kinda curious. Always thought they were a well received headset.

[EmoRarity]

Really? Why's that? I'm kinda curious. Always thought they were a well received headset.

Well received by those that only ever buy headsets. You can do better with real headphones. 

[MrGoat]

Really? Why's that? I'm kinda curious. Always thought they were a well received headset.

Because this...

 

Well received by those that only ever buy headsets. You can do better with real headphones. 

 

and: not only is the sound quality terrible for music on all 4 of the settings on the "mixamp" the headphones themselves just sound tinny, thin sounding and not very good at all in any way. Even the positional audio isn't very good and its suppose to be a gaming headset. My mixamp also developed static after awhile and the microphone never sounded good, people were always complaining of my terrible mic quality when I was using the A40's.

 

You can do much better with that same amount of money buying some headphones and a desk microphone. Good luck.

[Whorax]

You can do much better with that same amount of money buying some headphones and a desk microphone. Good luck.

Outta curiosity, what sort of headphone + desk mic could I find for ~$150?

[EmoRarity]

Outta curiosity, what sort of headphone + desk mic could I find for ~$150?

HD518's and a mod mic. 

[MrGoat]

Outta curiosity, what sort of headphone + desk mic could I find for ~$150?

 

 

HD518's and a mod mic. 

 

That or the HD558 and a blue snow ball desk mic. Which would be my preference.

 

If you get the 558, look into the foam mod to make them identical to the 598.

[EmoRarity]

That or the HD558 and a blue snow ball desk mic. Which would be my preference.

 

If you get the 558, look into the foam mod to make them identical to the 598.

Why bother when the HD518's sound as near as no difference to the 558's for less. 

[Guest]

Why bother when the HD518's sound as near as no difference to the 558's for less. 

 

Because you can make them sound like the 598, even more than they already do and feel justified in getting a Shiit stack.

[Xyes]

What is the voice service you are using?  If you are like me and use Skype for everything, do yourself a favor and DO NOT get a desk mic.  They are inconvenient for you and the people listening to you.  They pick up noise from tables being bumped and keyboard strokes (mechanical keyboards already sound annoying but my desk mic made my rubber dome keyboard sound even worse than a mechanical).  

 

If you use push to talk or you want to record youtube videos, then a desk mic is good however.

 

I'm currently waiting on my Modmic ($50-$60) so I can't give an opinion on that, but it is currently being touted by most as the best solution, so hopefully I won't be disappointed.  If however, I am disappointed by the sound quality of that, then I would have to say that nothing beats the convenience of a good all in one.

 

So moving on to all-in-ones.  I myself use a Logitech G930 ($80-$120).  I got it because I love being wireless.  It's not perfect, I've had to RMA it a few times because my first one broke (due to subpar build/body quality + heavy use) and they RMA'd me a lemon (frequently disconnecting).  Now that I have a good unit, it's really comfy.  Sound quality is enjoyable for gaming (I don't use surround because I don't like surround) as well as casual music and entertainment.  I love the voice quality (not only do I test my own voice but I recommended it to someone and they sound great).  

 

I recently bought a Kingston HyperX Cloud($65-$90) for my sister so we could play coop.  That headset is currently being touted as a very good deal (#1 best seller on Amazon).  Unfortunately, I really did not like the mic quality.  I've tested it on my build, my sister's build and I've heard one of my friends use it.  The mic is pretty quiet.  You need to turn up the gain on it and doing that makes the mic sound awful.  Even without the gain turned up the mic has static.  I'm not sure why but that mic made breathing sounds VERY apparent.  I tried moving the mic around but I couldn't get the breathing sound to go away without the user's voice being far away from the mic.

 

For this headset, tl;dr if you care about your voice, stay away from it.

 

If you are in the price range of Astros, I'd point you to the Sennheiser PC363D($240-$270).  I have no experience with it, but it's got Frankie's (popular Youtuber) and Profen's (Headset reviewer) approval.  I was really close to getting it but didn't.  I still kind of want to though.

 

There is also a cheaper variant that got discontinued which has Tek Syndicate's (popular Youtube Tech channel) approval.  It's the Sennheiser PC 150 ($130).