True Wireless with Astro A50s on Xbox One

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FIRST AND FOREMOST!

EVERYONE NEEDS TO INSTALL ASTRO COMMAND CENTER , PLUG IN THE MIXAMP PRO TR (WHITE XBOX ONE VERSION) INTO YOUR PC, AND UPDATE IT! I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!

Streamers and YouTubers!!! Do Step 3 under “Software Setup” before continuing. It will stop you from having to disconnecting the Mixamp Pro TR from your Xbox later.

INTRODUCTION:

Are you sick and tired of having a wire going from your Astro A50′s to your Xbox One controller in order to communicate with your teammates in game and party chat?

Me too!

This hardware work around will have your Astro A50′s be able to speak to player in game chat and parties, as well as hear them.

First of all, here’s a bit of background on why this awesome audio rig was created. The normal Astro A50′s, specifically the wireless transmitter (Tx) can not, for many reasons, transmit game sound or chat through USB to the Xbox One. Some headsets can do this, but I know that no one wants to replace their A50′s that they spent hard earned money on. Additionally, the headsets that do transmit chat over USB are either wired, or can only work with the Xbox One.

This setup does require some additional hardware, although adding true wireless capabilities to your A50′s is not the only feature gained by this setup. You can also capture in-game chat and party chat, which is great for streamers like me. Now let’s get on to the specifics.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

1. A PC/Laptop with analog audio connectors (Pictured in the diagram, right below the PC USB image).

2. Astro A50′s with Mixamp Wireless Transmitter (Tx)

3. Astro Mixamp Pro Tr (This is the additional hardware you likely don’t have. Go HERE for official Astro product page). MUST BE THE WHITE ONE! IT IS THE VERSION COMPATIBLE WITH XBOX ONE! This is what will transmit the chat through USB to the Xbox One!

4. Xbox One Console

5. Wires, look at the diagram below and make sure you have the wires stated in the top right to make the necessary connections.

USB that comes with Mixamp Pro TR.

Three 3.5mm (CTIA, TRRS) Cables. Make sure they are CTIA, TRRS (Tip, ring, ring, sleeve) This is the headphone jack standard that Astro uses on their products.

Optical Cable

USB that comes with A50′s Mixamp wireless transmitter (Tx)

PC Headset Y-Adapter (Comes with the Mixamp Pro TR)

 

CONNECTING CABLES, AND WHY WE ARE CONNECTING THEM A CERTAIN WAY:

1. Connect the USB from the Mixamp Pro TR to the Xbox One. This enables a sound source (Headset, micrphone, etc.) that is plugged into the Mixamp Pro TR to communicate with the Xbox One via USB connection.

2. Next, plug in the A50′s Wireless transmitter into your computer via the USB “Pwr”. This will provide you sound from your PC as well as allow you to use the microphone on your A50 headset on the PC (which we need).

3. Plug in the PC Headset Y-Adapter into the port on the Mixamp Pro TR labeled with the “Headset” image. This will allow use to plug in an audio source for voice chat (Pink side) which players in-game and in parities will hear, as well as a line-out (Green side) that we can plug into wherever we want to hear the other players talking. (More on that next)

4. This is where we need one of the 3.5 cables we talked about earlier. Take the 3.5 cable, plug one end into the PINK end of the splitter, then plug the other side of that same 3.5 cable into the GREENanalog audio port in your PC or Laptop (Location of analog audio ports may vary depending on your computer).

5. This step is similar to the last one but the colors are swapped. Take the second 3.5 cable, plug one end into the GREEN end of the splitter, then plug the other side if that same 3.5 cable into wherever you want the players in-game or in party chat to be heard. If you plan on capturing peoples voices in-game or in party chat for YouTube or streaming to Twitch, plug it into the PINK analog audio port in your PC. If you are only concerned with being able to hear other people just plug it into the AUX port on the A50′s Wireless Transmitter (Tx). If you chose to just hear people and not record anything, you can skip to the “Software Setup” portion of the instructions.

6. For those of you who want to be able to record the other players in-game and in party chat, you have already plugged in the necessary cables for your streaming software to hear other people, but you cannot hear them yet. This is where the third 3.5 cable comes in. Plug one end of the 3.5 cable into the “Stream” port on the Mixamp Pro TR, then plug the other end of that same 3.5 cable into theAUX port on the A50′s Wireless Transmitter (Tx). A bit more setup is required to only hear the players chatting, I will cover that in the next section.

SOFTWARE SETUP:

Next we will configure Windows Playback devices and the Mixamp Pro TR in order to get everything running how we want it to. These next steps all take place on the Windows operation system.

1. In the system tray located on the bottom right of Windows on the toolbar, right click the “Speaker” image and click on “Recording Devices”. There you will see a list of devices able to be used as audio inputs. Locate the recording source for “ASTRO Wireless Transmitter”, right click it, then click “Properties”. Once the properties window is open click on the “Listen” tab. From here, check the “Listen to this device” box and then below that, click the drop down labeled “Playback through this device”. This is where we want that recording audio source (which is your voice though the headset) to come out. Select the playback device that corresponds the the GREEN analog audio port on your PC. Power management should be set to “Continue running when on battery power” by default, if not, make sure it is selected. Click “Apply”. 

For those of you that don’t care about recording and in-game voice or party chat your journey has ended. Just make sure that the Mixamp Pro TR is set to Xbox One mode which is indicated by the the Power button being red, and you are good to go!

For the Let’s Players and Streamers out there, let’s keep this ball rolling!

2. At this point you need to go into whatever streaming software that you use (I use OBS Multiplatform) and add the audio source that has the other players chat in it, which is the PINK analog audio port. Adding audio sources can vary depending on software but should not be hard to find out. Ask me and I’ll do my best to find out for your specific software. So now we have everything setup to where you can talk to people completely wireless, without cables in your headset or controller. But wait, your stream can hear the other players but you can’t… Let’s fix that.

3. Open up the Astro Command Center software that we downloaded and used before we did anything. Once the program is open, click on the “Stream Port” tab. This is where we will determine what you will hear from the Mixamp Pro TR. For instruction purposes all we need to have turned up is the “Chat Audio”. This will enable you to hear everyone in-game and in party chat since the “Stream” port on the Mixamp Pro TR is connected to the AUX port on your A50′s Wireless Transmitter.

Play around with these setting if you like once you get a feel for things. You can do things like plug in a compatible smartphone and take calls through the AUX port on the Mixamp Pro TR or plug in other auxiliary devices you want to listen to like an mp3 player.

CONGRATULATIONS!

At this point you should have a nice little setup that allows your awesome Astro A50′s to connect to your Xbox One and communicate with everyone, WIRE FREE!!!

If anyone wants to reach out to me for further questions I will put my social media information below. Thanks for sticking through the long read but I hope everyone finds it to be worth the effort.

YouTube

Twitter

Twitch

I almost forgot. Go vote at the Xbox Feedback page for native USB Microphone and Headset Support so that gamers don’t have to create crazy ideas like mine to be able to make our gear work like it should!