Astro A50 Wireless Gaming Headset

[ChinHair]

Hey Linus,

 

You posted this review at the right time   i was actually just about to get a new pair of Corsair Vengeance 2100 after my Logitech G930 failed on me.

 

I figure i would just wait until you release the other 2 reviews until i make up my mind, any ideas how long until they get uploaded?

[tobben]

i don't think there is such a thing as "audiophile" wireless headphones, the very idea of wireless goes against everything that is about quality, i am a pretty strong believer in wires, nice review btw, i get the impression they were pretty mediocre, if even that, and that price tag! sure having it wireless is convenient but you pay 3 times as much for half the quality and alot of problems in some cases.

[alienpope]

As I mentioned in the video it's possible that the usual compression that's present with most voice chat services would obscure the low quality with its own low quality-ness.

 

I was using Audacity to record.

Maybe you should record your voice from a skype call? Since most people are using their mic with skype... Maybe this is a terrible idea tho

[JaEras]

Hey Linus can please clarify me on this? I am thinking of buying the vengeance 2100 and in your video you said that they can work on OSX. The ability to connect to OSX would be awesome, can you please verify this? Thank you very much 

[Altecice]

I bought my Astro A50's last year and they are awesome, I can walk about without removing them. Also all the past issues of the crackling and bad audio quality have been patched out for months.

 

Did Linus update the firmware on the mixamp and the headsets before doing the review?

[PyroDonkey]

Thanks for the video, Linus. After watching this I'm interested in seeing what the Steelseries H has to offer.

[Zerote000]

Linus, the mic quality might be because the volume is too high. I have the A40, and i have to turn it down to about 30-50% volume in windows to prevent it from distorting. Also, the wearing on your neck thing, you can turn the cups so the back of them face front, and wear it on your neck with a lower profile than normal heaphones. As far as the listening test, I'm curious, did you use USB or optical? USB is only for voice chatting, like with skype, teamspeak, razer comms and so on, while the optical is meant to be the actual imput for games, movies and music, paired with an audio solution (onboard or sound card) that supports Dolby Digital Live. If the audio source doesnt have dolby digital live, audio quality will be reduced quite a bit, and can sometimes cause distortion. Also, since you didn't mention trying out the different EQ settings built into the headset, i am curious as to wether you tried them or not.

[Kiwiandapple]

So, ... I sold my A40's for PC363Ds. While I have to say that the A40s are very sturdy. I dropped that headset fair bit because im clunky. I am very happy with the 363Ds, in terms of sound quality and microphone quality. 

 

So @LinusTech you got some ATH-M50s no? Would love to get your take on those headphones. 

[calarahil]

One thing I wasn't so sure on is whether or not you had used Dolby Digital Live. With the A40 that I had before I moved to my Sennheiser HD598's I found that the sound was better with DDL if you don't use it it won't sound quite the same so you may be missing quite a bit by not having it. Yes its a surround sound feature but I find it gets you the most out of the headsets by Astro. 

[TheTrademarker]

This headset is alright for wireless gaming but i would rather stick with the siberia elites.

[TheTrademarker]

One thing I wasn't so sure on is whether or not you had used Dolby Digital Live. With the A40 that I had before I moved to my Sennheiser HD598's I found that the sound was better with DDL if you don't use it it won't sound quite the same so you may be missing quite a bit by not having it. Yes its a surround sound feature but I find it gets you the most out of the headsets by Astro. 

if you still have the mixamp you can use it with the 598's

[calarahil]

if you still have the mixamp you can use it with the 598's

I couldn't my 5.8 wireless mixamp did not have enough. I ended up plugging it into my Asus Xonar Essence STX directly. 

[demonslayer]

You must be doing something wrong the mic on my a50 does not sound that horrendus. Also the mixamp is terrible connect it to a sound card.

[BobKelso]

I recently got my A50. In game (BF4) they sound very good, especially with the surround sound on and the BF4 preset (kind of mandatory).

 

But at first I had a very hard time to enjoy music until I discovered that the EQ presets are not applied to the USB source, since this is considered to be the chat source.

My Mic doesn't sound that bad. It's not great either but it's better than the mic of my old Logitech G930.

 

BTW What source did you use for your Audio tests the optical or die USB?

 

Best Regards

Timo

[Safyle]

why not using survey technique to determine the sound quality? like B-Roll said what, Slick said what, Diezel said what and so on and don't forget what Rocket said...

[gutserker]

the moment I heard the sound from the mic, my head reeled away. My old 13 year old PS2 headset mic with modded 10mm condenser element sounds WAY better than that $300 BeatsByDre wanna-be.

[YTN3rd]

I got Astro A40's, before the firmware upgrade that's what my mic sounded like as well. As far as I know the A50s mic should sound the same as the A40s.

Here is a sample of my A40s mic.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11374958/AstoA40.mp3

[Legion]

I recently got my A50. In game (BF4) they sound very good, especially with the surround sound on and the BF4 preset (kind of mandatory).

 

But at first I had a very hard time to enjoy music until I discovered that the EQ presets are not applied to the USB source, since this is considered to be the chat source.

My Mic doesn't sound that bad. It's not great either but it's better than the mic of my old Logitech G930.

 

BTW What source did you use for your Audio tests the optical or die USB?

 

Best Regards

Timo

 

Off Topic I was literally rewatching season 2 of scrubs 5 minutes ago

[Rollergold]

I rather stick with the wired Astro Mixamp PRO and good set of wired headphones. Their headphones are good but the Mixamp and the now dead Mixamp 5.8 were the real standout products from Astro.