Field Test: Astro A50 wireless headset - sullivanwhinged
[Rather than bounteous you a review packed laden of benchmark numbers and charts, our Field Test serial is all about taking technology out of the box and out of the lab. We use it in our everyday lives, and report what we find.]
Optimized for gamers, the Astro A50 takes just about of what gamers be intimate about the A40 and cuts the corduroys. While this pricey wireless headset isn't the outdo choice for music enthusiasts, it's one of the best gaming headsets I've ever used. The $300 cost tag is steep, but the fully radio receiver frame-up gives the impression that you get more blast-for-your-buck than with some of Astro's other products.
At its most basic level, the A50 is a wireless version of Astro's preceding flagship cartesian product, the A40 Audio System. It takes the seperate "mixamp" module, with its heavy volume control knob and vocalize/mettlesome fader dial, and integrates it into the earpieces. The A50s use the duplicate 40mm drivers you'll find connected the A40s, but they intelligent a moment different thanks to the blocked-back innovation. Too gone from the A40s are the replaceable tags on the sides of the headphones and the removable mic, only you North Korean won't escape them. The usability and receiving set functionality to a higher degree make raised for these minor features.
Receiving set tech
It all starts with the base unit: a arrow-shaped, lightweight black box with a TOSLink optical input and output and then the sound can come from your PC or console organisation and continue on to your home theater system or TV. It's supercharged via USB, and on a PC or Mac that USB connection serves American Samoa the mic stimulus, too. (If your Microcomputer/Mac has no optical turnout, the unit functions as a taxon USB headset, with audio input and output through USB.) There's an auxilliary 1/8-inch chew for parallel sound, too. On the elevation of the infrastructure unit is a index button and a button to enable/disable Dobly 7.1 audio. The headphones translate 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound into Dolby Phone, which does a remarkably well behaved job of "faking" directional audio with just a pair of headphones.
The base transmits audio to the headset victimization the KleerNet 5.8GHz wireless audio technology. A handful of wireless audio products already use KleerNet, with others on the way, and the A50s terminate be easy synced to any of them. I found the radio set connection extremely robust, with a prissy long-handled range (at least 25 feet in my small flat) and absolutely no interference from opposite wireless devices, bad wiring in my old building, running the zap…you appoint it. There is absolutely no perceptible latent period or delay in the fathom, either. Astro says the battery should last 12 hours or Sir Thomas More, but I institute this optimistic. In my experience, they needed recharging every 8-10 hours, depending on how loud I cranked them up, which is just. This may be the best wireless audio engineering science I've ever used, save for one pocketable snag…
On occasion, the audio will sipmly cut dead for a break-s. The little blip occurs once all a few minutes. It's not every last that distracting when performin a game, but obvious and annoying when hearing to music or watching a movie. This is a firmware problem that Astro has acknowledged; it says an update is on the way presently to direct the issue.
Headphone features
The right earphone has a free-spinning volume dial that resets itself to a low level all metre the headset is turned on. Astro says IT's to keep off you from deafening yourself, and I can believe IT. If you keep up spinning the telephone dial, these things get cheap. Almost dangerously loud. Irresponsibly loud. Fortunately, the dial is non very sensitive, and then you have to be really deliberate about deafening yourself. The business leader and sync button are also located happening the back of the right-handed earpiece, along with a trilateral audio profile switch. The intermediate position provides the same "flat" audio profile as other Astro headphones, spell the bottom position is the "Astro" visibility intended for games. It gives you a picayune more punch in the low and speed-mid-range sounds, so you bottom hear footsteps and other important positional queues. The upper position is supposed to cost used for movie and music, merely it's terrible. It makes everything sound equal it's underwater, with odd frequencies muted more than they should be. Astro intends to release software that lets users create their own Equivalent weight profiles for the switch, and IT can't number soon adequate. I should note that this Combining weight permutation only functions for wholesome delivered finished the optical input. If you're using the USB or supplementary linear audio inputs, you're follow the standard flat place setting. It doesn't sound bad, only IT's annoying that the interchange doesn't affair for totally inputs.
Speculative where the vocalization/brave dial from the genuine A40 mixamp went? It's now a paddle-transposition on the honorable earphone. Press the front edge and it makes voice chat louder, press the back edge to make game sounds louder. Simple audio cues let you know when you're each the way to one side or the other, or balanced right in the middle.
The left earphone contains the mini-USB charging plug and the midget audio manual laborer for Xbox 360 voice gossip. Sadly, vocalisation chat still has to come from your Xbox 360 controller via a small conducting wire—it's a restriction of the Xbox 360 spec. The boom mic isn't detachable as it is on the A40 headset, but Astro makes up for information technology with a canny muting mechanism. Swing the boom up, and you're muted. Swing IT plunk for down feather, and the mic kicks on. A nice tactual sensation: on that point's a soft detent right at the point where the mute kicks in, so you can easily feel if you'rhenium muted operating theater non.
Level-headed quality
Mayhap the just about important enquiry for any pair of headphones is: how do they speech sound? The closed-back intent of the A50s allow them to screen external sound better than the A40s, and the low end has a little more punch, but otherwise the timbre tier is similar. These aren't active to replace a good pair of $200+ dedicated music headphones when it comes to listening to your jams, but the accuracy and precision of the complete is among the outdo I've heard from dedicated gaming headphones.
The Microphone, as well, is among the better-sounding I've heard on a gambling headset. My voice came through loud and clear, but this isn't the kind of studio-quality mic you'd want to record music with. As a mic votive to voice chat, it's great.
Comfort and value
It's cardinal that a gaming headset atomic number 4 very comfortable, because gamers tend to play for big periods. Over hours of use, I never felt that the headband was dig into my head, or that my ears were pinched or hot. You'd think the A50s would follow heavier with all the wireless stuff and the battery indoors, but it's very very much lighter than information technology looks.
At $300, the Astro A50 headset isn't cheap. Information technology's more expensive than virtually game consoles these days. Despite the exorbitant price tag, and with the notable exception of the firmware bug that causes intermittent "hiccups" in the audio, this product looks, feels, and acts like you're getting your money's worth. It's an investment in quality that I would have absolutely no job recommending to fancier PC or console table gamers, provided that Astro quickly fixes the firmware bug.
Update: The A50 firmware update 1.1, released in late August, fixes the noted problem with sound ablation. It likewise tweaks volume and leveling, and reduces background noise.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/461345/field-test-astro-a50-wireless-headset.html
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