Awesome ARR headsets

So I guess the question is, Where do I get this headset? It looks like an Astro headset, but it is not on their site...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDFVgxaCEAEWX3n.jpg

It is a Standard Astro a40 headset. Likely without the 2013 mixamp.

The tags are pop-on pop-off magnetic side pieces with custom logos on them, you cant order these unless S-E start selling them on the astro store, and you cant make them in the custom tags painter because its trademarked/copywrited material.

Oh and if anyone is interested - They are fantastic headsets. 7.1 surround sound is amazing through these things, the magic the Astro 2013 Mixamp works is astounding. Well worth the hefty pricetag ($200 / £200)

cool thanks, so it is astro then? I thought so. Now they just need to sell those magnetic side pieces!!!

Wow are they really worth the price? do they come with a mic?

I prefer my Astro A50's :p

Takeshi_Eiketsu: http://astrogaming.com/
I recently purchased Astro A40's and I love them! Just make sure if you're in the market for a nice headset and you choose to go with Astro A40's that you purchase the Mixamp bundle. The Mixamp is the star of the show as it converts Dolby Digital signals into 7.1 surround for your headset. Your motherboard should be capable of producing 5.1-7.1 Dolby Digital so long as your PC is not extremely old. The signal is sent through an Optical Toslink cable into the Mixamp that then converts it to 7.1 surround digitally for your A40's. The Mixamp also offers you presets that you can use for all sorts of gaming. Currently there are 4: FPS, Normal Dolby, Cinematic, Sports Games. Astro plans to release a firmware for the Mixamp 2013 that will allow users to edit and create profiles of their own.

Coombah: The A40's come with a removable mic that can be attached on either side of the headset. The A50's microphone is not removable but has a mute feature when the mic is pushed up away from the face.

As for the custom ARR ear cups:
Astro offers you the ability to create your own ear cup designs. Though they also release headsets with custom game designs on them often~ ARR might be one being released soon...but it could be that SE purchased custom ear cup covers using their design tool on Astro's website.

Ilethius, why the A50's? I mean I know wireless and all, but the battery life starts to decay after 3 years. That's why I decided on the A40's.

yea, looking at the headset, it seems the A40 with the mix amp is the best bet...because it can also be used on the consoles

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Takeshi_Eiketsu

yea, looking at the headset, it seems the A40 with the mix amp is the best bet...because it can also be used on the consoles

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The A50's can be used on consoles as well. The Mixamp is built into the headset on the A50's as well. I just chose the A40's because I don't want to have to replace them in 3-5 years after the battery life has started to get shorter.

Oh heck yeah. Well recommended for everyone who plays multiplayer or MMOs! ^^

The trademarks come in TAGs. You can order 'em but I want to design my own to be honest!

(so I can look cool[er]!

:cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Coombah

Wow are they really worth the price? do they come with a mic?

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One of the side panels comes with a hole for a Mic to slot in. That panel can be swapped to the other side, which also has a Mic jack, so you can put it on either side which suits your preference! If you just want to use them as headphones, you can get an additional side panel with no hole and not have to worry about having a hole in the side of your fancy headphones.

As for the price, I was INCREDIBLY sceptical for the longest time, but I came into a bit of money and decided to try them out. Safe to say they are worth it.

I have a few pairs of £100+ headphones, all of which sound fantastic when plugged into the Astro mixamp, but none of them compare to the comfort of the Astro headphones, the astros also hold up well against mainstay brands like Senheiser and Audio Technica in terms of sound quality.

Im starting to sound like a bit of marketeer for these now but I figured Id go through some of the cool features if people are interested :)


The Audio for your games/music/etc comes through your optical out on your PC, and your comms goes through USB on the mixamp.

What this means is you can room filling 5.1 surround sound and a "virtual" speaker right next to your ear for your friends voices. It feels like being sat in an enclosed room with a full speaker system and wearing a headset to chat.
And theres a nifty volume balance on the mixamp to swap between voice and game audio, so if you game is drowing people out, swing it towards voice and lowers the game and boosts voice volume, or vice versa.

These are my favourite things about these headphones and im done sound like a shill XD

Making me really want these...really wish I could try out the headphones to be honest, lol

While I am wanting to snag a pair of these myself, I have been reading reviews online and there seems to be a lot of negativity towards Astro and their products. The A40 and A50 in particular. People are saying there are power cuts to the Dolby surround sound where it just drops off and turns the headset off, the mics are defective, people over vent or teamspeak are hearing garbled speech from the user, customer service is reportedly horrible shipping the product back after tech support tells customers that they cannot fix the problem.

Can anyone with a pair shed some light on these issues? Have you experienced any setbacks with it? Before I shell out $250 I'd like some more input from users. The headset looks awesome and I'd love to get a decent headset that will last a while. Seems everyone I get has the lifespan of a year before they take a dump.

The only issue I *had* with mine was a problem with the mixamp trying to noise balance my voice. This was fixed about a week after I bought them via a firmware upgrade and everyone says im crystal clear now :)

Ive had no power drops or issues with support, they were quick to respond and detailed.

edit: i have the astro a40 wired with the 2013 mixamp pro

If you guys want the ultimate headset buy yourself:

Beyerdynamic DT 880

http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-D.../dp/B000F2BLTM

and a modmic
http://www.modmic.com/

Too many gaming headsets and well most headsets period,either skimp with the mic quality or with the headphone drivers.
If there's any audiophiles here you probably agree how annoying sounding they are and would probably enjoy this setup.


edit:
Beyer also has a headset with a high quality mic and headphone drivers but doesn't quite have the soundstage and imaging as the DT 880

http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-7.../dp/B001BYMZ5W

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LawlSTi

While I am wanting to snag a pair of these myself, I have been reading reviews online and there seems to be a lot of negativity towards Astro and their products. The A40 and A50 in particular. People are saying there are power cuts to the Dolby surround sound where it just drops off and turns the headset off, the mics are defective, people over vent or teamspeak are hearing garbled speech from the user, customer service is reportedly horrible shipping the product back after tech support tells customers that they cannot fix the problem.

Can anyone with a pair shed some light on these issues? Have you experienced any setbacks with it? Before I shell out $250 I'd like some more input from users. The headset looks awesome and I'd love to get a decent headset that will last a while. Seems everyone I get has the lifespan of a year before they take a dump.

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Garbled mic issue is fixed by a mixamp firmware update. This only happens to a select few of A40's as far as I know.

I have yet to experience this power cut out issue you have mentioned. The sound has been solid...and loud. I have never put the volume passed 50% with my A40's. My mic worked perfectly out of the box as well...Didn't need the firmware update.

But yes, I read all of the same issues and reviews. I went to gamestop and purchased my A40's and a product replacement plan on them in case anything was wrong/goes wrong in the future. The product replacement flat out replaces the headset/mixamp if there is anything wrong with it.

I cannot speak for Astro's customer service as this is my first Astro product. If it is indeed terrible then I would consider other options like Gamestop with product replacement. Though I realize gamestops are not available to everyone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dhalmel

If you guys want the ultimate headset buy yourself:

Beyerdynamic DT 880

http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-D.../dp/B000F2BLTM

and a modmic
http://www.modmic.com/

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As a fellow audiophile I can say with certainty, the Astro A40's are very very good. around the level of ADH-700 audio technicas. But as I said earlier, the comfort of the A40 is unrivalled.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dhalmel

If you guys want the ultimate headset buy yourself:

Beyerdynamic DT 880

http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-D.../dp/B000F2BLTM

and a modmic
http://www.modmic.com/

Too many gaming headsets and well most headsets period,either skimp with the mic quality or with the headphone drivers.
If there's any audiophiles here you probably agree how annoying sounding they are and would probably enjoy this setup.


edit:
Beyer also has a headset with a high quality mic and headphone drivers but doesn't quite have the soundstage and imaging as the DT 880

http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-7.../dp/B001BYMZ5W

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God-dammit why didn't I think of this. I love these Sony headphones I got a while back, this is the perfect idea.

My only concern about the boom-mic (from experience) how is the quality?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shioban

God-dammit why didn't I think of this. I love these Sony headphones I got a while back, this is the perfect idea.

My only concern about the boom-mic (from experience) how is the quality?

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very good quality but the sound pickup is pretty wide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7HkNn3YTLU

A newer version is being made for less background noise pickup.

Personally been looking to get a nice Mic sometime in the near future... Currently I use a dollar store desk mic lol (Actually has decent sound nice and clear probably due to having a well isolated enviroment clear of most background noise)

Headphones: Sennheiser HD-280's Sound is really nice, it's a shame my computer has a Fubar Headphone jack in the front and the cord isn't suited to stretch to the back (Could buy a extender but..eh) also they get damn hot after a while, but sometimes you just can't beat the nice fully enclosed headphones for that extra immersion.

Mic: Really looking to splurge on this guy

Not just for gaming purposes but mainly been looking to get into capturing audio to start doing some game reviews. I've just had a odd interest in getting into that space after I had some mild victories in writing reviews and enjoying let's play videos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jynx

Personally been looking to get a nice Mic sometime in the near future... Currently I use a dollar store desk mic lol (Actually has decent sound nice and clear probably due to having a well isolated enviroment clear of most background noise)

Headphones: Sennheiser HD-280's Sound is really nice, it's a shame my computer has a Fubar Headphone jack in the front and the cord isn't suited to stretch to the back (Could buy a extender but..eh) also they get damn hot after a while, but sometimes you just can't beat the nice fully enclosed headphones for that extra immersion.

Mic: Really looking to splurge on this guy

Not just for gaming purposes but mainly been looking to get into capturing audio to start doing some game reviews. I've just had a odd interest in getting into that space after I had some mild victories in writing reviews and enjoying let's play videos.

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The condenser is a over priced PoS.
Audio Technica AT2020USB

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-AT202.../dp/B008BSWBJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx07A2nlvfI

buy that and add a pop filter and you're good if your doing simple YT reviews,

Interesting I'll check it out, I always tend to go overboard when I purchase tech I like to keep my options open.

THey used to allow you to order custom logo plates, and you uploaded an iamge and it was made and shipped. DOn't know if it is done any more.

I have a headset that still allows it, weither for name, DJ logo's, or gaming. It costs 50.00 to do the replacement part, and all it is is plastic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kazaran

THey used to allow you to order custom logo plates, and you uploaded an iamge and it was made and shipped. DOn't know if it is done any more.

I have a headset that still allows it, weither for name, DJ logo's, or gaming. It costs 50.00 to do the replacement part, and all it is is plastic.

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you still can do it and it seem to cost 25$ now i'll still wont do it :) i myself been using turtle beach headset X12 not sure how good the 99$ version is from that company.

You could always visit a local print shop and see if they could print you a vinyle sticker. (They tend to not care about Copyright stuff as much)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jynx

You could always visit a local print shop and see if they could print you a vinyle sticker. (They tend to not care about Copyright stuff as much)

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That is actually not a bad idea at all....may have to do that...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jynx

You could always visit a local print shop and see if they could print you a vinyle sticker. (They tend to not care about Copyright stuff as much)

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You can also do this with some Beydynamic Custom One PROs and a mod mic.
http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-C.../dp/B008XEYT48, the entire headphone is customizable and could totally make a XIV plate at a print shop.


No I don't have no affiliation with Beyerdynamic, I just love this german company.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SirOleas

Takeshi_Eiketsu: http://astrogaming.com/
I recently purchased Astro A40's and I love them! Just make sure if you're in the market for a nice headset and you choose to go with Astro A40's that you purchase the Mixamp bundle. The Mixamp is the star of the show as it converts Dolby Digital signals into 7.1 surround for your headset. Your motherboard should be capable of producing 5.1-7.1 Dolby Digital so long as your PC is not extremely old. The signal is sent through an Optical Toslink cable into the Mixamp that then converts it to 7.1 surround digitally for your A40's. The Mixamp also offers you presets that you can use for all sorts of gaming. Currently there are 4: FPS, Normal Dolby, Cinematic, Sports Games. Astro plans to release a firmware for the Mixamp 2013 that will allow users to edit and create profiles of their own.

Coombah: The A40's come with a removable mic that can be attached on either side of the headset. The A50's microphone is not removable but has a mute feature when the mic is pushed up away from the face.

As for the custom ARR ear cups:
Astro offers you the ability to create your own ear cup designs. Though they also release headsets with custom game designs on them often ARR might be one being released soon...but it could be that SE purchased custom ear cup covers using their design tool on Astro's website.

Ilethius, why the A50's? I mean I know wireless and all, but the battery life starts to decay after 3 years. That's why I decided on the A40's.

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I prefer wireless headphones as i often play music while doing other things round the house, the battery isnt a concern as you can get your battery replaced by Astro when it starts to fade in longevity but i like to change my headphones every 2 - 3 years anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ilethius

I prefer wireless headphones as i often play music while doing other things round the house, the battery isnt a concern as yocu can get your battery replaced by Astro when it starts to fade in longevity but i like to change my headphones every 2 - 3 years anyway.

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Higher quality headphones get better with age, especially one using dynamic drivers.
I hope you don't do this to every headphone you own!

Just ordered a pair of the black A40 2013 Edition's w/ MixAmp Pro. Wish I could've ordered a set of those sweet custom ARR magnetic sides in black. Went to their customizer site and in a pop-up window it states not to use anything to which you do not have rights to... Makes me a sad sad taru =(

Square-Enix,

Please give rights to Astro for printing purposes. You know you want my money. Take it, damn it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dhalmel

very good quality but the sound pickup is pretty wide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7HkNn3YTLU

A newer version is being made for less background noise pickup.

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I ordered one, cost a fair bit to get it sent to Europe but it'll be worth it.

Does it come with a mic?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KyahAlmasy

Does it come with a mic?

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yes they do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LawlSTi

Just ordered a pair of the black A40 2013 Edition's w/ MixAmp Pro.

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You wont be disappointed with those!