Awesome ARR headsets

[Ilethius]

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.

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.

[Dhalmel]

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.

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

[PSxpert2011]

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]!

[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.

[SirOleas]

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.

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.

[Junpei]

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

[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

[Junpei]

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/

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.

[Shioban]

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

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?

[Dhalmel]

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?

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.