Astro A40 TR + Mixamp Pro TR
A gaming headset for the sociable among you
GAMING HEADSETS are funny things. Nothing beats a room full of speakers, especially for surround effects and bass, but often it’s just not possible, thanks to inconsiderate sleeping relatives, noise abatement orders, or because you’re playing games in the office. In these situations, a headset makes a lot of sense, and they’ve improved greatly in recent years, offering noise cancelation and various flavors of surround sound. Built-in mic booms enhance your trash-talking abilities, and you’ll need a separate gaming headset from the headphones you use to listen to music, because what is the purpose of life other than to accumulate more stuff?
There is one other context in which a headset is essential, although fewer gamers experience it these days, thanks to high-speed Internet connections: the LAN party or tournament. The rise of pro gaming and esports has made the latter more common, and the Astro A40 is precisely targeted at those who get their kicks from public displays of annihilation.
This is some high-end gear, as evidenced by the box it comes in. Shiny and black, it weighs a ton, and hinges open in an unequal split to reveal the headset in the larger half, and the Mixamp Pro— essentially a USB soundcard—in the smaller. The mic boom and cables are hidden behind a flap on the right, and it really does come with all the cables you’d need—no fumbling for that dusty box of leads you keep under the bed. FITTING COMFORTABLY? The headset is comfortable, even on a large head with big hair, and the earcups fit nicely over our test set of ears. The extendable arms sport graduated markings, so you can adjust them really precisely, but we found putting them on in their longest configuration, then squeezing them down until they were most comfortable to be the best way to size them. Sometimes, the old ways really are the best.
The earphones pivot forward to lay flat against your collarbones if you want to store the headset around your neck, and the ear cushions are customizable through one of Astro’s mod kits, which are sold separately. The speaker tags (the bit on the outside of the earcup opposite your ear) can be changed, too, clipping into place with magnets, and looking like an interesting project for anyone with a 3D printer and a pro gaming team. Custom designs can also be created through Astro’s website.
Once you’ve got the headset customized to your specifications, it’s time to put it on and experience the only thing that really matters: the sound quality. Luckily, for something that costs $250, it’s pretty good. Really good, in fact. Piping audio straight to the headset gets you stereo, but sending it through the Mixamp Pro box activates Dolby’s headphone witchcraft to extract pseudo-positional audio from the stream. Audio is clear throughout the range, and doesn’t distort when you turn it up loud. Like many gaming headsets, it’s a bit bass-heavy, but this matches the booming nature of game audio, and isn’t something to mark it down for.
Multiple Mixamp Pro boxes can be linked together to avoid lag and interference in your voice comms, for when hearing your buddy scream really matters ( although the cable for this is only 0.5m long, so it’ll take some efficient organizing), and the bundled software allows customization of inputs and outputs, as well as equalizer settings. The mic boom can be positioned on either side, and is a noise-canceling and omni-directional model.
This is a premium headset that turns in a good performance. For those times when you’re just sitting at home, it’s maybe a little too much, although it is supremely light and comfortable to wear for long periods. But if you take your play seriously, and are part of a pro team, there's a lot to love right here. –IAN EVENDEN
Astro A40 TR + Mixamp Pro TR
ASTRONAUT Comfortable; good sound quality; decent selection of connections.
COSMONAUT Little bit expensive; connectors can be fiddly; some cables are short.
$250, www. astrogaming.com