-The Astro A50 is one of the most powerful and versatile wireless gaming headsets on the market and the base station adds a new level of convenience to the charging process. Its price tag might seem excessive but its near flawless design and performance make the price seem all the more reasonable.
The Good
- Luxurious design & quality
- Â The base station offers convenient charging & functions as a headset stand
- Flawless design in terms of comfort
- Â Superb sound quality
- Â Exceptional spatial audio via Dolby Atmos
The Bad
- Very Pricey
The Astro A50 is a wireless luxury gaming headset that eliminates the traditional problems of wireless gaming headsets with extraordinary connectivity and easy charging. It comes with a base station that makes charging incredibly convenient and looks good while doing it. The base station also allows you to seemlessly switch between console and PC use and easily keep track of the current settings and battery life on its frontal display.
The real star of the show is its flawless design that provides a level of comfort that very few headsets can compete with. The over-ear headphones are perfectly sized and have sufficient padding so that it feels firm without being too tight and comfy without being too soft.
The headset truly feels and looks like a high-end luxury headset with its unique design and mixture of hardened plastic and stainless steel materials. It manages to feel both flexible and sturdy at the same time and is hands down one of the best looking headsets on the market.
Much like its design, it’s sound quality is absolutely superb, and the Dolby Pro Logic offers top-notch simulated surround sound. People that like to feel the shots going right past their ear or want to immerse themselves in a vast open-world completely will love the level of immersion that Astro A50 provides.
In conclusion – The Astro A50 is everything I wanted from a high-end wireless gaming headset, but you also pay a lot for the privilege. Everything from its design to its technical performance is nearly flawless, but the price tag goes well above other luxury headsets on the market, and ultimately, you pay a lot for slightly more. That said, if you want the best wireless headset on the market, then this is it.
Astro A50 Design & Quality – Luxurious Comfort
The Astro A50 comes in a box that mostly feels like an armored war chest that makes it clear from the get-go that this is a quality product. Something that only becomes more apparent once you hold the actual headset in your hands. The design doesn’t only look great but is flawlessly designed to sit comfortably on your head and ears.
The headset is crafted mostly from hardened plastic and stainless steel tubes that keep it together. This mixture gives it a lot of flexibility while still feeling incredibly sturdy and durable.
It is equipped with a flexible directional microphone that has a seamless flip-to-mute function, and the right earpad has easy-to-use buttons for volume control, EQ settings, and Dolby activation.
The 2019 version is the 4th generation of the headset, and unlike its predecessors, the base station has been reduced in size and improved in functionality. It now takes up less space than the headset itself, which means that while it is not in use, it takes up very little space and looks great while doing it.
Connectivity & Battery – Convenient Charging
This is where most wireless headsets start to drop the ball and why wired options usually pull ahead. Too many wireless headphones have issues with either connectivity stutter, battery life, or both.
Not to say that you cannot find cheaper wireless headsets without these issues, the HyperX Flight is an excellent example of this, but with the Astro A50, these things are not a problem. The connectivity is instantaneous, the battery life is around 15 hours, and the ease of charging with the base station is fantastic. The headset also automatically detects when you are not using it, by turning off when you put it down and then instantly turning on again once you put it back on.
Base Station – Functional Headset Stand
The Base Station functions as a charging device, connection hub, and a headset stand all at once. With the 4th generation of the Astro A50, it has been reduced significantly in size, and its clean, stylish design fits well into any gaming setup.
You can connect the base station to both your Playstation and PC at the same time, provided they are close enough. After which you can seamlessly swap between PS4 and PC, using a switch on the back of the base station.
In the case that you run low on batteries despite the 15-hour battery, you can always connect the USB charging wire and keep on playing in wired mode.
Performance – Complete Immersion
The Astro A50 is incredibly comfortable and functional, but what about the audio performance?
I’m happy to say that the Astro A50 headset delivers sound and audio quality on par with its design and comfort. The 4th generation of the A50 is fully equipped with Astro Audio V2, which uses a brand new radio frequency to provide smooth and detailed true-to-life directional sound. The highs are crisp, the mids are clear and controlled, and the bass is distortion-free, which altogether provides one of the best sound experiences on the market.
It is also 3D ready. It can use both Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos to deliver spatial audio on par with the best authentic surround sound and further improve positional audio and your immersion in-game.
Astro Command Center – In-depth customization
The headset also has a built-in MixAmp, which allows you to control everything from the volume, voice and game sound balance, to EQ levels. You can also do in-depth customization via the Astro Command Center software.
In the Astro Command Center(ACC), you can choose professionally crafted presets that are well suited for specific situations such as competitive gaming or streaming. However, if you are technically gifted yourself, you can also make in-depth adjustments to personalize the headset’s performance to your preferences. Furthermore, you can also adjust the microphone output or choose between one of their preset modes. It provides you with a ”Nighttime” option, which allows you to speak a bit more quietly and still have the mic pick it up, which I really liked.
Microphone – Good, but nothing special
The Astro A50 is equipped with a directional flip-to-mute microphone with excellent noise cancellation. It offers clear voice quality, and the flip-to-mute feature is nice, but it is nothing out of the ordinary. Compared to much cheaper headsets like the Logitech G Pro X, I wasn’t impressed.
That said, it is a good microphone, but I did expect a bit more with the price tag of the headset.
Final Thoughts – Expensive but extraordinary
The 4th generation of the Astro A50 is an expensive luxury headset that delivers on all parameters. Everything from the sound quality to the design and comfort is top-notch, but I still wouldn’t say that it is a high value-for-money product. It is one of the most expensive options on the market, and while it is also one of the best, it is a lot of money to spend on a headset.
But if you don’t mind spending the additional money to get an actual luxury experience, then I would definitely recommend the Astro A50. It is an exceptional wireless headset that will last you for years.
