There was a time - not long ago, even - when the Astro A50 was the de facto standard for wireless gaming headsets. It was attractive, had pretty good sound (for at least gaming earphones), good noise insulation and intuitive controls. Add a built-in game / chat mixer, a feature not yet seen in close proximity to headphones, and the A50 was an easy recommendation.
But it's been a long time since Astro made a proper A50 upgrade, and the competition became fierce. Corsair has released a $ 100 headset for the past few years and the G933 from Logitech impressed us even more. In this new market, the A50 price of $ 300 began to look anachronistic. Not cattle. Fool, even.
Not anymore, or at least not so much. The A50 is back for 2016, and brings a new premium presentation.
All your base
Design-wise, the A50 plays twin to its predecessor. The ears and headband are soft plastic to the touch, quite light, and united by two metal tubes exposed with the cable rolled in the interior. It's an eye-catching design, a relic of ethics centered on the mid-2000s gamer, with its sharp angles and flashy flashes. However, I still think the A50s are attractive, in their own way. They are compact, elegant and embrace the Astro game pedigree, maintaining a certain high-end look (read: adult). The result is a bit more timeless than, say, the neon extravaganza of some of Razer's earliest headphones.
Put your old A50 and the new A50 next to each other and look almost identical, apart from the color. The A50 comes in two familiar color schemes for 2016: black and blue for Sony PS4, gray and green for Microsoft's Xbox One.
What if you plan to use the A50 with a PC? The choice is totally irrelevant. I turned black and blue, because I think the Xbox version is ugly, but it's your call. Both will work.
The main changes in the headset are more subtle and reside mainly with built-in controls. The placement is similar-game / chat mixer on the right side, volume wheel and assorted buttons on the back of the right cup. Astro has made some adjustments though, by switching the power button to a slider (a big improvement on the previous A50's tiny on / off button) and the addition of a Dolby switch above the three-way EQ slider.
I also found myself leaving the A50 in a perpetual "On" state, thanks to a more invisible improvement: internal spins. The previous A50 (and most wireless headphones) would turn off automatically if it does not detect any audio being played for a certain time, say five minutes. But the new A50 detects movement, so if you set the headset on a desk for 30 seconds it will shut down automatically. Lift it up and restart it and the moment you have done it, it has probably been synchronized with the base station and is ready to play audio again.
It's perfect, and probably my favorite feature on the new A50. I never have to play with the power switch, I never have to worry about whether it's on and ready to go. Always ready. It's a little touch but one that has made the new A50 a go-to favorite from our review unit came and made my other wireless headphones seem archaic in comparison.
And speaking of the base station ... well, I guess it's time to talk about the base station. That's the other big change for the A50 this year: the inclusion of a piece of plastic that is part of the display stand, relay information part, part loader.
With most of the wireless headphones transition to USB dongles in recent years-see the G933 and the Corsair Wireless for example-Astro vacuum of the old A50 receiver was comically oversized. Measuring perhaps four square inches, it was a huge piece of hardware with literally two buttons: Dolby On / Off and a redundant power switch. A total waste of space, made necessary just because Astro wanted to house optics inside / outside and 3.5mm sources, plus USB.
The new A50 turns the base station into an installation in its own right. Eight inches long, four inches wide, and one inch tall, this is a strong piece of hardware to throw on your desk. But when you're done with your A50? Simply put it in the base station and it starts to load, besides it looks nice.
It has made the A50 experience even more frustrating. I never worry if it's loaded, I never worry about where to put it. It goes in the booth, it is loaded all the time.
(Side note: Astro will sell base stations for $ 100 independent later this year, and can use a handset with both stations. To pair, simply drop the A50 on the base station you want to use.
I'm a bit worried about the durability of the base station - those charging capacities are governed by some fragile sensitive contacts sitting at the bottom - but it's one of the most stylish charging solutions I've ever seen for a cordless handset, Put these on And already the low battery indicator is a beep "problem I had with the previous A50.
It also helps: a better overall battery life, with the new A50 that matches the demands of 12-15 hours of headphones like the G933 and Razer's Man O 'War. (The A50 six or seven hours ago, max.) I can not attest to the Astro figures directly, because it is amazingly difficult to test the battery of a headset when it shuts off automatically after 30 seconds on a desk, but I will say that I have had two or three long days of play without loading or dying. (There is also a battery indicator on the front of the base station, and Astro has done so that you can turn off the low battery beeps if you are driving nuts.)
Now, some problems. 1) Continuing in the Astro tradition, the base station comes with a ridiculously short three foot USB cable. If you are using a standing desk, good luck. Get a new cable. 2) Astro loves to tout its 5GHz transmitter, which is all good and good except for range and penetration. If I enter the room next door (10-15 feet), my A50 drops occasionally. I have also noticed the occasional interference sitting on my desk, which is strange. 3) I had a case where the A50 refused to follow. Sitting at the base station? Fully loaded and matched. Do you get it? Immediate shutdown. The solution (after contacting Astro) turned out to be a hard reset, holding down the Dolby and Game buttons for 15 seconds. This solved the problem, but I still do not know why it happened in the first place.
$ 300 sound
And if there's a place I think Astro should have put more work, it's the sound of the A50. Oh, it's not bad per se. In fact, for an A50 gaming headset it's still pretty damn decent.
"Why spend $ 300 on a game headset if you can get a great pair of headphones and a separate microphone for the same cost?" It has become a particularly strident chorus in recent years though, and if we take that complaint to its face value then Astro does not have a great response on the A50.
I think the feeling is a bit exaggerated, personally, there is something to say for the convenience of a built-in microphone, let alone the chat / mixer games of the A50, but if in games, music or cinema, the A50 doesn 'T sound significantly better than the cheaper G933 from Logitech, and does not come close to a $ 300 pair of headphones like, say, the Audio-Technica ATH-M70X.
What you get with the A50 of 2016 is very similar to what you got with the previous A50, a moderately bass-powered headset backed by clear cut media and a little less precision at the upper end of the spectrum. For example, firing shots are clear, but cymbal impacts often sound soft regardless of the EQ settings you use and distort moderate volumes.
It is also worth noting that the three preset EQ settings on the A50-even the "Studio" preset-supercharge the high-end for a clearer sound. Download the Astro software, zero the EQ and better listen to the weaknesses of the A50, meaning that the highs are more cushioned and the audio has less breathing space than competing products.
Anyone with EQ talent can have an average headset to sound great. The hard part is to make the baseline. And honestly, we should expect the original, A50 not documented to sound better for a $ 300 handset. As it is, it is difficult to say that the A50 is above the G933 in audio alone, although the basis of the Station / charge / comfort / what-have-it can still influence your opinion.
Astro has also been outperformed in terms of false-7.1. Once a featured feature for Astro, I think the G933 headset surrounds better than the A50. This is an academic distinction in some ways because I still think that both are bad, giving even coded games to surround a kind of hollow, floaty feel when stereo audio could serve equally well, but I mention it here for posterity.
The microphone is the only aspect where Astro keeps shining. The new A50 microphone is more flexible than its predecessor, allowing for easy repositioning, and is clear as a bell even before playing with the different settings of the Astro noise door. Other microphones do not even compare.
Bottom line
In design, presentation, convenience, the new Astro A50 finally offers a compelling reason for fans to upgrade their old A50 headset. The charging station is an excellent (though flamboyant) bit of work, the motion detection auto-on / off is a development of genius I hope to appear in other headphones, and battery life is finally on par with the main competitors.
It is simply a shame that the A50s do not pack more than one hit where it matters, with audio being only suitable for "high-end" gaming headphones because we have not learned to claim better. At this price? A little hard to swallow.
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