From the Vault — originally published December 14, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
If you find yourself frequently wanting to be able to chat while playing games with out having to turn down your surround or television speakers this may be a product of you. Also if you play games at night or have received complaints from anyone you live with or neighbors then you may also want to consider a headset for gaming.
I have been particularly interested in wireless solutions because the main room where I preferably do my gaming has a wall mounted HDTV. The consoles, receiver and other equipment is actually in an adjacent room so a wired headset is not an ideal solution for me. The wires would be far too long and I could totally see someone (myself included) tripping and consoles falling ending in disaster.
Enter the Astro A40 Headset and Wireless MIXAMP 5.8 system. Now Priced at $249.95 this headset and wireless Mixamp set claims to provide great Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound and gaming chat audio over a 5.8GHz wireless connection.
This system has three distinct main parts. The A40 headset, the MIXAMP and the RX receiver base.
The A40 headset and MIXAMP are mostly used together. The A40 headset has a detachable cord system. There are two main cords used and both are included in the package. There is a PC cord that has two 2.5mm connectors. One for the mic port on your pc and the other and one for the headphones port. The other connector can be used for general headphones usage, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and iPhone music and chat. The headphones plug into the mixamp and you can clip it to your belt or pocket with the included belt clip. The cables are all pretty long. Although the length may be great for some I found the extra cable cumbersome at times and wished the system had some sort of cable management system. Perhaps if the cables reeled in somehow into the headset or MIXAMP.
Your headphones plug into the Wireless MIXAMP 5.8. You can acutally use non astro branded headphones with the wireless MIXAMP and RX receiver base. The MIXAMP has two dials on it. The larger dial sets the overall audio volume. The second smaller dial below it sets the ratio of chat audio to general music/sound effect audio. The option to set the balance is great because some games have better (louder, clearer) chat support than others. The ability to set the levels help to get a good sounding session every time and I have had no problems at all. It takes seconds to get the right setting. Included in the package are battery’s and you have the option to spend an additional $19.95 for rechargeable battery’s although the unit comes with three AAA battery’s which you can use instead of rechargeable ones. I have in the two weeks or so I have used the Wireless MIXAMP 5.8 I have only had to charge it about twice.
The RX receiver base is very small and receives the wireless signal from the Wireless MIXAMP that you keep with you. The base has a USB port that you can use to plug into the MixAMP via USB-to-USB Mini ‘B’ cable to recharge if you have the rechargeable battery pack. There is the required optical in port and also an optical out port in case you would like to use the same signal with another device such as a home theater receiver. The use of optical allows the system to take advantage of 7.1, or 5.1 surround sound. It contains Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital, and Dolby Headphone surround technologies.
Do note that for systems such as the Nintendo Wii you are out of luck because it has no optical out signal. There is also a Dolby on and off button on the RX unit for times when you do not want to use the surround processing like when listening to podcasts for example. This base unit communicates with the Wireless MIXAMP via a 5.8Ghz Frequency that seems to avoid interference very well. I have never had any sound drops or experienced any other interference.
The Good, The Could Be Better, and There’s No Ugly
Make no mistake at almost $300 the Astro A40 Headset and Wireless MIXAMP 5.8 system is an investment. Is it worth it? I think it totally is worth it. From the moment you get the packaging you will notice the quality. It’s not cheaply made. The headphones are light, and very comfortable, but solid. The sound quality is superb. You will hear things in games you may not have noticed before. Snow crunching in Battlefield Bad Company 2, grass in Halo Reach, birds in Uncharted 2.
PlayStation 3 owners that want to chat will have to buy the “optional” PS# chat cable for an extra $9. This cable connect from the USB port in the front of your Playstation3 into the RX Receiver base. This cable has a special chip in it so that the Plasystation 3 recognizes the “chat” device so you cannot for example go to Monoprice.com for a generic cable.
Xbox 360 owners can use the included 2.5mm-to-2.5mm Xbox Live Controller cable that goes from the bottom of your Xbox 360 controller to into the Wireless MIXAMP.
Although the system does not ship with the cool metallic stand, or rechargable battery pack, or PS3 chat cable. I still think you totally get your moneys worth. The A40 headphones do ship with a very cool case for traveling or storing them.
The bottom line is that the system is great. I have had no regrets dropping the cash for it. I do wish there was some sort of cable management, and perhaps if the mixamp was somehow built into the headset itself but outside of those thoughts Astro A40 Headset and Wireless MIXAMP 5.8 system is highly recommended. Superb sound quality, great chat quality and very comfortable. You totally get what you pay for.
PROS:
+ Very easy to setup
+ high quality hardware
+ clear sound quality
+ Great Wireless Range, no interference
+ Works for a wide range of devices (PC, Consoles , iPhone)
CONS:
– No MIXAMP to headphone cable management
– No RCA input (optical/TOSlink only)
– PS3 Chat Cable not included
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