Introduction
I’m very excited about today’s review, as we’ve got another product in from the incredible brand that is Astro. My excitement comes from the fact that every product I’ve tested from the Astro range has quickly stood out as some of the best products in their respective categories and I’m hoping for a repeat performance from their latest product, the Astro A40 (Gen2) + Mixamp M80 for Xbox One.
The Astro product range is designed with eSports in mind, but also tailored towards the enthusiast gamer in general. As such, the Astro product ranges do command a premium price tag. The setup I’ll be testing today will set you back £170, similar in price to premium headsets from Turtle Beach, Tritton, Razer and more. Of course, paying a lot for a headset brings a lot higher expectations; at this price range you’ll want premium build quality, performance and a few bonus features in return for your investment.
The A40 comes bundled with everything you’ll need to get you setup on your Xbox One, including an Astro M80 Mixamp.
The Mixamp is really nicely designed, with the main volume wheel at the front, which also features a microphone mute switch in the centre.
There’s an EQ button, as well as a game and voice volume channel switches on the top.
The headset just oozes premium quality the moment you look at it. A mixture of soft cream on the headset, removable and customisable backplates on the ear cups and the stylish blue highlights everywhere else; it’s certainly unique in terms of design, but no doubt that it looks stunning.
The cable coils through an extending slider to allow for easy adjustment to your head size.
On the left side, we’ve got a fold up boom microphone.
The microphone is easily positioned thanks to its flexible boom. The microphone can be removed if you don’t need it, but you can also swap the back plates around and mount the headset on the other ear cup if you desire.
On the underside, you can see how the ear cups padding is angled to better direct the sound towards your ears. There’s also a small 3.5mm jack on the base of the left ear-cup for the Mixamp cable.
Both ear-cups fold completely flat, making it nice and comfortable to wear the headset around your neck between matches.
The padding is by far some of the best I’ve ever seen. It feels both durable and soft at the same time; you’ll have no issue wearing this headset for extended periods of time.
More thick memory foam and soft cloth treatment on the headband, which is mounted on a small pivot to help ensure a more comfortable fit.
The headband continues the same grey and blue theme across the top.
Overall a very stylish and unique looking headset.
The M80 Mixamp is simple enough and plugs right into the controller. It locks into place very securely too and I must admit that it was actually quite tricky to remove after testing.
Another cool feature is the little LED strip, perfect for showing you your current volume levels.
