Astro A40 + Mixamp M80 Xbox One Headset Review

Peter Donnell / 10 years ago

Final Thoughts

Price

With great quality and performance comes great financial responsibility. Unless you’ve got a fairly fat bank balance, the Astro A40 is the kind of purchase you may need to discuss/explain to your SO. At £170 it’s far from cheap and it’s easily one of the more expensive headsets on the market, but when you consider that it makes a mockery of some £250 gaming headsets in terms of general audio performance, it’s a bit of a bargain.

Overview

This is by far one of the easiest conclusions I’ve ever had to write, as there’s simply nothing at fault with the Astro A40 and that is a rare thing indeed. The build quality is simply incredible, the headset is both lightweight and durable, it looks gorgeous and you can certainly see a lot of thought has gone into its design. While aesthetics will always take a second place to performance when I’m shopping for a headset, it’s still nice to see that the A40 is one of the best looking headsets on the market right now.

The mix-amp is also really nicely designed and it makes me happy to see that Microsoft don’t require use of some stock bit of tat, as this aftermarket solution is far superior to what you would expect from any standardised official component.

The padding on the Astro A40 is lush, it’s incredibly soft and the headset sits on your headset perfectly secure but feels incredibly gentle on your head, even after long hours of gaming.

Sound quality is as good as it gets, at least until you start paying many times more for pro audio gear. I’ve played around with headsets from a lot of brands over the years and while I struggle to define an absolute number 1, the A40 are easily in my top three greatest sounding headsets I’ve ever tested, it’s that simple.

Pros

Exceptional sound quality
Great aesthetics
Comfortable fit
Cool MixAmp attachment
Removable microphone
Microphone can be mounted on either side
Removable/customisable backplates
High-quality cables

Cons

None

“While many will see this headset as expensive, the saying ‘you get what you pay for’ really rings true here. If you’re willing to make the investment for the Astro A40, you’re certainly going to get your monies worth. It’s one of the best looking and performing headsets I’ve ever tested.”