Top positive review
21 people found this helpful
Best in class sound, fit and comfort, customization, and longevity based on previous ownership for the price anywhere. Period.
By Clint Groesbeck on Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2018
I absolutley love this headset. It is very comfortable for hours of gaming, like 6 at a time! The sound is fantastic. Since this is a new model a20 I would compare these sound wise to the older a50's.(the ones from around 5 years ago though no true surround) The lack of surround is not an issue as there is support for Dolby Atmos which simmulates surround. It's called "virtual surround" I do own a set of older Astro a50's with the 7.1 and can tell you that you can still hear bad guys coming up from behind you or a bullet wizzing by barley missing your head. ( you know the sound) pshewww!! Anyway if you're going to get these get the dolby atmos. It's free without need of a credit card for the first month. Then a ONE-TIME payment of 14.95. Other wise these will just be the VERY BEST stereo headphones you own. Sorry didn't mean to turn this into a Dolby ad. There is also another option for simulated surround in Windows Sonic which is free. Everyone should have access to this since this is a Xbox headset. It's a decent option. As far as sound goes Astro is second to none, untill bose makes a true gaming headset this is as good as it gets. Some people have complained about them not being loud enough. Let me tell you this simply is not true, or your body is paying you dividends for blasting "Enter Sandman" too loud when you were a kid. Likley though you not my oldish age and even if so they are Way loud. The thing here is there is software for these and all other Astro headsets called Astro Command Center. This software Is pretty self explainitory in it's layout. It has EQ settings, mic settings. The EQ settings are great and simple. 5 frequency bands where they are needed, and can be adjusted by several decibels. sp? Then saved to your own personal setting and synced to your headset in like 5 seconds. Or you can choose from the high quality one Astro provides you with. OR... you can download a plethora or presets made by other Astro owners. Many of which are custom tuned to the game you will be playing and also take into account whether or not you use standard stereo, Windows Sonic, Or Dolby Atmos. What you will not get with these is a base line to blow out your ear drums. If thats what you're looking for buy beat's by Dre'. (Which for just music are fantastic, BTW just not gaming) Anyways plug in your receiver module via usb cable to your pc or tablet or laptop then flip the switch on the back from xbox to pc. Then plug in your headset via usb cable (fimware for your headset will be installed at this point automaticly) the software will auto-detect your specific headset. At this point either choose a factory preset or make your own (recommended) or find one you like on the internet. At this point you can sync to your headset and be done or there is more. You can also make adjustment to your microphone (mic for brevity from here on out) With the mic tab you have different gate settings. Think of the settings as like gates that keep out sounds you don't want in, hence "gate". There are several to choose from with different amounts of background noise blocked out. Also there is your mic level to adjust how loud your voice is heard by other people. Last there is sidetone level which is an adjustment for how loud YOU hear your own voice during gameplay. After setting everything the way you want like your EQ and your mic just click the sync tab and you are done here. This is just overly descriptive of the Astro Command Center as the software and headset are meant to work in harmony, and for a more descriptive review for what you're getting. As far as toughness and longevity let me tell you I still have a set of very old astro A50's running strong today which I bought back in 2013, they earned they're 5 star rating a hundred times over with at least 10000 hours of use (not joking at all) and still sound the same as the day i bought them. So with these A20's you are getting a lot for your money. I feel I need to say this also as I have owned several turtlebeach headsets also. These A20's blow everything the have to offer out of the water no contest at all with the exception of the Elite 800 series. At that point though it's A40's and A50's vs Elite 800's as that is the next class up. I am no Astro fan-boy I love my Turtlebeach Elite 800x mic just for different reasons. Well After all that I hope yall' got a overdone review, that was what I was aiming for. To be descriptive and helpful as possible. In my opinion for this price point the A20's out class every contender that I can think of. Punches well above it's class to higher priced models of other brands in sound quality, fit and comfort, customization and longevity. If you made it this far in the review thank you for reading my thoughts. Now stop thinking and buy these things right away, like right now. Don't have the money? Go pawn your expensive sound system you don't need it anymore. Clint Groesbeck AKA SpicyhotdogGT on xbox
Top critical review
46 people found this helpful
Two headsets replaced and stopped working over the course of two months. DO NOT BUY.
By Riss on Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2017
UPDATE (Feb. 17, 2018): DO NOT BUY THESE HEADSETS. Once again, these headsets have mysteriously stopped working out of the blue after using them just 30 minutes before hand. This is the second time this has happened, and I am no longer able to return them through Amazon for a replacement. I do not recommend these headsets to anyone. Please do not buy. UPDATE (Jan. 5, 2018): After my initial purchase a month ago, the headsets mysteriously stopped working. I had used them the night before, and, upon waking up, they no longer turned on. I tried hard reseting them, factory resetting them, updating the firmware, charging them, etc.. The headsets refused to turn on. I immediately sent them back to Amazon and thankfully got a free replacement the very next day. However, I will be looking for different headsets as soon as possible. It is unfortunate because these are so close to being amazing headsets. If, in the future, there is an update to the ASTRO A20 line, I will consider re-purchasing them. -- ORIGINAL REVIEW: *********************** I purchased these after my dissatisfaction with my previous purchase of the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 headset. Overall, I would say the ASTRO A20 is a slightly better headset, but only slightly. If you’re looking for a true wireless experience, and the ability of being able to customize the EQ is appealing to you, buy these headsets. But be weary of annoyances. For more, keep reading. Sound: ----------- Sound quality-wise, these things are top notch. The software virtual surround-sound works surprisingly well; well enough that I see no reason to spend the extra money on a true surround-sound headset. The fact that you can customize the EQ and the mic’s noise gate using the ASTRO Command Center desktop application is amazing. In the Command Center, you can create your own EQ presets, with each containing a customizable 5-band EQ. For more advanced users, you can get into the nitty-gritty and customize the center frequency, dB level, and bandwidth of each band. Only 3 presets may be stored on the headset at a time, but you can store as many as you like in the ASTRO Command Center application. As someone who is a bit of an audiophile, this is a freaking amazing feature and I really wish more headset manufacturers had this. Usability: ----------- The flip-to-mute feature is absolutely wonderful. I no longer find myself talking for lengths-on-end, only to have realized that my mic was muted the entire time. The headset has a master volume thumbwheel and game/voice balance buttons (vs 2 separate thumbwheels for game and voice, as seen on Turtle Beach headsets). The only way you can tell where the balance is set is from 1 of 3 beeps: when the balance is at 100% game 0% voice, at 50% game 50% voice, and at 0% game 100% voice. I found myself always adjusting the balance, never quite being happy of where the game and voice levels were at. I did not find it to be user friendly and would have preferred 2 separate thumbwheels. Comfort: ----------- I cannot wear these for long periods of time without them hurting my head. I found the head-pad to be a poor choice on Astro's end. Furthermore, the ear cups do not fold flat while resting on your shoulders like the Turtle Beach headsets do. It's not a big deal, but I do really miss that feature from my Turtle Beach headsets and wish the Astro headsets had them. Issues: ----------- There are two main issues that I experience constantly with the headset: 1) The headset stays powered while it’s charging, and it stays powered on even after it’s done charging. This worries me. Since most users will simply leave the headset plugged in and charging when they’re not using them, this means that, if you haven’t used your headsets for days at a time, all while having left them plugged in and charging, your headset will have stayed on the entire time. I’m worried that this will wear down the headset’s components and, as a result, the longevity of the headset. 2) I consistently have issues with the mic not working (I don’t know if this is related to the power issue or not). What will happen is, the Xbox One will not recognize that I have a mic and will not pick up any sound as a result. So I have to turn off the headset, power-cycle the base (either by unplugging it and replugging it, or by switching to PC mode then back to Xbox mode), then turn the headset back on, then check to make sure my mic is working again. This usually only happens when I first turn on my Xbox or I turn on the headsets. I have no problems using them afterwards. However, this is a big inconvenience, and is a big enough issue that I may consider returning the headsets if this issue is not fixed in a software update very soon. ----------- Overall: ----------- Overall, I would definitely recommend these headsets if you’re looking for a true wireless experience, and if you want to have complete customization over your EQ. I will be keeping these headsets. However, I will also be keeping my eye out for other headsets that may come along.
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