Astro A40 Mixamp Pro Pc Setup

Tom's Guide Verdict

Pick up the Astro A40 + MixAmp if you want to do some serious gaming or streaming from a desk setup. If you game primarily in the living room, though, you may want a wireless selection instead.

Pros

+
Excellent sound
+
Intuitive amp
+
Comfortable fit
+
Skillful for both PC and consoles

Cons

-
Not bang-up for living room setups
-
Expensive

The Astro A40 is a very good gaming headset, but even at $150, it'southward not exactly a premium experience all around. You can't tweak equalization options, heed to surround audio or adapt the game/chat residuum. What'southward an audiophile, or competitive gamer or streamer, to practise?

Well, for ane thing, they could try the Astro A40 + MixAmp Pro package. This $250 box set combines the unflappable A40 with a newly redesigned MixAmp Pro amplifier. Rather than just plugging the A40 into your PC, PS4 or Xbox Ane, you'll run it through the amp, which improves the sound quality considerably and gives you a plethora of customization options.

There'due south no denying that the A40 + MixAmp is expensive and has a somewhat convoluted setup. But the sound quality is gorgeous, and the customization options are thorough without getting overwhelming. While the A40 + MixAmp may not actually play that nicely with a traditional living-room setup, streamers and those who have dedicated gaming nooks will find great audio and versatile features right at their fingertips.

Pattern

The first thing you'll notice when you crack open up the A40 + MixAmp box is that at that place are a lot of wires and parts.

First, there's the A40 headset itself, which has two reasonably sized fabric ear cups, a strong plastic headband; a detachable, flexible nail mic on the left earcup; and a removable, 3.5mm audio cord. You lot tin can customize the fit by sliding the headband up and down a metal tube on either side, with clearly demarcated notches. There are also swappable ear-cup plates (these are purely aesthetic) and a mic-mute push button about halfway down the audio cord. Overall, it's a solid design that's stood the test of time.

Then, there'due south the MixAmp, which has seen a considerable redesign since concluding gen's model. (This is the quaternary-generation MixAmp, for those of y'all who have been following Astro'due south gear for some fourth dimension.) Instead of a vertical rectangle with 1 huge dial and one tiny button, the new MixAmp has a horizontal layout with a helpful diagonal incline.

At that place are still two dials: one for overall volume and 1 for game/chat volume, but this time, the chat dial is much bigger, which makes it easier to gauge your levels. Between the dials, there's one button on meridian that switches between surround and stereo sound and one button on the bottom that switches among 4 equalization settings. It'south all quite intuitive and easy to utilize.

The A40's solid design has stood the examination of fourth dimension.

The dorsum of the MixAmp is where things go confusing, though. In that location's a button that switches inputs between PS4 and PC (or Xbox and PC, depending on which version you purchase. We reviewed the PS4 version). This is straightforward plenty. But then there are ports for optical audio, USB, auxiliary sound, streaming audio and — believe it or not — 2 FireWire daisy chains. The MixAmp comes with 3.5mm audio, USB, optical audio and daisy-chain cables in the box, merely if yous want a more complicated setup, you'll have to bring your own cables to the party. Clearly, a truly dedicated audiophile could practise a lot with the A40 + MixAmp.

Wires, wires everywhere

For the average user, though, the USB and optical sound ports are the but really of import ones here. If you attach the setup to your PC, you run the USB cable from your computer to the amp, so an audio cable from the amp to the headset. If y'all want to use a PS4, it's a trivial more than complicated: Hook the optical sound cable into the back of the PS4; hook the USB cablevision into the front of the PS4; then attach both wires to the back of the amp and a headset audio cable in the front.

Managing the software can be a little complicated, too, but I'll get to that in a chip. The bigger outcome is that if you use a living room setup for your console, the setup is simply not very practical. I brought the A40 + MixAmp home to examination how well it performed under real-globe circumstances. The sound was great; the positioning was not.

The soundscape is rich and immediate, filling every laser axle, line of dialogue and sweeping orchestral chord with balance and nuance.

I had to jimmy my PS4 out of my entertainment center to connect the optical audio cable, which proceeded to wrap around the side of the panel like an underachieving boa constrictor. And then, the optical audio cable and the USB cablevision paid out all the fashion to my makeshift coffee table (four cardboard boxes stacked side past side; I just moved recently and am waiting on a real one) and connected to the amp.

From the amp, I had to run another wire across the couch up to the A40 on top of my head. That added up to three long wires draped across my living room, just begging for an unsuspecting housemate, spouse, kid or pet to trip over them and drag the whole setup downwardly in the ensuing tumble.

MORE: Best Wireless Headphones

I suppose you could mitigate this risk by taking apart the setup each fourth dimension you're done using it, simply that's rather inconvenient. Similarly, if your PC and PS4 aren't right next to each other, it'southward a hurting to constantly transport the sound setup from i system to the other. Instead, I think the A40 + MixAmp is simply a better option for streamers. They can make full use of the amp to adjust game, chat and circulate audio volume all at one time, and they tend to take more than-compact, anticipated physical setups. This headset should also work fine if you keep your PC and PS4 close together in a small infinite.

Comfort

The A40 would not have lasted this long on the market without a redesign if it weren't as comfy every bit information technology is. While I don't beloved that you have to take it off of your head to adjust the fit, everything else about this headset works very well. The ear cups are plush but not too large, and nothing presses down too difficult, thanks to a padded, lightweight headband.

I handed the A40 off to a co-worker, who too found the headset comfortable just noted that it's not quite as light as it looks. (This is true, and it'south probably due to the metallic bars that connect the ear cups to the headband.) Just he besides didn't have any issue wearing the A40 for more than an hour, which is a promising start to whatsoever gaming session.

Gaming Operation

In spite of its potentially awkward setup, the A40 + MixAmp positively shines in one case you get it up and running with a game. The soundscape is rich and immediate, filling every laser beam, line of dialogue and sweeping orchestral chord with balance and nuance. I tested the setup with both PC games and PS4 titles, and the results were remarkably consistent. The guttural cries of Zerg in StarCraft: Remastered, the whooshing strokes of a sword in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the witty Mediterranean banter in Assassinator'due south Creed Odyssey all sounded fantastic.

The equalization options are robust and just begging for you to dive in and create some profiles for yourself.

Furthermore, the A40 + MixAmp is one of the few headsets I've used to really nail surround sound. Plenty of headsets accept excellent stereo, but the surround sound always feels a fiddling too quiet, hollow or distant. That's not the instance with the A40 + MixAmp, in which the surround sound is just as articulate and vibrant as its stereo analogue. I yet turned to stereo often — non every game is optimized for surround, afterward all — but I at least liked having the pick.

Features

Most of the A40 + MixAmp's features are broiled right in to the hardware: the surround audio, the game/chat residue and the equalization switching. These equalization options are robust and but begging for yous to dive in and attempt to create some profiles for yourself.

By default, the MixAmp lets y'all choose from among Astro, Flat, Balanced and Tournament equalization modes. But you can besides utilise the Astro Command Center software to customize your ain equalization options. It's easy to do, and the equalization options save to your MixAmp directly, so even after y'all disconnect the headset from a PC, you tin however use the profiles you lot've programmed.

You can also change a diversity of mic settings, including side tone and sensitivity. The Astro Command Center includes some helpful mic pickup options, including Home and Night modes, which dictate how loudly you have to speak in society for the mic to hear you. This is an extremely helpful feature for both tournament players, who need to communicate in loud environments, and everyday dark owls, who want to communicate with teammates without waking up the balance of the household.

The mic itself is as well first-class, transmitting crisp and clear sound without much baloney or fuzziness. Information technology'south not quite skilful enough to record a podcast, simply you'll exist able to communicate with your online teammates effortlessly, particularly in conjunction with the game/chat dial.

Music Performance

One area in which the MixAmp really proves its worth is in how it handles music. Thanks to subtle equalizations and a robust soundscape, music sounds fantastic, from the bluegrass beats of Old Crow Medicine Show to the rhythmic rhymes of The Rolling Stones. I listened to everything from Flogging Molly to G.F. Handel, and every genre of music sounded well-baked and lifelike.

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My only complaint is that once you unplug the A40 from the MixAmp, the music functioning goes back to being just and so-and so — and if you want to take the A40 on a jitney or a plane, you'll probably use information technology without the MixAmp. Aye, yous can plug it directly into a phone or a Nintendo Switch, but it just won't sound as adept. This is a shame, especially considering that the A40 looks pretty sleek and the removable microphone makes it suitable for everyday travel.

Bottom Line

The A40 + MixAmp is a very expensive audio setup. Information technology doesn't work that well for living room configurations, and the sound quality without the amp is variable. Nonetheless, I enjoyed every minute I spent gaming with the device.

For $250, you get a customizable amp and stellar audio for both games and music. I wish the setup were a piddling more than convenient for living room gamers, but I also don't think I'thou necessarily the device'south target audience. The A40 + MixAmp seems to have a streamer or tournament customer in heed, and information technology's not hard to come across how the headset could be a existent boon for someone like that.

In the same price range, the SteelSeries Arctis + GameDAC ($250) is very similar, both in quality and functionality. However, the Astro A40 + MixAmp accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. If it sounds similar your kind of peripheral, it probably is, and you shouldn't hesitate to pick ane up.

Credit: Astro

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site'southward coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering science. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.