Date:
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Author:
Earl Keim
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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Astro A40 Gaming Headset and MixAmp Review

Astro Studios is famous among console gamers even if you don't know why. It designed the XBOX 360, but can a bunch of design gurus put together a team to build a gaming headset that is worth $250? We have learned that looking cool and sounding great are two different things in our past reviews. Can Astro pull it off?

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Product Specifications

We asked Aron Drayer, marketing director at Astro Gaming, what is the highest impedance the Astro MixAmp can provide for using third party headsets and headphones, and he told us:

We have no upper impedance issues. Our minimum impedance is 16ohms. MixAmp specs all at 1K: 93 mW into 16 ohms, 56mW into 32 ohms, 40mW into 50 ohms with <.1% THD+N.

This limitless restriction on headphone choice means users can also use their favorite audiophile-class headphones, in addition to those sold by Astro, across all three major gaming platforms. A simple clarification statement in the included product manuals should be listed because we believe a lot of gamers want to use their favorite headphones all the time, on any game platform. Potential buyers should know this.

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As Quoted from Astro Gaming's Website - Features Include:

  • Amazing sound quality - Astro A40 Audio System combines crystal-clear voice communication with pinpoint-accurate 5.1 Dolby and Dolby Surround Headphone to hear your enemies from every direction.

  • Play on variety of systems - Whether it’s your Xbox 360, PS3, or PC the new and improved MixAmp easily plugs directly into any system.

  • Voice and stereo at your fingertips - The MixAmp’s discrete game/voice balance control allows you to adjust the settings to fit your needs.

  • Dedicated voice channel - Link multiple MixAmps together for a private, hands-free, full-duplex voice communication channel experience -- much higher-quality than VoIP systems, with zero network and system lag.

  • Inject your own soundtrack - Connect your mp3 player through the mixer itself with a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable (sold separately). Free up valuable system resources, and put your music within arm's reach.

  • Fully Loaded - The A40 Audio System comes with a quick-disconnect cable and multiple ends: a MixAmp cable (also compatible with portable audio players), a standard dual-jack PC connector with in-line volume and mute control.

Product Features

With the MixAmp's very flexible input panel, it can be connected to the PC, XBox 360, PS3, or most modern televisions, DVD players, and stereo sound systems by digital TOSLink or COAX as well as standard analog RCA jacks. An MP3 player, IPOD, or any other stereo source with a line-out jack can be fed to the MixAmp's line-in port for mixing in a user's choice of music to listen to while gaming.

Some users have even used the MixAmp as a portable guitar amplifier and as a mixing device for making custom podcasts. The most unique use we have read is adding a baby monitor to the MixAmp's line-in port so a family's voices can be heard clearly in another room without a busy gamer having to remove the headset to hear them clearly.

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Astro Gaming included a very long RCA piggyback cable so audio output jack choices of this type are not lost because the MixAmp is plugged in as well.

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The orange jack pictured above with the MixAmp is for daisy chaining multiple MixAmps together to those of other users in the same room and then a private voice channel for communication is enabled for each team. Therefore gamers do not have to rely on Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, XBox Live's latency filled chat, or rude shouting to communicate clearly to their own linked teammates a few seats away during a heated gaming session.

The small knob beneath the volume dial allows you to mix the ratio of sound heard between the primary source (PC, XBox, PS3) and secondary ones such as game voice communication devices and line-in audio sources.

Astro Gaming includes a very durable carrying case for your headphones, MixAmp, and whatever cables you need to take on the go.

The Astro MixAmp can be used with any PC as the sole dedicated sound card, but some of its functionality with voice and other mixing features are disabled when a third party sound card is not the primary sound source.