Review: Hands on: Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Gaming Headset
Review: Hands on: Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Gaming Headset
At E3 2012 gaming headset maker Astro Gaming showed off their first truly wireless solution: the Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Gaming Headset.
With an expected MSRP of $299 Astro calls the A50 the "most complicated wireless headset on the planet." While TechRadar only got to experience the A50 for a few minutes it remains to be seen if their claim is true. That said, the headset was designed to be worn for upwards of 12 hours and is extremely comfortable.
Astro claims that gamers will get about 10 to 12 hours of battery life per charge from the rechargeable lithium ion battery (and the A50 will take around five hours to charge the battery completely).
The headset sports 5.8Ghz wireless technology and uses a technology called KleerNet. The cool thing about KleerNet is that while the A50 works with consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3) it also works with Windows PCs that also boast KleetNet. At press time certain HP Envy machines ship with support for KleerNet. What this means is that while Xbox 360 and PS3 console gamers will no noubt be excited about the A50, PC gamers too, will be able to easily communicate with their buddies via the touch of a button.
Since most console gamers use headsets for multiplayer gaming Astro expects that gamers will bring their headsets with them when they go to their buddies' houses for extended gameplay sessions. To that end, the A50 supports up to four simultanesous audio streams on Xbox 360 and up to two simultanesous audio streams on PS3.
Since the A50 is wireless it comes with a small ransmitter that looks a lot like the Mixamp that Astro Gaming users have come to expect. The A50 sports Dolby 7.1 surround and Dolby stereo processing and we were very impressed during our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 demo. The base station supports optical digital, USB, and 3.5mm output.
Rocking three default audio profiles the A50 is essentially an Astro Gaming A40 (40mm drivers) on steroids. The A50 boasts the same drivers that made the A40 super-popular and while the enclosure resembles that of the A40, it's more "closed" which means that the sound feels more robust.
Astro gaming users have grown accustomed to the company's Mixamp and the company has managed to cram all of that technology into the headset itself. All of the dials and controls that Astro Gaming fanboys have grown to love are present, albeit on the right earcup.
The Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Gaming Headset is expected to ship early to mid July.
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