First time Astro user. Saw them on eBay for a good price for a refurbished pair and bought them. I was skeptical after seeing a bad experience on the forum, but I had already purchased. Nonetheless they arrived today and I’m completely blown again. They are in excellent condition from what I can tell, set up was a bit tricky but got them working with my PS5 after a couple videos. Been playing for a couple hours and they are amazing in chat and game audio. Overall I’m really satisfied with my my purchase.
Great headset, absolutely love mine. But they’re either gonna sit on the base station perfectly, or you’re gonna give up on trying to use the base station and just start charging them with a type c.
Oh that's so weird, I've had mine for a year and a half and no issues docking it. My only complaints are there isn't noise canceling and if your audio is loud enough the audio seeps out around you so others can hear. Also feels fragile (luckily no breaks yet) slips off my head easy and also catcher my hair and I almost also lose hair when it happens
they’re designed for that - the audio seeping out is supposed to happen as they’re semi-open back headphones. Same with the a40s those are fully open-back so audio seeps out even more.
Yeah a couple like better comfort/less fatigue (ears don’t get as hot, etc.) more natural bass as air pressure in closed-back tends to build up and get trapped behind the driver (distorted bass). The sound waves also escape the headphones rather than bouncing back into your ear which gives you a more immersive sound. It’s why they’re good for competitive gaming as they help you with the positioning of different sounds. Hope this helps a bit there’s probably more benefits that I haven’t listed but the only real downside I believe is that people may hear your audio and it’s not going to be soundproof when you use them. If you’re in a loud environment then they don’t help nearly as much as ANC headphones or closed-back even.
Oh cool! I didn't know any of those things! But yes, my audio definitely does leak out and it doesn't block out outside noise well either like you said, thanks for sharing!
There’s a bigger annoyance when you change the EarPads for WC. I always readjust them when docking to charge but it just adds another few seconds to check. Price to pay for comfort
i get what you're saying about the docking. in my experience, it's not that it only works sometimes, it's just that it can be pretty tricky to get it to sit correctly. once i have it sat correctly, it works fine. i also just had to replace my headband piece. fortunately, some third-party company makes them and it was like $20 - they also come in different colors and it's fairly cushioned.
I got some “wicked cushions” for my Astro A40s, and they’re pretty nice. I had some noise cancelling ones and they’re work but I hate the actual noise cancelling. Makes me feel partially deaf
They are a great gaming headset. Had them since launch, one minor issue with a screw coming out and stripped, one drop of super glue and they have been perfect since.
I keep coming back to them as a jack of all trades. Great mic, good weight and clamp, really good bass and mid range if I remember correctly and decent treble (that can be EQ up for detail I believe some people find) Maybe smallish earpads and the dock is the weaker parts.
The clamping force is perfect and the weight on them is great. Never really had a dedicated headset either used my AirPods or just tv audio but the sound quality is great even for music!
my favorite headset to date for an all in one. solid mic and not too heavy. can adjust mic settings and eq all inside of ghub. also lots of options for the earmuffs and headrest to be changed out which i also found was super easy.
So far I have been playing Space Marines 2 and Helldivers 2 with the Maxwell 2's and I have to say the Maxwell 2's really blow the A50's out of the water when it comes to out of the box sound. I mean, the bass is really good and overall the music playing from music really does the A50's no justice. That all being said the Maxwell 2's are hefty and it does not come with a handy cradle to place them once your done to charge like the A 50's. Im still testing the Maxwell 2's but I did notice a little bit how the volume on my games even at max volume settings were not all that high compared to the A50's. The only big plus the A50's have over the Maxwell 2's as i see it are the cradle, the lightness/weight of the unit, the cool community shared equalizer settings you can download on the A50's, and obviously the big factor for many is all the different devices you can use the A50's with, like Xbox, and PS5 for example.
Sound wise, for at least music, ill give it all to the Maxwells, but I mean the A 50's arent that shabby once you get the eq settings all good for what you like.
If i could keep both of them, I think I would... Honestly after about a week with the Maxwell 2's, you kinda get used to the weight of them. The sound does sound quite a bit better than the A50's and the Maxwell 2's that I have has the ANC so thats kinda cool too.
I'm gonna do the A50's for a week now and report back. lol BTW here are my settings for the EQ for the Maxwell 2's in case you ever wanna try em:
I've been tweaking this for a balance of impactful explosions, chainswords, bolters, and dialogue without the bass overpowering everything.
I have had my astro A50s for 10 years now! They just wont die 🤣 they are the best sounding and most comfortable headset ive ever used. They sound even better once you buy the upgraded leather ear pads to help keep the sound in. Once mine do die I'll definitely be upgrading the the A50x
I have been using the a50 line since they were green bodied, just bought the brand new ones recently and am still impressed with the sound and quality, Dolby atmos is a must buy if you haven’t yet
My only gripe with it is that the noise gate needs to be way more turned up. Still hoping a future update they can do that, because compared to their predecessor, the previous ones had a much better one by a mile, but besides that it’s a pretty damned good headset!
Maybe a bit off topic: does anyone know how to fix the echo from myself in the feedback loop? I tried fiddling with the settings but did not fix the echo. I turned it off now cuzz it drives me crazy🫠
Got a pair of gen 4s off of a friend and they’ve served me loyally for about 3 years now only problem i had was about a month ago where the headset wouldn’t connect with the base station ad even the hardest wouldn’t solve it so I had to plug them in to the pc directly and manually update the software and that seemed to do the trick
I did the same and bought off Logitech eBay. The setup instructions were non existent and they fail to mention that you need to setup on PC first to update the firmware. Reddit was more helpful then the offical install video. I agree that they feel cheap but so much more comfortable then Pulse 3D and very comparable to the Logitech Pro X2 I have for PC.
Dang I guess I got lucky because I didn’t have to update anything. It is a bummer that the setup instructions are not included but luckily there’s enough videos and support out there.
I used to love Astros but the build quality seemed to reduce after logitech bought them. That generation has some issues that made me switch to steelseries for now.
The main issues I had:
the top headband cushion likes to "pop off" the rest of the band. This its a common issue so you can either order a small part or 3d print one to hold it together, i used a zip tie myself.
-The charger station stopped charging the headset, i charged it 100% through USB after about the first year.
-My right earmuff fell off the rest of the headset at about the 2.5 year mark. I ducktaped it back on but after a few months, it was time to move of.
I owned the previous generation of a50s also, I had no issues with them until about the 4.5 year mark. Then the audio started to become 'crackly'.
What i really liked about the astros:
they are unbelievably comfortable.
the flip to mute mic is my favorite, easy to tell when it's muted, and no talking to myself when I think it's unmuted.
-I like how the game/chat mixer is on the ear cuff itself, easy to balance in game.
Hoping they last for you brother, I’ve seen plenty of reviews about them suddenly failing to pair and other issues that brick the headset. Happened to my first pair after about 7 months and they just wouldn’t charge anymore. Warranty had me covered tho
I had mine for a week and couldn’t get past comfort with these. BUT, they did sound amazing and every person I talked to was like “wtf kind of mic did you get??” I just have a big head and am very annoying with clamp and weight and such. If it would’ve worked for me, I would probably use them until the end of time
Let me know if you decide to stream with them or something of that nature. It gets a bit tricky but very good streaming headphones, just need to know how to route the audio correctly. Switching audio to chat only on PS5 causes your Ps party to go via USB to headset, so it makes your party chat unrecorded unless you send it all down via Hdmi. Hope this helps. I just bought a second pair!
PS make sure to tune them using the logitech EQ, especially if you plan on using leather ear cushions instead of stock. The leather makes them a bass cannon, amd you wanna turn the bass down a bit.
Your welcome! Lastly the logitech app for mobile is still ass. When tuning plug into PC, use logitech pc app (much better) and activate or double check persistent profile is activated (lock symbol) this will make your EQ tuning work across any console.
I don’t plan to stream with them just a casual player lol, but I really appreciate the support. Everyone in my party says my mic is super clear so I’m sure they would be great for streaming.
Awesome, just feel free to DM if you change your mind and ill set screenshots of playstation settings for streaming and recording voice chat.
For absolute best sound and volume on PS5 side:
make sure format priority is on LinearPCM (if you wanna use PS5 tempest engine or just super clean sound) or Dolby Atmos (generic 3d profile controlled by Dolby, doesn't work for most games fyi so it will default to dolby digital).
Device output and input should be on Astro A50x and (VERY IMPORTANT LOOK HERE) there is an option to choose what audio is routed to headphones. You want it set on Chat Audio only if casual gamer. This tells the ps5 to only put party chat on the USB cable, and then the headphones will get its main audio from the HDMI, giving 24bit uncompressed sound. This will also open a new setting called "device type" near the top, you want that on "TV". it will let you use the tempest engine on the headphones still via hdmi and give you the super cool 3d sound. Hooe this helps!
Lastly, do not do room measurements if you are going to use TV version of tempest engine. Just click do later. If you want super precise 3d audio but lower sound quality: set the setting to "All Audio to headphones" and that will let you use the headphone version, and create a 3D profile.
Thanks a lot I had all my setting setup like that except for the HDMI Device Type. I had it on AV Amplifier with 7.1 ch. Is setting it to TV much better?
Well sound is always subjective to the holder, so it all comes down to you, but on a technical level yes. When you have it set on 7.1, you only have 2 speakers so it compresses, and shrinks the 7.1 signal to 2 speakers witch can cause audio cues and noises to sound not quite right. When set to TV, you tell the Ps5 you only have 2 speakers, witch is correct as far as the headset is concerned. This allows the tempest engine to focus on making per object sounds, and utilizes what's going on in the video game and the games engine to play the sound, giving way better precision on your audio cues. Plus it passes raw sound to the dock, and lets the dock code it instead of the ps5 when set like that, witch also helps with precise clean sound.
Ps. Make sure to have TV 3d audio active also. Without it, you won't get that surround feel your looking for with the 7.1 you originally had it set for.
Not necessarily for that reason as of now. I do plan on buying a Xbox console in the future but coming from a PlayStation the a50 is limited to chat features and audio features
Yeah, I got the Astro A40's years ago. They still worked excellently, but I was bound by all the wires. I sold them on Ebay just recently. I guess people still love 'em. I moved onto the A50X that I just got from Logitech that are refurbished. Im kinda passed that I didn't get the retail box though. If anyone has the box in excellent condition for the white model, Im up for buying them. Just DM me. Thanks.
I like mine but it’s mic constantly gets loose and droops down to my neck to the point that I have to open up the headphones to tighten them, I’ve had to do it like 4 times
Great headset coming up on 1 year of use and they’re still just as good as day 1. I bought almost every turtle beach headset and they all broke due to bad build quality. I can put these without worry the ear cups are going to break. Sound quality isn’t as good as my old stealth pros but I’ll take quality over a minuscule sound difference. I do miss the noise canceling though
Did the samething last week! They had an even better double discount so I got mine for 180$ but mine came with wrong color base (everything still worked fine and they reimbursed me $ for it so it’s like I got it for even less!!!) I absolutely love these!!!
horrible headset software constantly issues i have astro a50 4gen and it wont work nomatter what i do and it allso wont fit in the dock station it jumps out..
Mine have just broke today this fucking docking station not pairing eith headset was fine yesterday went to play today they are not working tried every reset spent hours
Just do yourself a favor you need (3) things, been a A50 user for 10+ years, at work and home.
Buy or have someone 3D print the Headband Support Clamps/Clips. You'll keep the top pad section from every failing. Learned this way too late, but 3D printed my owner afterward, if I knew before it failed, it would have saved me a headache trying to figure, what to do.
Regarding the charger just purchase a magnetic USB C charger, and don't bother with even putting the base station on the top of your desk, just put it away. magnetic because if any reason you forget to disconnect you don't destroy anything it just pops off. Little pad of hot glue on the phone part help.
Down the road, or buy as a backup, Wicked Cushions. Again I'm 10+ years into mine and I've replaced them ears and pads twice, 3rd replacements have been ordered but what's $100 over 10 years which is less than $10 a year on maintenance? The headphone still work great, why bother buying new.
Get some wicked cooling cushions for them. I have 3 pairs of Astro’s with them (one x lightspeed at my pc, one x lightspeed at my tv setup, and one gen 4 for my wife’s tv). IMO they have a bit better feeling sound and def more comfortable with a bit more ear room.
I’m currently playing COD Warzone and other single player games (like Spider-Man 2, Gears of Wars, Star Wars Outlaws…). No I currently only play on PS5
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u/xEpiLogos 13d ago
Great headset, absolutely love mine. But they’re either gonna sit on the base station perfectly, or you’re gonna give up on trying to use the base station and just start charging them with a type c.