As you can see on the right that is a picture of my Astro A40s i just got from the US and i know the bed sheet is cool and all, no need for you to compliment it. On a serious note thou, that is the Astro A40 white gaming headset. Just the headset itself with the mic attached and the custom speaker tags (magnetic plate things that stick to the side much like the Astro A30s i reviewed sometime back) which has the Team logo and my name on it. Pretty cool huh? Astro allows customization for speaker tags done by yourself and it costs about 20 USD. If not, as you can see the default black Astro speaker tags on the right, is the one you're going to get. Attached with it is a mic that slides up if you dont want to use it.
NOTE: Only the Astro A40 and A30s can have custom speaker tags, the new Astro A50s are NOT customizable at all.
If you want to see the unboxing video click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3K9tAN-llQ&list=UUhklIPkDImVCP2ya14Oal-A&index=1&feature=plcp
Now lets dig into this bad boy.
What it comes with:
-1 Astro A40 Headset (DUH), either black or white (your choice)
-Standard quick disconnect cables that go to a 3.5mm headset male and mic male output
-Standard female 3.5mm headset and mic into a single mic and headset female 3.5mm output
Thats it.
Pretty standard uh?
So tell me more, what features does it have?
Basically its a fully cupped ear headset, meaning that i covers your entire ear blocking out as much sound as possible without a battery run vacuum soundproof headset or the kinds used for firing guns as ear protection. It is very comfortable with sufficient padding to minimize the strain on your head. Its quite heavy as it is a rather large headset but the padding helps to make the weight negligible. It compresses around your head so it pretty much stays there, not to the point where it feels like there's a lack of blood to your face. The mic that comes with it bendable and allows quite a large degree if adjustment to it. Quality wise its quite good. Can be heard clearly over Xbox live and PC (although i do use a condenser mic and a audio mixer for everything voice related except Xbox live). Made of plastic mainly and the sides that you can adjust the headset length is made from metal. Exceptional build quality, dosent feel cheap at all (well considering I did pay quite alot duh it dosent feel cheap). The cables given are sufficient for home PC use and music player use also, although to reconnect the headset to the long wire that becomes the male mic and headset output into a female mic and headset converter to a single male headset and mic 3.5mm jack is rather weird and rather long. I wouldn't bring it out for use on a music player or phone. Unless you have the phone converter cable that comes with the A30 headset which i of course, have. So lucky me. Sound quality is great. For general use this would be overkill. Gaming wise its pretty much one of the most dope headsets ever, try battlefield 3 with it and be blown away. Music wise also pretty decent, base is good and no static at all. An absolute wonder indeed.
Its cool and all, but are there drawbacks?
Not much but there are some drawbacks. The quick disconnect cable that Astro designed for their headsets is smart and they did give a converter to it for multiple uses, but if you just want to connect to something it can be quite a hassle to find that cable. Unlike most headset where by default its a 3.5mm male jack out, but still cant complain. The Astro A40s have magnetic speaker tags at the side and there's a little gap that causes the headset to "whistle" a bit when you have wind blowing into it. Not much of an issue if you play indoors without a fan, but it can get quite annoying. Again I would have loved a proper sound proof headset. Sure it does cancel out much of the sound, but a completely sound proof headset would be nice. Then there's the price. At 199 USD its sure not cheap. High end headsets like this of course would cost alot.
Thats not too bad, its it worth then?
Yes and no. Yes in that if you really have the cash to burn and want a really nice high end gaming headset that looks fantastic at the same time, sure, by all means i encourage you to get it. Oh and please be a "stay at home and game" gamer. Tournament wise is also fine but you don't wana go out with these to just listen to music. Not that practical if you ask me. LAN cafe is still fine. No if you don't have the money to burn and if you still want a decent gaming headset, this might be over decent, don't get this, its not something in your line of sight if you ask me.You're better off with something cheaper and can get a pretty decent quality headset, additionally you can get one that you can bring it out and hear you music, plus save a few dollars for that meal you planned on treating your girlfriend with.
A pretty short review, Astro A50s arriving soon! P.S its not mine, my friend's. So don't worry I'm not rich. He has kindly allowed me to unbox it and review it for him. How wonderful of him! Well its late now, like 12am to be exact as I'm typing this on my dope keyboard. Dad nagging me to sleep. See you dudes and keep up to date with the blog and the Youtube channel!
Signing off
OSL0rd, SlayerL0rd
Admin member of Team OS
