

Sound was much more full and enveloping in my A/B tests, feeling like it wrapped around the back of my head as opposed to existing exclusively on the side of each ear with my old setup. I even plugged my trusty A40s into Microsoft's official headset adapter and they couldn't hold a candle to these. Honestly, they even betray the stereo-only nature of any audio the Xbox One controller outputs.

From watching slack-jawed as three gigantic mechs duked it out in Titanfall to tearing through a French vineyard in Forza Horizon 2and popping headshots on grunts in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, everything I played with these headphones sounded killer. You can still swap the boom mic from earcup to earcup, and the magnetic earcup covers (officially called "speaker tags") are removable for any customization you'd want to do.Īs for audio, they deliver the clear, earcup-rattling (literally) sound I've come to expect from Astro gear. If you're a Detroit Lions fan, these'll be right up your alley, but others might not be so into them.įunctionally, nothing has really changed. Rather than all-black styling, these are a light gray with baby blue accents. The new A40s are different in that regard, but only on a superficial level. They're unobtrusive, comfortable for long periods and are easy to use. They sound great for everything - even voice transcription - and are the gold standard I compare every gaming headset to. I've been using my MLG-edition A40s as my go-to headphones for home use since 2011 I'm intimately familiar with them. One wire, zero frustration.īy subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy. Setup is a cinch as well: Just plug the M80 into your controller, the cable into the headphones and you're good to go. Oh, and the mute button/volume knob combo is huge and super easy to get to even without looking at the controller. Where it differs, though, is the M80 offers three different EQ settings - no bass, medium bass and lots of bass - and replaces the 3.55mm headphone input with a roughly 4-foot linguini cable and 3.5mm headphone jack that plugs into the base of the left earcup. It replaces the console's aforementioned adapter, but essentially performs the same tasks: voice/game audio balance and one-button muting. What do the new A40s offer the old ones don't? Well, the biggest addition is the M80 MixAmp that plugs directly into the Xbox One controller.
Astro a40 xbox one chat cable Ps4#
Rather than becoming obsolete like so many other headsets with the release of the PS4 and Xbox One, Astro instead issued firmware updates to make the wireless MixAmp modules and the A50 compatible with the new systems. The company has only released a handful of models since the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hit the scene. Astro products have never been inexpensive by any measure, but the flip-side is they're an investment, not a throwaway purchase.
