ASTRO Gaming A50 Wireless Headset + Base Station Gen 4 - Compatible with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Mac - Black/Gold

Let me first start out by saying I am a casual gamer. I've been playing Xbox One for the last few years and decided to get this head set for that particular gaming system. This is a great gaming headset! I upgraded from my Turtle Beach headset that served me very well for many years. Here is what I liked and did not like about the Astro A50.Pros:Great sound: Customizable pre-sets and default presets make this headset ideal for those that want to tweak their headset settings. You can easily adjust settings on this headset by using the free Astro app on any Windows PC or Apple OS computer. You can also select one of three headsets loaded on the headset by simply pushing the preset button. This cycles through three presets on the headset (1-3).Great feel: This headset is lightweight. You can easily wear this for 8+ hours during those long gaming sessions and still not get fatigued by wearing it. While the headset is lightweight it is still built very very well and feel solid. You won't feel like you can easily break this headset which for the price point is a good thing. The headset also does not pinch or make my head uncomfortable in anyway and if measured out I have a large head.Wireless: The headset is 100% wireless. The only time you will need to have the headset docked is for charging. There is no cables to get in the way between you and the gaming controller or the gaming console. The freedom is nice. With the wireless capabilities also comes outstanding range. When wearing the headset I can literally go to any area of my apartment and still hear voice and game sounds. It's also nice not being tethered to your controller or console. If you've never experience true wireless gaming this will be mind blowing for you--it was for me.Mic: While some reviews have posted complaints about the mic quality I have had really no issues with the mic. I am careful with it and raise and lower it with ease as to not damage the mechanism. The mic is turned on and off by raising and lowering. Up is in the off/mute position and down is in the on/voice position. No complaints from anyone in my gaming party on not being able to hear me either. You may need to carefully bend the end of the mic inward to your face a bit for best results. Keep in mind that if you do this the mic will hit the headset in the off/mute position so be careful not to damage it. While it would be nice to have a switch to tap to turn the mic on or off it is also nice to have the mic up out of the way for those solo gaming sessions or if you don't feel like being social during a particular gaming session.Cons:Adjusting in game and voice chat volume: While there is a "rocker switch" to adjust game and voice chat sound it is often confusing and I find myself constantly looking to see which way I should push the switch to adjust either the game volume or voice chat volume. This is especially true if I don't use the headset for several weeks between gaming sessions. Again, I am a casual gamer so this is my experience. Opinions on this will vary!Overall volume: It is nice to be able to easily raise or lower overall sound volume. This is game volume and voice chat volume. The downside to the particular way this headset's volume control works is that it's on a round dial. This dial is too easily manipulated especially if you are resting in a reclined position. I find myself inadvertently lowering the volume in the middle of a gaming session and then I need to remove one hand from the gaming controller to re-adjust the volume control. This is a drawback to the design but not a deal breaker. If you never game in a reclined position you very well may never experience an issue with this!Overall this is light years ahead of any basic headset and even more advanced in many ways over the competitors top end headset models. If you are a serious or casual gamer this is a headset that you should check-out and you'll probably realize that this is the route to go.Thanks for reading!

I was so very excited to try these, but WOW what a huge disappointment. First let me tell you the good things. The Dolby sound is great. That's it. And since the Dolby messes with game audio that isn't really great for a gaming headset.Now the rest of the story. The Astro app that you use to change/customize audio presets is absolutely horrible. It barely functions on console so you have to take the whole headset and base station to your computer in order to use it properly. Also the included cables are cheap poor quality and short- very short. Next up- occasionally the headset will unpair from the base station and you have to hard reset to get it working again. Additionally they would intermittently completely lose audio signal which can really ruin gaming. Then, after only a few gentle hours of use- the headband came apart and would not clip back together, rendering them unbearable. Again, this happened mid game with no warning.But by far the worst thing is the completely non existent support from Astro. I spent days trying to reach someone at the company both through their website and their Reddit forum with no response whatsoever. When I contacted Amazon, they offered me a 20% discount to keep the broken headset. No thank you I've returned them for a full refund.Regardless of what you've heard elsewhere, Astro A50 and Astro as a company are trash and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. Beware the positive reviews you see online, I now strongly suspect that those people are all paid for those comments or they were before things went downhill at the company.When the nicest thing about a gaming headset of this high price is the box it comes in- stay away. I don't care what other brand you buy but save yourself the hassle and DONT buy these!

I've had an Astro a40 wired gaming headset for years so I was already familiar with the brand. $300 is a lot to spend on something so do your research and read the reviews both positive and negative. My personal experience is 100% positive.I wanted them solely for my PC since the a40's are in a different area of the room hooked up to the Xbox/Playstation/TV and having to unhook and reconnect every time I want to use the headphones is a hassle. Setting the a50's up to the PC took less than 30 seconds. Seriously. I simply connected the micro-usb to the base, connected the USB end to a free slot on my PC tower, turned the headphones on and viola! Windows 10 recognized the plug and play of a set of headphones and I was up and going in less than a minute. (Granted I made sure the toggle on the base was set to "PC" before I plugged everything in and turned it on)Sound quality is excellent. Just what I expected from a set of $300 astro gaming headphones. If you want to say anything on the mic, you just swing the arm down and it unmutes. Swing it back if you want to mute. Easy. Now, they are a wee bit tight when you first put them on but give it a good session of gaming and you'll be fine. You can adjust the volume by either using the dial on the right side of the headset or simply changing the volume via your PC controls.Battery life is advertised at being 15 hours of life before it needs a charge. I was able to use it for a few hours right out of the box. The charging base tells you how much battery life you have left via the 4 lighted squares on the base (see pic). I haven't used up all the juice yet and it has seemed to hold up nicely. The charging is super easy. The headset will sit on the base and if charging is initiated the squares will light up and indicate how much charge the battery has by how many lights are shown. Just charge them after you get done using them (like you would with your phone) and you'll be ready to go the next time you want to use them.Some additional features include: the cloth ear cups are removeable if you want to clean them or purchase the mod kit that has leather ear cups. Astro provides a free 2 year license of Dolby Atmos for headphones which is useful for all of those Call of Duty players.Range is VERY nice. With other wireless headsets you have a range at which you can walk away from the receiver before you lose the signal. I was able to walk three rooms away and go outside before I started to notice signal loss. That is about 50' (15m) through walls and around corners. *Just make sure you mute before you go to the bathroom*$300 is a lot to throw down for a nice pair of headphones. But these are worth the price.