Astro A50

Hey guys! Seems like after finally getting my dream beast I'm filled with even more questions than ever, so I'll apologize now, lol. I just received a pair of Astro Wireless A50s and just noticed the Alienware 18 does not have an optical in/out port? I can hear sound if I plug the headset into the mixamp while the mixamp is also plugged into the beast, but that's about it, and I'm not sure if the audio would be "5.1" or "7.1" (simulated or not). It also kind of defeats the whole wireless thing too, haha.

I was planning on purchasing Battlefield 4 for PC in order to fully take advantage of my dual 780s and headset, but if they aren't compatible, I might have to just wait for the PS4 and enjoy wireless sound through that. Needed to go the headset route instead of actual surround sound because I'd like to avoid shoes thrown at me by the fiancé

 

Unfortunately the new 18 doesn't have digital audio out like the previous M18's. That being said the audio you are hearing is not 5.1 or 7.1, it is 2.0 I believe. I have had my A50's for about a year and love them. Sadly, though my M18X r2 was replaced with the new 18 and it has rendered my A50's useless. On the brighter side you can hook them up to the beast using USB and get the 2.0 sound, but what's the point of a $300 dollar headset if that's what your going to do.

 

That's unfortunate. Might end up trading down to the wired A40s, then. Unless they also require a digital audio out..

 

You can always buy the the module that convert to Optical Out.

http://www.turtlebeach.com/product-detail/sound-cards-accessories/micro-ii/31

 

thanks for that input. Also an A50 owner and been in the same boat as wheth4400. After my M18xR1 got replaced I've missed the optical out.

+1 rep

 

Would you need the module with the a40?

 

The A40's also require digital audio out

 

Thanks Rengsey! Just ordered the module w/ Amazon Prime. We'll see how it fairs with the A50.

 

Great stuff, let us know how it performs once you get it!

 

i personally used an external sound card , Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card, is as the DDL (dolby digital live) to enable game 5.1 trough optical out . its slim work on a usb port i paid 40$ for it.

 

Yeah fed up with wires (Plantronic Gamecom 780 cannot seem to stay untangled) and looking to have some redundancy in my system (a back up pair) I am looking at the A50. I have looked at them before but decided against them as I found that the on-board sound card does not support Dolby Digital Live, which is required for the psuedo-surround and that some people were having issues with the optical port, something about pins getting stuck with the only remedy being motherboard replacement.

Nevertheless, I am looking for a solid wireless headset and having owned and witnessed the poor construction of Logitech's G35 I am extremely hesitant to pick up the wireless version, the G930. The Astro's cost more sure, but if you can only reasonably expect to get a year or two of life out of all the flimsy plastic headbanded headsets on the market why not pay more for something that will last?

It is my understanding that this headset needs an external usb sound-card to function correctly, can any A40/A50 owners provide some information on how they set this up?

Thanks.

 

vulcan78,

It is a really simple set up. Essentially all you do is plug the sound card into the PC via the cables provided, and then you plug your headphone into that. It is more of a mixamp then a full blown soundcard, but it provides a nice extension to your PC that allows you to control your headset manually.

If messiness is a concern, its very manageable.

 

The Micro II arrived tonight but guess what? Only the right driver is working on my A50s. Sent Astro an email to see what can be done or if they'll send a replacement (ordered Oct. 9 so it'll still be under warranty). I'll be clear of problems one day, haha.

 

I am/was really attracted to the A50's because I would like a wireless solution primarily because my existing Plantronics Gamecom 780 wire is very tangle-prone, irrespective of what the manufacturer says about the wire design.

What youre saying and what I gather elsewhere is that for the A40's/A50's to produce pseudo-surround sound an external sound-card being connected via a wire is required.

Knowing this, I am looking at a different spare headset, and am currently very interested in Steelseries' soon to be released (Dec.14) Siberia Elite.

These seem to address every issue I have with the existing wired headsets:

1. truly tangle-free cable design.

2. Robust, steel based construction, especially the headband.

3. Comfort.

4. Universality, includes USB, micro-USB and 3.5 mm headphone attachment; can be used with smart-phone.

5. Price-point. Unlike certain luxury offerings, its purchase doesn't require donating a vital organ.

6. Brand reputability.

SteelSeries America shop - SteelSeries Siberia Elite Gaming Headset - Audio

 

Don't mean to bump and old thread but Astro has a beta product that seems to get around the optical audio cord issue. I ordered one last night and will see how it goes.

USB Tx (Dolby® Transmitter) - Astro Gaming US

 

I suggest the Corsair Vengeance 2100 for a wireless headset; it only needs two USB slots while charging & using and 1 while just using wirelessly.

The logitech G930 doesn't have any bad construction that I've noticed, however I'd need to ask what about the G35 that you actually disliked construction-wise? I had a G930 for a year and a half before selling it and it performed faithfully throughout (with a couple minor caveats that could very well have had to do with my particular setup, and as far as I know the 2100s don't have).

The A50s are overly expensive for what they're worth too. They're so expensive because they come with a mixamp and work on consoles and PC, but other $300-range wireless headsets like the Steelseries H-Wireless would blow it out of the water in audio quality and features as far as I know. Both vengeance 2100s and G930s can easily be found under $100 from Amazon in the US.

 

Hate to say it, but I cringed when I read that pricetag.

I have not seen (or rather, heard) a single headset that can come anywhere near to comparing to a pair of good headphones. The Sennheiser HD 558's I have are $120 on Amazon right now - that's almost a third of the price of the A50's - and I'd be willing to put money on them sounding far better than the A50's. If you need the attached microphone, get a ModMic and you're still paying half as much as the A50's cost. If you're desperate for surround sound, I find that software in Windows typically emulates it as well as any headset (and I'm saying that as a CS:GO player). Having owned a pair of Logitech G35's in the past - which use the same Dolby 7.1 software as the A50's - there really isn't a big difference between the 'surround sound' headsets that use software surround sound, and implementing such software yourself in Windows. (Those G35's also broke at the hinges after a couple of years of use. The HD 558's, on the other hand, are rock solid - I've lost track of the number of times I've dropped and knocked them and they haven't fared any worse for it. The wire is also replaceable. If the wire connecting the A50's receiver to your computer/device ever breaks, you're stuffed.)

Gaming headsets just do not compare to a pair of good 'audiophile' headphones when it comes to sound quality. Once you hear audio from something like the HD 558's, you will never buy a gaming headset again. Don't buy into the claims that a headset sounds good because a 'pro gamer' has helped design them. It's just like the 'pro gamer' designed colour profiles for my BenQ monitor - absolute rubbish. A good pair of audiophile-grade cans will be built better, will sound better, will last longer, and can be a lot cheaper than some of the headsets out there. And I'm not saying this as an 'audiophile' - I don't use an external DAC or amp, I don't listen to lossless audio, I don't spend hundreds on audio equipment. But I am so thankful that I spent my £100 on these cans a few years back and not another crappy gaming headset.

Seriously, if you can, send those A50's back and get some proper cans. You'll thank me later.

 

EviL, thanks for the feedback! I went to check out the Sennheiser HD 558's and I'm not sure its a comparable product to the A50. I'm not debating any technical aspects that produce a better sound but one is wireless and the other is not. To be fair to the Astro A50 owners out there, Sennheiser does offer a wireless option but its priced much higher than the A50's! The A50's are not the best and have had many issues but I don't think they will give me my money back now. It's good to hear that they have a low cost $40.00 solution to no optical ports to get simulated surround sound in a wireless product.

Also, if you could be more specific about the Windows software that provides surround sound for headphones I would like to hear more. I plug my 'headphones' in to the 18 and try to adjust settings every which way and cant seem to get past 'Stereo' sound regardless of the headphones. Thanks again for the feedback and any help is appreciated.

 

I'M going to check the Siberia Elite!:hi2:

 

Of course, I understand how that could be a problem. I'd personally still rather trail a wire across the floor than pay a lot more for a wireless product that's worse in most ways, but I know and understand that wireless is an important factor for a lot of people.

Honestly, I just use the simulated surround option in the Dolby sound drivers. Does the job really well. And frankly, any game out there that's actually been well made will already be able to provide good directional sound through any 2.0 headphones. There's nothing more that any driver software can do that a game can't, in terms of positional sound.

 

I'll correct you there actually... when you use headphone virtualization (I used it before a lot) with stereo headsets, it does mimic surround quite well, but it's expanding a stereo input. Software 7.1 emulation on stereo speakers is a bit different, and it will feed a full 7.1 feed into the headset correctly. The difference is that you could set your game to produce 5.1 or 7.1 surround and it will do so well, but you need to leave it on stereo for virtualization to work right. Also, when recording (not a problem for most, I agree) if you are using headset virtualization, your audio sounds echo-y to others listening (but not to you, because to you it sounds normal) because when recording it's not compressing a 7.1 or 5.1 feed into stereo, but recording the... stretched?... stereo sound, and others without the feature turned on will hear it badly.

Now I'm not saying stereo headsets are a bad thing, nor is headphone virtualization a bad thing, but there ARE differences between the two. If the differences don't apply to you, that's fine, but they could apply to others and others need to be aware of it before they buy.

I've been recording and streaming videos since 2009 across a multitude of programs and with many different bits of hardware over the years so I've gotten quite a bit of experience in what works oddly or not XD.

 

Okay, that's fair enough, I'll concede to you on that. But I still stand by the point that you won't get much from a game with well made sound by going from simulated surround from 2.0 output to simulated surround from 7.1 output on a pair of 2.0 headphones. Now, some of the true 5.1 or 7.1 headphones out there are something I would like to try sometime, but sadly I don't have enough money to throw around to try them out. I still prefer the generally incredible sound from my Sennheisers and will always take that over more drivers that aren't as good.

Now, if only Sennheiser made a headset based on the 500- or 600-series headphones with simulated surround sound...or even something based on that with multiple drivers, like the Razer Tiamat or Psyko 5.1's. That would be something that I'd put good money on.

 

Psyko I always wanted to try. Razer headsets are BUTTS. Never buy any of them. Corsair and logitech (with the right LGS) blow them all out of the water. I haven't tried any of the newer sennheiser or steelseries headsets. I can say that based on ability to hear enemies around, Astro A40s are not as good as Corsair or Logitech at positional audio & audio in general.

As for simulated surround from 2.0 vs direct 7.1 simulated output using the same headset, I can't say. One of these days I can try with my corsair setting things to 2.0 and using headset virtualization in windows and seeing if it works and seeing if I can hear people as well as I currently do. I always conceded to the fact that audiophile type headphones were great for music and gaming, but felt some (not most) gaming headsets benefited the gamer a bit more. Since I don't have amazon in my country I can't do FrankieOnPC's method of buying a headset, testing, returning, repeating. One of these days I'd really like to try that.

I want to try the H-wireless from Steelseries and the PC363D from Sennheiser as well as a couple of the audiophile headsets out there and rate their usefulness for gaming, music and otherwise. Until then though I can say that I've used "Klip extreme audio" headsets, random $5 USD headsets, Plantronics Gamecom 377s, Microsoft Lifechat 3100s, Logitech G930s, Corsair Vengeance 1500 v2s and various other sound setups at other peoples' houses. Those were also listed in the order of sound quality from worst to best. The corsair only slightly beats the logitechs because the logitechs I had some annoying software issues with and had to forcibly NOT update my LGS to use them without issues, and the mic was terrible on it. The corsair was far better both software and mic-wise, but I haven't tried any of the LGS past 8.47 I think on them, and with my mouse I'm at 8.57.something right now, so it could be better. I WILL say if you tried a logitech with older than 8.40 LGS then you haven't heard the headset sounding very good. Above 8.40 sounded even better too, but I had volume fluctuating issues I could not fix.

I really wish I was in a position to try various products and find out which is best. I really like testing things for some reason.

 

Hold on there, I said I wanted to try the Tiamat's, not that I'd ever actually buy them. I haven't had a particularly good experience with the quality of Razer products in general, apart from the Goliathus mousemat...

If you actually wanted to try a Sennheiser headset, I'd still say buy their headphones instead and get a mic for it. So far as I can tell, their headsets are not based on the 'audiophile' grade 500 and 600 series headphones.

I'm also wary of buying Logitech products after my G35s...they worked great for a while, but the fake leather on them fell to bits rather quickly and a couple of years down the line, the hinge on one side of them broke. I have a friend who had them as well, same thing happened to him. I'm concerned about the quality of any of their headsets after that experience...

 

Hahhaa duly noted, good to know you wouldn't buy any razer gear =D.

As for the Sennheisers, I'll try them one day I suppose. I can't be broke for my whole life I'm guessing. At some point someone will recognize I'm not a dummy who knows nothing and hire me XD.

 

The Beyor Dynamic MMX 300 headset is worth checking out if anyone is set on getting a headset with half decent sound as they are based on 32 Ohm DT770's

 

The USB Tx just came in the mail. It's legit. I'm not a huge audiophile but it brings back the surround sound that was missing without the audio optical cable. The adapter itself is small and plugs right in. There is a huge difference between using these on the Alienware 18 which no longer offers audio optical out drop. I'm at work and only ran a couple games for a few minutes and did some sound tests based on internet searches for 7.1 surround sound test but def. works. If anyone has A50's and has 'upgraded' to the 18 and lost the ability to use their A50's to the fullest they should pick the USB Tx up. Its only 40 now as its in Beta but it appears you can just swap for free when final product is available. Final product will cost $50.00 I think. I don't think there will be many changes though. Product appears to work great. I'll be using it more this weekend. If anyone has any questions please ask I will gladly answer. This forum has served me well over the years, its the least I can do.

 

Hi there, I hope this is the right place to ask.

Are there any differences between the 1st gen and 2nd gen Astro A50? I mean aside from the design, any improvements on sound quality or additional stuffs?

I might be going for one if this is available in my country. I find the Steelseries Wireless H comparable to this as well, couldn't make up my mind yet.

 

If you're purely going for PC and not going to care about the mixamp, I would suggest the H-wireless over the A50s. They are apparently more comfortable and come with spare battery packs that you can swap in & out seamlessly so that you're never really out of un-charged batteries.

 

Not going to care about mixamp? Why not?

I believe I'm fine with its battery life. Quality and clarity of the sound is more important for me since they are wireless.

Are there any issues using the Astro A50 with the optical output of the MSI GT72? I only plan to use the A50 with laptop since I'm always on the move.

I also heard about the USB TX, is it a perfect replacement of the Mixamp? I'm using it on a laptop, would be convenient if it's practical and problem free. It's so compact,yet it has full functionalities of the mixamp.

 

It's stated earlier in this thread but in order to experience the pseudo-surround (which is quite good IMHO) your sound card needs to support Dolby Digital Live. I ended up picking up an external USB sound card, a Creative X-Fi 5.1, when I initially went with the Astro A40's and simply migrated it over to my desktop and I'm now using the A50's.

Despite reports of issues with the A50's, and considering I picked mine up refurbished for $200 (new is $300) I have to say that the A50's are basically A40's without the annoying wires, the quality is outstanding, I have none of the mic quality issues, disconnects, or battery life, in sum these are the best headphones I've ever had. Do get them refurbished if youre interested, either ebay or amazon.com had them

Sets I've owned:

Plantronics Gamecom 780 (best price/performance but ears will get hot and the wire is super annoying)

Logitech G35 (under-engineered around head-phone support so as to fail within 1-3 years, your set will break, 100% guaranteed, see reviews)

Sennheiser 363D (overpriced, constructed of plastic that defies the $300 price-tag, sound quality muddled, actually worse than the $60 Plantronics Gamecom 780, returned)

Steelseries Siberia Elite (solid metal construction, set induced considerable pressure on the ears, ears will get hot, poor/non-existent ventilation, sound quality also worse than Plantronics Gamecom 780)

If you don't mind the wire, and are willing to endure slightly less comfort than the Astro A40, A50 in terms of pressure and breathability, I recommend the Plantronics Gamecom 780, you also wont need to purchase an external sound-card if your existing one doesn't support Dolby Digital Live.

 

I wanted wireless because I didn't want messy wires, so A50 it is.

I do hope there are no compatibility issues though.

Ya, the MSI GT72 does support Dolby Digital Live, so I suppose an external sound card isn't necessary.



Wow, u even tried Sennheiser, those are audiophile grade headphones. The Astro A50 is even superior compared to that? I thought gaming headphones are no match for audiophile headphones, correct me though if I'm wrong.

Is the Toslink cable fragile? I never owned one before. And I guess I will need an adapter for it since it need to connect to the laptop's 3.5mm jack which is also an optical port.

I would love to buy refurbished ones too to save cost since you said they are reliable too but I'm always worried about warranty since Malaysia doesn't have any Astro resellers here. Therefore I would have to go for dealers who order them from Astro and sell them with the offer of their warranty to make my purchase worthwhile.

My question is still regarding the USB TX, I wonder how good it is.

 

No, he didn't try any of Sennheiser's audiophile headphones. They have different lines; the PC363D is (as I expected) just an overpriced gaming headset. Especially for being a wired ones. The audiophile grade headsets are as far as I know analog only and stereo only and none come with a mic. They're like the Sennheiser HD 558 or something.

 

If you ever get a chance to try Corsair Vengeance 2100s or 1500 V2s, let me know how their sound compares to the Astros. I think you may need to set the volume to 50% on 7.1; or at least I do. Or I get some kind of odd static. Other people don't have the issue so it might just be my pair. Headset is MORE than loud enough at 50% though.

 

I see... I thought the brand would still produce great headphones despite the difference in its product range. At least I thought it would be very reliable and has great quality.

50% volume? Beyond that you experience statics, that is referring to the Astro A50 in 7.1?

 

I said I do for my corsairs. I have not tried any Astros, which is why I asked him to compare the sound in his A50s to the sound from the corsair.

 

The TX cable works great. I would highly recommended. Small item and great preformance. Dont hesitate to pick it up.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

Would it cause a slight decrease in quality since everything is included in just this small device? Optical cable is no longer required just by using TX USB, I feel a little skeptical. Maybe someone can clarify on this?

It's still in Beta, I wonder if this will permanently replace the Mixamp when it's out of Beta.

 

To me it sounds the same but there may be some who can tell a difference. Honestly it's well worth the cost if you have the a50 and lost the use of then with the current Alienware laptops. Simulated surround sounds works great. Added a whole new level of terror to Alien: Isolation.


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I have yet to try that game, definitely awesome to play that game with surround. Arrghh.. So tempted to own a Astro A50 now..

But I still need to wait until the 2nd gen is available in my country..

 

I have 1st gen A50's. The TX cable works with them. The 1st gen have worked fine. No issues for me. Plus if you do experience anything they will fix them for you. There was a quasi recall on them in the past. Sorta like the Alienware 11 bezel issue. If you called they would fix it but no official recall.

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Sad to say that there is actually no TX USB for sale in my country. The Gen2 is available now in my country,so I plan to test them with my MSI GT780DXR before settling with a new laptop next year.

Maybe I'll buy the TX USB when it's available in my country, I got a feeling that's when it is out of Beta. I read somewhere that the A50 works on mobile phones too but the USB is plugged to a laptop/com for power

No official recall? That would be unfair to those who have purchased Astro products that came with flaws isn't it?

 

Yeah I don't think there was anything offical with any recall. I actually think a firmware update solved most issues. I've never had any issues. You know how people get though. The second something is not perfect they view it as a crisis and demand fixes same day. Look no further than the current Unity situation. The live update forum is a mess.