I have a family. Generally my evenings and weekend gaming time is punctuated by requests and information from said family, meaning headset gaming time generally is limited or pretty impossible. Therefore spending a great deal of cash on a headset is just not going to happen. I have only ever owned two headsets in my gaming life, apart from the bog standard chat headsets that come with the consoles. The first I owned was the Turtle Beach Ear Force Atlas Edition that was launched with the release of Titanfall. Wearing this headset for long periods was sometimes akin to having my head in a vice, and it was so tight I used to blame it for my poor performance in said game as I was certain my brain function was being impaired.
The second headset, and the one I have been using for the last 18 months, and I am really sorry to say this, is the Playstation Gold Headset, which obviously works well enough with the Xbox, but also the Playstation, iPhone, laptop, etc. It had served me well. But the TiX chaps were often commenting on my muffled speech, and echo’d feedback of their own voices through the headset, so it was probably time for a change.
That’s where the Astro A10 headset comes in. This retails for £55 so is not going to break the bank and, more importantly, the first evening I used it in party chat I received great feedback from the guys in the party about how much clearer my voice was. So, before we get onto probably the verdict you are expecting, let’s look at the specs of the A10.
Firstly, the A10 comes in three colours, designed for which console you are purchasing for. Grey/Green for Xbox, Grey/Blue for PS4 and Grey/Red for PC. There is no difference in the headset other than the colour. The Grey/Green can be used quite happily with PS4 or PC also. As the A10 has a standard 3.5mm connector it can also be used with any device that has a standard headphone socket. They also have over-the-ear memory foam ear cushions and headband, which make the Astros lightweight so they can be worn for longer periods of game time without becoming uncomfortable.
The mic is one of my favourite features of the A10’s. You know that family I spoke of earlier? Well, when I am being bothered by them all I need to do is raise the mic upwards and it automatically turns on the mute function, meaning my party can’t hear my wife asking me why I haven’t done the washing up! This really is a great feature, and obviously the headset un-mutes when the mic is lowered back to the mouth.
I have also tested the A10’s with my trusty iPhone 6+. As I usually listen to music whilst in the car you get used to how certain songs sound. When listened to music with the Astro’s I found myself hearing different sounds within the songs, which led to a music listening binge one afternoon which I haven’t done in years. If I had one criticism of the A10’s, music did sound a bit heavy on the bass and a bit too light in the higher frequencies which led to some bass heavy songs sounding slightly muffled.
So, onto gaming, which is where the A10’s will get most of their use. Quite simply these are brilliant. As mentioned earlier, my party commented on how much clearer I sounded when using these and I was able to crank up the volume without it having a detrimental affect or any bleed through to voice chat. And lets remember, these are a £55 headset. For that price, these are pretty amazing, and unless I win the lottery these will be my headset of choice for the future.
£55. Lets just let that sink in. And for that you get a headset that is superb for gaming. Voice chat is clear, the headset is comfortable to wear for long periods and the games sound great. And its pretty good for music as well. You really can’t go wrong with the Astro A10’s.
More information on the Astro A10’s can be found at the official website – www.astrogaming.co.uk
Many Thanks to Astro Gaming for supporting This Is Xbox!
