First off all, huge apology for my complete lack of participation (I blame Huber) and thanks for not booting me off. But I'm back and raring to share some views.
So i've recently bought myself a pair of Astro A40's Wireless gaming headset. If you're unfamiliar with Astro Gaming stuff, definitely work checking out. Pretty much top of the line headsets used by all the 1337 MLG gamers. Reason for purchase was a combination of my girlfriend moving in and me wanting to upgrade my sound system. The cost to upgrade my "true" 5.1 system would of been extortionate to get the same definition and clarity as a decent headset so opted for a that over a complete 5.1 system overhaul.
There's pretty much 3 big players in the gaming headset market, Astro, Turtle Beach and Tritton. All the review websites raved about the Astro A40's over and above the other 2 competitor equivalent models so my decision was made for me.
Ordered on the Thursday, arrived on the Friday. Best packaging I've ever had for an electronic product. The build quality is excellent and there's some really nice design touches which really help justify it's hefty price tag.
I'm not going to go into the specific details of set up etc, but it was fairly straight forward. One unit plugs into your optical output on the 360 and the other unit (wireless) plugs into your 360 pad and the headset.
The sound quality is staggering, I didn't expect it to be as good as it is. The surround sound is spot on. I'm not quite sure how all the tech works behind it considering it only has 2 speakers but it really does re create the surround sound effect as well if not better than my true 5.1 system. The clarity and subtle sounds you hear is incredible. I've only really tested it a handful of times and mostly with Gears of War 2, I really want to give Bad Company 2 a blast with them on as in my opinion it has by far the best sound engineering in any game. You can expect me to update this once tested further.
5.1 surround is incredible for a headset
Multiplatform compatible
Comfortable
Great build quality
Dislike
Cost
It's wireless but there's still a lot of wires.
I'm not quite certain how I'm responsible for your lack of involvement. In fact, I'd say it is because of me that you are even posting.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the whole idea of these wireless surround headsets never really caught my attention. The way I've always looked at it is that if I'm going to be playing a game, I want to do so with my home theater system. However, I think the real reason why they never appealed to me is that I don't have any kids, and my system is at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms and from where my wife works. I think had I still lived in the apartment, I would definitely consider taking a look.
3N3MY, don't you have a pair of the Turtle Beach?
I do have an older pair of the Turtle Beach variety. Mine weren't surround sound, though.
ReplyDeleteI got them when the wife and I were heavily debating moving to Indianapolis and we moved in with my mother in law when the lease ran out on our old apartment.
They worked really well and I was a big fan of them, but overall I don't think that they're even close to the headset you got.
A real pain in the ass was that they were wireless, but you have to be in line-of-sight of the IR signal otherwise the sound would go to hell.
Anyways, they served their purpose and when we moved out they never got used again.
I sell a ton of these things, and I don't really get the draw. Maybe I just don't play all that competitively or maybe I just figure I'm gonna get it handed back to me anyway,
ReplyDeleteTo me, the best reason to get these would be to control how your game audio affects the test of the people in your living space.