Astro A20 Wireless (PS4) Review

Hey Guys! @mazzle here.

This is a departure from my normal blog posts today however I wanted to write a little something about the headset that I just bought for my PS4.

_{Look at that sexy headset in its sexy box}

I do some FPS gaming on PS4 (currently playing Call of Duty World War II). So was looking for a headset with high quality sound and a decent microphone.

After some research I settled on the Astro A20 Wireless.

Astro generally market their products as premium gaming equipment, and the Astro A50 that I was using 4 or 5 years ago (think CoD MW2 times) was definitely a premium headset. The sound quality on this headset was amazing, the build quality felt fantastic, and the mixamp was a blast to use.

_{The Astro A50, one sexy headset that is just too expensive for me right now... damn it - source}

I couldn't justify spending upwards of $400 on a gaming headset this time however, as my time available for his pastime has decreased drastically as my age and responsibilities increased (middle aged gamer here...).

The Astro A20 Wireless cost me $249 from JB Hifi so this is still a relatively expensive item. For this price I would expect a high standard of build quality, amazing sound, and a good quality microphone. I'm not into custom designs or anything useless like that. All I want is a good quality item that will last me at least until the next generation of playstation comes out.

So what is this headset actually like?

_{looky what jumped out of its box}

Installation

This was probably the most impressive thing. All I had to do was plug everything in, turn the headset on, and it was good to go. The headset was even fully charged in the box. This was actually way too easy. Back when I bought the A50, installation took ages, putting everything together was annoying, and creating my custom settings took some time and a few reads of the instruction book (who reads those things these days anyway??).

This installation and set up took me all of 5 minutes. Incredible.

Build Quality

The headset is lightweight, which is great for long gaming sessions. I've had headsets before that were on the heavy side, so after a couple of hours of gaming I found my neck getting sore and uncomfortable.

Weirdly, the lightweight feel also makes the headset feel a little cheap. It feels a little too plastic. This sounds a bit petty, but for something that I paid a premium for, I'd expect the headset to actually feel expensive... silly I know. I'd assume that a less plastic feeling headset would also be heavier though. So really, I'll get over the feel pretty quickly so this is a non-issue.

The design of the headset is great though. It looks good, and the mic is easy to manipulate as well. I find it extremely helpful that all I have to do is push the mic out of the way to mute it during game play. So if I need to have a rage at some douche quick scoping me from across the map, all I have to do is flip the mic up so he can't hear how pissed off I am.

_{It is a pretty good looking beast}

The right ear cup is where all the controls are. The volume control is on the lower back corner of the ear cup and the power and EQ buttons sit higher on the back edge. The volume control has game and voice buttons on either side of it. These buttons are used to adjust the headset's audio mix between game and voice chat sources which can be particularly useful.

So what about sound?

The sound quality is excellent, which isn't surprising at all given this is an Astro product. When switching from TV sound to the headset, the difference is astounding. Explosions, gunfire, and the sounds of engines and footsteps all come to life in such a dramatically different way that it made the gaming experience feel completely new.

The sounds of the Nazi zombies when playing for the first time last night were quite literally terrifying.

_{Those eyes are seriously terrifying - source}

My only complaint here is that this headset lacks in-headset surround sound. So the surround sound that you're hearing through these headsets is via the source (or in this case, the playstation). So far, this hasn't been a big issue for me. We'll see how I go over the coming months.

Conclusion

Overall, I have found this headset to be a pretty satisfying addition to my arsenal. My only real requirement with any gaming headset is to be able to hear my enemy before they hear me or at least hear my death screams in high quality audio if they get the jump on me. And I feel like, with a headset like this, that I have met this requirement now.

While the plastic feel of the headset is very different to the A50, it's still a solid headset that is comfortable to wear.

Overall I'd rate this headset at 4 out of 5 for it's price bracket.

Have you used this headset? What do you think of it?

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