Astro Gaming A40 TR Headset Review

We have found that in our review ASTRO Gaming A40 TR headsets are particularly suited for gaming. We collaborate directly with developers, professional gamers, and casters to bring in-game conversation, music, and sounds exactly as they should be heard.

Why Should You Purchase this?

ASTRO Audio V2 has a frequency spectrum that is neutral, homogeneous, and spaced out for detailed and realistic pictures. For balanced resolution, this implies fatigue-free highs, crisp mids, and tight lows with no distortion. To learn more about this product, read the complete review below.

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Astro Gaming A40 TR Headset Review

Specifications:

• The headset itself is relatively similar to the design of the A40 above, with a few color and finish variations.
• The helmets and headband are predominantly matte black plastic, with metal struts on the sides linking them and enabling seamless vertical movement to alter the fit.
• There are also X-Editions with red side struts and boom microphone grilles and black plastic finishes on the headband, and side accents on the headphones.
• The key advantage is improved cable routing. On the rear, all inputs are powered, and there is a single 3.5mm port on the front that connects to the A40.
• It has a much cleaner appearance than the previous generation, splitting the ports between the front and back in ways that make it impossible to relocate the MixAmp once it is set up.
• For the new A40, Astro has refined and updated its design language, with metallic highlights and subtle red notes that give the headphones a more “adult” appearance than prior attempts.
• The Xbox version includes red highlights, whilst the PlayStation version has certain tones of ocean blue. I’m not sure why Astro chose red for the Xbox version unless they know something about the brand’s future that we don’t. It looks amazing in any way, with wonderful accents on the transparent plastic speaker plates that provide depth. If you want to read a full buying guide on Best Gaming Headsets, click here.
• That final point is a little more specialized, but let me remind my other bearded readers: the A40’s headphones are a small miracle.
• Astro, on the other hand, might benefit from a better cabling infrastructure. The 3.5mm connector is at the rear of the left earpiece, and although the wire keeps out of the way, it also rubs my neck, particularly in cross-body circumstances like connecting to a PC on my right.

Design

The headset’s design is quite similar to that of the preceding A40, with some minor changes to the colors and finishes. The earcups and headband are largely matte black plastic, with metal struts on the sides connecting them and enabling seamless vertical adjustment to fine-tune the fit. Memory foam over-ear earpads are wrapped in soft, breathable black fabric. A rectangular pad made of the same material as the earpads is attached between two flexible, strong plastic bands on the bottom of the headband.

The rear panels of the earcups are composed of glossy black plastic with silver accents and are magnetically linked to the headset. These panels, known as speaker tags by Astro, create a gap above the earcups, allowing the open-back 40mm speakers lots of room to breathe and create superior spatial imaging (but also many sound leakages, so be mindful while wearing the headset near other people). The only traces of color on the default versions of the A40 are the speaker tags and the top of the headband, with blue accents for the PS4 version and red accents for the Xbox One version. There are also X-Editions, which replace the polished aluminum finishes on the side struts and boom mic grille with red and black plastic finishes on the headband and earcup side accents.

Connectivity

The A40 connects to your selected device through a 6.5-foot wire that has an inbuilt mic mute button. It ends in a four-pole 3.5mm connector, allowing it to be used with any current game console, PC (PCs with separate headphone and microphone ports need a splitter, which is supplied with the solo A40 but not with the A40 + MixAmp Pro TR), or smartphone equipped with a headphone socket.

However, if you pay the additional $100 for the A40 + MixAmp Pro TR we tested, you’ll almost certainly be putting that headset connection right into the front of the accompanying MixAmp Pro TR, a headphone amp and mixer intended to operate with your PC and either PS4 or Xbox One (depending on which version you get). It’s a revamped version of the MixAmp Pro TR that was available with the 2016 model.

Performance

The A40 is an excellent music player, particularly when fed via the MixAmp Pro TR, which has high power output. The headset sounded much more powerful via the MixAmp than via the headphone socket of my Google Pixel 3a in testing, which isn’t unexpected given the headset’s rather high 48-ohm headphone impedance.

The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” our bass test track, sounds rich and deep at maximum (and dangerous) volume settings, with no discernible distortion. It doesn’t quite dip deep enough into sub-bass territory to shake your head, but the bass synth notes and kick drum beats receive enough of low-end power behind them.

Yes’ “Roundabout” sounds great on the A40, especially if you disable the Dolby audio processing and listen to the stereo channels. The open-back design enables for highly apparent stereo image, which is significantly superior to a simulated surround mix for some music recordings. The string texture of the acoustic guitar notes at the intro come through with enough information to make out the places of the instruments in the recording studio when listening to the audio in lossless resolution on Tidal. The electric bass has enough low-mid presence to drive the music, but it doesn’t sound unduly thumpy, and the vocals, guitar riffs, and percussion can all be heard well despite the busy mix.

On the A40, Doom sounds forceful. The super shotgun and rocket launcher receive a lot of low and low-mid resonance, while the numerous hisses, grunts, and growls of foes come through with a lot of clarity in the high-mids and highs. Through the headset, Mick Gordon’s grungy industrial metal soundtrack swings between frenzied and menacing, with the pounding bass notes feeling full even without reaching head-rattling sub-bass levels. The simulated 7.1-channel surround sound combines precise left-right imaging with the headset’s stereo speakers, providing an excellent sense of the source of various sounds.

Forza Motorsport 7 sounds equally good due to the A40’s wide frequency response. The raucous scream of a pickup truck’s engine is different from the aggressive whine of a sportscar’s engine, each with just the proper amount of presence. Every bump and collision against other vehicles, as well as every rumbling of the track’s edge beneath tires, sounds deep and full of impact.

Mic and software

If you connect the A40 and MixAmp to your PC, you can use the Astro Command Center program to personalize your audio. To begin, if you don’t like the default settings, it allows you to alter the MixAmp’s four EQ presets with a five-band equalizer. You may also change the gain and sidetone levels of the microphone and choose one of four noise gate settings to shut out outside noise. You may also adjust the volume of the audio coming out of the 3.5mm stream port, combining game audio, voice chat audio, mic input, and any other sound coming via the 3.5mm input independently.

The microphone on the A40 performs well. The test recordings were clear and warm, with no fuzziness or sibilance. This is an excellent headset microphone for voice chat, commentary, and even podcasting (but if you’re serious about audio recording, we suggest investing in a dedicated USB microphone).