Jack of All Controllers

About Astro A40 TR + MixAmp Pro TR

• Platforms – PS4, PS3, PC
• Release Date – April, 2019
• Price – $249.99
• Review Unit Provided – No

The Astro A40 is one of the most popular gaming headsets on the market, and all throughout the decade Astro has been updating and refining their flagship headset through new re-releases and firmware updates. Enter the new 4th Generation Astro A40 TR and their new MixAmp Pro TR.

These new headsets boast a number of improvements over the previous generation A40, but the biggest and most noticeable is their new “Astro Audio V2” which is a snazzy title but ultimately it’s just how sound is processed and filtered through the mix amp. This new mix amp sounds leagues better than the old one and even if you don’t get this new headset, you can keep your old one and still notice big audio improvements with this mix amp alone. The only strange oversight with the mix amp is that for whatever reason there is no power button on the amp itself. Other Astro mix amps had a power button on the amp so you could switch between your TV audio and your headset audio with the press of a button. No such button exists on this mix amp (unless I’m just completely blind) so I just have to unplug the power cord when I need to use TV sound. It’s not a huge flaw, just a mild annoyance.

However, the real magic happens when you pair the two together. With the improvements that Astro Audio V2 brings, as well as the higher quality speakers in the new headset, the difference between Gen 4 and the previous Gen 3 Astro Headsets are night and day.

The Gen 3 headset and mix amp combo did their job quite nicely. They didn’t have the best sound quality, but they were reliable and were really good at focusing in on the sounds of footsteps. However, while they were good for hearing footsteps, the rest of the audio has often been described as “tinny”. These new products seek to fix that and for the most part I believe they have succeeded. The surround sound offered in the headset absolutely helps especially in shooters where being able to tell where your enemies are is such a helpful tool, but this headset goes beyond that by improving the audio quality across the board. Big improvements to bass, and the overall depth of the sound makes this the best A40 headset to date.

The mic quality however, is the exact same as the previous generation headsets. It’s perfectly acceptable quality for a headset. I wouldn’t do any voice over work with it, but it’s serviceable for gaming.

All in all, without a doubt in my mind, this is the best gaming headset I’ve ever used. I would absolutely recommend this headset to anyone looking for a high quality gaming headset. It isn’t cheap, but you absolutely get what you pay for. There’s a reason I’ve been an Astro customer for a long time, and all this product has done is solidify my love of their headsets.

10/10