Astro A10 Gaming Headset Review

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An inexpensive ticket to Astro awesomeness.

By Matt Elliott

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If you have shopped for a gaming headset for more than two seconds, then you’ve likely encountered the Astro name. It does one thing and one thing only: high-end gaming headsets. Or at least, it used to be high-end only. Astro's A10 Gaming Headset (See it on Amazon) / (See it on Amazon UK) represents the company's expansion into lower-end of the spectrum. I took it for a spin to see how a budget headset from Astro stacks up against its competition, which includes the HyperX Cloud Stinger, Plantronics Rig 400, Roccat Cross, and Turtle Beach Recon 50.

I am reviewing an Xbox-centric model (but will work on PC and PS4), the $99.99 Astro A10 + MixAmp M60. The MixAmp M60 is an adapter for Xbox controllers that provides volume controls and the ability to balance the audio levels of game sounds and your voice chat. A second audio cable is included that lets you use the headset with PCs, Macs, PS4, phones, and tablets -- any device with a 3.5mm audio jack.

There's also a $59.99 vanilla Astro A10, which is meant for PCs, Macs and the PS4. It loses the MixAmp adapter and ships with a 3.5mm audio cable and a splitter cable.

Design and Features

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The Astro A10 does not look or feel like a cheap, budget headset. The earcups are heavily padded, and inside the plastic-covered headband is a steel frame. Its plastic is charcoal gray too, which looks a bit classier and upscale than plain black in my opinion. The Xbox-focused model I am reviewing features green accents, and the other A10 models gives you a choice of color accents: red, blue, or -- for an extra $10 -- Call of Duty camo.

Because not all of the budget headsets we're currently evaluating have detachable audio cables, I weighed each with an audio cable attached to standardize the weights. With the non-MixAmp audio cable attached, the Astro A10 weighs 365 grams, which is by far the heaviest of the group. The next heaviest is the HyperX Cloud Stinger at 276 grams. The two lightest are the Plantronics Rig 400 and the Turtle Beach Recon 50, each weighing in at 209 grams. The lighter the headset, the more comfortable it is sitting atop your head, especially for long stretches, but the Rig 400 and Recon 50 both felt a little too light -- to the point of feeling flimsy and cheap. Basically, they feel like budget headsets. The Astro A10 takes it to the extreme in the other direction, and simply feels too heavy. The HyperX Cloud Stringer and Roccat Cross are both in the Goldilocks zone, neither too heavy nor too light, but just right.

If you don’t mind its relative heft, the Astro A10 is comfy. It allows for height adjustment and the fabric padding on the earcups is thick and soft. There’s a small pad on the undersize of the headband; given the heft overall of the headset and the thick padding on the earcups, I’m surprised this pad isn’t a bit cushier. Still, the headset is generally comfortable in use. I usually prefer the feel of earcups wrapped in synthetic leather, but the soft fabric on the Astro A10 is stellar. Despite the ample padding, you can wear the Astro A10 during marathon sessions without working up a sweat. Inside the earcups, 40mm drivers power the audio output, the same size as found on the Plantronics Rig 400HX and the Turtle Beach Recon 50.

The Astro A10 comes with two audio cables. A short, 41-inch cable with the MixAmp 60 adapter that plugs into an Xbox controller. It has volume buttons on one side and two button opposite labeled Game and Voice. You can use these to raise the levels of game sounds or your voice chat so that the two are balanced to your specifications. The other audio cable is 80 inches long and terminates in a 3.5mm audio jack. It has an inline volume control -- you get a volume slider but no mute button.

A flip-to-mute boom mic is permanently attached to the left earcup. The thick, rubber boom is flexible but doesn’t hold its position as well as the Turtle Beach Recon 50.

Performance

To test the Astro A10, I ran it through games on a PC and an Xbox One and then connected it to an iPhone to test how it handled music playback.

With Battlefield on a PC, the Astro A10 supplied dynamic sound with good separation between low and high frequencies. The boom of a bazooka rumbled convincingly and the snap of rifle fire sounded crisp and clean, while the whir of helicopters overhead was distinct, showing great mid-frequency performance. Still, the Cloud Stinger and Roccat Cross and their larger 50mm drivers delivered fuller sound.

Next, I connected the MixAmp 60 adapter and played Star Wars Battlefront and NBA 2K17 on an Xbox One. The MixAmp allowed me to tone down the voice chat during Battlefront and increase game audio, which sounded a bit bass heavy overall, a problem I could not adjust. NBA 2K17 offered clean sound, with the squeak of sneakers and the squeal of referee whistles standing apart from the crowd noise and arena organ.

Next, I connected the Astro A10 to an iPhone 7 Plus, fired up Spotify, and used Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” to test the high and mid-frequencies and DMX’s “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” to get a sense of the headset’s bass performance. On “Dirty Work,” Fagan’s hammond organ comes through clean and the tenor sax solo near the end shows lovely texture, while the vocal harmonies in the chorus sounded warm. With “X Gon’ Give It To Ya,” the sound was a bit too heavy on the bass; DMX’s voice sounded a bit muddied without much separation between it and the pulsing bass line

Finally, I tested the mic by making a voice recording. The Astro A10’s recording was average. My voice sounded fairly clear but the Plantronics Rig 400 and the Turtle Beach Recon 50 each turned in cleaner-sounded recordings.

Purchasing Guide

The Astro A10 + MixAmp 60 has an MSRP of $99.99, while the headset alone carries a $59.99 MSRP.  Neither fluctuate in price as often as some other headsets, and are generally sold at their suggested retail prices:

The Verdict

The Astro A10 offers best-in-class build quality and cushy earcups, but it might be too heavy for some. It offers big, dynamic sound, but I give a slight edge to the HyperX Cloud Stinger, which delivers cleaner highs and mids by dialing back the bass a bit.

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