Review on ASTRO Gaming A50 Wireless Headset + Base Station 🎧 Gen 4 - PS5, PS4, PC, Mac Compatible - Black/Silver by Bryan Hill

I received this headset and was able to try it for a few days before returning it for a refund. I'll start with about a week's worth of research comparing the Turtle Beach, Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless, PlayStation Gold, and Platinum headsets. I've owned a Turtle Beach Elite 800 since about 2016. They are amazing thanks to the built in microphone. The problem I had for about my second year of owning them was that they would lose sound and turn back on after 5 seconds. Then they started making a screeching noise. Call of Duty, for example, all the sounds that are present in the game are output to the cups, adding a squeak to them. It was terrible. Resetting to factory settings did nothing. After this went on randomly for a few more years, I decided to look around for another set of headsets. I ended up going with the Astro A50 Gen 4 because, like the Elite 800, they have a magnetic base for charging the headset. They were more expensive than what I originally bought the Elite 800 for and came with a boom mic instead of a built-in one. Within 2 days of owning the Astro A50, I turned it off and back on for no reason. I also saw that the base lights went out. The headset then rebooted within a few seconds. This has happened to me twice. The first time I thought it was just a bug, but the second time it reminded me why I was starting to dislike my Elite 800. So the match started and it was amplified so loud that I had to remix it. I can't get over it either, being so used to it on the Elite 800, but the combination of game and chat on the Astro A50 is very annoying. On the Elite 800, chat volume is on the left earcup and game volume is on the right. Completely separate. You won't get this on A50s. If you want your game volume to be higher, press twice? and press and hold the right button on the right earcup. You hear two beeps. Then take the volume control and adjust it to the desired game volume. Then for chat, do the same but flick the back of the earbud to your right ear. Then choose it. After that, you may not succeed and you will have to do everything all over again. Even better is when you finally type everything in and then start a new game with different sounds mixed in the studio and you have to start your settings all over again. Click and click. SUPER ANNOYING. Turtle Beach did the right thing by making the two volume controls (for game and chat) completely independent. Astro did it in such a weird and horrible way. Structure/Design: The headset and base look amazing right out of the box. The headset felt slightly cheaper/lighter. I will say that the cloth ear cups were good, although facial hair can be quite itchy. (They have an overpriced leather 'mod' that you can use for leather headphones. Absolutely ridiculous price for these - definitely overpriced) Sound: The sound was great for steps. I did notice that it lacks bass, but it's the same as everyone else. Otherwise, the tones were clear and crisp. I don't know why, but they sounded very different than the Turtle Beach Elite 800. That's good and bad. However, I prefer the sound of the Elite 800, this may be due to bias as I've owned it for 4 years. Conclusion: Given the quality, controls, and price of the headset, I totally regret the purchase and am glad I was able to return the headset. Not worth the $300 price tag, this headset comes from someone who spent a lot of money on expensive items. This is one of my few purchase regrets. I personally would go for the Elite 800 even if I got the Astros for free. As an aside I own another PS4 and have since bought a PlayStation Platinum for $115 and they have a built in mic with independent game/chat mix for over half the price. I'll see how they stack up.