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The mixamp is a great device that has some great features. The casing is made from plastics with a rubberised layer around the sides and bottom.
Astro have given the device a gloss finish on top while the knobs have a silver plastic finish – this gives the impression of brushed steel. The device is very solid and clearly well built. Negatively, the gloss finish does pick up finger prints fairly easily .
The volume control is always a handy function, but the Astro Mixamp also features a game and voice volume control. The game and voice control lets you balance what you hear, so you can have more voice from your gaming friends or add more sound from a game. We really like the way this saves constant adjustment from in game or your chat software.
On the front of the mixamp there are four sockets. There are two daisy chain sockets either side that allow you to set up a private communication network. Also there is a headphone/headset output as well as a control port for consoles.
The Mixamp is powered via mini USB and has a standby button in the top left corner. All of the buttons have a red L.E.D. back light. The power button glows white while in standby mode. Astro have given the Mixamp a surround sound on/off button, as well as a button for selecting one of the four built in equaliser settings. The EQ button has 4 lights surrounding it, they light up to indicate which setting you are using.
Settings include Upper left – Pro, which is ideal for accentuation hi frequencies to help pick out key sounds. Upper right – Core, Which is the most basic and raw sounding setting. Lower right – Media, Ideal for movies and music with good audio balance. Lower left – Sport, typically used for live sports events.
The rear of the device has an optical sound input, MP3 input, stream output and finally a mini USB input for powering the device.
The MP3 input allows you to listen to music while in game. Astro have added a stream output in this 2013 edition of the A40, so if you like to stream games via the internet, the Mixamp will allow you to capture everything you hear including all voice communications from yourself and friends.
