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The A50's cups have a soft cloth surface which helps to drown out sounds without the need to clamp the headset down. The headband is lined with the same cloth and, appearing to have been made out of a more spongy material, provides a firm fit on top. The headband is also slightly suspended, offering a small degree of tilt.
After a while the weight of the headset becomes quite noticeable and I frequently hung them around my neck. Being able to swivel both cups does make for a more comfortable experience when you're taking a quick break and just leave them hanging on your neck.
Getting everything up and running was quick and easy. Simply connect the MixAmp TX to your PC, wait for the drivers to finish installing and set the headset as the default playback device. It is recommended to install the latest firmware through ASTRO's website.
The update process is done through your browser and is perhaps one of the easiest firmware updates I have ever performed.
At this price point it is important to note that many audiophiles will argue that gaming orientated headphones will never deliver the same level of aural fidelity as high-quality studio headphones or a full-fledged surround sound setup. For the purposes of this review we are judging these headphones based on average usage e.g. a healthy mix of music, videos and games at comfortable levels.
In order to test music playback performance I used uncompressed recordings of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's album Electric Ladyland as well as a 192kbps recording of the eponymous album Alexisonfire by Alexisonfire.
The headset amplifies the lower registers very well without drowning out the higher frequencies. Even when turned up to its maximum volume every note remained crisp and clear. I could not discern a significant difference between the three EQ modes, though I would suspect my hearing to have begun giving up on me as a result of concerts and listening to music far too loud over the years.
All in all, it is an enjoyable experience listening to various genres of music and it is clear ASTRO has kept casual music afficionados in mind during the development phase.
In order to test gaming performance I used Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Battlefield 3. These games were chosen because Counter-Strike relies heavily on sound spatialization while Battlefield 3 on PC brings together 64 players with a wide array of weaponry and lots of ambient sounds. More information about sound spatialization in Counter-Strike and some background on the sound design of Battlefield 3 can be found here and here.
As promised by ASTRO, the A50 does step it up a notch when playing games. It took me several rounds to get used to the improved sound quality as compared to older headsets such as the Creative Fatal1ty HS-800 which I have used almost exclusively over the past years. Battlefield 3 in particular seemed to benefit most from the A50, with footsteps and small audio cues clearly audible without compromising on the low and mid tones. As before, I was not able to tell the difference between the three different EQ modes.
According to squad mates and those I encountered in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's the microphone picked up my voice, mouse clicks and key presses with excellent clarity. I used my phone to play some music approximately 1 meter away from me while I used the microphone but did not notice any significant background noise while listening to the microphone.
To test the surround sound capabilities of the headphones I used the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan and The Dark Knight. Saving Private Ryan's opening scene is a perfect way to test any surround sound setup, or virtualization solution, with its mix of explosive impacts and rifles being fired in an open field. The Dark Knight on the other hand has booming, impactful bass scenes and is a great way to test a headset's capability to accurately produce high and low tones.
In both cases the headset worked like a charm. The bass did get slightly overwhelming during some scenes of The Dark Knight, but switching to the Pro EQ mode amplified the high registers and dampened the bass slightly. The listening experience was so enjoyable that I accidentally ended up watching the entire movie again. The standard Media EQ mode worked best for Saving Private Ryan, bringing out the high registers and creating an immersive experience with bullets whizzing past and explosions sounding as if they were happening right in front of me.
The wireless connectivity is very good overall. In order to test interference I placed the headset approximately 50 centimeters away from my router and configured the router to only broadcast at 2.4GHz. At this point the headset would immediately lose signal. Apart from that specific location, I was able to move freely around the house without any loss of quality. The inclusion of KleerNet certainly did seem to benefit the headset.
