Astro A20 Review

January 22nd, 2019 Andy Miranda (OMA Monster) Astro, Hardware, Hardware Reviews, Reviews 0 comments

No fuss wireless that can switch from Xbox to PC with the flick of a button.

Developer: ASTRO
Genre: Headset
Platforms: Xbox one and PC
Reviewed on: Xbox one X and PC
Supplied by: ASTRO

About

Game free with accurate, precise ASTRO Audio. The A20 Wireless Headset is Tuned for Gaming, meaning stereo sound and 40mm drivers deliver audio fidelity tuned specifically for a competitive edge. Broadcasting in interference-free wireless 5GHz, you’ll experience low latency gameplay, freeing you up to play anywhere in your living room. No wires, no boundaries. The ASTRO Command Center software enables gamers to tune every input and output parameter including mic level adjustments. Create and save custom EQ modes so game audio is never a worry. Always have your communication under control with clear, precise chat audio featuring flip-to-mute mic. Durable construction and extended comfort enables longer gaming sessions. Fully compatible with Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic 3D spatial audio on Xbox One and Windows platforms. Achievement: unlocked.

The Astro A20 is a high performance wireless gaming headset that has no fuss installation to both xbox and PC, I was lucky enough to receive the Call of duty edition that has a different colour scheme and comes with 1100 cod points when purchased from Astros website.

Getting straight in to design, as you would expect from Astro the A20 has a angular gaming design but not as aggressive as the A40 and 50, these are smaller and have a much sleeker design, with a mostly plastic construction that still feels premium.

Starting with the headband, it’s made of a premium black plastic that will either be emblazoned with the Astro logo or on the Call of duty edition, you will get the iconic Astro logo, Call of duty logo and some digital camo design.

The underside of the band is where it counts, the A20 comes fitted with a steel band with damage resistant rubberized cover, and I must admit it’s insanely comfortable, I have always had my reservations about anything rubberized but no surprise Astro pulled it off perfectly.

Moving down to the earcups, again constructed of plastic that on the Call of duty edition is silver but on the other colourway are black, and on the Call of duty edition you get a really nice A20 logo with Call of duty and digital camo and it looks so damn good.

On the other colourways you get a green astro logo on one side and the grey astro logo on the other.

The earcups themselves are made up of really nice comfortable cloth fabric, honestly as I have mentioned in previous reviews for Astro forget the usual leather, Astro are onto something here, amazing comfort and unlike leather it stays soft and doesn’t cause any sweaty ears.

Also the A20 has full controls on the cups, you have a power switch, a volume wheel that I must admit at first I thought would be a downer but once you use it you quickly realise it smooth as can be and feels great, last you get a convenient preset button that allows you to switch between the 3 eq modes: Astro sound that amplifies your key sounds like footsteps gunshots and give away noises, standard mode for general gaming when you want a balanced experience and the media mode that has been perfectly tuned for your music and general media use. You can customise all of these if you download the Astro command center, just connect your A20 to a pc and tune it to your heart’s content.

Another nice difference is that on the sliding mechanisms that are really nicely hidden, the cable that shows through along it is bright green on the standard colourway and black on the Call of duty edition, both look and feel awesome, with nice sleek lines and the cable showing through gives it such a nice design and contrast.

Lastly on the cups the A20 has a really nice mic, it has a awesome flip to mute mic, I have to say I have to say the mic is the only downside to the A20 and it’s not a huge one, the mic picks up great and is amazingly designed but sounded muffled when compared to the A40, but that does not mean its bad, it’s still a great mic and miles better than most and by far the best mic quality on any wireless headset I have ever used.

On to performance, the Astro A20 has the same amazing quality that Astro is known for, nothing short of amazing I honestly fall back in love with this headset every time I put it on, you hear every detail games on my Xbox sound great and the pleasure of having no wires add so much to it, you can switch from Call of duty and Astro sound to Forza and standard eq with no effort and as long as you don’t need a disk you don’t have to get up, even the small things, you need a mid session fuel up no problem, I love being able to finish a match pop my controller down walk to my kitchen and make myself a SNEAK and stay in party chat with no problem.

But back to the performance, its outstanding and Astro do not disappoint in the slightest, I am not planning on ever unplugging them from my pc as even games like PC build simulator that have nothing more than background music feel better, more immersive and so much cleaner.

Now after all that I can imagine you want to know how its all connected, it’s pretty simple, you have a transmitter box, it’s really nice and small you can easily hide it but even if you don’t want to it looks really snazzy, its either got a Astro logo on it or on the Call of duty edition it has a stylised skull decal, as for wires on Xbox you flick it to Xbox mode and connect it to a usb and the optical audio, on pc just use a usb and flick it over to pc mode.

That’s it, it really is that easy, 2 wires and a switch and you can be immersed in your games with Astro quality.

Summary

The A20 are a amazing pair of high quality high performance headphones, with Astro quality and sleek styles to impress even the biggest of Esports pros you can’t go wrong if your looking for wireless gaming performance at its peak.Bar a slight muffled sound on the mic , at £159.99 for the Call of duty edition and £149.99 for the standard A20 I would not hesitate in recommending them.