Astro (Logitech) - A50 (Gen 5)

I don't think rog delta 2 comes close to A50 Gen 5. You can tune your A50 Gen 5 to sound even better through GHUB application.

Thing is everything given as “gaming device” usually sucks and is made out of cheap materials, nobody really talks about the rog delta other than sponsored videos, while the astro a50 and the brand per se is well known since years and have gained many royal customers. Unless you are going for an all rog setup you are better off going for the a50 in my opinion.

I got the Astro A50 Gen 5 for 180$ brand new, I gotta say, Idk how I feel about them. The audio is decent but I feel like other headsets sound better, maybe because I swapped the ear pads for some leather ones (which changed the sound profile a ton)

I'm sure you already made your decision - post back and let us know. Hopefully this helps someone else on here browsing for the same reason. Headsets I've owned or do currently own: Arctis Nova Pro Wireless JBL Quantum One (NOT WIRELESS) Logitech Astro A50 Wireless Arctis Nova Pro - Definitely the most comfortable as long as you aren't moving around anywhere. If you tilt your head forward at all they flip off. They flipped off into my sink as I was washing dishes and no longer work now. Sound on them was okay - honestly not as punchy bass wise as I was hopping. I would honestly rate them 3rd in overall sound quality while using the Steelseries audio app. 7.1 sound was there and worked pretty well - nothing that will blow you away. Battery life was great with the two swappable batteries. JBL Quantum One Wired Headset - Probably the least comfortable of the 3 even though it's the lightest one. Cushions on ears and hard top band on your head def not great. Sound quality was great - better than Nova Pro's. When using paired with Dolby Atmos it had great punchy bass but the sound isolation between instruments in music could get a little muddled and finer details become hard to pick out. Still I would rank these second in sound quality and last in comfort. Obviously no battery stuff to worry about. Logitech Astro A50's - just got these babies in and I would give them the win here. Extremely comfortable. Some people say they are a little tight on their head, but I wear small baseball caps and so I'm not a good judge here. I've heard some people just put them on a basketball and that stretches them out enough for larger heads. Sound quality is best of the three. The bass might not get quite as loud and punchy as the JBL's, but it gets pretty close while still keeping excellent isolation between different instruments. I use Dolby Atmos here and it's helpful but these headphones sound just as good without it out the box. Battery life is great. Range is great. Setup is easy peasy. Flip-up to mute mic is a cool bonus. I tested all of these with a mix of jam band / rap / classical / and EDM styles of music and that is my conclusion. As for gaming I'd probably rank them 1. A50 2. Arctis Nova 3. Quantum ONE. As for music I'd rank them 1. A50 2. Quantum ONE 3. Arctis Nova Pro. And for movies I would rank them 1. A50 2. Arctis Nova Pro 3. Quantum ONE. Hopefully that's helpful to at least one person after testing almost $1000 worth of headphone tech.

The Astro50 Gen5 are actually exceptional when it comes to directional sound, especially with the community made presets you can apply. I use the HD490 Pro but if you are having a problem with newer Astros then something else is going on.

A50 Gen 5s are beauties! Was waiting for these to come along for a long time since I own an Xbox and PS5 and sick of switching dongles around, and I’d tried the Nova Pro wireless and the ear cups were too shallow with those little nipple things resting on my ears quite often. A50 comfort is outstanding, and on top of all the other great features they have, comfort is king when you’re sat playing games for hours at a time. Those ROG Deltas look though if your on one platform and don’t plan to play on Xbox.

Just get the Gen 5s, no hdmi issues at all, everything just connects through a single USB-C and they are top notch. If you have a Series X, those Delta 2s only connect through wired mode so probably not the best choice if you plan on playing Xbox a fair amount.

All depends on what you want from a headset. If you’re into your audio and will take advantage of the dac/amp by using its features like EQ and other customisations and swappable batteries that technically gives you unlimited battery life, then go for it, because it has really good audio and has excellent imaging for FPS games If you want pure audio quality, which for gaming I don’t understand why, then go for the Audeze Maxwell, but it has mediocre imaging and it’s a very heavy headset on your head Astro A50 Gen 5 is the other one to consider. It has excellent comfort, really good audio, good imaging and great mic, but if you also regularly use Bluetooth on the go, then Astro isn’t for you as the Bluetooth is on the dock and not on the headset

Sound is subjective, but I’d say they’re equal on sound quality, but SteelSeries has better imaging, but I do love the Astro comfort with those velour ear pads. However, Astro is definitely not worth the price when the Bluetooth is on the dock. That was a stupid thing to do, because anyone who buys a headset with Bluetooth would want to use the headset away from their set up and Bluetooth on the go

Everyone’s hearing is different and the Astro might sound better to you and I respect that, but no way it’s 10 times better sounding

Went with the a50s, aw pros werent in stock in store at best buy. Im happy, sound quality is incredible, so is the mic. Just wish it came with pleather ear cups as an option too with that price tag.

No, the astro A50 breaks way too fast. Also no hotswaping battery.

I use the A50’s also. No complaints here with the current gen units.

Take a long look at the Astro A50s Gen 5. They’re compatible with everything, sound AMAZING with bass that can literally rattle your head, have easily the best mic of any gaming headset (I recorded a sung vocal track into Pro Tools with it yesterday), are extremely comfortable, easily modded, come with a USB-C dock/ switching station, and can stream a Bluetooth signal while connected to your PC or console. Dolby Atmos comes free with them for PC and Xbox and if you do streaming there’s sliders for all of that routing in the G-Hub software. I’m a headphone junkie and connoisseur and own many sets including really nice reference monitors for my recording studio and these fifth generation A50s sound better than anything I’ve ever used. There’s also a large community of users that upload EQs that they’ve made for both the speakers and the mic that are specially tuned for specific games and adding them and uploading your own is really easy in G-Hub. They’re [$293 on Amazon](https://a.co/d/iYPlJHc) but I bought mine in a sealed box on EBay for $180. Best purchase I’ve made in a long time.

I didn’t care for the Gen 3 and Gen 4 versions but these Gen 5s are something else. New DAC, new Graphene drivers, really nice sounding. I just realized I posted in a real connoisseur sub Reddit so I feel a little silly. I don’t know how they would compare to what people in this sub are used to but they’re really great to my ears.

Not who you’re replying to, but I had the Steelseries Arctis Nova 7s and ended up returning them to Best Buy after a couple months for the A50 Gen5s. I think something was faulty with the Novas cause the right ear was always lower volume than the left despite then both being balanced, which is why I returned them. But the Astros have a much better overall sound in my opinion. For what I was paying, I could’ve got the Arctis Pros as well, but after a few hours of researching on the day of purchase, the Astros seemed to have better reviews overall.

I splurged a bit and I use Astro A50’s. I switch between my PC and my Xbox so I just plug the base into whichever I’m using and they work great. Very easy to use and the sound is very clear, as is the microphone. I do have a set of Astro A40s that I keep for endurance or longer races. They are wired so there is no concern about battery life.

I switched one setting on iRacing because the audio came across only from iRacing onto discord but that was it (mic was setup to broadcast all audio for some reason). Never had any issues now with iRacing or any Xbox or PC game when playing and being on discord.

Second this. A50X or A50 gen 5 is the best hands down.

Ax50. Dolby settings. Just YT it.

I lost 300$ on a50 gen 5,has worked maybe 10 hours totally and dock station froze and stayed in xbox mode after a regular software update... couldnt return cause i bought them internationally :(

tried everything i could,believe me...

I have been using the Astro A50 gaming headset with the base for about 3 years. I can say that I had also in the past razer and logitech and it is the best. 3 years and I do not have a single issue with them, they charge, sound and work just as good as they did at the start. When they will break I will buy them again.

Hmm I find that surprising. I had logitech, forget the code but was the cable version of the wireless ones. They started squeaking 1 week in. Had razer Krakens and they broke in half after 2 years (decent). My astro a50 are effing awesome. 3 years and no squeaking so audio issues. I have them with the base and I love them. The only thing that peeled off was the top part of the matt finish.

Yep I agree with the 3 years should be nothing. But maybe unlucky...I have a bigger head...maybe it stressed them too much at the joints and made them break. I always had problems with side joints for headphones. If ut was not metal then after 2 years max they were breaking. I am 25 and since I was 15 I think I broke 7 pairs of headphones by just using them...

If you want a good mic then go for Astro a50 gen 5 or a50x

I'm not an expert, but both having 50mm drivers doesn't really matter all that much Same size driveds can still have massively different qualities I haven't owned the Delta 2 but I have had several headsets from several makers over the years. Got the A50 Gen 5 for Christmas and it blows everything else away

Nah. Everybody's ears are different, bro. To each his own. I've just always found Astros to be egregiously overpriced for how they sound.

I have. NGL. I was not impressed at all.

I use Astro a50s, quite expensive, and I would get him a desk mic. Pros- Astros are king in my opinion when it comes to quality, surround sound wireless. Not Bluetooth from my understanding thoe. Can be wirelessly charged Can be used for ps/xbox Negatives- Requires a driver and software to work on pc Wireless Charing is not always good doesn’t charge when the computer is off Some things that are wanted with it - a long cable to charge it- 1-2 meters if you can find them. Possibly just me negatives- My mic doesn’t work aswell as it should but it’s always been the case no matter the mic If your looking for a fair priced gift Maybe a hyper x desk mic and a mic arm. That match in colour with the computer.

I’ve had both but went with the Astro as my keeper. The Asus are very good with a mic almost on par with the Astro. I just preferred the comfort of the Astro and also the pads. While the Asus had two sets, I didn’t like the sport fabric ones at all and the leather ones just made the headset too isolating for me. Advantage of the Asus is not being tied to the base station but then again you lost Xbox wireless support. If roaming around using Bluetooth away from the bases station isn’t a priority I’d stick with the Astro.

I’ve only read the Alienware pro wireless headset has good reviews but the mic isn’t good, Astro a50 gen 5 or X versions are a good blend of comfort and decent sound, but rely on a dock. Maxwell is heavy so factor that in, sounds great with some EQ.

I cry myself to sleep every night thinking of the Astro a50s I bought that don’t work properly and they cost me £250

Mine have got white noise and the mic is always crackly. I tried contacting Astro support, but the logitech agent I was put through to couldn’t help me.

I had it and it's decent. I could never get the sound exactly how I wanted it so I decided to return it and got the Astro A50 gen 5. The A50's sound is amazing, very happy I traded.

I went from the Astro a50 gen 2 to the Arctic pro wireless to the stealth pros and i loved the Astros out of all of those. I was already set on the gen5 but started seeing great reviews for the delta 2 so I figured I’d as before I made a purchase

Yeah I was just wondering if they were worth the try, I know I won’t be disappointed with the Astros so I’m leaning that way but might just try the deltas from Best Buy any return them if I don’t like them

I’ve had the Astros and the have been my favorites as well, i currently have the TB stealth pros and Arctis pro wireless but the TB sound good but aren’t load enough and the steel series are loud but don’t sound as good even after adjusting the EQs

Who tf hates on the A50? I myself have them since 2017 and 3 of my friends got them since I told them they’re epic and we all love them not single bad thing other than maybe micro usb.

Astro A50s, cheap and reliable.

I just upgraded to Astro A50s, loving them. Getting them connected proved to be a pain though

My Astro A50s put me off that brand for life, awful quality, headband pad detached within 12mths, band itself warped and doesnt sit in base ststion correctly, had just over 2 years now and last week the ear pads just fell off lol. Randomly disconnects from the base station and requires a hard reset or complicated fuckery with the Astro program.  Persisted with it cos it was $600 but yeah their QC sucks 

Astro a50s no debate

Sheeeesh

Some nice info on the A50’s btw. Holding the middle button and the game chat for 30 seconds resets the headset if it isn’t connecting/charging. Helps me anyway

Like I said, it really depends on how you're going to end up using those headphones. Both Asus rog delta 2 and a50s are very solid choices, though the Asus rog delta 2's have a better mic but worse sound than the Alienware Pros. Is that something that matters to you? You should judge that yourself. The Astro A50X are an awesome pair of gaming headsets from what I know, but they require a base station to use, so you won't be able to use it in planes or whatever if that matters to you, but the A50X have a better mic and better sound than AW Pros AFAIK And neither of these headsets have ANC if that matters to you. Only AW Pros does. I recommend you check out the reviews for these headsets by GadgetryTech on YouTube. He has really good reviews. If price is the only thing that matters to you, then go for the AW Pros. They won't disappoint you.

I'll get hate, but I have used Astros for the last 15 years. I cannot use a different headset. Everything else just sounds bad to my ears when compared. Can they be unreliable? Yes Are they expensive? Yes Is there better? Yeah probably for the majority of people. However, I have tried to switch every time my current astro set dies and every time I just return the headset within a week because the sound quality just seems awful. I have astro A50s and I've been using A50s since I was 15, I'm now 31.

They're expensive and bulky. They're one of those brands people love to hate regardless if they've ever owned a pair or not.

from an audiophile, i’d recommend the one you made this thread about, audeze maxwell, and the astro a50s. i personally have the old nova pros and the newer nova 7x. sound quality id prob rank the a50s above the nova pros, but id say the convenience of the quick swap batteries can have a nice argument as well. i’ve heard a lot about the maxwells too, but i haven’t had too much experience with them personally as i don’t really have interest in another wireless set, and they haven’t went on a good enough sale for me to pull the trigger

Astro a50 better

I had steelseries arctis nova pro wireless for 1 year and switched to Astro for 1 month and it is 10 times better smooth sound

Hard disagree. I went from A50’s to the Novas and I’ll never go back.

If those are your only option I'd take either the Cloud Alpha or G Pro X, probably the Alpha as it is really comfortable. As other's have said though, none of these are particularly good. Unlike what others have said, there are good gamer brand headsets out there like the LucidSound LS50x, Logitech G Pro X 2, Astro A50, a few EPOS models. They're just generally overpriced. Like the G Pro X 2 is a really good $100 headphone with a $20 mic selling for $250. The LucidSounds are a bit pricy new but very cheap on the used market. The LS50x or the little brother LS35x can be found used for under $60 and $40 respectively and will beat anything on your list. Sennheiser Game One's can be found for under $60 and are another step higher, they're the headset version of the HD 598. In general, you can almost always buy a new headphone of equal or better quality + a desktop mic for a lot less money than a new headset. The main exception is the Audeze Maxwell which is frankly way better than standalone wireless headphones at its price. The PC38x is also competitively priced on sale, it's right between the HD 599 and HD 560S in quality.

I vote astros. Most comfortable headset, can wear it for 9-12 hours without it bothering me. Mine are 11 years old and still working at peak performance. Used to use em on 360 and they rolled out software updates so you could use them with the next gen consoles.

HyperX. I've had a50s before they suck

This is the answer. They were recommended to me and I haven’t looked back. My Astro a50’s worked fine, but really don’t hold a candle to my maxwell’s

Astro A50’s all day

I agree like the Astros more. The arctis are great for the swappable battery and the sound is by no means bad but the comfort isn't as good as the astros. The ear cups aren't as form fitting and the headband never feels quite right on my head. The astros have the edge in sound quality and are more comfortable to wear. I had to replace the battery on them last year which was a bit of a pain. I think it was around 30$ off amazon and I had to dissasemble the headset and solder the connections, which I managed in an hour with no previous experience. The docking station kind of sucks too but I think its better on newer models. I still use both, I moved my arctis to my pc and use my astros for PS5, don't think you are going wrong with either and the arctis I got on a deep discount for almost half the cost of the Astro set. Haven't looked at pricing in awhile though so I might be off base with that.

Price ≠ Quality I have a set of A50s and while the sound quality is serviceable, the build quality is garbage. Same price as the maxwells

Just purchase a set of A20s or above. A50s will get you everything you need AND more but it will cost you an arm and a leg

Just buy some cheap in ears over the AirPods. Heard KZ ZS10 Pro X aren’t too bad. If you’re going headset Hyper X Cloud II are popular, pricier option Astro A50 work well for footstep audio. I know a lot of pros still use Bose QC 20s in ear so that’s my list. Have fun now with EQ settings.

Genuinely curious… What is the issue with Astro A50’s? I’m on my 2nd pair and I love them but if any of the headsets on this list are that much better I will upgrade.

My A50s are the best headset I have ever owned and sound incredible. That said, they got stuck in standby mode once and after a ton of troubleshooting the only way to fix them was to physically dismantle the device enough to remove the battery and put it all back together. That was not my favorite expereience...

I agree, my Astros lasted a little more than a year. They are made of the cheapest plastic and the mic boom pivot disintegrated from basic use.

Get him some Astros a50s!

I'd say build quality is a bit flimsy and the value is not the best due to relatively high price tag. Pc38x is definitely a better pick at significantly lower price.

I use A50’s. Stereo Uncompressed is the best audio setting on Xbox in my experience after comparing using the Dolby App and the basic audio. The presets I use are the Tourney ones, link below. This group has various other presets for other games. They used to have a website but all the data has been uploaded on GitHub https://github.com/XxUnkn0wnxX/TheZEFERENCE/tree/main/TOURNAMENT%20SERIES

I find I stick to tourney 2/3 most of the time. I loaded the three of them after trying some of the other presets listed and when I downloaded them years ago they came in a bundle of 3. Differences are probably slight, I’m old, can’t tell anymore.

Let me know how they work for you! I’ll see you out there!

Also use the A50. Might try out a preset. Why the 3 different tourney presets. What makes them different for you. Do you use them all at times or only 1.

Thanks! Yea i’m not good with most tech stuff or audio stuff. Found some preset a while ago i like, have it on for everything tho. From music to survival games. Worth it to try if a Pubg specific one is better. Hoping those tourney preset have a better balance between loud footsteps and less loud airplanes because those can be so annoyingly loud all the time.

A50X & A50 gen 5 are the same, only différence is the HDMI connectors for console on the base

Dolby Atmos =/= normal Windows spatial audio though. Astro A50s come with a license for Dolby Atmos The difference in audio filling a three dimensional space going from normal audio to Dolby Atmos is night and day, and I consistently hear directionally better than my friends in Tarkov (when Tarkov audio wants to work)

Don't get the a50 they suck

Got one sitting under my Xbox right now. First audio quality is meh. The rang is short. The headstaps are warped so the padding piece won't stay on without strapping it together with rubber band. Battery life is short and they are very expensive.

Honestly I’ve had nothing but Astros. My wife and I both have the a50’s and we’ve had them for like 8 years. She beats the shit out of hers too

I have A50s as well and I use contact VI V and IV they all seem to work great. Or they did maybe an update messed up sound I haven't played in a few weeks

Also I put my A 50s so there's a star and setting 2 I haven't messed with anything I just did that off a friend who recommended that for the EQ and whatever the star is 🤷‍♂️🤣

I have a pair of pc38x that I was happy with, however since they are open they let in sound so when my setup was moved to a louder environment I longed for something more closed and also wireless. So I tried multiple different ones, the Steelseries Nova pro wireless had good sound after some tweaking but I found them on the smaller side and a bit uncomfortable. The Audeze maxwells were great sounding, however quite heavy and very big cups. Eventually I came across a very good deal on some of the new Astro A50s that I had previously dismissed because durrhurr astros bad. Pleasantly surprised by the comfort and for a non audiophile they sound good, not like the audezes of course but good. So if you want wired in a more quiet environment, the pc38xs are great, I did have to put mine clamped on the box to loosen them for about a week or two since the clamping force was very high. If you want wireless, best advice I can give is try some and return them if you dislike them. I recommend Astro A50s wholeheartedly tho EDIT: Forgot to say, mic is very good on the pc38x and Astro a50. The audezes ended up being quite good after some tweaking in a third party eq software. Tweaked the steelseries too and the mic sounded better after some tweaking. Havent tweaked the astros or pc38x at all, good out of the box for me

I went through two pairs of A50s in past 10 years. They are still the best pair of headsets I ever used. I tried many different headsets but nothing came close to the A50s. I finally switched to Audeze Maxwells last year and it was the only headset somewhat comparable to the A50s. The sound quality is amazing and the battery life is tremendous. I dont have to charge it for days, something which was much to be desired with the A50s. However nothing beats A50 in comfort. The maxwells are heavy. You get used to them but when I switxh to my old A50s after having the maxwells on for a while it feels such a relief.

My A50s shit the bed after six months. Just said f it and got the arctis 5s from walmart and so far I do not regret it. My buds tell me I sound good. They're mega comfy and the range is great.

Do the A50s do better with noise bleed? My a40's were always terrible with noise bleed and I'd have to turn on push to talk to not annoy the crap out of everyone in my discord

Maybe it was just my A40's as my buddies didnt have that problem when i borrowed his on the same settings. I'd change the sensitivity down and then it would cut out when I talk. I read online that quite a few people had problems so I eventually switched headphones but I miss the comfort and sound quality of the astros

the new astro a50 are mid for its price im considering getting a new headset had them for two years have had many problems

hd560s sound way better than astros did. i’ve had a40s and a50s both. iri cod player and masters apex player.

Please stay away from ASTRO (at least their wireless ones, they are garbage, the wired ones are just not really worth the money but at least fine to use). The only gaming branded actually good headsets I know of are from beyerdynamic mmx (f.e. Mmx 300) series and partly steelseries arctis series. Also: an actual headset or headphones? Headsets in general are much less worth the money because of the mic, if it's actually needed fine, but if you have an external mic anyways I really wouldn't get one. Also consider if wired is an option.

Yea I had a a40 once (in exchange for the God knows worst audio device I ever had - a50) without the mixamp. Yea don't go with them, I was just giving some options, I'm myself full on iems because price to performance is just leagues away.