So I finally caved in and ordered a set of wireless Astro A40s, which includes the Astro Wireless Mixamp 5.8 and the Astro A40 headset. The only real difference between it and the newest model, wireless Astro A50s, is that the wireless components are built into the headset of the A50s (the headset itself is the same funcionally and quality-wise), so the A40s are better off in the long run. With the mixamp I can make any stereo headset wireless (plugged into a little transmitter you can pocket or clip on a belt) and surround sound (virtual surround sound from the mixamp; from what I gather the surround sound works on stereo headsets because it involves different tones and frequencies, rather than multiple positional speakers.). I'll probably end up getting a charger and rechargeable double and triple A batteries for the utility, rather than an Astro rechargeable kit.

My Tritton Ax Pros are still awesome other than the fact that they are getting old. The only major problem with them is that the mic stopped working completely. Not the mic itself, but the line to it inside the wire got crimped even after I ordered a new mic (somehow without crimping any of the other speakers lines, thankfully), so I'm left with a headset only and having to use a clip-on mic. The wires are getting very tangled. Wireless will be a nice upgrade.

It's worth it to me even though it's a very pricy headset, because it's my primary source of all audio and communication from my computer and consoles. Plus there's a 30 day return policy if I somehow don't like it (maybe I won't like virtual surround, I haven't really had a chance to hear much of it myself).

Astro seems to be phasing out the wireless A40s, leaving only the wired version. So the only option from their site for wireless is the A50s. They seem to not want people buying the wireless mixamp only and using other headsets with it. But I successfully Googled and located what appears to be the last place selling new A40s online at about list price, The Microsoft Store for some odd reason. http://www.microsoft...uctID.247566200

Best Buy has them listed, but they don't ship and are out of stock from any store within 100 or so miles of my area. I'd have preferred the white headset, but the MS Store didn't have them in stock. The black version may even go out of stock soon too with Astro's discontinuation.

The only other major piece of tech I may need to get sometime is a capture card, aside of course from upgrading my PC (I'd need a new motherboard to support a hexacore Intel i7, which would mean maybe a new case and definitely having to reassemble the whole thing). Still on the fence about getting a smart phone too for the utility of having internet access anywhere. It's expensive being a techie.

Nice cans Kev!

Be carefull with rechargeable batteries, they run at a slightly different voltage than regularones. Melted one headset before I found out why.

I've heard good things about the A40's.

Hope you enjoy them dude!

Let me give a formal thank you to the man randomly banging on a door in Sanctuary in Borderlands 2. Thank you, man randomly banging on a door, you have helped me test my surround sound.

I got the headset and set it all up and everything seems to work great. I even plugged the earbuds from my iPod into the mixamp and the surround sound still sounds real. It's an awesome bit of technology, virtual surround sound seems to work pretty well. The only thing I don't like so far is the microphone. It is very sensitive and I only seem to be able to plug it into USB. If I could only find a way to plug it into 3.5mm analog I could plug it into my sound card and use the filters to cut out background noise. The sound quality of the mic at least seems alright.

I can't say anything yet for how long the batteries will last (three AAAs), but my rechargeable kit should be here later this week. It seems that if you run out of batteries you can power the device through USB. Beats the purpose of wireless, but it works if you have to do it.

The range seems pretty good as well. I could be at the other end of my yard around 100ft away and still just pick up the connection for mic and audio as long as I pointed the receiver at the transmitter at the right angle. Couldn't really walk into the main house and keep a signal though, it cuts out when I close the glass slider door. The whole idea of being able to get up and move around without being tethered is really nice though. Less messing around with all of that tangled black spaghetti.

Mine came with a breakaway cable that you can use to split the mic and speakers. Plug the speakers into Mixamp and the mic into your PC. Glad you like them.

Mine came with a breakaway cable that you can use to split the mic and speakers. Plug the speakers into Mixamp and the mic into your PC. Glad you like them.

Yes there is that option, but it defeats the purpose of wireless. I was messing with a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter I have in the hopes that I could maybe plug a mic into the receiver and make it "wireless" but couldn't seem to make that work. Either way, I found a little knob on the side of the inline cable with two options: A for high sensitivity (which was what it was on, even picking up background noise from the wind from my overhead fan on medium) and B for low sensitivity, which works fine without picking up too much background noise. So microphone through USB seems fine.

Another oddity I noticed was that when you lower the volume past a certain point, the right speaker becomes louder than the left. It's at low enough volumes that I wouldn't usually ever have it there, but still odd. It's also weird not being able to mute or adjust volume with my computer's volume controls or my keyboard function keys. It doesn't affect the optical out at all, only the knob on the receiver affects it.

The batteries it came with already gave me a low battery warning (a beeping sound every minute or so), but I suspect that they may have been sitting for a while what with the A40 Wireless' discontinuation. I bought 6 new AAAs (it takes 3) to tide me over until my rechargeable kit gets here, and so far they've been fine for two hours. AAAs supposedly last between 6 and 8 hours, and the Astro rechargeable battery supposedly lasts about 17-30. I may get one of those later if the rotating rechargeable AAAs don't work out. After these standard AAAs run out I'll use it on USB powered mode if the rechargeables aren't here by then.

Basically the main thing I like about this headset is comfort. It feels good on the head, a little less bulky than the Tritton Ax Pros, and is a lot less of a hassle without being tethered to the computer with wires that are getting bent up and unruly. I can move around the room freely without having to readjust anything when getting up or sitting down.

I think, and I could be wrong, but the way the Aux USB connector plugs in makes this seem possible. It looks like, if you could figure out which connections on the jack are which, you could plug a standard male to male cable between it and the Mic input on your computer. I haven't tried it, but it might work. Personally, when I'm using the Astro USB mic I just turn the volume almost all the way down. Works well enough. My cable doesn't have that sensitivity knob.

Yeah I've tried that. It goes from 3.5mm Aux In to USB on the PC. I tried plugging from that to the mic in on the PC and it doesn't do anything sadly. Also tried USB from the back of the mixamp to mic on the PC. Didn't work, didn't expect it to, those USB ports are for "possible future use".

And an update on the battery life. On this new pair of batteries from the store, the headset seems to have lasted about 3 hours before the set started beeping again. Disappointing. I'm currently on USB powered mode, which isn't that bad with just the one cable which I can unplug and still walk around with the headset working. Hopefully the rechargeable batteries last longer than that, otherwise I may have to get the $20 Astro one. It'll still be handy to have the rechargeable AAAs while that is charging though.

I wouldn't completely count it out of working. If you notice, it's a three stage plug. 2 for L/R audio and one for Mic. Hard to say for sure you had the right one plugged in. Though, you're probably right about it not working. $20 Astro one is really worth it if you ask me. I don't think I've ever had to change batteries or recharge it during any normal play duration. Unless I forgot to charge it fully or left it on.

I did end up getting the Astro battery pack. I've been using it for a few hours now without any low battery warnings, so it seems to work fine. Having the headset plugged in with USB (while charging) isn't such a hassle either. I also had to get an extra little cable alongside the battery to plug the microphone into the mic port on the PC (Dat's suggestion worked). So now I can filter my mic audio through my sound card.

I did just realize that I'll need a second one of those cables to allow me to plug any mic/headphone combo into the transmitter (it's a 3.5mm male that goes to two 3.5mm females, one for mic, one for audio; my Astros only came with one that was one female to two males). The thing that sucks is the cheapest shipping from Astro is about fifteen bucks. That, or just plug the mic in via USB when using the cable on the transmitter.

I don't think it's a proprietary connection. You should be able to find the mic/speaker splitter on amazon. Yeah.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000067RC4/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1359165641&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

Plus I doubt you'll be using another headset anytime soon.

The only reason I might want to use another set of headphones/mic is possibly for cosplay/outfits while casting. Big headsets restrict hat wearing potential, and with the Astro MixAmp technology I could use earbuds and still get surround sound, plus fairly decent audio quality from the pair I have from my iPod (surprisingly good bass from them too for earbuds).

That's understandable. Of course, like you said, the earbud/mic combos should work natively anyway.