ASTRO A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro TR - XB1

Firstly, I wanted to spend some time with this product because this is my first Astro product of any kind. I picked this up on a black Friday sale from Amazon because I really wanted the mixamp TR, but the price was very good for the A40 headset. Before I go over my pros and cons, I wanted to give a quick background of headsets I have and how the A40 compares to those headsets. For comparison purposes I mostly used wired headsets through the Mixamp TR with the exception of using a Sony Gold wireless headset to compare just the A40 without the mixamp. The headsets I used with the mixamp are the Kingston Hyper X Cloud II's, Audio Technica M50x's, Sony Gold's, and the Turtle Beach 420x. In my subjective versus mode, I found that the A40 with the mixamp (after a few custom eqs) was slightly better than the Sony Golds and much better than the TB 420x. With regards to the Cloud II's, the mixamp really has more room to push the 53mm drivers of the Cloud II's and the M50x's simply have a more defined soundstage than the A40's. To be fair, the A40's do not claim to be a hifi audiophile headset and in turn, these game just fine with comfort, quality, and durability. Out of the box I did have to totally redo my eq settings, otherwise I would have gotten immediate buyers remorse. Here are my pros and cons in my experience with the A40 and Mixamp TR. PROs: *The Astro A40 TR has fantastic build quality and is much like the older A40's. The headset is modular and comes stock as an open back set of cans. Comfort is top notch as I have large ears that require over ear headsets and pads. *The mixamp TR is the real bread-winner of this set. It can make pretty much anything sound good. If you spend some time with the Astro command center and the equalizer it can drive even hifi audiophile headsets. *Having the option of usb chat and not tethering to the controller is an excellent feature. *Despite the Astro marketing, the xbox one version of the Mixamp TR can be used just fine with the PS4 (sound only) using a matrix pass-through that will make the mixamp work with old consoles as well. I have it passed-through to my xb 360, ps3, ps4, and xb1. *The A40 headset has very good stereo positional audio stock w/o the amp. With the amp and the right setup, its a real treat for your ears. *The cloth earpads on the A40 are very comfortable and this headset is good for someone with larger ears, like myself. *Simulated surround sound is hollowed at first, but once tuned with the eq is much much better. *Durability of both the amp and headset seems good so far. I have put many hours into the mixamp for music and gaming with zero problems. *The usb chat seemed to work well for me, everyone in my parties say that I sound fine. *Outperforms any of the marketed gaming headsets out there, especially anything Turtle Beach offers, even the elite 800x (very uncomfortable). CONs: *The price for both items together can go from 200 to 300 dollars, which is not really a great bargain. *Astro Command center software is finicky right now. It requires me several restarts to get to work correctly. *The A40 headset itself does not perform up to the high pricetag at retail. I only paid 59 bucks for the headset and 130 for the mixamp. The amp is worth the asking price, but both the Cloud II's and the M50x have a much better soundstage through the mixamp no matter what preset or custom eq setting I used. I understand that people love Astro and I am enjoying this headset and amp combo, but If I had to pay the full retail, I would pass on the A40 headset and just buy the mixamp. The A40's does not match the frequency response of neither the Cloud II nor the M50x. *Future buyers may want to invest in the mixamp without the A40 headset and use a entry level hifi headset. The pricetag would be the same if not cheaper going that route. *The modkits to make these cans closed back with more noise isolation are very expensive at this time and Astro should give gamers the option of purchasing a closed back model at retail. My review is based solely on my experience with many gaming headsets and I am a entry level audiophile who is learning about hifi sound. I did not detract a star for my cons because this is not something that detracts from what this combo does. If you are the type of person with the funds to spend and wants an all in one solution, then this is a very top-end, heavily marketed headset. Just be aware that the A40 headset is simply not as good as a entry level hifi headset like the Cloud I or II and certainly not the M50's. Again though, the mixamp is wonderful and drives my M50x's and Cloud II's to another level, its simply that good. I will commend that the A40 has terrific positional sound on its own and should give fps and shooter fans plenty of thrills, just be aware that the A40 headset has some limitations. I was not given anything for free to write this review, I paid for this combo out of my own pocket to give an unbiased review of this product. If my review has been helpful to you, be sure to give me a thumbs up.