The new Astro A30 is one of the best-looking mainstream gaming headsets I’ve seen in a while, particularly in the white version. It looks more like a lifestyle brand than a gaming headset, which was likely Astro’s intention. This is a good thing, as the A30 is a perfectly capable Bluetooth headphone that you can wear on the bus and look far cooler than the stereotypical gamer.
At $430, the Astro A30 is almost $100 more expensive than something like the Sony InZone H9, which also has Active Noise Cancellation. This puts the A30 in a difficult position. However, the A30 can work with every platform known to gamers, both wirelessly and wired. Is this enough to justify its premium price?
Astro A30 Review
The A30 is designed for the hipster gamer. It looks like something Beats by Dre would make, with a hip-hop style and replaceable caps on the ear cups. You can easily switch them out to match your outfit or mood. The headset is designed to be used outside of your gamer cave, so you wouldn’t be surprised to see a DJ wearing them.
The plastic and pleather feel and look premium. The cushions and headband are plush, making it comfortable to wear for hours. The headband is adjustable and the clamping force is just right. On the left ear cup is the port for the removable boom mic and mic mute toggle. On the right is the power button, Bluetooth pairing button, and a multi-function joystick – similar to the kind found on gaming monitors. This control allows you to adjust the volume, chat mix, manage phone calls and media playback. It’s innovative, but takes some getting used to, especially when changing the volume in the heat of battle.
Connectivity and battery life
The Astro A30 is attractive and offers plenty of connectivity options. It comes with a Lightspeed 2.4Ghz USB dongle and Bluetooth connection, as well as a 3.5mm audio connection for unsupported devices. The headset is available in Xbox, PlayStation and PC/Mac variants. If you want to use the same headset with all your devices, you can buy additional USB-A or USB-C dongles. This isn’t the most efficient solution, but it does save you from swapping out the dongle each time you switch platforms. For example, I kept the dongle in my PlayStation 5 and used Bluetooth with my PC and Mac.
The headset handles simultaneous connection well and you can use the joystick control to balance the Audio streams to your preference. If you want even more control, then you really need to use the Logitech G app for iOS and Android. It’ll give you controls over the microphone noise gate, sidetone, an EQ with presets and the ability to create your own. I didn’t quite find the impact on these precepts noticeable enough and quickly forgot about them. It’s nice to have easy access to these features especially for console owners though it would have been nice to have a Windows app as well.
Battery life on the Astro A30 is rated at over 27 hours and my testing proved that number true. In the month that I’ve owned it, I’ve charged the battery about two times. I generally get about 2 – 3 hours of gaming use out of them each day but I suspect most people will get about 2 — 3 days of all day use out of these. It’s great that you can also use these wired so when the battery dies, you’ve still got headphones to use. I should point out that the headset also continues to work while it’s charging which is great.
Performance
The Astro A30 are a fairly flat sounding headset that doesn’t swing too much on either the bass or highs. The sound is clean with excellent detail and clarity needed when gaming. The A30 is great at accurately pinpointing the direction of audio cues even in the midst of heavy battle. I enjoyed playing God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West on the PS5. The different worlds were rich in environmental details that were easy to identify which was great for immersion.
Music, on the other hand, was somewhat soulless, making for an unenthusiastic listening experience. The restrained bass and sharp highs left most music feeling unsatisfying, so I quickly switched to my more rich Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X’s. I never took these headphones out for a run or commute, but the sound should be adequate for most activities. However, they are not my top choice for music listening.
The Astro A30 has a dual microphone setup; an internal mic for on-the-go use and a removable boom mic. Both microphones are decent, picking up my voice well, though the boom mic has a richer, clearer sound. Unfortunately, it is prone to plosives and easily picks up my breathing. A pop filter would solve these issues, but one is not included in the box.
I appreciate that I don’t have to look ridiculous on the train using the boom mic, as the internal mics are good enough for phone calls. However, they do pick up a lot of background noise, which can be distracting. At this price point, the microphone performance is subpar; I’ve heard much better from cheaper headsets like the Drop EPOS PC38X and Corsair HS80.
Verdict
The new Astro A30 is a stylish, comfortable, and competent gaming headset. It provides great detail and positional awareness in games, and is comfortable for long gaming sessions. However, I personally didn’t enjoy music listening on the A30, and there are better headset microphones out there too. I do appreciate the good battery life and unique joystick controls though.
At over $400, I don’t think it’s worth more than the EPOS H3Pro or Sony InZone H7. They both generally sound better than the A30 and are probably better for most gamers. Still, the A30 is a fun headset that could be a great buy if you can get it at a discounted price.
Logitech G Australia kindly provided a sample unit of the Astro A30 to PowerUP! for the purpose of this review.
