Astro A10  Headphones Review

The Astro Gaming A10 have the same design as the Astro A50 Gen 3 Wireless 2017, but with a few brightly-colored accents on the ear cups. They have a distinct gaming-oriented design. The microfiber-covered ear pads also give them a slightly more high-end feel than the HyperX Cloud Stinger or the Logitech G430. They come in several different color variants to suit your style: 'Black/Red', 'Black/Green', 'Black/Blue', 'White/Green', 'White/Blue', as well as 'Call of Duty' and 'Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' themed editions.

These headphones are decently comfortable. Their ear cups are well-padded and spacious enough to fit well around most listeners' ears. They're also covered in a microfiber coating that feels nice. However, they're tighter on the head than the Astro A50 Gen 3 Wireless 2017, which can get a bit fatiguing during long gaming sessions. For gaming headphones with a lighter clamping force, look at the Turtle Beach Recon 70.

These headphones have sub-par controls. There are only two physical controls: A volume wheel and a pivoting boom mic that mutes when you put it in the upright position. It's a very limited control scheme compared to other gaming headphones, like the Astro A30 Wireless, which can adjust game/chat balance, cycle through tracks, and take calls. Fortunately, the controls have good tactile feedback when you use them. The volume wheel stops when you've reached min/max levels, and the mic clicks into place when you mute it.

• Flippable boom mic: When flipped upwards, mutes the microphone.
• Volume wheel: Adjusts the volume.

The Astro A10 headset is fairly breathable thanks to a pair of slightly porous pads. However, since they fully encapsulate the ear, your ears can get slightly warm during long gaming sessions.

Like most gaming headphones, they aren't very portable. They're big, bulky, and don't fold into a more compact format, but this is expected since they're meant to be used at your desk or sofa rather than around town. They also don't come with a carrying case to help protect them when you're on the go.

These headphones have good build quality. They don't have the premium build or metal hinges of the Astro A50 Gen 3 Wireless 2017, but their plastic headband is more flexible and feels a lot more durable. The analog cable is thick, rubberized, and detachable, so you can always replace it if it gets worn down by regular wear and tear.

These headphones are reasonably stable. They'll stay on your ears if you're gaming casually at your desk or couch, but they're likely to shift around when you shake your head, if not fall off entirely with more intense movement.

• Astro Gaming A10 headset
• 1/8" TRRS audio cable
• Manuals

The Astro A10 have an uneven sound profile. Bassy sound effects have extra punch and boom, but dialogue and instruments in the mid range are pushed to the back of the mix and sound harsh. They're also incompatible with Astro's Command Center software and lack sound customization features, like a built-in EQ or presets to help you fine-tune their sound to your liking.

These headphones have very good frequency response consistency. You're most likely to experience inconsistencies in treble delivery, so take the time to adjust their fit and positioning to ensure good sound consistency.

These headphones have great bass accuracy. Low-bass is underemphasized, so you won't feel as much of the deep thump and rumble of action-packed shooters like Dead Space. Fortunately, the overemphasized mid and high-bass add extra boom and punch to your audio, so gameplay still feels intense.

These headphones have okay mid-accuracy. The low-mid is neutral, so the dialogue and instruments in soundtracks are clear. However, the dip in the mid-mid pushes these sounds to the back of your mix, while the peak in the high-mid makes them harsh and honky.

The treble accuracy is just okay. The low-treble is underemphasized, veiling the upper harmonics of voices and instruments. However, the mid-treble is more neutral, so sibilants, like S and T sounds, are bright but not piercing.

These headphones have middling peaks and dips performance, meaning they can't control the sound they want to achieve. A wide peak across the bass range produces a punchy, boomy bass. As it turns into a deep dip in the mid-mid, lead instruments and dialogue are pushed to the back of the mix. The rise in the high-mid, in comparison, makes notes in this range harsh and honky. The deepest dip in the low treble dulls instruments, while the peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants like S and T sounds piercing.

These headphones have great imaging. Astro tends to have solid quality control and ergonomics, which helps ensure driver matching. Our unit's group delay response falls below the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Our unit's L/R drivers are also well-matched in amplitude and phase response, creating a stereo image that accurately places sonic objects, like footsteps and gunfire, in the soundstage. While there is a slight mismatch in frequency response, it's not noticeable with real-life content. Keep in mind, however, that imaging varies between units.

Their passive soundstage performance is mediocre. These are closed-back headphones, meaning they don't disperse their audio into the room to mix with ambient noise around you. As such, the soundstage feels unnatural, coming from inside your head rather than from around you. Fortunately, it's still quite open-sounding due to their over-ear design. Check out the open-backed Astro A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro 2017 if you want a more immersive soundstage.

These headphones have a great weighted harmonic distortion performance. A spike in the low-treble makes audio sound harsh and impure. Still, it'll only be audible when listening to content specifically concentrated in this range, like game dialogue scenes. You're less likely to hear it when listening to content with more varied frequencies, like music, especially since the rest of the range falls within good limits, resulting in clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings we used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid for these test settings.

These headphones have a very bad passive noise isolation performance. They hardly block out any background noises in the bass and mid-ranges, meaning you clearly can hear the low thump and rumble from traffic outside and voices from people nearby. On the upside, they fare better at cutting out treble-range noise like the hum of a nearby AC unit. If you're looking for a similar pair of gaming headphones that block out more background noise, check out the JBL Quantum 100.

These headphones have mediocre leakage performance. Leakage is concentrated in the mid and treble range, so escaping audio sounds full and detailed. You'll bother those around you if you're listening at high volumes in a typical office setting.

The boom mic's recording quality is excellent. Recorded speech sounds rich, full, and detailed. Your voice also sounds decently bright.

The microphone has great noise handling performance. In moderately noisy and louder environments, like a crowded tournament, your voice won't be cut out by background disturbances, ensuring consistently clear speech over a call or via voice chat.

You can't use these wired headphones with Bluetooth. If you want a gaming headset that supports Bluetooth, check out the Turtle Beach Elite 800 Wireless.

These headphones have a wired 1/8" TRRS connection with in-line volume control. Unlike the Xbox Stereo Headset, the audio cable is also detachable, so you can easily replace it if it gets damaged.

When you plug their 1/8" TRRS cable into your computer's AUX port, these headphones have full audio and mic compatibility.

These headphones have full compatibility with PlayStation consoles via an analog connection.

These headphones are compatible with Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles when you plug their 1/8" TRRS cable into your controller's AUX port.

These headphones don't have a dock. If you need a headset with a dock with a wired connection for gaming or watching movies, consider the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017.