![]() If the next-gen support isn’t a worry, the PDP LVL 50 offers better value and the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless outperforms it and costs less. Astro may get an edge because it’s early to the game with a next-gen-ready headset, but many more will be coming. The discomfort over long play sessions gets to be pronounced though. It certainly feels like a step down from the likes of a SteelSeries ClearCast microphone or the mic on the Sennheiser GSP 370 My Discord pals never complained, as the mic does an acceptable job keeping down unwanted background noise, but my voice comes through a bit thin even with the mic positioned as close as possible to my mouth. Unlike the sound output, the sound input isn’t quite so impressive. It will feature surround sound enhancements with PS5, but I haven’t been able to test this. The headset is missing any sort of digital surround sound on PC and Xbox, something often found at this price point. The slippery bass lines in of Montreal’s Skeletal Lamping rumble with full force, but they don’t muddy up anything like the faint sleigh bells or trebly keys in Wicked Wisdom. The A20 Gen 2 headset manages some serious oomph with the bass. I also like to give headsets a nice musical challenge to really test the mix. In Genshin Impact, the audio quality held up, letting the impact of my characters abilities ring through right alongside the musical score. I wasn’t getting caught off guard because I missed a Reaper’s footsteps nor did those footsteps overpower communications with my teammates. Even with the bass-heavy EQ settings, the audio mix remained clean enough to hear all the audio cues I needed. I tested the A20 Gen 2 headset on PC, and throughout hours of Overwatch and way too many hours of Genshin Impact, the sound was respectable. Fortunately, the headset still works while it’s charging. It begins to play a bassy SOS in morse code on a very short interval. When the battery gets low, the headset makes it pretty annoying to keep using though. ![]() I did find the headset living up to Astro’s claim of a 15+ hour battery life. That said, when I put the dongle at the back of my computer, the range fell closer to 15 feet. I was able to go about 20-25 feet away with some walls in the way before the signal cut out. ![]() With line-of-sight and a short range, the wireless connection is stable and latency-free. Gaming lets the Astro A20 Gen 2 regain a bit of ground. The software allowed adjustments to the EQ presets on the previous A20, but the current software at the time of testing failed to recognize my A20 Gen 2 review unit. Many of Astro’s devices use the Astro Command Center. Getting a second dongle allows the Astro A20 Gen 2 to pair with both a PS5 and an Xbox Series X or Series S. The memory stick-sized wireless dongle offers support for gaming PCs and a select console, and it has a button for switching between the two. In terms of features, the Astro A20 Gen 2 offers a flip-to-mute microphone that has a decent level of flexibility, a USB-C charging port, three EQ presets, and an on-ear volume dial. At 318 grams, the headset is also on the heavier side. I’ve got a shaved head, and that really lets those pressure points stand out. The headband cushion has a rubberized surface, and because the headband is nearly flat (except for an odd angular cutout), it creates a pressure hotspot. The earcups have padding that doesn’t feel as dense as I’d expect at this price point. The comfort situation doesn’t improve much when it comes to the cushioning either. The earcups’ angle adjusts a little, but there’s no rotation to speak of. Height adjustment is about all the Astro A20 Gen 2 headset offers though. Though for smaller users, the top end of the yolks will actually stick up like little horns. There’s about an inch of adjustment to the sliders on each side, letting the headset fit large and small heads. That said, flexibility isn’t the strong suit of the Astro A20 Gen 2. Fortunately, the Astro A20 Gen 2 does seem well-built, as it doesn’t creak a bunch when I twist and flex it. It’s a very plastic affair, and it feels more like the sub-$100 headsets I’ve tried that take aspects of a brand’s more premium line and boil them down into something that’s affordable but still effective, like the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless. All the metal touches found in the A40 and A50 headsets are missing from this headset. The design unfortunately feels much cheaper. Much of the aesthetic is centered around hard angles and a tri-tone color palette, and it definitely borrows some ideas from the A20’s big brothers, the Astro A50 and Astro A40 TR, but feels like the edgier younger sibling. ![]() It has a boxy frame and a subtly curved headband. That said, it’s still a highly stylized headset, for better or worse. Like I mentioned, the Astro A20 Gen 2 doesn’t have a lot new going on style-wise. ![]()
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