ASTRO Gaming MixAmp Pro TR - Dolby Audio Gaming Headset Amplifier for PS5, PS4, PC & Mac - Perfect for Competitive Gaming, Streaming & Immersive Audio Experience

I've previously owned a pair of A50s and the previous generation of MixAmp+A40 combo, both for PS4/PC. They always functioned well but I was never blown away by their sound. After reading a very positive review of the 2019 MixAmp on RTings dot com I decided to give it a try. For reference I'm using the following headphones with the MixAmp:- HyperX Cloud PS4s (41ohm)- AKG GHS-1s (32 ohm)- Sony MDR-V700DJs (24 ohms)- AKG K 518 LEs (32 ohm)So nothing super high end or particularly neutral but all of them are a great match in impedance and their sound signatures are very favorable for gaming.I'm happy to say that this generation of MixAmp sounds much better than the last and is on par with other "prosumer" audio equipment I've used in the past few years (things like Sony WH1000XM3s, Sonos One, UE Boom 3, JBL Charge 4, etc.). It's definitely not audiophile quality but it doesn't need to be. It's meant for gaming after all. That leads to the best part: the customizable EQs!Using the Astro Command Center Software you can load up to four custom EQs onto the MixAmp and switch between them on the fly. With a quick google search you can find people posting their various EQs for you to download. Some great sources for top notch EQs are the ZaliaS Professional Collection (can be found on Reddit) and also the Planet Potara and Astro Gaming Discord servers. You can find EQs that work better for certain types of content like music and movies (and they really do improve the sound incredibly well) but the best EQs are the ones made for specific games. I was able to find an EQ for Modern Warfare 2019 that made a huge improvement in hearing enemy footsteps and it also made the gunshots sound excellent and much more realistic.Another thing I love about this MixAmp vs other gaming DAC/amp options is the flexibility. It works on PC and PS4 seamlessly, has an AUX input jack that can be blended into the game and chat sound, and also has a Stream output jack that you can customize to include any mix of game, chat, and aux audio. I connected a Fiio BTR3 bluetooth adapter to the aux in so when I'm gaming on my PS4 (connected to a PC monitor) at night I can also send audio into the MixAmp from my iPad Pro 12.9", my Samsung RU8000 TV and Xfinity X1 DVR, and my PC via bluetooth. When I'm gaming on my PC I connect the MixAmp via USB and then listen to YouTube videos or podcasts from my iPad via Bluetooth. It's really great to finally have all my sources coming into one set of headphones while no longer needing to use my cumbersome setup of a Yamaha mixer and a rat's nest of cables.Pros:- Much improved sound that is on par with "prosumer" grade devices like Bose, Sonos, sub-$300 Sennheisers, etc.- Greatly improved audio latency. The RTings review measured it as 2ms which is the lowest on the market. Similar devices have 12ms or higher for wired interfaces and 50ms+ for wireless headsets. It's VERY noticeable when playing fast paced FPS games like Call of Duty. You can hear the enemy before you can see them and hearing them 10-50ms sooner is a clear advantage. This is a real improvement over the previous models that you can feel instantly.- Great community support providing custom EQs that greatly improve the sound quality- Easy to mix multiple sources and adjust the volume of each one independently.- High quality feeling to the volume and chat mix dial. The material is nice and turning them feels buttery smooth. They're very satisfying to use.- Adjustable mic monitoring (side tone) that works well.- Dolby decoding, and this is the real reason I use these Astro products. The multi-channel separation in 2-channel headphones that the MixAmps offer is truly better than similar products using DTS Headphone, Dolby Headphone, or the various proprietary 7.1 processing from companies like HyperX and Sennheiser (trust me, I've tried them all). Astro uses just straight up Dolby 5.1 decoding and it works the best to give a surround sound feel to stereo headphones. In games I can always pinpoint where the enemy footsteps/gun fire is coming from with perfect accuracy and when watching films/TV all the effects, like a helicopter overhead or people yelling behind you, come through perfectly.Cons:- Could be louder for music listening. You can make them uncomfortably loud during gameplay, especially when it comes to gunshots and explosions, but if you like to really feel the sound pressure when listening to your favorite songs then the MixAmp will feel about 10-15% too low.- Given that the volume won't blow you away using low impedance headphones, I can't imagine that high impedance pairs would be a good match for the MixAmp.- No power off switch- Can't adjust the brightness of the lighting on the MixAmp. It's not absurdly bright but it would be great to dim it down very low when gaming at night with the lights off. My solution is to just sit my iPhone on top of the MixAmp when the light bothers me and that works perfectly to block the it completely.Overall I think this is the best option for connecting headphones to your PS4 and among the best options for PC gaming as well due to the feature set.I love having this for my console setup. The system settings don't let me adjust game vs. chat audio as much as I'd like. Some folks have very loud mics and some I can barely hear. When properly configured, this works great to let me easily adjust as needed with each game. Lastly, the ability to integrate with discord is amazing so I can play with friends who are on PC setups.It's a bit pricey and I'm sure someone could piece together an equivalent setup with other components, but this comes all integrated in a clean package and is very easy to use.If you have A40s and you are thinking about getting this you should. I was skeptical on why I needed it but after just plugging it in there is a night and day difference in sound quality and the loudness it can get to. I can hear everything in the games I play now. Definitely worth it specially if you already have A40s.I had my old mixamp optical connection die (after like, 7 years) but the headset works fine. Because the optical port is important to my setup its not something I could route through the still working usb input and keep using it as I use every input in some manner. After conversing with ASTRO support confirmed that the new amp works with my existing headset so i upgraded just this piece.This amp is much easier to work with in firmware than the older versions and the adjustable audio presets are very nice. I dropped a star however as I mentioned, I use every input and when swapping the cables over I get a buzzing feedback noise from the input. If I reconnect my previous device to the same port and same cables, works fine. Seems something in the design or the internal parts cheapened up a bit sadly. I am left with trying to use software to get me behavior equivalent to having the additional input or downgrading to one of the old style mixamps.Sound quality on this amp is quite impressive. Its a great sleek look also. Its great how much control you have with the eq and a great community for those who do not how to set eqs. I have never been one who thought an amp is really worth the purchase. A good headset is usually just fine for me. After my old headset stopped working, i found it difficult to find a good gaming set that had all the features, good audio quality, and sidetone(mic monitoring) with no delay. I tested about 10 different headset in the $100-200 range and was not satisfied with any one them for various reasons. The ones i felt had the better audio quality either lacked or had terrible sidetone. So i decided to try amps then. I started with the sound blaster x. Audio quality was good but not a lot of control. The sidetone was also unusuable with the delay. ( Even with all the voice enhancements off - yes i researched it) so then i moved onto this. I was quite surprised with how well it made an already good sounding headset sound even better. The sidetone was spot one. The quick 4 presets for the eq is great and having seperate main volume and chat controls is great. My only slight negative is that it doesnt have a mute button. Not a huge issue, but since my headset had the in-line mute on the usb side of the 2 piece cable, i lost the feature.Overall, i am super happy with it.