Though simple to use, the Astro A20 (Gen 2) lacks some of the bells and whistles of its competitors. You can play without purchasing a separate transmitter on your PC. Even with strong fundamentals, the price cannot go much higher than $100 USD.
Even though Astro has long been one of the most popular brands of gaming headphones. The quality of its products hasn’t always kept up. However, there must be a winner. The Astro A20 (Gen 2) is a basic wireless headset that works with PCs.
How do you connect an Astro A20 (Gen 2)?
The second-generation Astro A20 wireless does not support wired audio. But it can connect to your game device via a wireless 2.4GHz USB adapter. The accompanying dongle, like the LucidSound LS50X, uses the Xbox Wireless connection standard. That is why the Xbox version of the A20 (Gen 2) is incompatible with devices like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Windows recognises it as an “Xbox Controller” when inserted into a PC. If you want to connect your Xbox One to your PS5. Then you can pay an extra $20 USD for a PS5 transmitter.
Controls The Astro A20’s flip-to-mute microphone and simple control layout make it simple to use. Having the channel-mixing controls so close to the volume knob is a nice touch. Within the Astro Command Center interface, you can cycle through the three available EQ profiles by clicking the equaliser icon. However, there are no music-specific buttons.
Design and Specs
The Astro A20 wireless headphones will last a long time. These headphones may not have the premium appearance of the 2017 Astro A50 Gen 3 Wireless, but they are still a good choice. Despite being mostly made of plastic, they appear to be sturdy enough to withstand the occasional tumble. Their microphone boom cannot be removed, but it appears to be quite sturdy and adaptable.
These headphones’ default setting produces a rather energetic sound. The bass is extremely powerful, but it can also be a little boomy. Their treble is very forward and sharp. Also, it helps them cut through the extra bass but can be too much for those with sensitive ears. Although the headphones themselves allow you to cycle through a few EQ preset selections. The Astro Command Center software allows for finer-grained sound customization.
Battery Life
We discovered that the A20 (Gen 2) lasted significantly longer than Astro’s claimed 15 hours. The headset lasted more than 30% longer than expected, clocking in at 20 hours and 33 minutes of continuous real music output with a peak volume of 75dB. (SPL). Overall performance isn’t bad, but it falls short of more modern products like the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless or even the SteelSeries Arctis 7+.
High-Quality Audio
With a few notable outliers, the Astro A20 (Gen 2) produces a sound that is very close to our target curve. The emphasis shifts from low to high frequency, with a noticeable increase from 3-10kHz and a decrease from 40Hz and lower.
Each of the three EQ profiles (Astro, Studio, and Pro) can be used to customise the audio output of the headset. The default and reference point is Astro, while Studio is EQ’d for media playback and Pro is optimised for competitive gaming by lowering the bass output. In terms of tone, these options aren’t all that different; however, the Astro default sounds pretty good in most situations. You probably won’t want to, but knowing you can is comforting.
Noise Cancellation
There is little isolation from outside noises with the Astro A20. They are ineffective at blocking out low-frequency sounds and have almost no mid-range isolation. They help a little more with treble noise suppression, but it’s still not ideal. Outside noise enters your listening experience through these headphones.
Conclusion
The Astro A20 wireless headphones excel in this capacity. They have a 14-hour battery life with power-saving features, can be personalised in the Astro Command Center, and work well in noisy environments thanks to their microphone. Because they fit snugly on the head and have a slight piercing sound right out of the box, they can be uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time during gaming sessions.
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