In my 23 years as editor-in-chief of Gamereactor and nearly 30 years as a reviewer, I’ve never stumbled upon a headset that requires such a strange connection to the gaming console you intend to use it with as the Logitech Astro A50X. We’re talking super weird here. Very strange. When I first unboxed these pricey gaming headsets, I found myself in a disinterested position as I just sat and stared at the included guide. “What does Logitech mean?” I thought. Then I started connecting wires to make them work and didn’t get any smarter.
The A50X works on PC as well as PS5 and Xbox, and you can switch between different platforms/sources with a silly quick button, which makes them a bit unique in the market right now. It is known that Microsoft in particular has limited the possibilities for third-party manufacturers such as Logitech to make headsets for both Xbox and Playstation, which often results in today’s Xbox headsets only being available for Xbox. Meanwhile, every PC headset on the market also works with the Playstation 5. As a multi-format junkie, I find this not only frustrating (and Microsoft a bit greedy), but it’s not surprising. Spencer & Co clearly want to sell their own headphones, rather than see Logitech, HyperX, Turtle Beach, Steelseries, Razer and all the other companies grabbing their potential customers. However, this is not an issue with the A50X. This is not a problem because, as I said, they work in all formats.
However, the A50X won’t settle for plugging a USB C cable into the console, or plugging a USB A dongle into the console’s front port to wirelessly get the signal from there. No. This is not enough. Instead, Logitech required me to plug the console’s HDMI cable into the headphone charging station, plus a USB cable. The HDMI should then connect from the charging pad to your TV/monitor, which is a solution I’ve never seen before. The reason has to do with the way Astro interprets signals. The A50X wanted the entire signal to deliver the sound image they did (including Atmos), and the results speak for themselves. Because no matter how tricky it is to connect these headphones to an Xbox Series X or Playstation 5, they sound incredible. In terms of sound quality alone, I would describe them as the best gaming headsets on the market right now. That’s how good they are. One can complain that the mix in the headphones is a bit “front sound” heavy, like a lot of other things on the headphone market right now (I blame the Apple Airpods in a lot of this), but it’s not overly so and it doesn’t ruin the original sound. Beautiful audio and video that can also be fine-tuned (in most cases, anyway).
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Very loud sound. The soundstage is big, spacious, spacious, punchy and rich in detail. There’s a lot of control, too, and in games like Grand Finale, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Avatar: Pandora’s Frontier, I heard things in these headphones that my normally excellent HyperX Cloud Alpha couldn’t convey. The sound is soft and pleasant, and despite wearing the A50X on my head for six hours, I never got tired of listening to them, and these headphones are also very musical. They played my favorite music well, and it’s worth noting that Logitech’s graphene diaphragms are as light as a feather and work faster and clearer than the components used in the A50s.
For PC, you can also avoid the whole thing by using HDMI-in-USB-in-HDMI-out via a charging station. For PC, USB-C plugs directly from the charging station without affecting sound quality. The A50X are also very comfortable and well built, with luxurious materials, a nice design and a very good microphone, and feel expensive and solid rather than plasticky like most gaming headsets regardless of price range. I’m not a big fan of Astro’s cheaper models because their covers squeeze my skull to the point where I can’t stand wearing them for more than 35 minutes. However, that’s not the case with the A50X, which is like a really cute, lightweight hat that caresses my skull. Very comfortable. Very durable. No complaints.
The Logitech Astro A50X is disgustingly expensive. £359. They’re also excellent, offering audiovisual and build quality that the Razer, HyperX, HP Omen, AOC, Turtle Beach, Corsair or Roccat simply can’t compete with right now. If you want to find gaming headsets that sound equally good, you’ll have to delve into the higher-end headsets that Audeze and others are harping on, and then cost more anyway. I’m not thrilled with how Logitech solved the connection issues with the console, but I can’t complain too much because the sound is as good as it gets.
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