The recently released Astro Gaming A20 wireless headset is now in its second generation. It’s a mid-range option with high-quality audio, a decent microphone, and a long battery life.
Astro Gaming revealed the new A20 back in September and released it in October 2020. It comes in two different varieties: a blue headset for PC, PS4, and PS5 and a green headset for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series XS. If you own both PS5 and Xbox Series X (or Xbox One and PS4), you can buy a second wireless adapter to use the headset on both consoles.
The Basics
The A20 features increased wireless range, a longer battery life, a USB transmitter, and a decent price. It retails for $119.99, making it something of a mid-range headset. It comes in two different colors: blue and green. It includes a wireless transmitter dongle and a 1.5m USB-A to USB-C cable.
The headset has a wireless range of up to 50 feet. It has a 6mm uni-directional, voice isolating flip-to-mute microphone. The lithium ion battery is advertised as lasting 15 hours or more. To be honest, it never ran out of battery in my testing period. I found that charging it is pretty fast too.
The Design
Depending on whether you buy the PlayStation or Xbox variety, the A20 is white and black with either a green or blue stripe down the side. It has square-shaped, padded cups that envelope your ears. The padding is some sort of fabric, and it’s fairly comfortable for long play sessions.
The microphone hangs down the side and can be adjusted slightly depending on how close you want it to your mouth. It also can be lifted up and out of your face if all you want to do is use the headphones. You can also adjust the headphones up or down, depending on the size of your head.
The frame of the headset is made of hard plastic. It feels relatively sturdy and should survive a modest amount of abuse. That being said, I did not test its durability since I actually want to use these for gaming, Zoom calls, and listening to music.
My biggest complaint with the A20’s design is the padding on the headband. The top of the headband is hard plastic while its underside is soft, squishy rubber. Unfortunately, it just does not feel like enough padding.
Audio Quality
The audio quality is quite good for a stereo headset. I enjoyed testing it out with Tetris Effect Connected on the Xbox Series X. The game’s fantastic music really shines with the A20. Likewise, the audio quality is superb during voice chat sessions with friends over Xbox Live or Zoom. Like most console headsets, it does not support surround sound.
Microphone Quality
The quality of the microphone is not quite as up to par as the audio output from the headphones. It’s decent and clear enough, but it honestly sounds like you’re on a conference call. That being said, it’s nice that you can just flip it up and the microphone mutes.
You can get a sense of the microphone quality from the video below:
Conclusion
Astro Gaming’s A20 Gen 2 is a solid mid-range wireless gaming headset option. It works easily with both PC and Xbox or PC and PlayStation. If you buy a second wireless transmitter for $20, you can use it across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.
Its main downside is the headband, which does not have enough padding. If the A20 had a more comfortable headband, it would be an almost perfect solution for anyone who wants quality without busting the bank.
