I will try to make it short and concise.
First: AVOID: Astro MixAmp A50 or any Wireless Gaming Headphone for that matter, they have latency is a very closed limited setup, mic will always sound bad due have to share the wireless band.
What is a DAC, stands for Digital to Analog Converter, is the sound card what creates 0101010 in to analog signal (sound waves) so we can hear it. All our audio devices has DACs: phones, portable music players, tablets, consoles our MixAmp is a DAC a very unique one.
About Astro MixAmp + A40 TR Headset Combos (Wired).
The Astro A40 headsets, have poor sounding performance is very mediocre.
Astro MixAmp makes them sound better due
Equalization:
(Astro Presets: Astro, Balanced, Natural Bass, Tournament) aka "
Coloration".
This also means that this coloration might don't go well for a different pair of headphones/headsets and you need to make adjustments.
Pairing Astro MixAmp with a better quality gaming headsetThis will give you better results out of the box, and without invest something extra. GSP-600 goes pretty well or any headset/headphone with low impedance, below 60 Ω .
There is something better than a quality gaming headset? - Yes a professional audiophile grade headphone, which are infact more afforable than most expensive gaming headsets and with better sound performance, but you need power.
Impedance? and why is important.
Lame terms: Is the
Energy a headphone needs to deliver better audio levels better audio experience. There is two types of Headphones low impedance and high impedance. Low impedance works well with portables devices like phones, tablets and players. High impedance are headphones with superior audio capabilities , bigger dynamic range (you can hear more sound cues) but requires more power to deliver, the power that comes from your controller is not enough, or from a usb card.
They need and amplifier.
Astro MixAmp + Audiophile Headphone (with an external amp) will be better?Yes, absolutely.
Audio and Competitive Gaming (Footsteps)Fact: we react much faster to sound vs visual, that's why is so important.
On the gaming sound spectrum we have:
Bass = punch, rumble, explosions.
Mid-tones = gunshots,
footsteps, in-game callouts.
Treble = Adds sparkle,
some footsteps, reload sounds, some ambiance like rain.
Our headphones by itself, had its own sound signature... it can be bassy, or too bright (very high treble), or too focused on vocals (midrange).
So we want to hear those footsteps, with Astro MixAmp we can "alter" artificially how our headphones sounds to bring up and highlight the foosteps (midrange and some treble). And that's why we have those EQ presets like Omnivox and Tournament or Potara Super Gamer, those are heavly middle treble, or any other DAC that has a gaming set it will kill the bass and bring up mid and treble.
However, this artificial manipulation ruins sound positioning, separation (is coming from left or right, is an enemy) so it works but is not optimal.
Also Equalization has its limits, you just can't make a headphone/set sound like a studio headphone, which can pick up more sound cues, and with better precision and dynamic range.
7.1 Surround vs Stereo for Competitive Gaming.Surround headphones are great for campaign immersive experience, but not as effective than Stereo. For competitive you need to have separation, distinguish if the sounds comes from the left or right, center. Surround doesn't give you precise positioning. With Surround everything sounds like you are in a hall (reverb) and sounds cues coming from the walls, with stereo you hear where they are coming from. So even pair of earbuds are better than a surround cans?
There is,
Shroud like most competitive players, you can see he is using stereo earbuds under what it seems is the sponsor gaming headset.
So, I don't need Surround to ping point my enemies?, what really!?.Let's put then nail on the coffin, get a pair of regular headphones, earbuds and watch this video:
Virtual Barber Shop is a 12 years old demo, that shows how our brain is powerful enough to create a 3D positional environment with only two speakers.
All games are tuned like that, audio game engineers put a lot of time and effort to make you hear the game. Most 3rd party Surround stuff forces this tonalities, in the same way when you see a Movie with 3D glasses when the movie wasn't film on True 3D cameras.
What you need is a pair of high fidelity headphones wide dynamic range, where every tones: bass, mids, trebles are distinguishable, present, where the sounds goes from your left hear to you right hear (separation imaging) harmoniously and you can position yourself and your surroundings better (sound stage)
OK Stereo is better for CompetitiveAnd Astro MixAmp can help me to bring up mids and treble artificially for footsteps. Is anything better than this... yes.
You need a DAC that is
not colored (neutral, clean, no equalization) with a high-end headphones which its sound signature bring up the mids and treble, like Bayer Dynamics DT990(great treble), HD600, HD650(nice mids and trebles), HD660S (great mids, clear treble)
So you need a DAC (produce sound) without EQ and you need an Amplifier to power those high-end headphones, and it will be nice to have an mic input.
Behold:
Mayflower Arc.You want the best equipment to hear footsteps and sound cues?, get a great professional headset with obscene good treble and mids, this DAC/AMP will have the enough energy (Ohms) to power up, and because is clean, not artificial (No EQ) you don't loose other sound tones, sound cues will be more clear natural sounding (too much treble can destroy your ears) and the sound imaging and positioning will be superior than any EQ can bring you, because you are not tampering the headphones sound signature. You are hearing the game how the audio engineers created and bring up naturally the tones you care of.
So, yeah that was a lot but believe me I did my best to summarize it for you.
