[Gaming Audio] Astro MixAmp presets + Best Audio Gear Guide + Headphone Reviews

[smokN]

Hi I just picked up a set of gen 4 Astro a40’s with the pro mic amp but I’m having issues with my audio, I was wondering which would be the best preset for modern warfare, I’m looking to be able to hear footsteps but also be able to hear my party clearly, currently it’s either full voice audio and no game audio or game audio and I can’t hear what my friends are saying because it’s so loud, thanks!

[Himpy]

I'm wanting to jump in with the following setup:
Console - Xbox One X
DAC AMP - Mayflower Arc MK2
Headset - ADG1X (waiting for sale) or AD700X (hanging at $91) with modmic4 ($35)

All the Mayflower Arc reviews suggest I would not be happy at all with the mic quality/party chat issues with my Xbox One and that it shouldn't be included on the supported list. Well I think some of these reviewers are looking for simple plug and play support and haven't gone through as many different gaming headsets as I have.

I'm excited to try this anyways and I have a couple workarounds/compromises I think will work. I'm wondering if anyone has already tried these or is currently using the Mayflower on the Xbox successfully with a different arrangement.

Two biggest complaints from forums and Youtube reviews:
1) Feedback with mic.
2) Party chat too quiet or non-existent.

Maybe I'm wrong or possibly this isn't even necessary, but I could avoid both issues by not connecting my headset adapter to the DAC (only use the Toslink input). Instead, plug the Modmic into the controller without using the Mayflower pass thru to address problem #1. I would lose mic monitoring feedback sound if the Mayflower does that, but it seems like a fair trade for improved audio clarity.

Problem #2 is solved by changing settings in my Xbox to forward party chat directly to speakers and not connecting the headphone side of the controller at all. Downfall is I cannot mix the party volume without going into menus, but to be honest, I don't recall the last time I had to change the party mixing with my existing headset.

I'm still waiting/hoping for ADG1X to go on sale, so if my workarounds aren't great ideas, it's also an option to buy a Mixamp instead. Appreciate anyone's feedback, this is the first time I've been excited about a new gaming setup in a while.

[Himpy]

After waiting 3 days and watching more video reviews and comparisons, I've changed my planned setup to:

Console - Xbox One X
DAC - Schiit Modi ($99)
AMP - Schiit Magni ($99)
Stack Cables - RCA ($7)
Headset - AD700X ($91)
Microphone - Modmic ($35)

My reason for not getting the Mayflower is that it would have cost around $50 more than the Schiit stack and there is arguably a bit more freedom in having a separate DAC and AMP. Only real bummer is that I'm passing on the Arc's DSP toggle which means with a low impedence headset, it will limit my amp adjustment. I'm excited and hopeful that I can get this working smoothly with my Xbox as an alternative to the Mixamp.

Also, thanks Alan for somewhat guiding me in this direction with your previous post rating different setups.

Gaming Audio DAC / AMP Breakdown:

Excellent:  (Budget: $250 - $450)
Performance: Excellent detail, outstanding sound imaging, you can estimate precisely sound cues position, movement and distance, left, right, behind and even top or bottom. Best for sound-whoring and a radar for competitive gaming.
- Schiit Modi DAC + Magni Amp
- Mayflower ARC MK1/MK2
- JDS El DAC + Atom  (best)

[AMG]

Hey Alan. I currently use a Mixamp Pro TR and SBX G5. I
In your opinion should I go with just the Mayflower as a stand alone? I don't care much for surround sound. I mostly use stereo. I do however like using the EQ presets of the Mixamp. Do you think with the ARC alone I will still be able to hear footsteps just as clear as I would using the presets? I have a HD58X ,AT1DG, and Samson SR850 for headphones.

Yes, Mayflower MK2 (or a DAC/Amp stack) alone with a nice open-back is the best immersive yet very advantageous way that you can play on console, no doubt.

I just downloaded TheZaliaSGuy tournament 3 bc I play a lot of Apex Legends. I am currently using the Astro A50s.  I’ve got a few questions for the community as I am new to this headset!  First off thanks for the work you did ZaliaS it sounds great!

1- Should I be using Dolby on or off for tournament 3? 
2- Does anyone have any other suggestions for presets for the A50s for Apex?

Thanks everyone!

ZaliaS Tournament presets are meant to play on stereo, no Dolby surround.

After waiting 3 days and watching more video reviews and comparisons, I've changed my planned setup to:

Console - Xbox One X
DAC - Schiit Modi ($99)
AMP - Schiit Magni ($99)
Stack Cables - RCA ($7)
Headset - AD700X ($91)
Microphone - Modmic ($35)

My reason for not getting the Mayflower is that it would have cost around $50 more than the Schiit stack and there is arguably a bit more freedom in having a separate DAC and AMP. Only real bummer is that I'm passing on the Arc's DSP toggle which means with a low impedence headset, it will limit my amp adjustment. I'm excited and hopeful that I can get this working smoothly with my Xbox as an alternative to the Mixamp.

Also, thanks Alan for somewhat guiding me in this direction with your previous post rating different setups.

Gaming Audio DAC / AMP Breakdown:

Excellent:  (Budget: $250 - $450)
Performance: Excellent detail, outstanding sound imaging, you can estimate precisely sound cues position, movement and distance, left, right, behind and even top or bottom. Best for sound-whoring and a radar for competitive gaming.
- Schiit Modi DAC + Magni Amp
- Mayflower ARC MK1/MK2
- JDS El DAC + Atom  (best)

That's a great option, if is cheaper go ahead having DAC/Amp separated an Independent Microphone has its advantages also some drawbacks besides that taking more space, the only caveat is you can not use headsets with a 4 pole connector, because these share a ground if you split it you will get grounding buzz noise.

There some pretty darn good headsets that are well tuned for gaming like: ATH-ADG1X, GSP600, Beyer-dynamic MMX 300 Gen2 , all these share a ground (MX300 Gen1 doesn't)

Keep in mind too that ATH-ADG1X is a AD900X not a AD700X.

I have to state: Mic input on the Mayflower Arc MK2 is outstanding, very clean and natural bass to the voice, I haven't try it on XB1 (I don't own one) but I'm very pleased because is noise gate reduction, hides my noisy blue switches keystroke noises perfectly, MK1 sound like I was inside on a helmet.

[R3MiX]

Anyone on Xbox can help me out? Everytime I'm on party chat, my chat group complains of echo and it's annoying them so much that it makes me not wanna squad up with them
 I'm at a lost because I have tried pretty much everything to get rid of this echo.

I use a Mixamp and Mayflower ARC, never at the same time though.
With the Mixamp , the echo comes and goes. With the Mayflower it's seems to not go away. How I have the Mayflower setup for the Xbox is optical out to Mayflower Optical in for the headset and the mic into the controller input. Chat output set to speakers on the Xbox because that would be the only way to hear chat.

Any suggestions would  greatly be appreciated.

[Himpy]

Anyone on Xbox can help me out? Everytime I'm on party chat, my chat group complains of echo and it's annoying them so much that it makes me not wanna squad up with them
 I'm at a lost because I have tried pretty much everything to get rid of this echo.

I use a Mixamp and Mayflower ARC, never at the same time though.
With the Mixamp , the echo comes and goes. With the Mayflower it's seems to not go away. How I have the Mayflower setup for the Xbox is optical out to Mayflower Optical in for the headset and the mic into the controller input. Chat output set to speakers on the Xbox because that would be the only way to hear chat.

Any suggestions would  greatly be appreciated.

Can't help you with the mixamp, but it sounds like a bad cable.

For the Mayflower are you using a 4 pole headset which shares the mic and headset on the same plug? If so, I believe your issue could be the grounding issue that Alan just advised me to watch out for on my new setup. If that's the case, I think the best option is to add a modmic to have a separate mic cable. This should also solve your mixamp issue if it has a separate plug for mic.

[R3MiX]

Anyone on Xbox can help me out? Everytime I'm on party chat, my chat group complains of echo and it's annoying them so much that it makes me not wanna squad up with them
 I'm at a lost because I have tried pretty much everything to get rid of this echo.

I use a Mixamp and Mayflower ARC, never at the same time though.
With the Mixamp , the echo comes and goes. With the Mayflower it's seems to not go away. How I have the Mayflower setup for the Xbox is optical out to Mayflower Optical in for the headset and the mic into the controller input. Chat output set to speakers on the Xbox because that would be the only way to hear chat.

Any suggestions would  greatly be appreciated.

Can't help you with the mixamp, but it sounds like a bad cable.

For the Mayflower are you using a 4 pole headset which shares the mic and headset on the same plug? If so, I believe your issue could be the grounding issue that Alan just advised me to watch out for on my new setup. If that's the case, I think the best option is to add a modmic to have a separate mic cable. This should also solve your mixamp issue if it has a separate plug for mic.

Yeah I have a headset with a 4 pole. I do use a splitter however with it. I use that splitter to separate the mic and headset. Mic goes into controller and headset to ARC. So this is not the right way to do it?

[AMG]

At the manual there is a diagram on how to connect it on XB1, it goes something like this:

For the Arc version 1 or MK1

[AMG]

Try to connect the Mic output from the back of the arc to the controller mic (using Y splitter adapter), using a male to male 35mm extension.

Once your headset is connect to the Arc (either directly on the headphone jack MK2 only or using a Y splitter) the Mic output in the back is grounded, you can connect from there to another mic input.

[R3MiX]

Try to connect the Mic output from the back of the arc to the controller mic (using Y splitter adapter), using a male to male 35mm extension.

Once your headset is connect to the Arc (either directly on the headphone jack MK2 only or using a Y splitter) the Mic output in the back is grounded.

I should have noted. I have the MK1. Is this still possible?

[AMG]

Yep the diagram is for Mayflower Arc 1 or MK1

Manual: https://mayflowerelectronics.com/content/pdf/OwnersManual18.pdf

[Himpy]

Before changing your setup which appears to work with the PS4, I think you need to test your headset wire and chat adapter. Try joining a chat and connecting your headset directly into your chat adapter and see if your friends are still getting an echo. You should turn on the party chat overlay or leave the chat window open so you can see when your mic is giving feedback.

Assuming you don't have any issues with your adapter or headphone wire, we can now try different setups.

This would be your current Mayflower setup if you are following the instructions Alan provided from the manual.


However, if you are sending party chat through the Toslink cable (blue) your setup would be a little different (remove green lines/adapters to the chat adapter). I'm pretty sure the green section is where Mayflower got their Xbox instructions wrong. If you did connect it in this manner, you are now feeding an amplified signal directly in-line with the unamplified sound output from your chat adapter. I believe this would lead to lots of feedback and quiet party chat. If you remove this entirely and change your chat output to optical, your sound should be perfect.

Now lets look at the mic connection. I believe the problem is your headset is a 4 pole and your splitter converts this to two 3 pole connections which share the same ground. This wouldn't be an issue with PS4 because all signals are sharing the same ground from the Mayflower. However on Xbox, when using the mic passthru you are still dealing with two separate power supplies:
1) Mic powered from controller adapter
2) Speakers powered from Mayflower.
You would think the mic input would change the ground, but I believe it simply just forwards everything back to your chat adapter. I may be completely wrong, but other complaints from Xbox users lead me to believe this is the problem.

This brings me to the addition of the Modmic. This is a sad compromise because now you'd be adding a second mic onto your headset so you no longer share ground between mic and speakers. I hope you find a way to avoid this, but I suspect this new arrangement is the only way to prevent ground issues and your mic from echoing.


It's also possible that the mic and speaker inputs inside the ARC share the same ground. If so the feedback would be caused by the internal grounding. If that's the case, adding a Modmic wont help, we would instead need to connect the mic directly to the controller (red dashed line).

I apologize for such a lengthy post and unfortunately I don't have the Arc so I can't test and give you a solution.

[AMG]

@#$% it's complicated for XB1.

Worth mentioning on the Mayflower ARC MK1, you have to connect the USB to your console no matter is only working on optical out, USB connector provides the Arc a full complete ground circuit.

[R3MiX]

@#$% it's complicated for XB1.

Worth mentioning on the Mayflower ARC MK1, you have to connect the USB to your console no matter is only working on optical out, USB connector provides the Arc a full complete ground circuit.

Tried this but was getting ridiculously loud feedback. Not sure if I was supposed to use the USB and power adapter at the same time.

I also tried the setup on the diagram, and I'm still getting echo. I'm watching a stream from my Xbox and it's definitely picking up the stream audio. I'm so confused and discouraged to use this set up. I just can't find the solution. I've tried different audio cables from 3 pole to 4 pole since I have so many and every cable I've used does the same thing. I've tried the diagram setup with out using the mic out from the ARC and same thing. I just don't get it anymore.

I've also tried just plugging in the Xbox headset adapter that plugs into the controller with just my headset connected and I get no echo or feedback off of that. So my adapter is definitely not the problem.

[R3MiX]

Before changing your setup which appears to work with the PS4, I think you need to test your headset wire and chat adapter. Try joining a chat and connecting your headset directly into your chat adapter and see if your friends are still getting an echo. You should turn on the party chat overlay or leave the chat window open so you can see when your mic is giving feedback.

Assuming you don't have any issues with your adapter or headphone wire, we can now try different setups.

This would be your current Mayflower setup if you are following the instructions Alan provided from the manual.


However, if you are sending party chat through the Toslink cable (blue) your setup would be a little different (remove green lines/adapters to the chat adapter). I'm pretty sure the green section is where Mayflower got their Xbox instructions wrong. If you did connect it in this manner, you are now feeding an amplified signal directly in-line with the unamplified sound output from your chat adapter. I believe this would lead to lots of feedback and quiet party chat. If you remove this entirely and change your chat output to optical, your sound should be perfect.

Now lets look at the mic connection. I believe the problem is your headset is a 4 pole and your splitter converts this to two 3 pole connections which share the same ground. This wouldn't be an issue with PS4 because all signals are sharing the same ground from the Mayflower. However on Xbox, when using the mic passthru you are still dealing with two separate power supplies:
1) Mic powered from controller adapter
2) Speakers powered from Mayflower.
You would think the mic input would change the ground, but I believe it simply just forwards everything back to your chat adapter. I may be completely wrong, but other complaints from Xbox users lead me to believe this is the problem.

This brings me to the addition of the Modmic. This is a sad compromise because now you'd be adding a second mic onto your headset so you no longer share ground between mic and speakers. I hope you find a way to avoid this, but I suspect this new arrangement is the only way to prevent ground issues and your mic from echoing.


It's also possible that the mic and speaker inputs inside the ARC share the same ground. If so the feedback would be caused by the internal grounding. If that's the case, adding a Modmic wont help, we would instead need to connect the mic directly to the controller (red dashed line).

I apologize for such a lengthy post and unfortunately I don't have the Arc so I can't test and give you a solution.

I am using optical for the ARC. If I understand this correctly...I can output chat through optical? I don't think I ever seen that option on the audio settings on the Xbox. Maybe you're referring to "output chat to speakers"?. I did try that setup on the diagram( the one with the splitters on both the ARC and chat adapter and I was getting echo. I however didn't see the part where you mentioned to eliminate the green lines on that diagram. I would imagine it is pretty much the same thing as just plugging in the Y splitter off the headset to [ 1 ] Headphone to ARC and [ 2 ] mic to controller input. Doing that still have my party echo on their end. This is so frustrating.