Logitech G Astro A50 X Wireless Gaming Headset Review: A multi-device gamers dr

I can’t remember how many wired gaming headsets I’ve been through over the years – but it’s a lot. Wireless has always been the dream, but too many differences in compatibility across console and PC play has been a barrier. The Logitech G Astro A50 X LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Headset, announced last year offers a solution with a connected base station that lets you switch through all of them with ease. 

Priced at $749.95, the Logitech G Astro A50 X  Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Headset isn’t exactly cheap. What it has though, is a laundry list of high-end specs to go along with the promise of a wireless headset that just works across devices. 

This is a delayed review, as I encountered some difficulties with setup that took a little to resolve – but with all that out of the way, I’ve used the Logitech G Astro A50 X  Wireless Gaming Headset on my PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X for a while now, and here’s how it went.  

The Basics

The Logitech G Astro A50 X LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Headset uses a base station to achieve a lot of the magic of a cross-compatible headset. 

Using HDMI pass-through, the base station includes inputs from your Playstation and Xbox, as well as USB-C for power and an input for PC, and of course a HDMI out. The technology is called PLAYSYNC and offers a great way to control your gaming experience from the headset. 

The way it works is super simple. You can switch between the XBox and PS5 inputs from a button on the headset. Playsync will switch between XBox and Playstation inputs for the TV, but if you switch to PC, Playsync simply delivers audio coming from the PC. 

Setup

The box contains a fair bit of what you need, the headset and base unit, a USB-C to USB-A Cable, a USB-C Power Adapter and a USB-C to Dual USB Combo (Y) Cable. What you don’t receive is HDMI cables – so you’ll need a couple of those, and at least another USB-C to USB-A cable if you want to connect two consoles.

The A50 X base station supports HDMI 2.1 pass through, so to ensure you use HDMI 2.1 cables to get the full benefits such as 120Hz HDR, VRR, and Auto Low Latency Mode(ALLM).

I mainly tested the Astro A50 X with just Xbox and Playstation, though I did use a 10m USB extension cable to connect the PC just to try it out – and it works flawlessly.

Where I went wrong.

The review was delayed because of my confusion over the setup. For all intents and purposes the headset and base was set up, but the Mic would not be recognised on the Xbox. 

The issue turned out to be how I had plugged in the USB-C to Dual USB Combo (Y) Cable.  

This cable should be plugged into the provided power adapter, with the red USB-C end going to the base unit, while the USB-A connector connects to your PC. I had this plugged into the Xbox. 

What I needed was to add a separate straight USB-C to USB-A cable from the XBox to the Series X leaving the clearly labelled ‘PC’ end free to connect to the PC. 

I’m not alone in experiencing a few hiccups in setup, but it was definitely my own fault and hopefully my experience sends you back to the instructions to double check the setup if you experience this issue.

Once you’ve got your cables connected correctly, it works perfectly.

Hardware

Design

The A50 X retains a similar design to the previous A50 headset which has been massively popular for some time. The main update comes to the base station which now utilises HDMI 2.1 and USB-C connectors, so if you love the look of the A50, you’ll love the A50 X.

The headset has a very gamer aesthetic to it, with a headband that features chunky rails that slide down to adjust, and fairly chunky, squared off ear cups which include a flip down boom mic on the left and a couple of switches on the right ear cup you can tap to manage your game/chat balance.

While it looks very gamer-centric, it feels super comfortable with the fabric ear cups nice and warm on the ears on a cold winter night, and the padded headband feels great and distributes the weight quite evenly. 

The fabric ear cups on the A50 X are super comfortable, especially when in a Canberra winter. They’re not for everyone though and thankfully, like the A50 Gen 4 they’re removable. 

The good news is that any ear pads that fit the GEN4 should also fit the A50 X Wireless Headset, so you should be good to change them over for your preferred ear cups.

It’s super easy to remove the ear cups as they use a handy magnet system to allow for easy snap on and off. Just pull them and they come off, yet when snapped back in place they feel super secure.

The boom mic flips down easily, and it’s Flip-to-Mute so just flicking it back up mutes your audio feed. The boom mic itself is flexible, so finding it sitting on the coffee table in an odd position after the kids have used it won’t hurt it. I’d love to see a little bit of rigidity to allow you to reposition the mic closer to your mouth – but as it has excellent pick-up, this isn’t a huge issue. 

The headphones are a little more weighty than other gaming headsets, weighing in at just over 360 grams, but they feel comfortable – even after a fairly long session of gaming, with the padded headband helping a lot. 

There’s controls on the back of the right ear cup, including the Power Switch with LED indicator, Playsync switch to control input, Bluetooth button and a volume dial. 

The controls are all easy to reach and quite intuitive for me, though I initially hit the power button trying to switch between consoles, but once you’re familiar with the button layout,  switching inputs is wildly simple and works really well.

It’s handy to note, the A50 X supports bluetooth pairing to your phone. I can connect the headset to my phone, however as the connection goes via your Astro A50 X base station, as soon as you go outside the supported 12 metre range – or sometimes just having a wall between you and the base station, you lose connection – still, they’re handy for watching videos around the house. 

What you can do with the bluetooth connection is adjust settings in the headset via the Logitech G app – which we’ll get to shortly.

Audio Quality

Audio quality on the Astro A50 X is excellent. Both the audio coming out of the earphones, and the microphone audio going out to other players is excellent across the board. 

Featuring 40mm PRO-G Graphene Audio Drivers, the headset has great quality audio. The drivers can push a lot of sound with excellent volume levels allowing you to pump up the sound when needed, while still getting great audio clarity when it’s quiet. 

There’s great quality sound across the range, though you can dig into a 10-band graphic equaliser to balance the sound if you want, with the Astro app available for PC. There’s support for Dolby Atmos which includes spatial sound.

The microphone sounds good by all accounts, with friends reporting it was quite clear to listen to in sessions. 

In terms of connectivity, Logitech have used their proprietary LIGHTSPEED tech for the Astro A50 X and it’s brilliant. I had no issues with dropouts, with the only exception being my testing for Bluetooth where I deliberately went out of range. 

Battery and Charging

There’s a big battery on the Logitech G Astro A50 X  Wireless Gaming Headset, with Logitech promising up to 24 hours of battery life – that’s a pretty epic gaming session in anyone’s book.

In practice, I never ran the headset flat though I tried for about 5 hours straight and only managed to knock off one of the LEDs on the base unit. When you place the headset on the base to store them, the magnetic connectors automatically click the headset into place and start charging it so it’s ready for your next session. You can also connect a USB-C cable to the headset to charge them as well.

You can easily see the status of your battery though, with four LEDs that glow on the base unit, showing the charge in 25% increments, as well as get an idea of the battery life on the headset itself, with the single LED integrated into the power button glowing orange when the battery is low (also when charging), and then breathing red when you’re down to the final 15 minutes. 

Software

So, there’s an app for it. Available for both Android and iOS, giving you the ability to change volume and balance chat/game volume and the option to adjust the mic sensitivity and  adjust the 10 Band equaliser.

The app is also where you’ll get any firmware updates available, though it’s been up to date for the past 6 months, so you should be right for a while.

It’s a pretty decent app, offering fairly easy navigation to jump into all the settings – though it did take me a couple of minutes to find the equaliser. Pro Tip: Swipe up from the bottom and select between the mic and headphone equaliser. 

If you don’t want to use any of these functions, the Logitech G app isn’t necessary, but it adds a little something to the experience. 

Should you buy it?

While the initial sticker shock of the Logitech G Astro A50 X  Wireless Gaming Headset is large, the actual functionality offered makes the price just right – at least for me.

There’s not a lot of wireless headsets capable of providing low-latency, high resolution audio on multiple consoles and there’s essentially none which provides a HDMI 2.1 compatible switcher you can activate from the headset.

Aside from the fiddly cable setup which got me (and a few others), the Astro A50 X is excellent and offers a top level gaming experience no matter which console, or PC you want to use. 

If having a single, high-quality  headset to use across your gaming devices is your aim, then the Logitech G Astro A50 X  Wireless Gaming Headset is definitely the one to get.