4 hours ago
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✅ Pros
💵 Excellent $179 price for essentially two gaming headsets in one
👥 Two USB-C connections for Xbox, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PCs
🎮 Xbox-compatible for no extra cost or separate colorway
🔊 40mm drivers deliver highly customizable sound and great spatial audio
🎙️ Higher-bandwidth microphone and tunable voice capture
❌ Cons
📢 Practically no sound isolation from outside noises
🎚️ Drivers aren’t very powerful and need to be above 50% volume constantly
Astro has been on a roll with its multi-system connecting headsets, but not everyone has $300-400 to spend on a gaming headset – and that’s where the $179 Astro A20 X comes in. It only supports two consoles, unlike three devices with the Astro A50 Gen 5 or Astro A50 X, but that still solves the big headache of needing a second gaming headset for your PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, or PC.
Aside from the Astro A20 X essentially being a copy-paste of the Logitech G522, I love almost everything about this gaming headset. Its 40mm drivers deliver highly tunable sound and fantastic spatial audio for all platforms. The higher-bandwidth 48KHz microphone also offers more latitude to tune your voice quality for a better broadcasting or just team chat experience. The Astro A20 X’s only misses are its almost complete lack of noise isolation from outside noises and the driver’s relatively low volume.
💫 Deja Vu. Wait a minute, this new gaming headset is just the Logitech G522 gaming headset with red accents and a new dual-system transmitter! This “new” Astro headset features the same exact design, drivers, sound profile, battery life, and even shares EQ profiles with the G522 – which is actually a good thing, I’ll explain later. Unfortunately, this is just bad news if you bought the Logitech G522 earlier in the year, because the Astro A20 X is just a better version of the same gaming headset that can now support two systems simultaneously.
💅 Logitech aesthetics. The Astro A20 X is a carbon copy of Logitech’s earlier G522 gaming headset. It’s a big departure from the previous Astro A20 Gen 2, and I’ll miss Astro’s distinctly boxy design. It’s not all bad at least; this new headset’s more rounded shape makes it easier to handle. It’s also more flexible thanks to the use of softer plastics than Astro’s choice of harder materials.
☁️ Plush comfort. The Astro A20 X feels super comfortable thanks to its pliable cloth earcups and headband. It barely feels like I’m wearing a headset with how lightly the memory foam earcups rest against my ears. The suspension headband also does a great job of distributing the already lightweight 290g mass of this gaming headset.
👥 Dual-system connect. The Astro A20 X’s biggest feature is that you can connect two different gaming platforms to its USB-C dongle. Also, unlike other headsets, every Astro A20 X is Xbox compatible, so you don’t need to buy a special colorway or version of this headset that works specifically with Microsoft’s console. Thankfully, the USB-C ports on the Astro A20 X’s transmitter are mostly platform agnostic, so that you can plug in a PS5 Pro, Nintendo Switch 2, or other USB-C devices to either side. The only restriction is that USB 1 supports Xbox and PC connections will only work on USB 2.
One thing that surprised me about Astro’s newest dual-system transmitter is how much smaller it is than the one that comes with the Astro A50 Gen 5 or the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. That goes to show us how compact a multi-system transmitter can be without an included charging dock for the headset or any additional batteries.
🔀 Easy swap. Swapping between your two connected gaming systems is as simple as pressing the PlaySync button on the headset. There's no need to get up and rearrange any wires; this is easily the best feature of this headset. Also, aside from the wireless transmitter, you can connect other devices to this headset over Bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio cable as well.
🎧 Pro-G audio. The Astro A20 X’s 40mm biocellulose drivers deliver a fantastically flexible sound profile. Out of the box, the flat profile places everything at the same level, which can cause musical highs to overpower the rest of the sound range, especially in Sword of the Sea. However, simply by raising the lower end and reducing the highs in the sound profile, I could hear a more balanced mix. The only thing I find lacking about the Astro A20 X is that it isn’t terribly loud, and I found myself using it at 50% volume or higher most of the time.
💥 Sound bubble. The Astro A20 X also delivers fantastic spatial audio. I could easily tell where and how far Terminds were in Helldivers 2 just from hearing their chittering and screeching. This headset is also just as fantastic for Borderlands 4, allowing me to navigate gunfights and find the last enemy to finish off just from hearing whether they’re on my left, right, or above me.
🌐 Community EQ profiles. If mixing your own equalizer profiles is too technical for you, you can download community-shared sound profiles from the Logitech G Hub app. I easily found over two dozen profiles created by the community, thanks to the shared pool of EQ mixes from the Logitech G522. These downloadable mixes are only available on the PC, but you can load them onto your headset and switch between profiles using the iOS and Android apps.
🎙️ Full bandwidth microphone. The Astro A20 X comes with a 48kHz bandwidth microphone designed for better voice capture quality. Logitech claims its broadcast quality, which is a stretch for the out-of-the-box microphone quality. The microphone captures a fuller-sounding voice quality, but the real magic happens when you tweak the EQ or apply some of the preloaded profiles. Additionally, the Logitech G Hub app incorporates Blue Vo!ce effects that allow you to enhance your voice or play sound effects on command with programmable macros.
🔋Mid battery life. Roughly 40 hours of battery life with RGB lighting turned on (about 90 hours without), put the Astro A20 X in the middle of the pack for usage time. It lasts a few hours longer than the 30 hour battery life of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 Wireless and Sony Inzone H9 II. However, it’s far behind the longevity of mid-range headsets like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless (60 hours) and HyperX Cloud III Wireless (120 hours).
📅 Preorder today, shipping October 8. The Astro A20 X is available for a $179 preorder now and will be shipping on October 8. That makes this gaming headset $20 more expensive than the $159 Logitech G522, but the premium is worth it to have a headset that works with two systems simultaneously. The Astro A20 X’s $179 price also makes it much more approachable than the $299 Astro A50 Gen 5 and $399 Astro A50 X.
🎮 You have more than one gaming console at home
🎧 You don’t want to buy two separate gaming headsets
🎛️ You want flexible gaming audio and voice capture
🪶 You want a lightweight gaming headset
🚫 You need noise-cancelling on your gaming headset (get the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless)
👨👨👧 You have three gaming platforms to connect (get the Astro A50 Gen 5)
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.
