The $60 A10 Headset Is Astro's First Budget-Priced Audio Gear

HEADSET PRICES HAVE come down drastically in the past couple years, but one company has ignored that trend: Astro, known still for its $200 A40 and $300 A50 even as the competition’s raced to the bottom. It appears the tides were too strong to resist though, as recently Astro announced its budget-friendly A10 headset. At $60, it’s both Astro’s least expensive headset and instantly one of the cheapest in the entire industry.

 

- Hayden Dingman

Not that there weren’t compromises. I’ve spent some time with the A10 so far and…well, I can’t say I love the look of it. It’s recognizably Astro, but looks every bit the cheap A40 it is. Other budget-friendly headsets, like the Razer Kraken 7.1 (go.pcworld.com/rk7) and HyperX Cloud (go.pcworld.com/hxc), manage to appear high-end while still retailing under $100. I don’t think Astro’s design aesthetic scales as well. The slate-grey panels on the sides aren’t replaceable either (like on Astro’s higher-end headsets), so you’re stuck with this look.