One of Astro’s latest headsets comes in celebration of last month’s release of Halo 5. Including some REQ DLC for the game, the headset’s design is inspired by Halo 5: Guardians & comes with a mixamp that makes changing the volume easy. While admittedly on the heavy side in weight, if you can get your hands on it, then the Astro 40 is worth every penny.

The Astro A40 is an 2015 gaming headset produced and distributed by Astro Gaming. It is available exclusively for Xbox One.

The Mixamp attached to an Xbox One controller.

In our first gaming hardware review, Otaku Dome takes a look at the Halo 5: Guardians branded Astro A40 headset. Coming with a mixamp volume controller, the A40 is a great, though pricey headset, but not more so than most premium gaming hardware. Designed with the idea in mind to go with the Halo 5 branded Xbox One controller, the Astro 40 is great for any gamer who’s seriously into online community gaming.

The headset by itself.

THE GOOD: The first thing you notice about the Astro A40 is it’s beautiful sleek dark chrome design. Inspired by Halo 5: Guardians, even without the Xbox One controller of the same design inspiration the headset & mixamp looks great by themselves. While sounding fine on it’s own the headset takes full advantage of the mixamp. Giving players the option to switch audio from game to voice with the simple press of a button, the mixamp really makes chatting easier.

The Astro A40 with the Halo 5 branded controller.

THE BAD: While it doesn’t look it, the A40 is surprisingly a bit heavy for a headset, especially when compared to headsets you may have used in the past. And no native controls on the headset itself, even a volume control, is a bit disappointing.

While the headset is good, the mixamp is the star of the A40 combo.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The Astro A40’s sleek Halo 5: Guardians design is great to look at. While a tad heavy and pricey, it’s one of the best premium gaming headsets on the market today. The mixamp is by far the biggest plus for the A40. Produced with simple and easy to use buttons, it takes some headache out of using headsets for online play and just regular volume control. Otaku Dome gives the Astro A40 Halo 5: Gaurdians Headset and Mixamp an 90 out of 100