My personal views and opinions on the Astro Gaming Mixamp PRO USB

Overview

The Astro Gaming company based in San Francisco California. They offer products such as the A40 Tournament headset, A30 Portable headset, Astars Ear buds, and the new A50 home use headset.  The also offer accessories such as travel bags, headphone stands etc.  They are well known in the major league gaming tournaments by and gamers world wide.

The product I am reviewing is the USB Mixamp Pro.  You connect this device to your gaming console or PC.  It will then take the input of a microphone for voice chat and output the game audio and voices of other players in to your headphones.

Build and appearance

The build quality of the mixamp is solid like a rock.  It has two knobs on it.  The top larger knob is for overall audio.  The smaller knob just below is the blend knob. It blends the game audio and voice of other players.  This makes it possible to listen to all the game audio, only the voice chat or anywhere in between.  The knobs are black with a silver rim.  They are tight but they turn nice and smooth.  The blend knob has a spot where you can feel that it is in the 50/50 position.  The outer parts of the mixamp have a nice rubbery feel, smooth but grippy.  The top of the device is a gloss black finish.  The knobs are black with sliver rim. There are two buttons on the headphones.  The one on the left is the power button that lights up red when it is on, and if you have the optional battery pack in, it will flash orange when it is charging. The button on the right lights up red when it on and turns on the 5.1 simulation.  When it is off, it is in standard stereo audio.

How I use the Mixamp

I use the mixamp on both the PS3 and Xbox 360.  I have the USB cable connected from my PS3 to the USB port on the mixamp.  Then there is an optical cable coming from the PS3 and the Xbox.  They go in to a cheap manual optical switch.  The output of the switch goes in to the optical port of the mixamp via another optical cable.  I also have the optional astro gaming mixamp battery inside the mixamp.  Then I use the Y-cable that comes with the mixamp to hook up my Sennheiser PC 360 Headset.  You can also use any headphone and microphone of your choice.  For example, before I got the Sennheiser PC 360 I used to use a pair of Denon D2000 headphones and a Zalman Clip on microphone.

This is all I need when I am playing on the PS3.  I just make sure the switch is set to where the PS3 is at.  When the PS3 is on it will charge the battery.

Then when I want to switch it over to the Xbox 360 I simply set the switch to the spot where the Xbox 360 is.  Then I attach the Astro gaming 2.5mm cable that comes with the mixamp in to the Xbox 360 controller and to the mixamp itself.  This is how you get your voice back in to the Xbox 360 so your friends can hear you.  When I am using this method I am running off of the battery.

If you only have one console, the PS3 or Xbox, you will not need the optical switch or the battery. Just run both the optical and USB in to your console of choice and to the mixamp.  But, if you are like me and use both, I have found this is the best setup. 

  Pros

Easy setup.  Looks good.  Virtual surround sound is very accurate.  The sound reproduction is nice and clean.  Powerful enough to drive most headphones.

Cons

No volume control for the microphone on the mixamp.  It would be nice to adjust the volume of my voice output on the mixamp.  The only way I can do this with my headset is to go in to the dashboard of my system.  Not to big of a deal because once it is set you do not really need to change it much.  Other than maybe to mute your microphone.  The solution for muting the microphone is to have one that can mute such as the Sennhesier PC 360 when I raise up the microphone, it mutes.  When the volume is at lower settings you may experience sound only coming out of one ear usually the left ear cup.  But if you just bump the volume up a tiny bit it should come back in both ears. 

Conclusions

This device is one of the simplest ways to get great audio and voice chat on your gaming console of choice from any headphone and microphone you have.  Very easy to use.  It is a great addition to your gaming experience.  I would recommend this to anyone with a nice headphone looking for a gaming and chat solution.  I also feel it is a much better set up then anything from Turtle Beach or Tritton on the market right now.

What is Playstation Plus, and Why should you want it?

Playstation Plus was first mentioned to the public at the E3 Convention in 2010 by Mr. Jack Tretton himself.  It is a Paid Subscription Service that costs $50 USD a year. 

One of the benefits it provides you with is automatic updates.  You set a time for the PS3 to turn on and when it does it will search for any new updates for the system itself, any installed apps and for games you have played on your console.  It will also automatically synchronize your trophies.  When the downloads are done the system will turn back off.  When you come back and turn your PS3 on you are greeted with a screen showing what it did while you were away.

You also have access to 150 Megabytes of cloud storage.  This is a nice feature to have to make back ups of your game save files or if you have multiple PS3 game systems in your home and play games in more than one room.  Also you could go to a friends house and download your game save and play with your character.

I think the biggest benefit of being a PS+ member is the discounts and free games.  This year they kicked off a new “Your instant game collection” giving you access to great free games such as InFamous 2, Little Big Planet 2, Just Cause 2, Viruta Fighter, Ratchet and Clank All 4 One, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines, Saints Row 2, Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light and a few other games.  This really was an exceptional value. 

The only minor downfall to this free game system is you must be a current PS+ member to play these games.  If you let your membership lapse you will not be able to play the games until you renew your membership.  In that aspect it is a lot like Netflix. During the time you are a member you have unlimited play to the content but when you are no longer a member you can not play the content anymore until you renew. 

You also get discounts from the Playstation@Store on a limited time, rotating basis.  Anywhere from 5% to 80% off.  This includes PSN exclusives, full retail games, Classics, and Minis. 

Another great feature I really enjoy and take full advantage of is the one hour game trial.  You can download the full game and you have an hour to try it out and see if you like it.  This is a great feature. 

I know that there have been times I have download a demo of a game but after playing the demo I still did not know if I wanted to get the game or not.  So, I did not and I may have missed out.  But with the one hour trials you can get a far better idea if it is truly a game you would like to play.

The only down side to this program is that you may have to upgrade your hard drive inside your Playstation 3 so you will have enough room for all the free downloads.

So, in the end, I do think you should get Playstation + membership.  You get free access to great content, discounts, free themes and avatars.  Cloud storage and one hour game trials.  I feel this is a very good value.  If you are an old Playstation user its good.  If you are new to the  Playstation it is exceptional.  You can pay $50 and get a great collection of games right off the bat.