Astro Mixamp Pro review
http://www.astrogaming.com/mixamp/mixamp-usb
(Never reviewed amps so bare with me. My first amp)
"The heartbeat of the pro gamer's audio experience. The MixAmp™ Pro combines crystal-clear voice communication with pinpoint-accurate 7.1 Dolby and Dolby Headphone surround. High-power, audiophile-grade amplification completes this portable, powerhouse package."
So I tested this with a pair of AD700s. First off we have all heard or have experienced first hand how little bass the AD700s have, when paired up with the Astro Mixamp I was actually able to experience quite a bit of bass and it wasn't out of this world bass it was actually pretty clean.
Music**
I listened to Benny Benassi ft. Gary Go - Cinema with Skrillex (yeah I listen to dubstep) and Klaypex - Sunrise (feat. Sara Kay) (I will update when I have a listen to other genres as well). So far the soundstage of the AD700s and the Dolby Digital Surround Sound seem to be fighting each other as too which should take over but it's not a bad thing too me it's a Win Win situation (you can turn Dolby Digital off if you want to). I can hear every single beat when listening to these songs, vocals come off clean as well.
Games**
Counter-Strike: Source
So far I've only played Counter Strike Source. Hearing the footsteps in game, gunfire from different directions are easily distinguishable.
Halo Reach**
Well, they are meant for consoles after all
. Playing this game with this amp and the AD700s are unbelievable. I can hear everything, I've noticed that my headphones instantly become noise canceling when playing this game, I become literally zoned in and it's hard to break this trance and I have become quite addicted to the game now. So in conclusion, I could hear everything from gunfire from across the map, footsteps, call outs from friends etc.
Looks/Durability**
at first opening the box I was scared I would break it or screw it up somehow. The amp is a brick very large(pics soon hopefully). Although it is quite large it still pretty pleasing to the eyes and everything about this amp is just simple, it is pretty much "plug this here, plug this there, and you're good" very easy to setup. The sides come with a nonslip coating similar to Razers mice coating on Deathadder, Mamba, Etc. It glows when it's on although it's only 2 buttons that actually glow (power and dolby digitial on/off). There are nobs that are dedicated for sound and my favorite a nob to increase volume on ONLY voice or you can decrease the voice and increase the Game volume, this is incredible useful if you just want to just game without hearing the kids cry about how your a hacker or how you need to go to the kitchen.
What it comes with**
You can just look this up on their site, but if you don't want to then here we go! It comes with a mini USB cable (I will come back to this in a sec, its very important), Optical TOS cable, Y 3.5mm adapter, 2.5(?)mm xbox controller cable, and a normal 3.5 cable.
***Now the reason I said that it is very important that you keep the USB cable safe is because if you lose this and use say one from your ps3 or one from your cell phone it will not work, this is the bad thing about this amp it is very picky and very stubborn so if you are wanting this amp keep your cables safe.***
So I hope I covered everything for you guys if not send me a message and I'll keep updating this post with videos of the amp in action and pictures. If you are looking into buying this I would say your best option is to buy the combo they sell for 250 (headphones and amp) as it is cheaper (amp is $130, headphones are $200). I purchased the mixamp alone simply because I didn't like the super amount of bass the A40's produced.
P.S. I forgot to mention this, at the bottom of the AMP is a "chamber" so you can use batteries instead of a USB cable, or even the rechargeable batteries they sell on their site.
It also comes with a Daisychain(not sure what it does but I can guess). I believe from what I saw from it was that it connects multiple mixamps together for LANing purposes.
I'll buy it or something like that if I ever need a better mic
