This is the comparison between the Astro A10 and Steelseries Arctis 9X gaming headsets. Both the headsets has the large price difference, even though the compete in a gaming headsets. Check out which is the best for their price range.

Introduction

Astro A10

This is their first foray into less expensive headsets. Astro have always been very nice headsets but if you’re getting something nice like the Astro A50 will be a $300 headset which not everybody is on board with getting a headset the same price as their console. Even when they’re on sale or discount they only go down to 250, 200. Astro has finally come out with the good A10 which is very cheap.

SteelSeries Arctis 9X

To consider the specifications it’s got the same 20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz frequency response range that the Arctis 7 has and then obviously it’s wireless and there’s not a lot of difference between the Arctis headsets as far as performance is concerned. The Arctis 9X comes in at $200.

Design & Features

Astro A10

The headset is nice and simple, there’s no buttons or no flashy lights on it which is okay with me. These are the nice gray and blue color. It’s meant for the ps4 oddly enough when you go to check out the different ones, they have it in blue, red for PC and green for Xbox one but they’re all the exact same and they all do the exact same thing.

On the bottom of the ear cup is your detachable 3.5 millimeter audio cable, it also has some inline volume control that’s a nice feature. The fact that it’s removable is great because if this ever gets damaged, you don’t have to replace the entire headset but you can always just buy a new cable. For height adjustment the ear cups move smoothly along the headband, the ear cups do move just slightly for a better fit on your head.

They look very similar to the A50 but much simpler. The microphone is essentially identical but the headband is just one solid piece of plastic. They are adjustable over the ears, you can open and close them but you can’t really twist them because they don’t have the rotation that like A50 and A40. They have a slightly less expensive material for ear covering, so it’s not quite as complete. There are no fancy buttons on the side, there’s no mute, no volume up and down, no changing your equalizer settings and no removable speaker tags which is kind of a shame because that’s what Astro is famous for. The most important thing they have the same speakers that are in the A40 and A50. They are also incredibly simple and I think that is what makes them very good.

SteelSeries Arctis 9X

In the 9X they went with a green and black color scheme on the strap for the Xbox. Below the strap we have a metal headband which seems to be a pretty good quality and then on the bottom side of the headband is a little rubber pad for a little extra protection for your head.

This is made of plastic to have pretty good quality and this is no exception. The matte black plastic does leave oil and fingerprints though, so that’s something to keep in mind not a huge deal. This looks like an Arctis 7 but when it comes to the design of the controls it’s actually quite a bit different than an Arctis 7 for instance.

On the 9X, on the left ear cup all that is there is the game chat balance dial and it works really well. It has a little little bump at the halfway point, so let you know where you’re at and then if you move over to the right ear cup, you have the master volume, the microphone mute button and the power button and a Bluetooth button for pairing your Bluetooth. They still use a micro USB charging port and then there’s a 3.5 millimeter port that they use for SteelSeries.

This is an Xbox specific headset doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have the option to be compatible with more devices. The ear plates are not removable like they would be on an artist Pro.

It does have Bluetooth, so if you’re the type that wants to use your gaming headset to take phone calls or mix music in with your game-play you can do that type of things. One feature helps the 9X to really shine is that Steelseries included the use of SteelSeries engine on PC with it. This allows you to adjust the EQ is the sign of the four different EQ profiles, adjust your microphone transmit volume inside tone. You can also change whether Bluetooth is on by default, this isn’t the most robust support out there for an Arctis headset from Steelseries but it is still a big bonus and it works really well.

In all the headsets, when it first released they all had issues with dropping from the console, they would disconnect for two to five seconds of time and then reconnect. But, the SteelSeries Arctis 9X I haven’t had a single disconnect, it’s worked flawlessly out of the box. I haven’t had any audio distortion or any other complaint that I would have on those fronts that I had with any of those other headsets. As far as range is concerned it’s still not the best.

If you want to be able to use this headset with your PC then you’re going to need the Microsoft Windows 10 wireless adapter for Xbox one peripherals. This is $25 and it allows you to use any controller a headset that utilizes Microsoft’s Xbox wireless protocol to talk to your PC, it’s plug and play. There’s a sync button on top and it works really well. On PC this has worked just as well for me as it has on my Xbox.

Comfort

Astro A10

On top of the headband is a little area of padding and it’s the same padding you find in the ear cups that are pretty soft and overall it’s light to a medium weight headset. Since it is made of plastic, there’s no real pressure points. I would like there be a little bit more padding on the headband but I mean for the most part it is kind of light way to feel it’s okay. A little negative point is they’re so bulky, they’re definitely not discreet or a low profile on my head at all. In terms of physical features, They just do what they can for this point, it’s satisfactory.

SteelSeries Arctis 9X

As on all the other artists headsets, they use the ear weave cushions. I think that the Arctis Pro ear cushion is still just a little bit thicker than the 9X and I do notice that the very edge of my ear lobe will touch the inside of the driver housing on the 9X that’s nothing too bad, it’s not really uncomfortable or anything.

The 9X uses the ski strap suspension system which has a little bit of adjustment and space not a ton, so if you have a huge head you may have difficult getting a great fit with this headset. It fits pretty good for me though and I have a average-sized head. The ear weave cushions are comfortable, they’re not the most comfortable ear cushions on the market but the ear wave cushion are great, I have no issues wearing this headset for a very long time and not having any issues with discomfort or pressure points on top of my head or around my ears. It is a very comfortable headset.

Microphone

Astro A10

On the left ear cup you have the boom mic which goes vertical in order to mute it. It’s obviously something like a standalone microphone or like the mass drop mini mic sounds, a hundred times better but considering it’s an all-in-one package for a headset of this price range, it’s not a bad mic. That’s gonna be fine for just chatting with your friends on dis court or in-game.

SteelSeries Arctis 9X

Like all other Arctis headsets SteelSeries applied the retractable, clear cast microphone system with this Steelseries Arctis 9X and it has good flexibility and nice range of placement. So, you can get it just where you need and as on all the other artists headsets, you have the little red light mute indicator which can be kind of handy.

The 9X is microphone transmits clearly and I have not had any complaints about its quality. It is a little bit nasally but this isn’t anything too major. It will occasionally pick up breathing or other ambient background noise but this is rare and I’ve found that this is usually due to the placement which is easily alleviated by the retractable design of the microphone. Overall, I am very pleased with this microphone and it’s one of the better ones that I’ve used on the Xbox.

Sound Performance

Astro A10

You can plug it into your Xbox controller or your ps4 into your PC without a problem. For a very casual gaming if you’re not really an audiophile yourself or you don’t care too much about the sound quality, these are gonna be fine. You’re still be able to pinpoint footsteps relatively easily, the sound quality isn’t like glaringly bad. The sound quality is a little bit lacking.

SteelSeries Arctis 9X

Another nice feature that the 9x has over of Xbox headsets is it does have different EQ profiles that you can switch between the four included presets are flat, bass boost, smiley, and focus. The focus is a little bit different for a SteelSeries product, the lows and the high troubles are all flat and then the upper mid-range is heavily boosted to try to bring out more of those subtle sounds with reloads and footsteps and so on.

The 9X has a very good sound quality and does not disappoint. The default flat EQ profile is clean and well balanced and the cycle through the EQ profiles you simply tap the power button and there will be a series of beeps to let you know which one you’re on. I played out with all the built-in sound profiles and I personally liked flat the best.

SteelSeries opposites not include DTS X headphone 2.0 on the 9 X which is disappointing considering it’s on every other Arctis headset except the Arctis 3 but surround performance with both windows sonic and Dolby Atmos is great. I’ve not had any issues with directionality in any game I’ve played. The 9X also gets decently loud than the Arctis Pro with the game dac but there’s not as much bass in the 9X as there is with the Arctis Pro.

Conclusion

Astro A10

To consider the overall value for this price range, lightweight headset with a built-in mic that’s not too bad, you use it across whatever platform or console you want. These are to realize that that can pretty much be justified if you want to haul out.

SteelSeries Arctis 9X

The sound quality is top-notch. I haven’t had any issues with microphone. So, overall the Arctis 9X on Xbox one is a fantastic headset. It has flawless wireless performance over the Direct Connect protocol. It’s very comfortable over long periods of time, the audio performance and sound quality is excellent and I’ve had excellent results with both Windows sonic and Dolby Atmos. I’m very pleased with this whole package, it’s a great system. My only issue with it is the price, this is performance wise this is essentially an Arctis 7 headset and it costs $50 more than an Arctis 7 MSRP, so they’re asking a lot for this headset.

[i2pc pros_icon=”icon icon-plus-thick” cons_icon=”icon icon-minus-thick” show_title=”true” title=”Astro A10″ show_button=”false” pros_title=”Pros” cons_title=”Cons” ][i2pros]Slick, durable design
Impressive audio performance
Clear microphone
Affordable[/i2pros][i2cons]A little snug[/i2cons][/i2pc]

[i2pc pros_icon=”icon icon-plus-thick” cons_icon=”icon icon-minus-thick” show_title=”true” title=”Steel series Arctis 9x” show_button=”false” pros_title=”Pros” cons_title=”Cons” ][i2pros]Great sound
Comfortable fit
Wireless Xbox compatibility[/i2pros][i2cons]Frustrating button layout
Imperfect wireless performance
Few customization options[/i2cons][/i2pc]

Buy Astro A10

Buy Steelseries Arctis 9X