The headset of choice for tournament gamers on console and PC alike just got a big update. Astro Gaming’s A40 has been reborn as the fully customisable A40TR, and its Twitch-streamer-friendly MixAmp Pro TR has been completely redesigned.
The just-announced A40TRs look quite similar to the pre-existing A40, but the headset is now compatible with Astro’s Mod Kits, hot-swappable kits that can change the headphones’ look and feel. There’s a new bi-directional noise cancelling boom mic, which is more flexible than the old version. You can augment a standard pair of Astro Gaming A40s with different earpads and snap-on Speaker Tag earcup covers, the two of which can combine to turn a pair of normally open A40TRs into a closed-back, passive noise cancelling headset. Even the headband is customisable — you can swap the standard cloth one for leather.
CODBLOPS fans rejoice; the A40TR is the official headset of Black Ops 3, and it so follows that there’s a custom mod kit to suit the game. More mod kits will presumably be forthcoming. While you can muck around with most facets of the headset itself, you can also adjust the MixAmp, which takes game audio and headset input and adjust volumes and combines it all for output into a Twitch stream or for other gameplay capture software, through new Astro Command Centre software.
The new A40TR will be out at the start of October — on the 8th, to be precise — with the first complete mod kits coming out towards the end of the month; in Australia, you’re already able to put some cash down at EB Games or JB Hi-Fi to secure an early model if you so desire. Need more info? Here’s a four-minute video guide to the A40TR from Astro Gaming explaining a few of the new features. [Astro]