If you’re in the market for a wireless gaming headset that promises versatility across multiple platforms, the Astro A20 X immediately catches the eye.
Boasting a sleek design, customizable lighting, and a reputation for solid performance thanks to the name value of Logitech and Astro, it seems pretty well set up to handle any game's audio and crystal-clear in-game comms, especially in games like Rainbow Six Siege.
But how does it hold up in real-world use, from comfort and audio to connectivity and gameplay? Let’s take a closer look.
Design and Build Quality
The Astro A20 X has a relatively simple design that leans heavily on durable plastic, paired with fabric-covered foam earcups and a flexible, floating fabric headband.
Although these materials don't scream "premium" at first glance, I would say they look the part, and it feels sturdy enough for daily use and long gaming sessions. Although mostly plastic, it feels solid, and the matte black finish makes it appear a little higher quality than the plastic might suggest.
Most of the controls are built directly into the headset, and for the most part, they’re tactile and easy to operate mid-game. You get a volume scroll wheel, which works well but does feel a little too loose — I found myself accidentally nudging it on a few occasions. I think it would be better if it were a little stiffer and harder to rotate so freely, though not to the point where excess force is needed just to adjust volume. It's a fine balance, and Astro almost gets it right, but falls just shy of being perfect here.
Alongside the wheel, you’ve got dedicated buttons for Bluetooth, mic mute, multi-device connection switching, and even a game/chat balance button to prioritise either your teammates or your in-game audio. This covers almost everything you might need to adjust mid-game, and once you get used to where everything sits, it’s very intuitive.
The A20 X also includes a PLAYSYNC base, which handles multiple wireless connections seamlessly (I'll go into more detail about this a little later). And for those who enjoy personalizing their setup, the headset supports 16.8 million colours through LIGHTSYNC RGB, all customizable via Logitech’s G HUB software (Logitech brought Astro in 2017, in case you didn't know).
Comfort and Fit
Weight-wise, the A20 X comes in at 290 grams, which is pretty standard for a headset with 40mm drivers, though definitely still light enough for long sessions without feeling bulky. On paper, that’s a good start, but the comfort story ends up being a bit more complicated...
Instead of your usual sliding adjustment system, the A20 X uses a fabric floating headband that stretches and flexes to conform to your head. In theory, it should give you a “self-adjusting” fit, but in practice, it's not as comfy as it seems.
The headband attaches to the frame using rubber clips, which you can move between outer and inner slots depending on how tight you want the fit. It works… but it’s nowhere near as intuitive or convenient as a standard slider.
Unfortunately, this suspension headband system has one even bigger issue: there’s basically no padding on it. The padding-less floating headband pressed right up against the hard plastic headband above it while I was wearing it, which meant I often felt pressure points forming at the top of my head. After a while, that became more noticeable than anything else, and it’s the main reason I struggled with the A20 X during longer sessions.
Fortunately, the earcups do have plenty of foam padding, which is great, but the outer material covering that padding feels a bit scratchy — not rough enough to be painful, but definitely irritating, especially compared to the plush leatherette or soft-knit fabric other headsets use.
Underneath, the foam is nicely squishy, but the exterior doesn’t do it any favours. I also think the earcups could have been a bit larger or kept in a smooth oval shape instead of this odd triangle-ish form at the bottom, which slightly alters how they sit around the ears.
One thing I will give Astro credit for, though, is heat management. Despite the rougher fabric, the A20 X didn’t get particularly warm during long gaming sessions. Though you do get some, as expected with an over-ear headset, it's not nearly as noticeable as I have experienced with over-headsets over the years. So, as far as heat goes, the A20 X gets a tick from me.
Audio Quality
The A20 X's solid audio experience comes powered by its 40mm Biocellulose drivers, offering a standard yet dependable 20 Hz–20 kHz frequency response.
In testing, it genuinely reached both ends of that range, though, as expected, you’ll need to bump the volume a bit to fully hear those extreme frequencies. Nothing groundbreaking for a headset of this size, in fairness, but it’s good to see it deliver on its promises.
In real-world gaming, the headset performs well where it matters most. Directional audio travelled smoothly between the left and right channels, which is exactly what you want for competitive games where positional accuracy is everything.
Footsteps, reloads, and movement cues in shooters like Rainbow Six Siege came through clearly and with a sense of placement that felt reliable. While it won’t match high-end spatial audio systems, the A20 X handles directional sound cues confidently enough to give you a competitive edge.
Isolation, meanwhile, is fine, though entirely passive, and that does mean you’ll still hear some background noise around you. It doesn’t create that “sealed-in” feeling that more closed-off or ANC-enabled headsets offer, so immersion isn’t absolute. But for some players, that’s a benefit — you stay aware of your surroundings while still getting respectable in-game clarity.
Outside of gaming, the headset performs decently for music, podcasts, and day-to-day listening. The mids and highs are clear enough, and the bass holds its own without getting muddy. That said, it’s clear the tuning leans more toward FPS gaming than cinematic content. Explosions and heavy bass don’t carry that deep rumble you might get from beefier headsets, and higher frequencies can lose some sparkle unless you tweak the EQ.
Thankfully, you can tweak it through Logitech’s G HUB software. Boosting the highs or adjusting the sound curve makes a noticeable difference, especially if you want to tailor the headset for music or movie watching instead of pure competitive play.
Microphone Performance
The Astro A20 X features a surprisingly capable microphone for a wireless gaming headset in this price range.
It uses a flexible boom mic with an omnidirectional pickup pattern, which means it captures sound evenly from all directions. It also boasts a 70 Hz–20 kHz frequency response and a 48 kHz high-resolution recording quality, plus support for Blue VO!CE processing to help clean up and enhance your vocal output.
On that flexibility point, it's worth mentioning just how bendy the mic is, and I mean that in the best possible way. You can position it exactly where you want it, ensuring it sits comfortably while still capturing your voice clearly. The mic is also fully detachable, which is handy if you don’t need it for solo gaming. That said, I’m personally a fan of built-in retractable mics, purely because there’s less to lose or damage, but detachable mics do offer their own convenience.
As for quality, it’s solid. Not broadcast-ready like a standalone microphone, but clear enough for in-game comms. On its default EQ settings (customizable in G HUB — more on this later), my voice sounded clean and distinct. It’s not perfect, but it's far from bad. However, I did have one teammate mention I sounded quiet during a Fortnite match. This may have just been the mic position at the time, but it’s worth noting in case you run into the same thing.
One thing that genuinely impressed me was how well the mic isolates your voice. It barely picked up any background noise — no desk creaks, no sniffs or breathing, etc. That level of noise rejection is actually quite impressive for an omnidirectional mic.
While I wouldn’t recommend it for streaming or content creation, the A20 X microphone is more than capable for its intended purpose: clear, reliable team communication without distractions.
Connectivity, Compatibility, and Customization
When it comes to connectivity, you get 24-bit LIGHTSPEED wireless, Bluetooth 5.3, and USB-wired connections to play with, and all of them deliver solid performance.
The wireless range is advertised as up to 30 meters, and while that’s always a little tricky to measure precisely, it certainly felt accurate in practice. I wandered downstairs while still connected to my PC via LIGHTSPEED, then again via Bluetooth, and on both occasions, the headset remained connected.
In terms of compatibility, the headset works across PS5, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch, though I mainly used it on PC. Both Bluetooth and LIGHTSPEED offer rock-solid wireless performance, but LIGHTSPEED was definitely my preferred option, especially when used with the PLAYSYNC base, which supports up to 24-bit/48 kHz on PC and up to 16-bit/48 kHz on consoles.
Where things get particularly interesting is customization. The aforementioned G HUB software gives you full control over the headset’s audio, mic, and RGB lighting, and even throws in a sampler feature for good measure.
Audio customization is particularly important, as you can create custom EQ profiles or browse community ones, but the built-in presets are surprisingly well-tuned. “Gaming” and “Gaming – FPS” both boost the higher frequencies, which is ideal for FPS, unsurprisingly, where hearing footsteps matters far more than hearing deep rumbling explosions. By contrast, “Bass Boost” and “Media” shine for movies and TV, though I'd highly recommend not using these for shooters — your ears will thank me later.
Mic customization also turned out to be genuinely useful. The EQ presets helped fix the slight issue I mentioned earlier, where the mic occasionally sounded quiet to teammates. The “Night/Whisper” preset worked surprisingly well when I was trying to speak quietly without disturbing those around me, though I found “Broadcaster 1” made my voice sound the most natural and clear. And if none of those presets feel quite right, you can tweak things further using the full equalizer and signal cleanup tools.
The Sampler tab feels more like a fun extra than a core feature. Here, you can assign sound effects (like “Haunted House” or various expressions) to hotkeys and trigger them during calls or recordings. Not something I’d use in any serious setting, but it’s still enjoyable to mess around with.
Finally, the lighting customization is exactly what you’d expect: loads of presets, loads of colours, and full freedom to create your own effects. I’m not typically fussed about RGB on a headset (you can’t see it while wearing it, after all), but I’ll admit the lighting on this model does look pretty cool. The “Color Wave” preset was my favourite when I had the lights turned on. But of course, you can switch them off entirely if you want to conserve battery.
Gaming Performance
While the A20 X is built to handle a wide variety of gaming genres, I was especially keen to test it in shooters like Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike 2.
As already mentioned, the headset impressed me with its directional audio, making it easy to pinpoint footsteps and locate enemies quickly. In addition, the intensity of footsteps increased as enemies drew closer, providing another layer of spatial cues that helped me stay one step ahead of opponents.
In Fortnite, the abundance of background sounds, such as distant gunfire, occasionally made it trickier to pick out subtle footsteps, but once enemies were nearby, their movement cues cut through effectively. Counter-Strike 2, on the other hand, handled audio cues more cleanly, making enemy movements even easier to track. This makes the Astro A20 X particularly well-suited for competitive shooters.
Switching between multiple consoles is a breeze thanks to that PLAYSYNC base. All you need to do is toggle the switch on the back of the headset to swap systems. Early on, I did notice that connecting to a PlayStation required flicking the PLAYSYNC switch from Xbox to USB, likely because some functions like the game/chat balance button behave differently across consoles. Speaking of that button, it turned out to be far more useful than expected, letting me quickly adjust the balance between game audio and voice chat, or even fully mute teammates' comms if needed, if you press the button in the right earcup enough times.
The microphone, as touched on earlier as well, remained relatively clear throughout my time using it for gaming, bar that one slightly quiet moment while playing Fortnite. I also found the mute button on the left earcup to be excellent: pressing it produces a simple beep to indicate muting, with zero static or pops, and it works reliably every time.
Battery Life and Charging
The A20 X boasts impressive battery longevity, with Logitech claiming up to 90 hours when the lighting is turned off, and around 40 hours with the default lighting enabled.
In real-world use, this seemed accurate. At 60% battery with the lights on, G HUB indicated roughly 24 hours remaining, suggesting that the 40-hour claim is fairly reliable. This means you can comfortably go several long sessions, or even a few days, without worrying about running out of power.
Charging is handled via USB-C. While Logitech doesn’t list any dedicated fast-charging capabilities, my brief testing showed that it recharged fairly quickly, giving peace of mind that you won’t be left without a headset for long.
In fairness, I didn't really need to put its charging speed to the test, which is a testament to its battery life. However, the brief moment I did charge it, just to test out the USB-C cable, it seemed to regain its battery pretty quickly. Therefore, I have no complaints when it comes to the A20 X's battery and recharging capabilities.
Price and Value
The Astro A20 X carries a full retail price of $179.99 (£169.99), which positions it on the higher end of the wireless gaming headset market.
While it offers some nice perks, most notably the PLAYSYNC base for multi-platform setups and compatibility with PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, these features may not be fully utilized by most gamers who stick to a single platform.
In terms of performance, the A20 X is solid, with reliable wireless connections, clear directional audio, and a flexible, well-designed mic. However, when compared to other headsets in its price range, some options offer slightly better driver sizes, battery life, or earcup comfort, to give a few examples.
The build quality and functionality justify part of A20 X's price, but the premium cost may not be fully warranted, seeing as I feel this is more of an all-rounder than a master of any one particular gaming headset feature that some rival headsets seem to be.
Ultimately, the A20 X is a capable, versatile headset that works well across multiple platforms, making it a reasonable choice if you value flexibility and solid performance. That said, for those focused purely on single-platform gaming or seeking maximum value for money, there are other wireless headsets in this price range that may deliver a stronger overall package.
Pros and Cons
Here's a summary:
Pros
- Relatively lightweight at 290 grams.
- Directional audio and clear positional cues are ideal for FPS games.
- Flexible, detachable boom mic with Blue VO!CE support for in-game clarity.
- 24-bit LIGHTSPEED wireless, Bluetooth 5.3, and USB-C connectivity provide versatile, reliable performance.
- Extensive customization via Logitech G HUB, including audio EQ, mic EQ, and RGB lighting.
- Long battery life: up to 90 hours without lighting, 40 hours with default lighting.
Cons
- The fabric floating headband lacks padding, causing pressure points on the top of the head.
- Earcup outer material can feel a bit scratchy and rough.
- Premium price ($179.99 / £169.99) may not fully justify its performance compared to competitors.
Final Verdict
The Astro A20 X is a very capable wireless gaming headset that delivers pretty clear, directional audio, reliable connectivity, and a flexible, detachable mic for in-game communication. It's also highly customizable via Logitech's G HUB software, adding valuable personalization tools for audio, mic, and lighting so you can set it up to your preference and for whatever it is you're playing.
That said, the floating headband’s lack of padding and slightly scratchy earcup material prevent it from being truly great for long gaming sessions, in particular. Also, its fairly premium $179.99 price makes it a little hard to fully justify when compared to other headsets offering slightly better comfort or features.
Overall, it’s a dependable all-rounder, but not really a leader in any one particular field compared to rival gaming headsets in its price range.
