Steelseries GameDAC vs Astro MixAmp Pro TR
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Hey everyone - Today I wanted to make a quick comparison between these two dac/amp combos. [Please note this is NOT the GameDAC V2 that is coming with the new Arctis Nova, but rather the original that came with the Arctis Pro's.] Long story short, I prefer the Steelseries. Both provide great audio quality as well as a litany of features that you should expect at the $130 price point, but I just found the GameDAC sounded a little better. The best feature in my book is the Game/Chat mixers that both of these provide, and if you spend a lot of time in Discord I think you will find decent value in these. If you already own one, don't waste your money on the other - the differences are negligible in my book. I used the Astro Mixamp for 3 years before swapping to the GameDAC, so I can definitely vouch for its build quality; it made it through 3 moves and is still going strong.
Please leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the section below. Thanks again for watching.
0:00 - Intro
1:38 - Synopsis/Conclusion
3:40 - Physical & Feature Comparison
8:40 - Software Comparison
11:46 - Wrap Up
🤯 Holy crap a answer at the start of the video! You earned my like man.
this is exactly what I was looking for, thank you!
I have both as well because I love collecting audio equipment and comparing but the biggest difference is the mic input. The Mixamp has a built in noisegate which makes me use it over the GameDAC 2. Using any of my headsets I noticed the GameDAC picks up all background noise from the mics and outputs it to my teammates, I feel too guilty exposing my teammates to that so I use the Mixamp for that reason alone. xD Also being mainly a console player the GameDAC 2 is barebones and really needs Sonar software on PC to get the most of its features. Ones not really better than the other though in my opinion, both have their niche uses, DAC with PC, and Mixamp for console use. ✌️
Thanks for this. You showed me what I was looking for and some useful info as well. Appreciated your straight forward approach as well! Ever since my old Turtle Beach's died, no new headsets have Optical connections anymore. So I was looking at the GameDAC to be able to do that. Makes streaming from my PS4 better without having to use earbuds with an Elgato Chatlink. Cheers and thanks for the overview!
you just earned a easy sub lol ur insight is pretty dope
thanks for the video man 👍
I was debating really hard on which one to get and you helped make the decision clear. I was going to get the mixamp pro TR because I seen gamestop had it on clearance for $59 which is a steal but, by the time I was going to purchase they were all sold out. Now I was left with paying full price for the TR or get the gameDAC for about 85$ and I wasn't sure if the TR was really worth $50 more than the DAC but, luckly I found your video and here I am now waiting for my gameDAC to get to me.
Thanks for the video, answered many of my questions. I haven't heard of the mixamp before was just looking at comparisons between the gamedac and other similiar dacs. A suggestion to improve would be to pre-record going through the menus of the gamedac and sync it up to what you were talking about. Or just in general to have B-roll of the devices up close as you're talking about their aesthetics. So we can have up close view can see it better and way you won't have to fidget around by trying to hold it up to the camera.
Love the honesty at 3:05...."I have no fucking idea" LOL. Great video explaining the differences between these 2 options! You mentioned the PC38's early on.....which amp/dac combo would you pair those with (if not the SS or Astro)? Thanks in advance.
Glad I found your video! I initially purchased the GameDAC and was wondering about the MixAmp. Now I don't have to. One question, do you get a lot of background "hiss" sound with the sidetone on?
I know this video is a little old - but is it worth picking up either amp if my headset is currently plugged into a Wave 3 mic? I’m on PC so can of course already EQ.
the gamedac is on sale and i hace the arctic pro and i cant decide if i should buy it to add it to the headset and if its worth buying
I'm looking at these and the Sound BlasterX G6.Specifically for the Gamechat/voicechat mix. Like the Astro having just the 2 wheels out there. Not having to toggle between volume and chat control. I like that the GameDAC has the GG app thing but also have the screen so you can still do a LOT on the DAC itself. The GameDAC gen 2 has a 3.5mm jack, but lose the optical. Something I'd like. I wanna connect it to the TV using the optical as you would connect a PS4 slim. And have all the consoles benefit from the GameDAC without changing where it's plugged. Other than the USB. I'd only use Chatmix with the PC. So I could leave it plugged there or if I have to turn off the PC use an external power, I don't mind replugging a USB. Or enable my mobo setting to power USB while off. And then there's the SoundBlasterX G6. Seems like a better amp/dac as they go. For the GameDac on PC. You seem to be able to choose what's considered chat, game, media on the Sonar app. Which I already have. So I think you could be able to put browsers or media player on the chat column and use the chat feature to also balance between game and media. Like if you are playing while listening to music, and something happens on game so you need to quickly boost the game and silent the music, without having to fiddle with individuals volumes. Astro have the quck knob, that you can't miss. SoundBlasterX probably offer the best sound and amp for better headphones. While the GameDac seems to offer a lot in one package that I won't need to be repluging back and forth.
The more I look into it. The more I'm convince I should go for some Arctis Pro, be it wired or wireless. Would cover the most devices in one go and controls in one place.
I’ve been down the rabbit hole that this guy can save you from. The astro mixamp pro is enough to power pretty much any headphone (it powers my 300 ohm high end headphones) and sounds the same as a $200 dedicated audiophile branded DAC - I’ve tested both swapping sources over and over and there is no discernible difference in audio quality. The convenience however like Mercury says is literally unparalleled in any other product for the price and is basically a blind recommendation from me if you want to easily mix game and chat audio.
On the gamedac I haven’t used the wired version but the wireless version that come with the nova pro series has some quality control issues. Sometimes the mixing dial was totally broken and would bug out when trying to change. This is possibly not an issue with the wired version but thought I’d mention. The real difference in usability is the gamedac only has one dial and this is the dealbreaker for me. Having the ability to change either volume or mix separately without extra clicks is so much nicer and honestly when you’re in the middle of a fight in game and you need to quickly turn your chat volume down to concentrate this is a make or break convenience. Anyway I almost wholeheartedly agree with the review and having been down the audiophile rabbithole and come out of the other end I can safely say anything passed your headphone is almost certainly a waste of money, unless you want a neat feature like game chat mixing, in which case for my money the astro mixamp is the winner with the gamedac an appreciated addition to the market.
Also do yourself a favour and set all the eq frequency settings to zero db in astro command center and sync that to your device. Astros eq is not great and you’re better off just removing it to get the normal sound of whichever headphone you’re using.
Thank you for the detailed reply! Anybody who is researching this would benefit from your write up. Hope you have a great holiday season.
You too man, appreciate the honest video. The more info out there the better in my book. Horribly easy to waste money in todays world without even knowing it.
I'm a steelseries man because of this video
Hi, how you do you setup the game dac on series x?
@MercuryTV i was looking around the youtube if someone figured the pin out of the proprietary connector of the gamedac cause i have some moded beyerdynamic with steelseries arctic circuitry working fine and i dont wanna butcher the original cable in case i wanna use em sometimes and i bought some superlux hd681 evo which is only with audio jack so my point is i found your video its possible to find/buy that proprietary cable with the audio jack you hate ? :P i searched in ebay only returns i get is either the long cable with both proprietary connector or the device itself or usb cables
Is it this? steelseries.com/gaming-accessories/gamedac-35mm-adapter
@@MercuryTVyes this is the one but in the english site the order is 18 dollars and the german one its 25 euros lol im definitely not buying that shit i can as well just cut the original cable and solder the right wires to a female audiojack just cant find out in google any info that someone tried it and like i said in ebay the only returns i see is the device itself instead of this adapter
Hi, sidetone is super important to me (I'm terrible for waking up the family). Just wondering which one has the louder sidetone?
I’ll test this out tonight and get back to you.
@@MercuryTV Hey, just wondering if you ever tested this. Cheers
Hey sorry man! Did it right now, Astro MixAmp is definitely better right off the bat. Both are overall-volume-dependent, so the louder your volume knob is, the louder the side tone. So on both you could turn volume up loud, use game/chat mixer to kind of equalize that out and still have good loud sidetone on each. I’ve swapped back to the Astro MixAmp recently and love having the two dials again.
Awesome, thank you!
Soooo... what if I use my DT 770 PRO`s with the GameDAC?
Does this work with Bluetooth headsets or does it have to be connected to the Gamedac for the
Steelseries.
No sir unfortunately these are for wired headsets only. I am not 100% sure but I think the new GameDac 2 that comes with the Arctis Nova Wireless might.
It have mobile symbols on dac, so is it output mic and capture sound from mobile ? I want to boost my mic volume i speak at low so i don't wake up my family, on mobile game, i got pc to run that dac, in simple that mobile input does it have trrs mic out
Hey bud - had a bit of a hard time understanding your questions but I can say that yes, the Steelseries GameDac can boost your mic volume independently. It has that option in the internal settings. As for mobile jack, I haven't messed around with it so I can't speak too much to its uses.
I have xbox series x so this is the only dac/amp I can only get
I haven’t used steelseries but I can say don’t waste your money on astros a40s they most likely won’t work because they’re outdated an you can’t even update them because the app is broken
I don’t have an optical port on my pc
Luckily you don’t need one to use either of these. Just a USB port.
But it doesn’t have the same sound quality as it does on ps4 with optical
The Dolby setting is useless without optical. It sounds terrible tinny and echoed. Which is very unfortunate considering one of the main purposes of using the mix amp is the 7.1 surround sound
Why would u want to hear yourself ? With side tone I think hearing yourself in the background it’s annoying
Because I have found over the years that when I use a closed-back headset for an extended period of time, I will gradually increase my talking volume until everyone in the house is annoyed with me. I need the gentle reminder that I don't have to yell for the people on the other end of the headset to hear me. Sidetone, or open back headsets, are a necessity for me. Obviously doesn't apply to everyone, but I cant be talking loud with a 4 year old sleeping 2 walls away lol.
so the mixamp works better for my setup bcuz i use the stream port to send audio to a subwoofer to feel bass. odd but i found a use lol