Due, to the annoying amount of threads that are being created by people complaining that their Astro A40's and even A30's are making a faint buzzing sound, I did some reading on the Astro forums and on the internet to further add to my knowledge on what causes this headset to buzz slightly in the background.

The buzzing noise is usually created by two things,

• Interference.
  
• Cords not all plugged in correctly.
  

Firstly, the interference that causes is usually created from things that contain any sort of electricity, I don't do physics or chemistry but I think that this is the problem.

Buzzing can be caused if the MIXAMP is too close to any of the following.

• Lamps
  
• Alarm / Clock Radios
  
• Battery rechargers
  
• Some Laptops and their chargers
  
• My Phone has caused some problem also
  
• Too close to a powerpoint
  

These are things that have either caused a buzzing in my Astro A40 headset, or have caused it to happen to other people and they have posted it online.

Secondly, I know for most people this isn't a problem, but this thread is aimed at those who aren't quite up there with understanding the difficulties that modern day technology can provide for some people.

Making sure that you have plugged in all your cords correctly.

Cords that come with the Astro A40 / A30 Audio System which are used for the best XBOX 360 setting as recommended in the user manual.

• USB power cord
  


• Optical cable (Usually if this isn't plugged in, you get no sound)
  


• Headset to Mixamp
  


• Headset to Headset
  


• Voice / Talk Back Cable
  


• 'Daisy Chain' Fully pushed in.
  


• 'Daisy Chain' Clearly unplugged, needs above to avoid the buzz.
  

Now, it may seem stupid posting pictures of these things considering most of you would know what they all are, but it is absolutely necessary to plug all of these in as far as they can go.

I know that you will not want to put too much pressure on your babies, but to avoid this heinous buzzing sound, push all of those things in as hard as you can. Daisy chains, USB power chargers, optical cables and headset to Mixamp cables.

In conclusion, if you have moved the things I mentioned above as far away as you can from the MixAmp and the buzzing is still occurring, check and double check all your cords are pushed in as far as they can go. If this still doesn't fix it, PM me if you need any further help.

Otherwise go here,

Astro forums where you can ask questions.

However, preferable raise a support ticket at the support section, where you can ask questions to Astro Staff instead of Forum Staff.

It is located here,

Support and Tech Help Here.

I am unsure whether other headsets have the same problem and can be fixed via the same methods. When I had the Tritton AX720 headset, I never had this problem as the decoder box eliminated any static / buzzing noises.

I see a lot of threads asking why headsets are buzzing, and I don't know a lot about things about headsets except for the Astros, but I and some of the folks over at the Astro forums believe that static interference is the main reason for the buzzing sound.

Secondly, my mic just stopped working one day, and I started to freak out and I contacted Astros Tech Support Here. Turns out my mic had just slipped onto mute, but I still received a troubleshooting email back giving reasons why my mic may not have been working, this is the message I received...

Hi Dominic,

I'd like you to run through a few more simple troubleshooting steps to isolate the problem.

An issue with voice communication can be caused by multiple things, the most common is some kind of a cabling problem. We will need you to go through a few troubleshooting steps to try and identify the source of the issue. Please respond with the specific results from all of the following:

Make sure that all of the connections and cables are securely in place. This includes the microphone and red daisy chain jumper on the MixAmp.

Make sure that the mute switch on the headset cable is not enabled(there should be no orange showing).

Verify that your game/voice balance knob on the MixAmp is somewhere in the middle, and that your Xbox Live personal voice settings are on "play through headset".

Wipe down both ends of your controller cable with a clean dry cloth. Many of those cables are left with a residue on the connections from the manufacturing process. If present on the connection, this residue may cause issues with performance.

If none of those steps help to identify the source of the issue, you can perform some troubleshooting using a computer. Even though you may not use the computer for gaming, these troubleshooting steps allow us to accurately and quickly determine the source of the issue. For the best results, ensure that all of your software settings are correct by verifying that you are able to successfully record and play back your voice with an alternate headset/microphone before completing the following steps. For each of the steps, record and playback your voice using the included sound recorder program that comes standard on most Windows based computers. If you are using a Mac with a line level input, you will still be able to perform some of the tests, but only using the full system.

Connect the headset by itself to both of the headphone and microphone ports on the computer using the PC Quick Disconnect(PCQD) cable that comes included with the A40 Headset. This PCQD cable has two plugs on the end of it that have pink and green identifying bands. The pink banded plug connects to the microphone port. The green banded plug connects to the headphone port.

Connect the full system, including the MixAmp, to your computer. If needed, use the setup guides that were included with your packaging for help in setting up this configuration to your PC. If you no longer have those setup guides, you can find them in PDF format located in the support section of our website. For this test, you will want to use the standard 4 Pole Quick Disconnect cable(4PQD) to connect the headset to the MixAmp. This 4PQD has a single plug with a gray band on it.

If you cannot hear yourself while recording your voice with the headset alone, the issue is likely something with the microphone or headset itself. If this is the case, remove the microphone from your headset, plugging it directly into the microphone port on your computer. Then complete the voice recording/playback test. If you are still unable to hear your voice recording, and have ensured that the computer settings are correct by successfully recording with an alternate headset/microphone, the issue is likely the microphone itself. If it records normally using only the microphone, the issue is likely the internal wiring of the headset.

If the voice recording sounds fine with the headset alone, but you don't hear yourself when the MixAmp is attached, and you've verified that the system is set up correctly, the issue is likely something with the MixAmp.

If all of the computer troubleshooting is successful and you can hear yourself both using the A40 Headset alone and with the MixAmp on the computer, the issue is likely the controller cable.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

-WZDM

Edited once, 5/9/10 - 1:52am.

amazing <3

Nice work. Should help out alot of people.

Sticky this.

Nice, will help many people

An admin should sticky this. Great work mate.

Mine makes a buzzing noise but only other people can hear it so it doesn't bother me at all.

Problem is most likely at their end then.

I don't think that everyone on Xbox has an issue. I know its from my end but it doesn't bother me. I may have a fiddle with it when I get back but it doesn't bother me at all.

If people complaining is really annoying you, then contact Astro's technical support Here

Sticky this thread. It's great work from my bro WZDM. I occasionally have this problem, but it sorts itself out normally.

Stickied.

Maybe try add more information about other brands of headset so it can just generally be a Headset help thread.

Any mods feel the need to unsticky it, be my guest. It seems worthy to me, but others may disagree.

I will try and do a bit of research and search through some other forum boards to try and find other information on different headsets. I felt the need to write this after seeing like the 100th thread on this topic last night, it was also to procrastinate from doing french .

I never had, any interference problems with my Trittons, and I don't think they will ever be a problem, I'll look around for information about Turtle Beaches. If anyone needs anything they are welcome to PM me.

i fixed mine. The xbox didn't supply enough power to the mixamp via USB

yea same mine has a hum when i turn the dials both past 50%.
only happens when using the usb from the xbox, when using aa's there is no hum at all.
did you fix it by using AA's or something alse that supplys more power?