Astro Gaming's A50 wireless headset officially debuted today, though it was not a flawless launch. The initial batch of units have an audio drop bug that manifests itself at random times. We confirmed the bug in our review hardware. While minor, it is noticeably present throughout all types of use.

We reached out to Astro for comment and the company confirmed that there was an issue with the A50's firmware and that it would be addressed in an upcoming patch. The company did not set a firm date for the patch, though it does expect to release the firmware update in the near future.

The official statement from Astro follows:

"Astro has discovered a bug in the A50 firmware that is causing a very short occasional drop in audio. The audio drop may occur during gaming, listening to music, etc. The audio bug will affect the very first retail units of the A50 shipping to consumers. However, Astro is actively working with their partners to squash the bug with a firmware update which will be made available from the company's website in the next few weeks. We'll provide additional details to you once the firmware update is available.

While bugs suck and we'll do everything we can to resolve this one quickly, we're extremely excited to see the A50, which few would disagree is the single most complex and technologically advanced wireless headset ever made, finally get out into the "wild". So, we appreciate you bearing with us here. And, on a completely nerdy positive note, how cool is it that you'll now be able to easily update the firmware on a headset?! ;-) Astro has noted that future firmware updates may make it possible to increase battery life, extend range, make functionality tweaks, etc. Pretty neat."