Astro Gaming is known for headsets, including many of our favorite models. There's more to gaming than headsets, though, which is why Astro has released its own controller. The Astro C40 TR is the company's first non-audio gaming accessory, a gamepad designed for use with the PlayStation 4 and PC. Its wildly ambitious $199.99 price will scare away all but the most dedicated gamers, but its excellent build quality and extensive customization options make it one of the best gamepads we've tested, and an Editors' Choice.

The C40 is a solid, almost imposing gamepad that won't easily be mistaken for any other controller. It's covered almost entirely in a rubberized matte black material, with a textured black plastic panel on the face to hold the analog sticks, direction pad, and face buttons. It weighs a hefty 11.2 ounces, significantly heavier than the stock DualShock 4 and over an ounce more than the chunky Xbox Wireless Controller. It's very comfortable in large hands, with the extra heft giving it a sturdy feel without being bulky.

You don't get any cosmetic customization options when you order the C40—the matte black gamepad is your sole choice. The design supports customizable partial faceplates, but most of the controller is standardized. If you want a gamepad you can make look like your own instead of feel like your own, you should consider the Xbox Design Lab gamepad, or custom controllers from companies like Scuf and Evil Controllers.

All of the features of a DualShock 4 can be found on the C40. There are the dual analog sticks, direction pad, four face buttons, and four triggers that are standard on all modern game controllers, along with Options, Share, and PlayStation buttons, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a U-shaped touchpad for the few games that incorporate it. Instead of the large light bar on the back of the DualShock 4, here there is a small light strip built into the touchpad, letting you check its color at a glance without causing any reflections on your screen.

Turning the C40 over shows several of the hallmarks of pricey enthusiast and custom controllers. Two additional triggers, UL and UR, sit against the grip where your middle fingers rest naturally. A small remapping button between them lets you manually assign them inputs, if you don't want to use the Astro software to customize everything. Two small rest switches above the triggers activate or disable mechanical stops that shorten the L2 and R2 trigger pull distances. On the top edge of the gamepad, two more red switches toggle between wired and wireless modes, and one of two control profiles you can set. A deeply recessed micro USB port between the upper switches lets you plug in the C40 with the included six-foot cable for charging, using the gamepad as a wired controller, or customizing it with Astro's software.

The plastic plate on the front of the C40 is held in place with four hex screws. By loosening them with the included hex driver, you can remove the plate (the screws themselves are locked in even when loose, so you don't need to worry about losing them) to expose the analog stick and direction pad modules. The sticks and pad are built into small black cylinders with metal contacts on the bottom that rest in recesses under the plate. Because they're modular, you can swap the layout of the C40 between PlayStation-style parallel analog sticks and Xbox-style offset analog sticks. You can also replace the modules with inexpensive parts if the sticks or direction pad start to wear down or stop working; Astro estimates that replacement modules will be available for about $20 each. The tops of the analog sticks and the plastic direction pad also pull off of the modules, letting you swap out different caps and pads. The C40 comes with two concave and two convex stick caps on short stems, and one concave and convex cap each with slightly longer stems.

The C40 lacks one aspect of the DualShock 4, but replaces it with an arguably better option. It doesn't connect to the PS4 or PC over Bluetooth. Instead, it uses a 2.4GHz USB adapter that plugs into your console or computer to work wirelessly. Once the adapter is plugged in, the C40 acts just like a DualShock 4 connected over Bluetooth, including two-way headset audio through the 3.5mm port on the bottom of the controller. The adapter uses one of the two USB ports on the front of the PS4, but it should provide a more stable wireless connection with less latency than Bluetooth. It also lets the C40 work wirelessly with PCs without using an XInput wrapper like you need with a DualShock 4. Of course, the C40 works as a wired gamepad as well, like a DualShock 4 on a PS4 and like an Xbox One controller on a PC when connected with the included cable.

Astro includes a zip-up, hard nylon case. It comfortably holds the controller, USB cable, wireless adapter, hex driver, and four extra analog stick caps together in one place, with each piece having its own dedicated recess or (for the USB cable) mesh pocket.

Astro's software for configuring the C40 offers a downright dizzying array of options. You can remap almost any input to any button, including the direction pad and analog stick clicks. That alone is incredibly useful, though you can also manually remap any inputs to the UL and UR buttons by holding down one of them and the remap button on the underside of the controller.

The software also lets you tweak the sensitivity of the analog sticks and the L2 and R2 triggers. Each input has a graph that functions like a custom equalizer, letting you slide four sensitivity points up and down to adjust the curve of how sensitive the sticks and triggers are. This lets you set dead zones and rapid acceleration arcs at different angles of tilting the stick or pulling the trigger, granting a remarkable level of granularity. The software provides helpful visual guides when adjusting stick and trigger sensitivity as well.

The sticks are displayed with large gray circles that indicate the full range of movement as an orange line with a dot on the end. A white dot moves down the line toward the orange dot as you push the stick, indicating how far your PS4 or PC will think you're pushing the stick based on the tweaked curve. The trigger inputs get a white arc in the software, with an orange dot that slides along that arc based on the adjusted sensitivity you set.

Finally, the headset jack itself gets its own tweaks in the software. In addition to microphone and headphone volume, you can control sidetone levels (how much of your voice is played back in your ear as you talk; without sidetone voice chat can be disorienting). There's also a five-band EQ for all sound output through the controller.

All of your changes get written directly to the controller, so you can use them with your PS4, or any other PC you want to play on that doesn't have the software. The C40 can store two profiles at once, and switch between them on the fly using the mode switch on the top edge of the gamepad. You can also store unlimited profiles in the Astro software itself, so if you want to tweak your controls for every game you play, you can have them ready to sync and use whenever you want.

I used the Astro software to create two game-specific profiles to test on the PlayStation 4. For Sekiro, I simply mapped the up direction pad input (item use) to the UL button and the triangle button (tool switching) to the UR button. The UL remapping instantly made the game a bit easier, since it let me activate combat items without taking my thumb off of the left analog stick, which the game's input mapping requires by default. Since every face button and trigger is already used by other functions, the extra two buttons on the underside greatly help the game's control.

Since the triggers provide variable input like the analog sticks, different games activate their functions at different pull distances. Sekiro requires a fairly deep trigger pull to use your grappling hook, and this resulted in a few deaths by falling because I set the trigger stops to limit the distance of the trigger pulls. I fixed this by disabling the trigger stops, but I could have just as easily tweaked the trigger sensitivity to send the same value as a full trigger pull with the distance of the trigger stop. I decided not to do this in Sekiro, because the grappling hook and other combat tools have lengthy animations, and accidentally triggering them with shorter pulls would have left me vulnerable when fighting enemies.

The infamously difficult Sekiro got a tiny bit easier with the trigger changes. The ability to use healing items, or any other consumable item, without moving my thumb opened up the possibility to use them in combat. I could still maneuver around item use animations, without the extra time to reposition my thumb on the direction pad and back to the analog stick.

For Apex Legends, I made things a bit more complicated. I mapped the UL and UR buttons to act as the right direction press (selecting grenades) and circle button (crouching), letting me perform both actions without taking my thumbs off of the analog sticks. I set the trigger stops, which worked with the game since the triggers activate with relatively shallow presses.

Then I started tweaking the analog sticks. Aiming with a gamepad is slower and much less precise than with a mouse. I adjusted the right analog stick to be less sensitive with slight tilting, but more sensitive with deep tilting. This let me finely adjust my aim with small movements while spinning around rapidly with large ones. I took the C40 back and forth between my PS4 and PC to adjust the curve settings a few times, checking how it felt in Apex Legend's training mode and nudging the curve in the software. After a few tries, I found a curve that felt much more comfortable and accurate than the default. I also tweaked the left analog stick to be more sensitive along its entire curve, letting me bob and weave faster with less tilting.

Getting used to the new sensitivity curves of the analog sticks was tricky. The combination of a pseudo-dead zone in the middle of the stick followed by a wild swing as I tilted farther felt awkward, but I could feel that the ability to craft that sort of behavior could be very valuable to a skilled player. The UR button mapping also gave me more options during combat, just like in Sekiro, since I could switch to grenades while moving.

The Astro C40 is a marvel of a gamepad. It has plenty of features now standard with boutique modded and high-end controllers, like additional, remappable controls and a selection of analog sticks to use. It adds a modular input design that lets you switch between parallel and off-set analog stick configurations with ease, and custom software with a breathtaking number of adjustments to input sensitivity. Add a solid-feeling and comfortable design that works just as easily wired or wireless, on PS4 or PC, and you have a fantastic gamepad that justifies its $200 price tag and earns our Editors' Choice.

A controller this expensive isn't for everyone, but if you're a dedicated PS4 or PC gamer and want a gamepad you can really tweak and customize to suit your needs, the C40 is definitely worthy of your attention. If you want the handy underside buttons but don't want to spend nearly as much, the PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller is capable and well built for a fifth of the price (but you won't get any of the accessories or extensive customization options).

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