Power A Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller Review
33In this episode, we unbox and test out the Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for the Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Xbox One X, and Xbox One S from Power A.
One of the most popular accessory manufacturers on the market is Power A. They make controllers, accessories, and other items for a variety of different systems. Over the years I've been a bit harsh on them as a brand as I feel what they provide for features does not match what they provide customers and value. For example, many of their Nintendo Switch controllers are priced at a $50 and higher price point and offer fewer features than other controllers at half the price. The build quality has been okay, the functionality has been decent, but the value for what you pay, at least for me, has not been there.
In early 2023, we tested something from Power A that really surprised us. They had a new charging stand for the Nintendo Switch that, for the money, delivered what they were charging people. After I posted that review, Power A actually reached out to me to ask if I would like to take a look at some of their other accessories. I let them know about my bias ahead of time, that I felt that they had decent equipment albeit overpriced. They still extended an offer to allow me to take a look at one of their latest controllers, the Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for the Xbox, which is what you see here.
Out of the box, this is a very close design ergonomically to what Microsoft themselves released. And that does make some sense as this is officially licensed by Microsoft. And speaking to Power A, that's one of the reasons why their accessories and controllers tend to have a higher price tag, that official licensing cost them money so they have to pass that cost on to consumers. It's basic economics and it makes sense. The question I have is how important to the end user is that official licensing agreement? For me, depending on the accessory, not very much.
The Spectra is a wired controller that has a number of RGB lights throughout to give you a level of personalization. There are three different zones where you can customize the lighting, around the left stick and the buttons, around the d-pad and the right stick, and around the center part of the entire controller. Changing colors is fairly easy and it looks darn good. From an aesthetic and style standpoint, this is a good-looking controller.
To connect your controller to your system power A includes a rather long USB cable. The bummer is that it is a Micro USB connection and not USB C. This is a perfect example of how I see them cutting costs and other areas, and quite honestly going USB-C over Micro USB is not a major price difference from a manufacturing standpoint. I really wish they would have included USB-C here. I will say they do include a very nice and very long braided USB cable that has a connector on it to help prevent it from being pulled out accidentally during gameplay. It's a very nice touch and detail.
Connecting it to the Xbox was super easy, both my Xbox One S and Series S connected instantaneously as soon as I plugged in the USB cable. The performance was very good as well, the button presses were accurate, and the D-Pad was a definite improvement over previous generation Xbox systems. One neat feature is that it does also have travel limiters for the triggers on the controller. This gives you a further level of personalization so that you can customize how the controller feels. I can see this being very helpful in certain racing games to make sure that you are smoother on the throttle or brakes depending on what you are needing to accomplish.
Why it rocks:
- Officially licensed by Microsoft
- RGB lights for customization
- 10 ft long braided cable
- Very good performance
- Terrific ergonomics
What could be improved:
- Replace micro USB with USB-C
- $40 for a wired controller seems expensive to me
- It's not wireless
- More color options would be nice
Should you buy one?
I don't quite understand the market for wired controllers at this point, especially for the Xbox. To me, it's one of those things that I think the target audience matters. Xbox players are highly demanding, compared to those who play the Switch for example. That being said, the performance on this is great, it's very comfortable, and it just works. But there are corners cut such as the micro USB versus USB-C port and wired versus wireless in general that just leaves me scratching my head a little bit. If you're looking for a wired Xbox controller, this is definitely a good one, just know you're going to overpay a little bit because of the official licensing.
#PowerA #Spectra #Xbox #Controller #Review #fypシ