eh-fifty 0.4.0

Library for configuring the Astro A50 wireless headset and base station (generation 4)

eh-fifty

eh-fifty is a Python library for configuring the Astro A50 wireless headset and base station (generation 4).

Use at your own risk. eh-fifty was developed using reverse engineering. If you get into trouble, re-plug your base station and reset your headset by holding down the "game" and "Dolby" buttons together for 15 seconds.

eh-fifty has only been tested on Linux, although it may work on other platforms supported by PyUSB.

Features

• get/set microphone level
• get/set microphone EQ preset
• get/set side tone volume
• get/set noise gate mode
• get/set alert volume
• get/set active EQ preset
• get/set EQ preset parameters
• get/set game/voice balance
• save configuration values
• get charging status and battery level
• get headset status
• get EQ preset name
• get device info (USB IDs)
• get base and headset firmware versions
• update firmware

Example

Retrieve the current battery charge:

from eh_fifty import Device

with Device() as device:
    battery_status = device.get_battery_status()
    print(f"Battery: {battery_status.charge_percent}%")

Resource Management

The Device class supports context management for automatic cleanup:

with Device() as device:
    # use device...
# kernel driver automatically reattached

For long-running applications, you can also manage the lifecycle manually:

device = Device()
try:
    while True:
        status = device.get_headset_status()
        # ...
finally:
    device.close()

Non-root access

Create a udev rule to allow non-root users to access the USB device:

echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="9886", ATTR{idProduct}=="002c", MODE:="0666"' | \
    sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/50-astro-a50.rules

Re-plug your base station to apply the new rule.

Protocol Documentation

Requests

The first byte of a request is 0x02.

The second byte of a request is a request type (see below).

An optional request payload may follow, prefixed by the length of the payload in bytes, not including this byte.

Responses

The first byte of a response is 0x02.

The second byte of a response may be either:

• 0x00 for "no response"
• 0x01 for "error"
• 0x02 for "success"

Unless the second byte represents "no response", the third byte of a response is the remaining length of the response measured in bytes, not including this byte.

Saved Values

Sending request type 0x61 will save the active configuration. Saved values can be queried separately from active values. This can be used by applications to implement an operation to revert to a saved configuration. Changes to the active configuration effect immediately; saving changes is not required.

Request Types

Type	Description
0x03	get device info (USB IDs, base firmware major)
...
0x54	returns headset power and dock status
0x55	get base firmware minor version
...
0x61	save active values
0x62	set value of specified slider
0x63	set EQ preset gain
0x64	set noise gate mode
...
0x67	set active EQ preset
0x68	get value of specified slider
0x69	get EQ preset gain
0x6A	get noise gate mode
...
0x6C	get active EQ preset
0x6D	set EQ preset name
0x6E	get EQ preset name
0x6F	set EQ preset frequency and bandwidth
0x70	get EQ preset frequency and bandwidth
0x71	set microphone EQ preset
0x72	get balance
0x73	set default balance
0x74	set auto shutoff timeout (ineffective)
0x75	set brightness (ineffective)
0x76	set alert volume
0x77	get default balance
0x78	get auto shutoff timeout
0x79	get brightness
0x7A	get alert volume
0x7B	get microphone EQ preset
0x7C	get battery status
...
0xD6	get headset firmware minor version (requires argument 0x0A)
...
0xDA	get headset firmware major version (requires argument 0x0A)

Release Process

Bump the version in eh_fifty.py and run the following:

git commit -am "Bump version"
git tag "${VERSION}"
git push --tags
hatch build
uv publish dist/*.tar.gz dist/*.whl