Audeze's new high end Maxwell gaming headsets

[Steve]

I posted about their previous gaming headset, the Penrose, as I had high hopes for it, but it turned out to have a few issues that made me write it off.

The new Maxwell headsets seem like Audeze's attempt to put things right, as they have supposedly directly addressed the criticisms people had with the Penrose.

This is what the new headset looks like: -

It has 90mm planar magnetic drivers. It has 5 microphones built into the headset itself, along with a detachable boom mic made by Shure. The 5 built in mics are used for AI noise reduction.

Battery life is a whopping 80 hours. It has USB-C fast charging and can be charged from empty to full in 2½ hours, with a 20 minute charge giving you 20 hours of use.

It supports high resolution audio wirelessly, at up to 24bit, 96KHz. It uses the latest version of Bluetooth, version 5.3. You can also make various adjustments via a smartphone app, including creating EQ presets.

The headband is made of steel, with an adjustable suspension strap.

The controls on the headset itself allow you to adjust volume, the balance between chat and game audio, and mute your mic. There's a 3.5mm socket so you can use it wired if you want to.

The PlayStation version is $300, while the Xbox version is $330 due to it coming with a Dolby Atmos license and them having to use MS's security chip.

The criticisms of their previous headset were: -

• Battery life was only 10-12 hours
• The mic quality was not good when used wirelessly
• There was some background hiss in the audio (not really noticeable when you're gaming though)
• The headband had plastic parts that could crack/break

If they really have addressed all of the above, it'll be an awesome headset, but I'd definitely wait for reviews/user impressions before buying one!

[Steve]

The noise reduction on the mic is really impressive: -

 

[Steve]

In-depth review: -