Audeze Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset for PlayStation, Mac, PC, and Switch

To try and keep things brief, I'll just say that my experience with this product aligns with the many reviews you can find on YouTube. If you're looking for a wireless headset and sound quality/fidelity is the most important thing for you, this is the headset for you. I was watching "Mad Max: Fury Road", and there was a particular scene where the soundtrack had a consistent sub-bass baseline going, while lots of car engines revving, gunshots, explosions, just a wide variety of complex, meaty sounds and these headphones ate it for breakfast, keeping every individual sound distinct and clear, while also having crystal clear dialogue (probably the first time watching this movie where mumbling Tom Hardy's lines were actually easy to hear). Same quality applies for games and music. *Build Quality*: Very good. Probably better off looking up a YT video rather than having me describe it, but for $330 I would probably say it's even better than expected. Mostly metal/leather, little plastic. *Comfort*: This will vary from person to person. These are definitely heavier headphones than what most people will have tried up to now. For me, I don't find them uncomfortable. I wear them for work, and they fall within the range of "forget they're there" when I'm focused on a task. Same goes for gaming/movies. I do hear from other people that the weight or fit doesn't work for them, and I can see that being the case. *Battery Life*: I haven't timed it, but I'll just say that the 80-hour target seems realistic. They last a really, really long time. *Polish*: It's important to know ahead of time that Audeze is not a huge company on the same level as Sony/Bose/Sennheiser, and as such the UX isn't going to be up to the same level of polish as those other companies. For me, I only really care if my headphones sound good, are comfortable enough, and connectivity and all that functions, so some of the occasional "jankiness" of the Audeze app and such don't bother me, but this is up to you. I've head of people having issues with firmware updates and needing to do factory resets and things like that. Just know that at $300-$330, these headphones are actually priced very aggressively. To find better sound quality on a wireless headphone you'd probably need to buy a Focal Bathy at $700. All the budget went into "core" headphone functionalities (sound, build). For me this is a feature, since I get more of what I care about for the $$, but other people might want something with more polish, in the form of responsive apps, ANC, etc., which is fine.

I don’t buy anything expensive without a deep dive. Hours of research, endless comparisons, maybe even a spreadsheet. But after scrolling through reviews, now that I actually have it I’ve realized a lot of the important details get lost between the hype and the half-baked opinions. So, for my fellow overthinkers, buckle in, and prepare yourself for my ADHD powered review I wish had been here before I bought these. No fluff (mostly), no buyer’s remorse rant, just what actually matters. Let me preface... If you are trying to find a pair of headphones you can unbox and be blown away immediately, these headphones are not it, at all. Why did I rate them 5 stars then? It's quite difficult actually. Right off the bat this is what I will be covering. (Locate the corresponding emoji for specific information and try not to judge how long I spent on this): ❓-What are these headphones meant for? What would they not be for? Are they for you? ⚠️-How is the sound quality? (actually) •Not the: oMg bEsT heAdphOnes evErrr!! •Or the: these suck don't not sound good at ⠀⠀all not. *insert more lovely grammar here* 🚫-How is the noise cancellation? Is it active, passive? How's the "transparency" mode? 🎮-What's the difference between the X-box and the PlayStation version? 🤓-Annnd what should your decision be? The biggest pro, the biggest con, and my personal suggestions and reasoning. ❓What are these for?❓ These headphones strike a solid balance between gaming and music. For gaming, they’re decent, maybe not as pinpoint-accurate as dedicated high-end gaming only headsets, but still impressive. In some games, I swear I heard in-game voices in an entirely different way, it was scarily good and weird. That said, they lean more toward music than gaming. They’re well-built, not cheap-feeling, and deliver great directional audio. But if you’re looking for a lightweight, on-the-go pair, these aren’t it. They’re heavy (well-balenced and comfortable), but definitely more of a “wear at home” situation. ⚠️The sound quality.(Most important part)⚠️ Here we go, the elephant in the room. If I had to sum up the sound quality in 3 words it would be "jaw-dropping beautiful" but if I had to sum it up in 1 word it would be "ugh". What does that mean you ask? They have the POTENTIAL to sound amazing. But when you first put them on, start playing your favorite song, get ready to be underwhelmed. My airpod pro 2's sounded better, no joke. Why? 1) These headphones require immense amount of EQ work. I'm a bass lover, and if you are too, get ready to cry with disappointment when you first try them. Then after being sad, open the Audeze EQ and put in the preset I attached in my pictures. That's my bass preset. Gives you an idea of the potential these have, get ready to cry again, and in the best way possible this time. 2) Dolby Atmos on PC. Let me save you some time, when you download "Audeze HQ" go ahead and just download "Dolby Access" along with it. It entirely changes the game with these, makes them worth the money. Without it they sound pretty dull and there's less separation of sound profiles. ⠀3) Ear pads. This one may be opinion, but the default ear pads do not give your ears much room. Your ears are RIGHT by the drivers, and it can be intense especially for the highs. I bought the Wicked Cushions cooling pads, and it made it more comfortable AND more importantly changed the sound profile entirely. It gave the frequencies room to work their magic, especially with bass. Mess around with this because it could make or break you keeping this headset. That was a long one, but if you're going to take anything away from this review: These have some SERIOUS POTENTIAL, you just have to work with them. It WILL take hours upon hours of messing with EQS, to find or make one that works for you. If you are a music enthusiast this is a phenomenal next step in leveling up your music. Once you get everything situated, it's a beautiful experience, truly. The 90mm planar magnetic drivers are other-worldly when configured right. Good things are never easy am I right? 🚫Noise cancellation.🚫This is actually pretty simple. No, it does not have active noise cancellation, yes it has passive noise cancellation. This was a hard one for me to swallow before purchasing. Airpods pro 2 changed my idea of what I require a headset to have (Noise cancellation is close to the top) I'm a pretty little princess now, great. Before these I thought of passive noise cancellation as a joke, but it actually does what you would think passive noise cancellation should do. I'm satisfied which is saying something since I'm so picky. They additionally have "side-tone" which is good for hearing things around you, but it's not amazing at higher volumes (gets too harsh), I prefer it off, or really low. 🎮The difference between the Xbox and PlayStation versions?🎮 A LOT. Yet no one talks about it. The Xbox version is the only real choice for PC users, especially if you want Dolby Atmos (which I wouldn’t recommend these without). The PlayStation version can connect via Bluetooth or wired, but you’ll need to buy a Dolby Atmos license and use it wired to get decent sound quality. Bluetooth sounds great but has a noticeable drop in volume and quality. If you’re mostly on PlayStation and occasionally on your phone, the PlayStation version works. But if you’re planning to use these on PC, do NOT buy the PlayStation version just because it’s cheaper, you’ll regret it. 🤓Annnd what should your decision be?🤓 I want you to ask yourself these three questions. 1. Are you okay and willing to spend a considerable amount of time setting these headphones up and messing with custom EQS? 2. Are you looking at these more for music than competitive gaming? 3. Are you looking for portable headphones you can use anytime, on the go? If you answered: 1. Yes 2. Yes 3. No I would rate these headphones a 9.5/10, for anything else I would honestly only give these headphones a 6/10. These are for a very specific person, if you're willing to learn, or you knew these answers right away; these will be the absolute best headphones you've ever used. That's a guarantee. (Biggest pro is superb sound quality) If you're not sure this is you, I still think they are really good, I'm truly just trying to help set your expectations. These aren't the most intuitive or easy to set up (biggest con), but I think they are worth learning. Just be careful! Hope this was helpful.

I came from the senhieser momentum 3s. These guys I’d say are 3-5 times better sounding. They are 200 grams heavier than my old headset but are comfier to wear. I do feel the additional weight after ~6 hours of use. But I’m sure will go away as I use this daily and my neck gets used to it. I love the features. The range is GREAT I go anywhere in my house with perfect connectivity. I did have to move the dongle to a port on a less restricted port ( back to from port ). I haven’t had to charge them yet so I guess the battery is great !! Music sounds incredible, I take the microphone off when I listen in bed but put on for gaming. I paid 450$ cad all in all for this. I believe this product is extremely fairly priced for what you get. They take a little bit to get used to but once you do they are quite a pleasure. I have no issue believing these will last for a long time. There are also many updates to software which is nice to see. There was a French review that when I translated it called headsets “helmets” but I can’t help but think of these as my helmet hetset. There huge. But comfortable, they really hide it in the design. I’m impressed and am happy audeze made a high quality headset with a fair price. I believe this is the new gold standard for wireless music/gaming headsets

10/10 audio, 10/10 build quality, 10/10 functionality. The headset is a little on the heavy side.

Ottime, indubbiamente l'audio più pulito che abbia mai sentito tra i prodotti "gaming". Vorrei scrivere elogi al riguardo, ma conviene andare a leggere recensioni tecniche invece. Principalmente le uso per PC, personalmente ho preso una versione PlayStation per poter sfruttare l'audio Tempest, ma in realtà o non ho sentito alcuna differenza io o non cambia poi così tanto, conviene prendere la versione Xbox che fornisce la licensa Dolby Atmos per PC inclusa... mica male, quelle PlayStation non lo fanno. La latenza tramite Wireless e Bluetooth è ottima, unica pecca è che quando non vi sono suoni di alcun tipo il primo playback ha un minimo di ritardo e si perde la prima parte di ciò che si ascolta. Per farla breve, se sei su Windows e non hai suoni ma cominci a sentire un audio tipo di Telegram ti perdi il primo mezzo secondo, stessa cosa per quando si registra col microfono. Indubbiamente è un problema relativo al risparmio energetico, penso lo abbiano quasi tutti e non ho visto se è risolvibile, però durante le varie call nessuno si è mail lamentato. Qualità del microfono OK, non incredibile ma OK. La batteria dura veramente tanto, ormai le uso ogni giorno da più di un anno e non mi si sono mai scaricate durante l'utilizzo, ho sempre avuto tantissimo tempo dal primo avviso di batteria scarica. Comodissimo il fatto che si ricaricano tramite USB-C. Bello anche il fatto che sia possibile collegare sia al dongle Wireless che al Bluetooth allo stesso tempo, unica pecca è che questa può essere un'arma a doppio taglio. Se lo collegate al PC (Wireless dongle) e al telefono (bluetooth) sentirete il PC, tranne nel caso in cui ci sia dell'audio nel canale bluetooth, in tal caso non sentirete più il PC ma solo il bluetooth. Di suo questa cosa è comodissima, bisogna solo fare attenzione alle notifiche, che potrebbero interrompere il playback del dongle senza motivo, però lì basta smanettare con il telefono. Mai avuto problemi con tasti e cose varie, non sono leggerissime ma sono incredibilmente comode. Per la prima volta ho avuto delle cuffie che non hanno avuto bisogno del periodo di "break in", sono state comode da subito. Inoltre non ho mai avuto problemi relativi a pairing, tasti non funzionanti o cose del genere (che sono state sempre le cause di un cambio cuffie).

HACE TIEMPO QUE SOY MUY DEPENDIENTE DE UN EXCELENTE SONIDO TANTO PARA MUSICA COMO CUANDO JUEGO VIDEOJUEGOS, ESTOS AUDIFONOS DE AUDEZE LOS ESTUVE ESPERANDO BASTANTE TIEMPO ANTES DE COMPRARLOS, PENSÉ ENCONTRAR UNA OFERTA QUE ME HICIERA DECIDIRME HACERME CON ELLOS, FINALMENTE NO BAJARON Y APENAS NOTÉ UN VENTAJA AL ESTAR AL MISMO PRECIO AMBAS VERSIONES POR LO QUE ELEGÍ LA VERSION DE XBOX, EL SONIDO ES EL MEJOR QUE HE ESCUCHADO CON UNA VERSATILIDAD IMPRESIONANTE CON JUEGOS, MUSICA Y PELICULAS CUANDO JUEGAS ES MUY IMPORTANTE QUE PRUEBES CON DIFERENTES ECUALIZACIONES QUE PUEDES MANIPULAR DESDE SU APP PARA WINDOWS YA QUE COMO TODO AURICULAR NECESITAS AJUSTAR LAS BANDAS LO MAS PRECISO POSIBLE A EL CONTENIDO QUE ESTAS DISFRUTANDO MUCHOS PODRIAN NO NOTAR LA DIFERENCIA EN EL AUDIO Y SI PIENSAS SOLO SACARLOS DE LA CAJA PARA USARLO TE GUSTARÁN PERO NO TE ENCANTARÁN COMO SI PASAS ALGO DE TIEMPO ECUALIZANDOLOS

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