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

5.0 out of 5 stars

Replacement for my hyper x orbit

First off i will say that you need to properly configure this headset if you’re using it on PC for it to work correctly. Audeze has on their website how to configure the separate “game + chat” volumes to work with discord or any other voice chat software.Second i will say that the microphone is a downgrade from the hyper x orbit that i used to use but it still gets the job done and if configured correctly, everyone should be able to hear you but people have apparently used a voice EQ to get the mic to sound better.So i also recommend looking up on Reddit and gadgetry tech for equalizer presets to use on the Audeze HQ app because after this, the headset will sound amazing. I can’t remember which Reddit thread i found but it had a good “general” equalizer that i use to listen to music and YouTube and stuff, but if you listen to this headset out of the box it will sound pretty trash because it’s set to the normal preset!At the end of the day i would recommend this headset, because they sound awesome after setting a preset, for the price they’re a great wireless option as well. I personally use it wired though. I’ve heard there is better wired options but i believe they’re incredibly way more expensive or open back headsets that i just can’t recommend if you’re a serious gamer.As far as credibility goes, i was in CL several seasons in R6, 6 star hunt showdown.So this has the David seal of approval

3.0 out of 5 stars

Outstanding sound quality, but lots of little annoying quirks

The TLDR version:Pros: sound quality, immersiveness, software for use case optimizationCons: Ergonomic discomfort, software flaws/quirksThe longer review:I bought these headphones because I heard multiple reviews about how amazing the sound quality is for both gaming & general purpose listening. I splurged & paid $300 to try it for a couple of weeks, & here is my initial feedback:The sound quality is outstanding indeed. It’s simply more detailed & precise than any other headphone I’ve tried to date, including some more expensive models I’ve tried in the past. The noise cancellation also makes the experience more immersive than comparable headphones. Better yet, the specialized software enables the user to set sound profiles based on use case, & there is a noticeable difference in the various configurations.As for battery life, I haven’t drained the battery completely to try out their claim of a “60-hour battery life”, but I have had extended gaming sessions with it, & it certainly lasts longer than my other noise-cancelling headphones.However, it has a few flaws that a fairly expensive headphone set should not have at the $300 price point, that’s why I’m giving it no more than 3 stars. Here are just a couple that are very noticeable:1. Ergonomic discomfort: as many others have pointed out on YouTube reviews, these headphones are uncomfortable to wear, I would argue more so than other comparably high-end headphones in the ~$250-$350 price range. They FEEL excessively tight, but when I lower my head or lean back in my chair too much, they fall off my head way too easily. If they make something FEEL this tight, they could have at least made the headphone stay better on your head.2. Small quirks: I often listen to videos on youtube while gaming. There’s a weird quirk with these headphones that when a video ends on youtube, for some reason my game also simultaneously goes silent. I know the root cause of this problem isn’t with the game or with my browser (or any other piece of hardware), because when I’m not using headphones, or when I use different headphones I never have this issue. I have to quit & restart my game in order to get sound in my game again. This is a small flaw, but for a product that’s marketing itself as a high-end, high-price gaming headphone, this flaw is particularly disappointing.Bottom line, when a set of headphones are competing in the high-end price range, it takes more than just good sound quality to be competitive. While the sound is impressive, the overall experience of using these headphones deserves no more than 3 stars.Despite the rather disappointing experience, I think I’ll still keep these headphones, but I’m definitely underwhelmed.

5 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Uncompromising audio only compared to other “gaming” headphones but that’s good enough

First of all, these are great. The stock pads are a bit too hot but I’ve bought Wicked cushions right away and that solved the problem, only added 10% to the price. What got me the most though was the promise of non-compromised audio and although I knew it won’t be entirely true, still was a bit disappointed when it turned out to be an exaggeration. Exaggeration doesn’t mean a lie, and you get night and day difference comparing Maxwell to any other “gaming” branded headphones, including those which are $100 or so more expensive. But still, it’s not exactly audiophile quality sound, even when used wired, and won’t stand a comparison with something like HD6XX driven through a decent external DAC/amp.Still, it provides all-around decent sound, amazing battery life and charge time, and great EQ options to tailor to your personal sound signature preferences (one thing that’s great about EQ is that you can set it up on PC through app and then use this setting with any wireless connection). This is my first planars and the newness of planar response was uncanny at first but I got used to it and didn’t notice any planar timber people sometimes talk about (although I did lower the very highs in the EQ). In games i get better positioning and immersion than I had with my Arctis 7, for conference calls and Discord this is just amazing (but make sure to tame your software noise reduction because it messes with the Audeze’s built-in one), and for music and movies I rarely switch to another pair of more fit cans now because the difference not always worth it, which makes the promise of uncompromising audio kinda delivered.Now, the cons. The frequency response is noticeably different between left and right driver in my unit and seems like it’s a very common thing. This makes the left one louder in most cases and I’ve had to make the right canal two points louder in Windows settings to compensate (no solution for PS or Bluetooth). The weight is not a big bother for me but they do be heavy. What disappointed me the most is the lack of option to use them properly with an analogue connection. The AUX is there, but the signal still gets through the internal amp and you can’t bypass it. Which make it dangerous to use the cans with a headphone DAC/Amp because too much power from the amp might kill them. I think these drivers can do much much better than with the portable set up they connected to and driving them through a proper external DAC/Amp would make them truly shine in terms of audio quality, but that’s where you actually do have to compromise.Bottom line, you get the best gaming headphones you can find at this price, but that’s just it, don’t expect it to be any more than that.

15 people found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

Unreliable

I bought these a few months ago, took care of them, and they are certainly the most unreliable headphones I’ve ever had.They (now more than before) constantly disconnect from the dongle, constantly fail to update when connected via USB for an update, and have different sound profiles between the chat and game channels.They sound pretty good, but at the end of the day you’re paying 300 dollars for digital sound to be streamed to your ears.Don’t fool yourself with the glowing reviews. There is no special DAC or anything, and whatever audio encoding system they use isn’t any better than anything else I’ve listened to.The Audeze Maxwell app is terrible, it’s like a relic from the past that doesn’t do any single thing well.The battery life is great though.TL:DR, if you are buying these to use wireless, you are overpaying.Planar magnetic headphones don’t sound any better than dynamic drivers when you’re streaming compressed audio to your headset. And half a year later, they’re so unreliable it’s rage inducing.

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Top class gaming headset and headphones as a whole

I have a ton of headphones, earbuds, and gaming headsets. While I had so many options, I kept hearing about the Audeze Maxwell headphones and their superiority. Eventually, it became too hard to shut out the noise (no pun intended). After sitting with the Audeze Maxwell headphones for some time, I have to agree. They are top-of-the-line in my eyes by far.First of all, the design of the Audeze Maxwell headphones is A1. These are pro-level headphones. No cheap plastics are to be found anywhere. While the ear cushions and bands are easily replaceable, the cushion is very pillowy and soft with a super smooth exterior. The Audeze logo is small and discrete keeping these for looking like a 14-year-old’s gaming headset. One thing I really like is that while the headset comes with a boom mic, it also has a mic on the headset itself allowing you to communicate without the boom mic sticking out from the headset.The depth of audio on these headphones is crazy. If you buy the Xbox set, it comes with a Dolby Atmos license, but if you buy the Playstation/PC version as I did, you can still purchase a Dolby license. I’ve used these headphones via USB dongle and Bluetooth. Via USB dongle on my Playstation and PC…the sound was phenomenal. These headphones put you there in the scene. Whether that’s walking around Night City in a game like Cyberpunk 2077, shooting it out in a Battlefield title, or Apex Legends. Footsteps are clearly defined, and explosions and gunshots are crisp. I’ve had a lot of these other top gaming headsets and these are superior. While there is no noise cancellation, the job the ear cushions do of isolating you in the audio is incredible.Then I listened to music via Bluetooth on my phone. These headphones put my top-end high-priced audio headphones to shame. While the bass isn’t overpowering, you feel it. voices are clear. When the music you’re listening to is mixed well, these headphones will take you to a whole other place.I’ll be honest, I haven’t used the boom mic on these headphones much, and that’s because I largely haven’t had to. The mic on the headset does a good job of picking up my voice. As for the noise filter, everyone I’ve talked to via this headset, either on the phone or in-game/party chats has said they don’t hear much background noise.Let me not forget to mention the insane battery life these headphones provide. Rated as 80 hours by Audeze, honestly in my experience I never go that many hours straight without charging, but I feel like I’ve gone forever without charging them, and I’ve never had a low battery.My experience with these headphones has made them my go-to top-of-the-line everything headphones. I get it, they aren’t cheap. For what you get, they aren’t expensive either. I’ve spent far more on headphones just for media, and these headphones not only outperform them their but also perform as my top-rated gaming headphones. I strongly recommend these for anyone looking for a new pair of headphones regardless of what the use reason is.

10 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Best gaming headset I have had.

By far best gaming headset I’ve ever owned. I bought these specifically to replace 5 year old Turtlebeach elite 800, these Maxwell’s fit perfectly over my ears are very comfortable after 4-5 hrs gameplay. They sound so much better than TB 800! These Maxwells really open up the sound environment, glass breaking, bullets wizzing overhead, rain sounds, wind blowing, enemies near by, you hear so many details that were muffled or hollow with TB 800, the Maxwells open up your sound environment for much more immersive game play. Battery life is unbelievable, have had almost 2 weeks and probably about 30 hours game play and Bluetooth music from IPhone, and still have 70% battery life. And if you are music audiophile, these Maxwells will blow you away for their price. But I had an issue with dongle disconnecting on me and it is not a simple process to reconnect dongle to game console. You have to download 2 Audeze apps, 1 app for your smartphone and 1 for laptop or PC. Phone app lets you adjust equalizer and sound volume and chat volume, second app for laptop or PC lets you reset or reconnect dongle to headset in case dongle disconnects from game console. And while playing Halo Infinite, it is hard to pinpoint the sounds of your enemies or flying vehicles seem to come from everywhere. Example: I hear a enemy near by, I turn around nothing is there, it doesn’t pinpoint we’re enemy is. I still am trying to adjust equalizer preset sound control , not helping much yet. Hoping Audeze in future app updates this issue can be addressed. This is why I gave 4 stars vs 5 . But I am still glad I purchased these for my Xbox series X console and will look forward to Maxwell’s making my gameplay a much more immersive and enjoyable experience, Thank you Audeze👍

3 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Not perfection, but pretty close

Updated Review after two months of usage on PC.After searching “many” reviews on the Audeze Maxwell…1) Build Quality & Comfort. It’s spot on. No issues. It feels like a $300-$500 dollar head set. The strap felt very good. For me, the weight is not an issue at all. I was worried I was going to have to return these due to the weight that everyone speaks of. The weight is distributed so well. The pads get hot for me and they cup my ear very well. A part of me does not want to change the ear cups but a part of me wants to try the fabric ones to test the sound and the heat difference, but each to their own.1) Update – I replaced the ear pads with a Wicked Cushions set. The stock pads are great but run hot after long sittings. The weight of the Maxwells after long usage does not bother me at all. I also enjoyed the design of how easy it was to replace the ear pads and head strap. The stock head strap has 3 settings, it should have more, that would benefit an individual with a really small head. On a side note, the wicked cushions strap has more adjustment options if that’s something you might desire. In addition the Maxwell is not “extremely” stable on my head. It has not been an issue for me but I would not run with these things on.2) Mic. I am not an expert. I am just a casual to competitive dude. It sounds great and I was surprised by the mic when the “boom” mic was not attached. I have always been used to a connected mic. Well this works fine without the attached mic. Do not get me wrong you “hardcore” fellas & chichas out there you will want a mic attached. To use no mic on the fly, the mic performed much better than I expected.2) Update – The mic has been tested on discord after several conversations. I had no complaints. If anything one person casually asked what mic I was using out of interest. Typically I communicate without the boom mic attached. There is a soft lisp that I noticed without the boom mic attached. If I am doing something more competitive I would attach the boom mic. FYI the sidetone feature is bad, turn it off, and pretend it does not exist.3) Battery. Dear god, awesome. I used to have to worry about charging after a 2-3 days of 6 hour usage sessions. Now I just log on and enjoy my time. No need to fret here. Plus it came almost fully charged? Which was not expected. I put it on charge for 20 mins and I was at 98%? Pretty great IMO.3) Update – The battery has been great. I do not worry about battery life anymore. I just randomly charge it and it charges fast which is awesome. I would like an option to report the battery percentage when the powering on notification occurs. “Powering on, battery life is at XX%.” Or if there was a button tap option to tell me the battery percentage would be a nice feature. I am just nitpicking here. If memory serves me correctly there is a prompt when the battery is at low power.4) Noise Suppression. It does not claim to have any. I can hear my wife and kids yell playfully in the background when no audio is on. When audio is rolling, it’s hard to hear them unless it’s an emergency. Okay, the dad in me loves this. Okay, the troubled teen from many years ago in me loves this. If someone is yelling, hell ya I’ll hear them. A loud noise “not” directed at me will not take away from my experience. It is great.4) Update – Noise suppression is not a thing with the Maxwell. I personally enjoy what this headset provides. I guess you can say this thing is immersive. Now when there is no sound on I can hold conversations with an individual, even though it is muffled, I have to focus and pay attention to the conversation. Also, I have kids making all kinds of noise and really these Maxwells do a great job at not allowing outside noise to ruin an experience. What is truly nice is the mic, it separates or cancels out sound really well that is not my voice. It seems to not matter if the boom mic is in or not, it does a heck of a job suppressing sounds that are not my voice.5) Controls, APP, and EQ options. Audeze has “okay” software but it can be fine tuned just as well as any other gaming headset. You can use Audeze software, steelseries sona, nahimic, razor, and dolby atmos from my experience. What a win there. The Audeze app is average but does the trick. I just like the ability to use this headset with many options. I do love the preset settings that can be changed from the headset. The Maxwell did a good job at headset button placement too. It just takes getting used to.5) Update – I am not crazy about the controls on the headset. At the moment my Maxwell volume wheel will not lower or raise the volume naturally. This occurs because I am not setting the windows volume program to Audeze Maxwell headset sound. The headset is attached to another program. When I touch the volume wheel the volume level appears on screen and I use the mouse to adjust. Not a deal breaker here but a poor feature. Let me explain, the Audeze app is good for 99% of everyone out there. I personally enjoy Steelseries Sonar, it gives me a lot of options for EQ settings. Once you get used to Sonar it’s pretty great and it has way more options to customize your EQ settings. The Maxwell app I am limited to only four EQ settings and less EQ options which is okay. Also, I have the Xbox version and the expensive yet free “dolby access” is below my expectations. On paper it’s a great option to get but it does not add to my personal experience at all.6) Instructions. If you are expecting a manual that tells you everything, your wishes will be met with sorrow. Yet, it’s pretty straight forward and connection friendly. Head over to the Audeze website for an in depth user manual or search youtube vids to save ya some time.7) Range/Connectivity. Several reviews said it was top tier. I find it no different than my steelseries Arctis 7 wireless gaming set. Which, was a bummer. I also do not enjoy the 3 second delay when being out of range to establish a connection again. To establish a connection again I had to get close to the dongle to gain signal too. This is probably the biggest flaw for me. I cannot walk 50′ into a couple of rooms/walls to get food without losing connection. Granted this is very subjective, for me it is a bummer. On a good note, I never had a random drop connection during my usage of 90 hours.7) Update – Not a fan of the range. The biggest issue is that if I leave the room and walk 20′ the dongle will drop the connection. Each owner’s environment is different, I get that and this is very subjective. Here’s my issue, I leave my room with the headset on, my dongle will drop the connection, “if” I am away from the dongle range for an extended period of time than the dongle will not reconnect. I will have to unplug and re-plug the dongle in, then it might not establish a connection again. If it doesn’t work, I will have to open the Audeze application and re-pair the dongle, which might not re-establish a connection until after a couple of attempts. This is annoying and probably the worst feature of the Maxwell for me. So I just leave the headset in the room with the dongle that is plugged in to my PC.7) Update 2.0 – This dongle is not all there. After a recent update my dongle had connectivity issues while using it on the PC. I got the dongle to pair properly yesterday. Today after I did some PC BIOS updates everything worked but the Maxwell. I reinstalled the pairing update. Nothing worked. Unplugged the dongle 20 times, restarted the system, and nothing got the Maxwell rolling. So randomly out of desperation I just switched the dongle to Xbox mode. Now my PC has sound. I really believe this dongle is causing issues. Between the long distance (20′) not picking up & dropping sound consistently and the dongle not always working right from switching from Bluetooth and back to the pc dongle… it’s just faulty. A lot of people toss the Maxwell out when they have issues. I’ve found it to be more of a dongle and signal issue. Which lets be real, can be fixed with firmware updates. Hopefully Audeze gets all the kinks worked out over time.It is safe to say I have not had one dropped connection with my pair of Maxwells while in use. Which should be a standard for all wireless headsets. I am happy that the Maxwells do their job very well here.Very important to add, I had a slight clicking sound show up after a couple of weeks. I searched the net to trouble shoot. My solution was to unplug, re-plug, and re-pair the dongle. This is also very subjective to each environment and the owner’s setup. I have a lot of wireless stuff going on in my house and the different/numerous signals may interfere with the headset. So I wouldn’t stress like I did, just know the dongle is not perfect.8) Sound. I know this may come off as dramatic but this is the example that can explain it best. If anyone has seen a movie/show where Helen Color said words for the first time, “water.” Yeah… Hearing out of the Maxwell vs many “gaming” head settings I’ve had over the years was just freaking great, it was on another level. Understand, I am not an audiophile but I do enjoy rocking out to music and I appreciate a great sound. This headset makes me want to listen to alot of sh!t now. When I game I feel more immersed into an open world MMO or a FPS. I feel like I have arrived to next level stuff here and really that’s all I wanted to experience out of a $300 headset.8) Update – I stick to my original assessment. It’s amazing. It makes all those little issues worth it.Lastly, to find a Audeze Maxwell in-stock at around $300 is a steal in my opinion. It is the best well rounded headset for entertainment, music, console, and pc games. It feels very comfortable over moderate to long term use. These are not like anything I have experienced before. Granted, again I am no audiophile. I am also no professional gamer. I am a dad, a dude who enjoys unwinding, listening and streaming music/videos, and likes to do some damage to others in video games.At the end of the day if you’re on the fence and want a great headset for a little bit of everything try these out like I did. You’ll know if you have any regrets, if so trade them in and go after something else…. but these are definitely worth a try. Personally, I have no regrets and it was the best purchase of the year for me.

49 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Worth the money

These are amazing. they are very comfy and have fantastic sound quality. Build quality is also superb! Worth the $300 price tag. 5/5 stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Better than expected!

The sound is great. They are pretty heavy but the head band and ear pads distribute the weight well.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Sounds great

Easy set up. I think it’s comfortable and sounds spectacular. Tiny bit of static when no sound coming through, but it’s not very noticeable. I highly recommend this headset.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Super high quality audio quality

I’m super happy with these and I’m relatively picky when it comes to audio and headphones in general. The audio quality is genuinely better than I expected. Especially for fully wireless headphones. Very clean and controlled bass and crystal clear details. I play a lot of RPGs and the ambient sounds and music through these are fantastic. The sounds all have a lot of room to be separate if that makes sense.The connection quality is basically perfect. I have this connected to my steam deck through Bluetooth and my desktop through the usb dongle. I can just turn the headphones on and whichever device I have on I’m able to just trust it’ll connect and it always does and there’s zero static or wireless noise squealing nonsense. Battery life is so good it’s literally a non issue. It lasts weeks so I wouldn’t even bother thinking about itThe only cons I can think of are that they are heavy and if you have the sound pass through on and you taken them off there’s a super high pitched squeal noise that comes from them. Not a big deal. I just move them slowly and it doesn’t happen. But the weight is a little bit of a problem for me. It does kind of dig into my head a bit. I just slide it forward or back a little to a new part of my head and it’s good for another half hour or so. Just be aware they’re heavy. Microphone quality is quite good. Just a notch down from wired but it’s not a huge sacrifice for the convenience.If you’re on the fence about these then I would just get them so long as your number one priority is audio quality. They’re the best all rounders but with extra points put into sound. Once in a while I find a thing to add to my rotation of gaming things where I know I’ll be using it for years and this is absolutely one of those things. It’s good for switch, steam deck, and PC. It’s basically my main audio for all of them. I love them. 10/10

3 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Awesome headset for Xbox series x

This is my first time buying the audeze headset but I gotta say, I’m not sure why I waiting for so long. Previously had a steel series artic 9x and which the button for the mic eventually gave out. Figured I’d try these out since they got such good reviews and I gotta say, the sound quality is phenomenal and they look great.Weight:Pretty heavy but doesn’t cause my any fatigue or anything like that. They are comfortable on the head.Battery life:Have had them for a couple weeks at this point and haven’t had to charge yet. Battery life seems really good but haven’t had enough time to really know yet.App:Using the app to adjust the equalizer is straight forward. No real issues other than you can’t adjust while you’re connected to the Xbox dongleMusic and gaming:I might not know how to do it or it doesn’t work. If you’re connected to the dongle, I haven’t been able to listen to music from my phone

5.0 out of 5 stars

Amazing! Worth every penny!

I am very very picky when it comes to spending money on a headset for sure.. I did over 10 hours of research on picking out my next pair, and this time I picked wireless for the first time ever.. I have a full setup with a DAC/AMP and 3 pairs of Sennheiser headphones and at first I was a little let down by the bass but with a simple EQ tune (I posted a pic of the tune is use) and OMG these things ROCK!! They hit very low bass amazingly, some of the cleanest headphones I have listened to when it comes to bass.. very accurate and clean is all I can say.. that and they hit all the way down to 10hz which is great for movies and low bass music. But that being said these headphones seem to amaze me every day with how great they perform overall.Tips: EQ tunes in picture Turn off the volume limiter in the Audeze app Turn off sidetone and adjust slider all the way to Game for max soundPros: 80 hours of battery life Amazing sound Compatible with just about everything and has options for wired Mic quality is very good! Better than the Sennheiser PC 38x series Dual mic and detachable mic Cons: Can feel heavy

One person found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Its Perfect with a few discrepancies

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I hope the video is not super compressedThe first half is the Audeze and the remaining is the Astro A50A permanent Dolby license is nice(even though asus brand and samsung phones already come with it)Anything higher than 16% SideTone there’s also a very noticeable sound similar to trying to very quietly scrunch up a plastic trash bag you get from Walmart whenever there is no audio playing.Make sure you’ve properly adjusted the headband prior to listening as it plays a huge part in delivering your bass notesMaxwells can be set to 24bitz 96000hz on Win 11I can definitely see the advantage of planars over the regular speakers of being able to isolate each sound it is a huge noticeable difference.

4.0 out of 5 stars

Good Quality

Very easy to setup. Plug and play for PC. Not as comfortable as I had hoped, your ears will get hot or sweaty. If they had an open back version I would have opted for that instead. But the mic works well in discord, the battery life is very surprisingly awesome and the sound quality is good enough. It is wireless, after all. It has decent range as well.The other reason for not giving it 5 stars is that I occasionally get a mild popping, staticy sound when using the dongle to connect to PC. It’s a bit annoying for the price they are. But, overall they make a very nice set of wireless headphones for gaming.

One person found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Amazing Headset.

I bought this headset to test its sound quality, and boy, was I impressed. You can get signal via 3.5mm, USB, Bluetooth, and the wireless dongle included. You can also pair two devices at the same time, meaning there is no lack of connectivity. Overall, Sound quality (5/5), Comfort (4/5), Battery (5/5), Ease of use (5/5), Software (4/5), and general quality (5/5).In terms of SQ, these give my HD650’s a run for their money. The Maxwell is also a planar driver, so it makes sense. I showed a couple of friends some Tame Impala .flac’s on these, and they said they heard parts they never had before. It is the best sounding via 3.5mm, but that is not to say the other modes are lacking. Bluetooth supports LDAC, and songs were making me smile while listening from my S22 Ultra. I haven’t tried aptx or any of the other codecs, but I’m sure the Maxwell handles them fine. USB sounds alright, and the wireless dongle works just fine, it is just noticeable to an audiophile who cares too much. I personally think wireless headsets and wireless signal transmission has another two years before it catches up to where low-mid level wired systems are. 5/5 for the price and market.Comfort-wise, I had to buy the Wicked Cushion model for these. They fit well from the start, a little heavy but to be expected. However, the ear cups are far too shallow, and my big ears were rubbing in all sorts of places. The WC’s alleviated this issue. Unfortunately, the headset fit adjustment requires a small screwdriver and moving some mildly annoying screws. They have a good clamping force and the weight wasn’t too much for me. I prefer light open back wired headsets for most things, but obviously this isn’t that and so for what this is, it is good. 3/5 before WC’s. 4/5 after, should be 3/5 for the annoying adjustment procedure, but I really do like this headphone so grace.Battery life is amazing. Went down 15% in roughly 8 hours of use over 2 days after I first got it. For reference my Corsair Virtuoso XT was going through like 8% an hour. Amazing, not much else to say. 5/5Ease of use. Like I said, there is no lack of connectivity. It will take almost any conventional way you can output signal to it. It also connected to my phone via bluetooth whilst connected to my PC via 3.5mm. The USB input for some reason did not sound as good to me, but it could be due to other reasons in my PC’s setup with audio output.The software is good and does what you need it to. Unfortunately for a Corsair fanboy such as myself it is not iCUE, and is quite unappealing to look at. Completely biased. 4/5.Overall, this is an amazing headphone for the price. It sounds GOOD. It’s easy to use. Audeze is a great and reputable company. The build quality on these is exceptional. They look good, feel good, sound great, and perform excellently. Each point I touched on, except for comfort, is a plus for the headphone. I solved my comfort issue with the WC’s, but there is a reasonable amount of feedback in the community over discomfort with these. Personally I think they are worth it, and would rate them a 5/5.

18 people found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

Decent but….

I’ll keep it simple. For me I need four things in my gaming headphones. The first is clarity of sound and these headphones shined here. The second is comfort since they will be worn frequently. These are heavy and may bother some people, for me this was not an issue and I found them comfortable. The third is noise reduction. These functioned adequately although I did not have many instances to evaluate this area. The last is loudness. I like my sound immersive and on the louder side. The loudness factor is where these failed me. They were not any louder than most other headphones. Due to the price I paid for these headphones, I did not keep them as I expected all the criteria to be met considering the reviews I read on here and other online sites. I returned these headphones because they failed to meet my needs and expectations while being priced much higher than many other gaming headphones. Next. I will go completely away from gaming headphones as its been one disappointment after another and instead explore highly rated audio headphones that have been also rated highly for gaming.

One person found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars

Great Sound, Poor Fit

The sound quality, for something that is both wireless and closed-back, is amazing. When you combine the weight with the poor amount of size adjustments though, they are really uncomfortable. These personally don’t fit my head at all. I have to use the smallest size setting to prevent them falling off but it crushes the top of my head. A real bummer and I had to return them.

5.0 out of 5 stars

😎

Give this guy a raise! Did a awesome job

3.0 out of 5 stars

Bought these for work. I can’t recommend them for that purpose.

Positives:- good build quality. The metal construction and replaceable ear cuffs and headband means this headset will probably last a lifetime.- good sound quality. Great for consuming music, videos, and gaming.- excellent battery life. I’ll never have to worry about these dying on me. I can listen to music all day throughout the workday and not have to worry about chargng them.- microphone background sound suppression and sidetone are availableNegatives:- the system they implemented for switching between PC audio via the USB dongle and bluetooth to a phone or tablet is confusing and unreliable. Supposedly this is because the USB dongle also uses bluetooth instead of 2.4Ghz RF like other similar headsets. What this means is if you’re looking for a headset that allows you to listen to bluetooth and PC audio simultaneously, then this headset isn’t the one for you.- I constantly have to mess with my audio settings and do a mic check before using this headset with Teams. And yes, I’m on the latest firmware version. If you’re looking for a headset that “just works” with your PC then sadly I can’t vouch for this headset. I’ve had to factory reset this headset and turn it on and off again way too many times.

One person found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Where’s the volume?

100% disappointed. Apparently I got forced onto the latest firmware update (.61) and these things not only have about 50% volume at max, they sound like cheap earbuds. My 60 dollar IEMs sound better than these things. Apparently there isn’t a way to rollback to previous firmware that didn’t have volume issues if you are on the latest.I reached out to their support but probably won’t hear back until sometime next week. I’ll probably end up returning them for a full refund because a consumer shouldn’t be gimped by this kind of crap straight out of the box. It sucks too because I was really looking forward to planar cans for gaming. Buyer beware.**********************Update – 5/27/24**********************Took my support request about a day to get a response, which was helpful. I ended up purging all Audeze drivers using USBDeview, uninstalled the HQ app on my PC and restarted. Powered on the headset and plugged the dongle back in and boy howdy, when these cans work they sound amazing. Still taking a star off because these really should work out of the box with minimal efffort. If I need to adjust EQ I use the HQ app on Android. This seems to fix the imaging issues I was running into alongside the low volume problem when using the desktop HQ app.

2 people found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Remember to Update Firmware!

This headset is the best headset I have ever used in terms of sound quality. I literally cannot use any of my other mid-range headsets without noticing the clear drop in volume and sound quality. With a solid set of features and mic quality, I heavily recommend this headset if you are looking for high-end headsets.However, shortly after use I noticed that there was a significant popping noise after playback ended. Sounds such as scrolling through a menu or a notification sound would end with pops like bubbles that were very noticeable and varied between the left and right channels. I tested all connections and the popping noise still persisted. I was pretty angry and after researching I noticed others were having similar issues. It was until I realized that there was a recent firmware update that supposedly fixed the popping noises. After updating, the popping noises disappeared.The fact that mistakes can happen in the firmware of such a high-end headset is frustrating. Even so, the headset is still worth the money based on the sound quality alone. Hopefully there are no firmware issues in the future.

One person found this helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars

Great for casual gaming and music

I was debating HEAVILY between these and the Astro A50x’s (for PS5). I have had Astros for around 8 years and have loved them however Astro customer support is terrible. I say all that because it is what has led me to try the Maxwells. They sound fantastic and I’m sure 95% of people will love them. Their audio performance is great and listening to music on them makes me want to purchase another pair of Audeze for music only. However for multiplayer games the directional audio and chat/game audio is not on par with the Astros. As sad as I am to let them go, I am going to be returning them to purchase the A50x’s. Again, I truely believe that they are great headphones, especially if you’re playing on PC with the ability to tweak your audio setting more thoroughly. They’re just not for me.

One person found this helpful