[Heavyboxer]

Please leave your reviews and impressions of this first-of-a-kind planar magnetic 3D headphone.

(No talk of shipment, that is on another thread, thank you)

 

[Buddhahacker]

Thanks for setting this up.

 

[AxelCloris]

May as well keep things easily accessible, so here's our Head-Fi TV episode with our impressions of the pre-production unit we received.

NOTE: If you can't see the embedded video above, please CLICK HERE to see the video.​

With extremely advanced (and integrated) head tracking to create an uncanny sense of surround realism, the Audeze Mobius is something far greater than just a gaming headset (though it is that, too). It's also an Audeze audiophile-class planar magnetic headphone, an LDAC-enabled Bluetooth headphone, and more. The Mobius is a highly sophisticated mixed media platform, and it's amazing.

Audeze Mobius Review / Preview - Head-Fi TV
- produced by Brian Murphy and Jude Mansilla​

​

We received a production model at Head-Fi HQ recently and we've been spending time with it in-between working on the CanJam @ RMAF preview. We're hoping to be able to share our thoughts (and possibly measurements) once Jude and I have had a little more time with it. Early listening impressions have been strong.

 

[antdroid]

Ready for Measurements?

UPDATED: Re-Calibrated the compensation curve to have linear bass response.



Original post: http://www.antdroid.net/2018/08/audeze-mobius-measurements-initial.html

The following should be taken with a grain of salt and use it how you want. They are using the MiniDSP EARS unit. The measurements are off my Right Ear Driver and all are in Hi-Res mode and are using a USB connection to my PC.

Audeze Measurements are available here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-mobius-review-impressions.887808/page-4#post-14457658

I set target SPL to 84-85dB for every measurement and then normalized it to 0 dB. It looks like they default normalize to 300Hz.

Please also note that the compensated graphs have a +3 dB bass response that miniDSP used which I believe is based on the latest Target curve which elevated bass. I don't really agree with this and to me the bass on these graphs should be very flat. I will modify the Target curves in the near future.

Click on the photos to enlarge them as desired.


First off, here is the DEFAULT Compensated Curve

Next up, these are the music presets: Default (Audeze House Sound) vs Flat EQ vs Music EQ






Click on the photos to enlarge them as desired.

 

[antdroid]

More Comparison Measurements:

Audeze Mobius in Default HiRes mode is in RED in every chart.
Click on the photos to enlarge them as desired.

vs Hifiman HE560 (with Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads)



vs Audeze Sine



vs Audeze Sine with HD212 Pads




vs Focal Elex



Hiss Issue -
So there was an issue with hissing when the first batch was sent out. The hissing for some was loud enough to be bothersome and for others it didnt matter. Audeze recalled all shipments back and made a fix to it. I have the revised version now.

When you turn on the device, you do hear a very, very, very faint hiss. It's on the level of or less than what you would hear if you had Active Noise Cancelling on and didnt have any playback. It's not really an issue at all. It becomes completely irrelevant during playback.

 

[Rageset]

Thank you for this. I will definitely subscribe to this thread and keep clear of the other. I've created an account today, just for this thread.

 

[kozio_]

I got mine today, USB C to USB C doesnt seem to work as windows gets an error code (device not recognized?) when I plug directly to the motherboard usb c port and nothing at all comes up when plugged into the front usb c port. Probably an issue with the cable because USB C - USB A works fine.

edit; this was solved by updating drivers


Impressions on the sound;

It was hard to find any 7.1 content in a few quick searches so I gave up and watched the Ready Player One race scene on YT and it sounded great, I loved the 3d headtracking... But it was pretty quiet. a tad bit below my normal listening levels. IDK how to fix this issue outside of trying to go over 100% volume in the pc with some sort of systemwide software? If anyone has a solution, let me know... (edit; after longer listening and switching around the modes more, I found 80% to be pushing comofort on 3d 7.1 mode)
Looking for true 7.1 content, I remembered The Division had extensive options when it came to audio/video and sure enough, I switched to 'home cinema' and a game I've played 600 hours in became completely new to me. Everything sounded so much more... impactful? deep? detailed? all of the above haha. I was blown away by everything but the grenades, but they always sounded dull so I dont blame mobius.
So far my preset is Music. I imagine for what I'll be using them for, I'll stick with 7.1 3D anytime on PC and HI RES mode when using my nokia bluetooth. Don't feel like using 2ch + head tracking while mobile.
As far as listening to music, I loaded up Bassnectar - timestretch because it's been pretty successful in stressing out base on any setup I've tried them on but still sounds good enough. Everything's pretty clear, I've enjoyed the song on modded shp9500, k7xx, Kef Q300s, and my car's harmon kardon 7.1 system. M50's sounded very meh with the song. Out of all of these, Mobius is the most enjoyable to listen to with base heavy songs like timestretch imo.


Comfort;

When I first put them on they were extremely clampy and hurt the top of my head, at the moment though, they are fairly comfy and I've got no complaints.


Other thoughts;

pads will definitely cause sweating in any sort of heat.
the cord is janky and sticks out at an awkward angle, within vision... this bothers me but only temporary.
the instruction book is huge but it's in many different languages. English has 7 pages and 1 quick start guide.
battery was at 95% when I opened everything up.
edit; sidetone volume can be lowered until inaudible so no worries to people that don't want to hear it. when full audio was on with Timestretch, I couldn't even hear sidetone at the loudest volume
edit 2; Forgot to mention I dont hear any hissing whatsoever. When I first turned it on, it was an extremely quiet hiss but I didn't hear it after that regardless of input type or whether something was playing or not

Any questions? feel free to reply

 

[Zenvota]

It was hard to find any 7.1 content in a few quick searches so I gave up and watched the Ready Player One race scene on YT and it sounded great

Not youtube!!

http://www.demo-world.eu/2d-demo-trailers-hd/

https://rarbg.to/torrent/f75xvzl

 

[Mkoll]

But it was pretty quiet. a tad bit below my normal listening levels. IDK how to fix this issue outside of trying to go over 100% volume in the pc with some sort of systemwide software? If anyone has a solution, let me know...

I think this is the first impression I've heard saying the Mobius isn't loud enough. Can anyone else with the revised version comment on the volume level?

Also @kozio_ , how would you describe and judge the hiss?

 

[Mani ATH 87]

I'm curious to know why Audeze didn't just tell us we could turn down the sidetone. lol

There's an ongoing conversation in the other thread and I'm sure Audeze could have provided this info to asuade some people.

 

[antdroid]

So far my preset is Music. I imagine for what I'll be using them for, I'll stick with 7.1 3D anytime on PC and HI RES mode when using my nokia bluetooth. Don't feel like using 2ch + head tracking while mobile.

Good impressions. I think this thing is spectacular for its price in my day of listening. This is going to bring a whole new crowd of kids and gamers into the world of higher quality audio I think. Just wanted to comment on your post though - you cant use bluetooth with 3D tracking anyway. It only lets you use hires mode if on BT.

 

[Saljon]

I'm curious to know why Audeze didn't just tell us we could turn down the sidetone. lol

There's an ongoing conversation in the other thread and I'm sure Audeze could have provided this info to asuade some people.

They DID say that.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

They responded to a pretty in-depth concern about the sidetone and the ability to add a toggle yesterday and never mentioned the ability to turn it down. At least I don't recall them mentioning it. If you can turn it down to inaudible levels it's pretty much a non issue for people concerned about it...no?

 

[Rageset]

Do you have Resident Evil 7? If you do, can you tell me how they sound with that game? I play Resident Evil 7 on my laptop (Aero 15X) and the sound is dreadful coming from the internal speakers. When I play it on one of my DT's with my full surround setup, it is amazing.

I got mine today, USB C to USB C doesnt seem to work as windows gets an error code (device not recognized?) when I plug directly to the motherboard usb c port and nothing at all comes up when plugged into the front usb c port. Probably an issue with the cable because USB C - USB A works fine.


Impressions on the sound;

It was hard to find any 7.1 content in a few quick searches so I gave up and watched the Ready Player One race scene on YT and it sounded great, I loved the 3d headtracking... But it was pretty quiet. a tad bit below my normal listening levels. IDK how to fix this issue outside of trying to go over 100% volume in the pc with some sort of systemwide software? If anyone has a solution, let me know...
Looking for true 7.1 content, I remembered The Division had extensive options when it came to audio/video and sure enough, I switched to 'home cinema' and a game I've played 600 hours in became completely new to me. Everything sounded so much more... impactful? deep? detailed? all of the above haha. I was blown away by everything but the grenades, but they always sounded dull so I dont blame mobius.
So far my preset is Music. I imagine for what I'll be using them for, I'll stick with 7.1 3D anytime on PC and HI RES mode when using my nokia bluetooth. Don't feel like using 2ch + head tracking while mobile.
As far as listening to music, I loaded up Bassnectar - timestretch because it's been pretty successful in stressing out base on any setup I've tried them on but still sounds good enough. Everything's pretty clear, I've enjoyed the song on modded shp9500, k7xx, Kef Q300s, and my car's harmon kardon 7.1 system. M50's sounded very meh with the song. Out of all of these, Mobius is the most enjoyable to listen to with base heavy songs like timestretch imo.


Comfort;

When I first put them on they were extremely clampy and hurt the top of my head, at the moment though, they are fairly comfy HV I've got no complaints.


Other thoughts;

pads will definitely cause sweating in any sort of heat.
the cord is janky and sticks out at an awkward angle, within vision... this bothers me but only temporary.
the instruction book is huge but it's in many different languages. English has 7 pages and 1 quick start guide.
battery was at 95% when I opened everything up.
edit; sidetone volume can be lowered until inaudible so no worries to people that don't want to hear it. when full audio was on with Timestretch, I couldn't even here sidetone at the loudest volume

Any questions? feel free to reply

 

[Saljon]

They responded to a pretty in-depth concern about the sidetone and the ability to add a toggle yesterday and never mentioned the ability to turn it down. At least I don't recall them mentioning it. If you can turn it down to inaudible levels it's pretty much a non issue for people concerned about it...no?

They talked about it when the concern first surfaced.
It's just the hyperactive nature of everyone back then that let people to thinking turning it down isn't the same/enough for them.


Btw. regarding 7.1 :
Netflix has surround, every blu ray and pretty much EVERY modern game even if it isn't editable in the menu. Most modern titles just take your windows settings for audio meaning as long as you use Mobius with proper settings everything is fine.