[msolok]

So, for those asking in what modes the noise is audible, for my unit it's always audible when turned on. Whether I have a USB cable plugged in, or 2.5mm cable, or nothing at all, the sound is always there. I've tried 7.1 sound mode, both 2.0 modes, and all of the 3D options, the background sound exists.

To those saying my views on the controls of the Mobius and the fact the Mobius doesn't save last used settings is 'Making a mountain out of a Mole Hill', that's fine. That is your opinion. In my opinion (and, let's be clear, ANY review is simply someone stating their opinion) this does drastically take away from the usability and enjoyment of the headphones. I've now taken the Mobius around my office and passed it around my gaming friends, and close to 100% have said the controls are too fiddly and the settings confusing, to the point they would choose other headphones to use over the Mobius.
None of my gaming friends through the additional sound clarity from the Mobius was worth the compromises that they noticed. All would much rather use a far simpler headset like a Razer, a Sennheiser or a Kingston HyperX over the Mobius. The extra sound quality of the Mobius is simply not as important to gamers as Ease of use and comfort.

I firmly believe that review's should be truthful, accurate and look at a product from the perspective it was intended to be used. My review above was intended to do that. I'm not just going to gloss over the issues and not mention things I noticed. That would not serve anyone well. A good review is one which is willing to say it how it is, regardless of what that means.

I'm going to be giving my Mobius a longer try today on my MacBook Pro as well as on my Samsung galaxy Tab S4 Android tablet. Will do some more Mic comparisons, and give the 3.5mm cable and Bluetooth more of a shot. I'll also try and get some more in-depth music listening in. I'll post up my impressions again once done.

 

[Zenvota]

All would much rather use a far simpler headset like a Razer, a Sennheiser or a Kingston HyperX over the Mobius. The extra sound quality of the Mobius is simply not as important to gamers as Ease of use and comfort.

This is a contradiction. Prefer a simpler headset, but all you have to do is plug the mobius in and your good to go. The only extra step to plugging the far simpler headsets in is turning the mobius on.

You can say the controls are finnicky so dont use them. Use an eq program instead of the onboard options(because actual customization, and youd do this with the simper headsets anyways), it defaults to 7.1 with 3d on, good to go there, use the system volume controls instead of the mobius volume wheel, what am I missing?

After initially installing the program and setting ur head size and room size what else is there?

Comforts a subjective thing, these disappear after a minute on my head.

And the sound quality thing is subjective too, of course someone that doesnt care about sound quality isnt going to buy the mobius, theyre going to buy a $30headset, why even mention this...

 

[Mkoll]

A few of the controls aren't that intuitive and there are a lot of controls, period. It's absolutely expected that it will feel clumsy and awkward using them initially. How could it be otherwise? But like any piece of equipment, spend some time using it and soon enough operation becomes second nature. I've been using the Mobius 3 days now and it's already getting close to that point. That isn't much time at all. It really isn't that complicated a device from a user functionality point of view and the learning curve is not steep.

 

[Mkoll]

Yes, I used the supplied USB-C to USB-C cable straight into my Note 8. It supported 7.1 Mode and the Hi-Res mode no problem, sounds great. I listened to some Tidal lossless music in Hi-Res mode, it works well.

I just did the same with my Nexus 6P and it works great, plug and play. No OTG cable needed.

 

[msolok]

This is a contradiction. Prefer a simpler headset, but all you have to do is plug the mobius in and your good to go. The only extra step to plugging the far simpler headsets in is turning the mobius on.

Uhh, no it's not.
To use the Mobius I need to okug it in, turn it on, turn the Mic volume all the way back up, adjust the the 3D settings, adjust the input and operating mode. To say I should just use a separate EQ app for each device, not taking into account t the multiple headsets I might use with each, is rediculous.

For me to use a simple gaming headset (my Razer or Sennheiser say) I place them on my head. They can stay attached and all my settings from last time are saved.

Comforts a subjective thing, these disappear after a minute on my head.

If onky someone had mentioned that reviews are personal opinion on an item, and therefore subjective. Ohh wait....

And the sound quality thing is subjective too, of course someone that doesnt care about sound quality isnt going to buy the mobius, theyre going to buy a $30headset, why even mention this...

Gamers, the crowd to which the Mobius is advertised and designed for, care more about comfort and ease than sound quality. That is not to say they don't care about sound, but that if a headset is a pain to use (meaning both comfort wise and usability wise) they will choose another product which has not quite so good sound but superior in both the other Regards. Quite an easy concept really.
Now, I can' t possibly say this is 100% the case for all gamers, but from the ones I know and my own experiences, this is overwhelmingly the case.

Again, these are my views and opinions. That is what a review is. My views and review takes into account the cost of the Mobius ($400USD) and compares the to other around $100USD headphones.

 

[LajostheHun]

Anyone use this with an LG V30 phone via BT? I can't get the LDAC to engage it. The pop up window show I selected it but on the developer's section status page still show AAC which is the default it seems. Any ideas?

 

[Mkoll]

Anyone use this with an LG V30 phone via BT? I can't get the LDAC to engage it. The pop up window show I selected it but on the developer's section status page still show AAC which is the default it seems. Any ideas?

I don't have the V30. But with my Nexus 6P, LDAC libraries are present but not enabled in Android 8.0 (Oreo). I could see LDAC in developer options but there was no option in the bluetooth settings for the headphones. I had to root my phone and install a Magisk module to enable LDAC in the bluetooth settings (see my post earlier in the thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-mobius-review-impressions.887808/page-15#post-14464432). It's possible the V30 is similar...

If the V30 Mobius bluetooth settings already show what I emphasized in red in the below screenshot, then I don't think my workaround would work. But if that isn't there, mine will likely work.

 

[LajostheHun]

I don't have the V30. But with my Nexus 6P, LDAC libraries are present but not enabled in Android 8.0 (Oreo). I could see LDAC in developer options but there was no option in the bluetooth settings for the headphones. I had to root my phone and install a Magisk module to enable LDAC in the bluetooth settings (see my post earlier in the thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-mobius-review-impressions.887808/page-15#post-14464432). It's possible the V30 is similar...

If the V30 Mobius bluetooth settings already show what I emphasized in red in the below screenshot, then I don't think my workaround would work. But if that isn't there, my will likely work.

Is that screenshot from the app you used after rooting?

 

[Mkoll]

It's a screenshot from the phone's default bluetooth settings reached by going to phone settings > connected devices > bluetooth > Mobius cog icon. Or an alternative path via the bluetooth dropdown menu: connect Mobius via BT > click down arrow/chevron near it > more settings > Mobius cog icon. That's how it is on my phone on Android 8.0 anyway. Yours may be different of course.

edit:
The app I used is a separate program entirely. My screenshot is from the phone's default menus and UI. The app just enabled that LDAC option.

 

[King CATalyst]

Just out of curiosity, is anyone else not enjoying the mobius at all? I was really looking forward to them but after 3 or 4 sessions with them I'm rather disappointed in many aspects. Too much treble (for my taste) ,bluetooth cuts out momentarily and quite frequently, not very comfortable, to quiet with ps4 and no way to fix it, mic is trash. I honestly preferred my sony wh-1000xm2 over these but unfortunately i sold them to buy these.

 

[kenyee]

fact the Mobius doesn't save last used settings is 'Making a mountain out of a Mole Hill',

Totally agree with this. The random 100% volume thing drives me bonkers.
Ditto the unexpected power draw if plugged in on USB...it should just tap USB power instead of its own battery.
Being able to save and load configs from the app would be extremely useful and having it save the last config is vital as well..

p.s. wasn't singling you out for not mentioning what conditions you heard noise in. It was just a general comment that to report an issue, QA needs to know the exact conditions you had the problem in. Given how complex the Mobius is, it must have been a QA nightmare

 

[msolok]

OK, I have now completed doing some additional testing of the Mic issues on my Mobius. I've now tested my Mobius connect to Windows PC's (4 all up), my MacBook Pro, and 2 Android devices (my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and my Samsung Galaxy Tab S4) all via USB. All exhibit the exact same behaviour with the Microphone being very low volume, sound cutting in and out and sound pretty wooly and muffled. There are slight differences across the OS's, but nothing major and not enough that I would say one's generic drivers are better than the others, or that ones is causing any issue compared to the others.

I have then connected the Mobius to my Android devices via Bluetooth, set the volume to 100% and used the same app for recording as before. The volume it now gives is MUCH more acceptable, the volume raising and dropping issue still exists but to a much lower extent than previous, and the quality it greatly improved. Tried using the Microphone via Bluetooth to Windows, and noticed the same thing (except the quality was pretty ordinary, but that seems to be a Windows Bluetooth implementation rather than the Mobius). The Microphone by Bluetooth is far and away better than via USB.

First up I gave the 3.5mm cable a try. I don't recommend it unless you have no other choice. Of all the connection methods it is the most ordinary. There seems to be a fair amount of noise using this method. This makes sense to me, seeing as using the 3.5mm cable results in DAC - ADC - DAC conversion path to occur. It's OK, but the quality does suffer and you don't get the benefits of 7.1 or high quality that you get with the USB cable. Unless there is a real legitimate reason you can't use USB, I would stay away from the 3.5mm option.

Bluetooth using LDAC sounds brilliant, as I would expect. I have the Sony WH-1000x M2 which also use LDAC and it is truly amazing what that Codec has done for Bluetooth audio. It's simply great. I did experience some skipping and break up, but nothing too bad. All up using the Mobius via Bluetooth is pretty good, let down slightly by it's limited battery life. Due to it's (relative) blow isolation, short battery life (with slow charging) and large size, it's really not ideal for portable, commuting use. There are better options out there if that's the headphone you are looking for. But for occasional use as such, they will do quit well.

So up next was music listening with USB connection. Again, here the mobius does quite well. It's a nice headphone to listen to. It does have quite good details, showing part of the music some other headphones miss. It's not the most detailed headphone that I've heard, but it's quite nice.
The Bass while listening to music is good. It doesn't have a big kick (which is what can lead to it feeling a bit bass light in games) but it's there and goes quite well.
The mids and Highs are very nice. They are clear and detailed. Highs stop just before they are painful.
Sound Stage is quite narrow, I find. I don't feel it extends quite far at all. Imaging across the headphones is good, but they just don't extend that far. I think this has kind of surprised me, as I was expecting for the 7.1 these would be wide.
In heavy music I felt these started to feel a bit congested. With a lot going on they seemed to lose a bit of their detail and blend the sound together. It wasn't anything major or massively pronounced, but I felt it was there. I think part of this was the narrowness of the sound stage.

As an example, listening to Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb the drums start out sound great. Nice, crispy clear kicks. Vocals are good, and cymbal crash are nice and shiney. Then the high guitar comes in, and the drums loose their kick. They are there, but I can no longer feel them like I did. And the cymbals start to get lost in the guitar, blurring in with the highs of the guitar. As the guitar cooled down after the solo the drums picked back up and cymbals came back to life.

There was also something to the sound that kept making me want to turn them down. I would only have them on 18-20 volume in Windows (with the music app volume at around 70%) but I kept wanting to turn them down lower. I don't know what it was as I often have my headphones at a similar, maybe slightly louder, volume. I did notice as the volume dropped the congestion got better, so I suppose that's something.

I do think my enjoyment of the headphones is impacted by the comfort of them. I notice me ears starting to heat up within a couple of minutes of putting them on. The rather narrow pads mean my ears are touching the sides and get sore quickly. The clamp force causes comfort in my jaw after 15 minutes. Hopefully with time the clamp will lighten up, but I'm not confident that will do a huge amount to improve the overall comfort. All up, I think I will be happy with them for short listening sessions, but not for more extended sessions.

All up, while the Mobius is a nice sounding headphone, it's not one I would pick up and use for listening to music.

 

[msolok]

p.s. wasn't singling you out for not mentioning what conditions you heard noise in. It was just a general comment that to report an issue, QA needs to know the exact conditions you had the problem in. Given how complex the Mobius is, it must have been a QA nightmare

Oh no, I agree. It's good for everyone to know when the noise is noticeable, and if it just affects one more or another. It helps track down the issue and gives everyone an idea of if it is going to impact them.
My noise is certainly noticeable at low volumes or if I am watching a video only containing someone talking. And it's always present, always there in the background. Modes and connections seem to make no difference to it.

 

[LajostheHun]

It's a screenshot from the phone's default bluetooth settings reached by going to phone settings > connected devices > bluetooth > Mobius cog icon. Or an alternative path via the bluetooth dropdown menu: connect Mobius via BT > click down arrow/chevron near it > more settings > Mobius cog icon. That's how it is on my phone on Android 8.0 anyway. Yours may be different of course.

edit:
The app I used is a separate program entirely. My screenshot is from the phone's default menus and UI. The app just enabled that LDAC option.

Yup mine is nothing like that, of the options only the "Media" and " Call" are there. In the past I would just go into the "developer's section menu and change the codec there if supported by the HP, that method simply don't work with the Mobius. Bummer.

Edit: Just noticed there is an extra setting for "Best Sound quality" vs "Most stable connection"
The Best sound quality setting enables LDAC as default on the phone automatically. Brilliant!

 

[KaiSc]

Uhh, no it's not.
To use the Mobius I need to okug it in, turn it on, turn the Mic volume all the way back up, adjust the the 3D settings, adjust the input and operating mode. To say I should just use a separate EQ app for each device, not taking into account t the multiple headsets I might use with each, is rediculous.

For me to use a simple gaming headset (my Razer or Sennheiser say) I place them on my head. They can stay attached and all my settings from last time are saved.


If onky someone had mentioned that reviews are personal opinion on an item, and therefore subjective. Ohh wait....



Gamers, the crowd to which the Mobius is advertised and designed for, care more about comfort and ease than sound quality. That is not to say they don't care about sound, but that if a headset is a pain to use (meaning both comfort wise and usability wise) they will choose another product which has not quite so good sound but superior in both the other Regards. Quite an easy concept really.
Now, I can' t possibly say this is 100% the case for all gamers, but from the ones I know and my own experiences, this is overwhelmingly the case.

Again, these are my views and opinions. That is what a review is. My views and review takes into account the cost of the Mobius ($400USD) and compares the to other around $100USD headphones.

If one does not care so much about sound quality he does not need to fiddle with the EQ control on the Mobius.
There is one unique thing Mobius can do, and that's a convincing 3-D sound, only possible with the incorporated headtracking, letting one pinpoint the location of a sound source and give a nice out of head experience not possible with standard headphones.
If someone does not need this Mobius might be the wrong price range.

There are a number of hicups that need to be addressed, fortunately I think this all can be done with an updated firmware.

Meanwhile I have intensively enjoyed the Mobius for a week or so and I am quite satisfied.
It's sound is very forgiving, but still clear, transparent and powerful. Every piece of music I threw on it did sound at least good if not very good and not one did sound annoying.
That is something I cannot say about my number of really expensive "classy" headphones, where some pieces of music sound quite an amount better than on Mobius, but other do sounds unbearably bad.
For me Mobius is an arounder that I would recommend to someone who wants a quality headphones that does it all plus some.

If you give it to someone and first start explaining all the controls it will be overwhelming and confusing, but if you just give it to someone to listen to music most people will be convinced, that's my experience.