Audeze Mobius Review / Preview - Head-Fi TV
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ChesterYonany
100+ Head-Fier
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umm..
cant hear hissing.
they said that all of the first bunch were shipped back and got fixed.
you hear the hissing with the new version?
cant hear hissing.
they said that all of the first bunch were shipped back and got fixed.
you hear the hissing with the new version?
Cecala
Headphoneus Supremus
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Family obligations required I take a Friday off from the job, so of course last Friday my Mobius arrived shipped to the office as I prefer to avoid the porch thieves Amazon has created. Luckily as my shipping notification email was lost in the firewalls and spam gauntlets necessary in 2018 I was blissfully unaware my three day weekend could have included a new high performance DSP equipped headphone.
And it made for a much better than average Monday work morning when I walked into my office and the sight of a headphone sized box greeted me.
Unboxing pics.
Initial impressions.
Industrial design and build quality easily meet expectations. Blue is my favorite color so going Team Blue is confirmed as the right choice for me.
Read the manual and supplemental material on https://audeze.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000427911-Mobius-Technical-Questions or you will be lost trying to run this product. Plugging an analog source into the 3.5mm port is as close to plug and play as Mobius gets so I started there while studying the details of USB, Bluetooth, and 3D. Once the control locations and functions are memorized I quickly found that with the voice feedback operation is easy.
No hiss audible to my 62 year old ears that I am blessed to report still hear to above 15k Hz.
Fit on my head/ears is snug and very comfortable. I like the snug fit, I can look down while working with the music on and Mobius does not try and fall off my head.
Have not tested microphone, I am not a gamer and do not expect to use it.
After two days of listening to music and movie excerpts via analog, USB, and Bluetooth I can say Mobius meets and exceeds my expectations. Certainly high-end sound quality, massive functionality, and the DSP powered 3D and surround capability are a clear view into the future of performance headphones.
Congratulations to the team at Audeze! I backed Mobius on March 17, 2018 and received this fantastic product September 17, 2018.
Are you saying that listening also by analog that you received full 5.1/7.1 for movies?
I picked up my headphones from the DHL service point today, which was easy to arrange despite the misprinted address (e.g. 2151 vs. 2-151 to jog your memory). I was very concerned about the microphone complaints, but my friends on Discord says it sounds "sexy" and "super clear." I had the volume wheel set all the way up, disabled echo and noise cancellation in Discord.
One thing I did note about the microphone and the supposed hiss is that there does appear to be some noise floor associated with having the mic gain maxed out, which I expect is an artifact of SideTone. The noise floor seems to lower when mic gain is reduced, and disappear when mic is muted. I like SideTone as a feature, but option to adjust the volume of SideTone independent of mic gain would be much appreciated.
As for 3D and 7.1, I'm looking forward to using it in games and video content, but I'm undecided on whether the benefits of head-tracking outweigh the benefits of 2ch, e.g. for games which have good binaural support baked-in, or to a lesser extent for movies (high-res mode).
Does anyone know what type of surround sound encoding is supported, e.g. for movies and TV releases? I'm new to surround sound and I'm not sure which format to seek. I've heard PCM Is a common denominator and requires no licensing, so it should be usable on Mobius. I know Dolby Atmos is out, but is Dolby Digital OK? DD+/E-AC3? DTS? Which other proprietary formats are supported (if any)?
One thing I did note about the microphone and the supposed hiss is that there does appear to be some noise floor associated with having the mic gain maxed out, which I expect is an artifact of SideTone. The noise floor seems to lower when mic gain is reduced, and disappear when mic is muted. I like SideTone as a feature, but option to adjust the volume of SideTone independent of mic gain would be much appreciated.
As for 3D and 7.1, I'm looking forward to using it in games and video content, but I'm undecided on whether the benefits of head-tracking outweigh the benefits of 2ch, e.g. for games which have good binaural support baked-in, or to a lesser extent for movies (high-res mode).
Does anyone know what type of surround sound encoding is supported, e.g. for movies and TV releases? I'm new to surround sound and I'm not sure which format to seek. I've heard PCM Is a common denominator and requires no licensing, so it should be usable on Mobius. I know Dolby Atmos is out, but is Dolby Digital OK? DD+/E-AC3? DTS? Which other proprietary formats are supported (if any)?
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None, Mobius doesn't do any decoding. Gotta feed it pcm.
Please forgive the noob question, but I'm a total noob about surround sound formats. How can I get PCM content? According to Dolby:
Does this mean that Windows (and Netflix, Vudu, Amazon Fire TV, etc. can decode Dolby Digital Plus and feed Mobius PCM, or is hardware support for DD+ necessary to consume this content in 5.1/7.1?
If I buy the Dolby Atmos app from the Windows App Store, can Windows decode Atmos and feed PCM to Mobius?
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LuizzyBreezy
New Head-Fier
I can hear a light hiss sound with Aux through a Xbox remote, I can’t hear it on Bluetooth or type c. it can be the the aux cord or came with the headset
Update: I believe it’s just crappy Xbox remote that creates the hiss
Update: I believe it’s just crappy Xbox remote that creates the hiss
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If the player doesn't detect a decoder it should output pcm, the windows netflix app does at least.
Nah you dont need that atmos app with the mobius
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GenEricOne
100+ Head-Fier
@Audeze, any update on when those of us with original batch will be contacted to RMA?
We are sending out the emails later this week for the RMA.
A couple more notes...
1) Bluetooth at a busy/loud office with tons of wireless/BT around the area...
Extremely happy, I could wander to the other side of the building and around the corner, or from the edge of the building to about the middle before it cut out.
2) At the comfortable volume it didn't totally block outside sound, there's some bleed through of loud ppl/activities. I'm okay with it...
3) mic check, 1-2-1-2...
- It's keyed so you can only plug it in one way.
- Audeze logo facing out. Looks like you could do it either way but it seems like it wants mic icon facing towards mouth.
- Used iPhone over Bluetooth with Voice Memo app
- Default volume where I was at was okay
- Sticking it pretty much into my mouth I can get it to clip and distort
- Mic sticking straight out from the plug, faintly can pick up voice, not usable
- Placing mic where I think I would be comfortable, it's a little towards the quiet side
- I can hear myself breathing in the side tone
- Then if I exhale through my nose it's like being outside on a very windy day.
- Lots of P-p-pop on P's Peter Picked.... or Esss, S S S kind of meh... a bit distorted
For the microphone, I think it would work in a pinch but I don't think I would be happy to be on an hour+ phone call with this. This does seem disappointing or something I hope Audeze can improve. I'd pay for a better solution if they fixed it but wanted to charge for it.
Enhancement Request: Another thing I'd love to see is an LED on the mic boom that lets you know if you are muted or not visually.
I would rather have something like Plantronics for a mic boom. This is disappointing as I really wanted these to be my wireless phone solution. I think the old Logitech mic setup was better than this. As I mentioned if this could be improved/upgraded it would be worth it to me.
1) Bluetooth at a busy/loud office with tons of wireless/BT around the area...
Extremely happy, I could wander to the other side of the building and around the corner, or from the edge of the building to about the middle before it cut out.
2) At the comfortable volume it didn't totally block outside sound, there's some bleed through of loud ppl/activities. I'm okay with it...
3) mic check, 1-2-1-2...
- It's keyed so you can only plug it in one way.
- Audeze logo facing out. Looks like you could do it either way but it seems like it wants mic icon facing towards mouth.
- Used iPhone over Bluetooth with Voice Memo app
- Default volume where I was at was okay
- Sticking it pretty much into my mouth I can get it to clip and distort
- Mic sticking straight out from the plug, faintly can pick up voice, not usable
- Placing mic where I think I would be comfortable, it's a little towards the quiet side
- I can hear myself breathing in the side tone
- Then if I exhale through my nose it's like being outside on a very windy day.
- Lots of P-p-pop on P's Peter Picked.... or Esss, S S S kind of meh... a bit distorted
For the microphone, I think it would work in a pinch but I don't think I would be happy to be on an hour+ phone call with this. This does seem disappointing or something I hope Audeze can improve. I'd pay for a better solution if they fixed it but wanted to charge for it.
Enhancement Request: Another thing I'd love to see is an LED on the mic boom that lets you know if you are muted or not visually.
I would rather have something like Plantronics for a mic boom. This is disappointing as I really wanted these to be my wireless phone solution. I think the old Logitech mic setup was better than this. As I mentioned if this could be improved/upgraded it would be worth it to me.
jasonbrent
New Head-Fier
Going to bed in a few mins....here's a quick post that'll ramble a bit.
Tried them for the afternoon (music, movies, games all via USB to PC). Sound for a closed headphone is great. No issues with the amp being warm. Hiss is minimal and probably average for Mobius.
As others have complained, the microphone is very poor. My conclusion is that it's faulty - it's unusable in it's current form. Physical connections are correct - tried another usb port as well for good measure. It doesn't mater what headphone mode or Windows sound settings are used. Discord settings are set up as per Audeze and also tried alternative settings, with no luck. Made voice recordings that confirms the voice volume being weak, having tinny sound, breath clipping issues, and vastly varying volume. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that this microphone is the worst I've used by a long shot and can't be working as intended. Contacting Audeze in the near future when I get the chance. S**t happens, but I'm hoping this doesn't turn into some sort of microphone-gate.
If you haven't tested your microphone via making voice files in Windows, do it now and report back if you can. Very curious to see if the issue is widespread and/or undiscovered by those who didn't use the microphone yet.
Edit- Read this over and came to the conclusion that I went a little over-ranty. Not what I intended, but wanted to make the microphone issues loud and clear.
Quick test with 'voice recorder' in windows 10.....
The microphone seems to work well if I put it in my mouth.
In any other position it is too faint to use.
I do not want the microphone in my mouth.... I think something is wrong with the microphone setup.
Avaeryn
New Head-Fier
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I do. Very prominently. Every mode via every connection. I'm not sure what to do.
Ya that doesn't sound right, any noise/hiss on my pair is borderline inaudible, like I have to push the can up against my ear to hear it.
ntracy
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No. Analog is stereo only which as an audiophile matches 99% of my music. Also USB and Bluetooth is mostly stereo from ripped CDs and downloads. The surround test was via USB via Windows 10 media PC streaming Netflix. Opening 20 minutes of first The Fellowship of the Ring and then initial battle scene from The Last Jedi. Very impressed when surround effects were placed far to the side and behind me. The understanding of our hearing mechanisms and ability to translate that into DSP code that runs on a processor sitting in one of the ear cups (!!!) in real time from just two L/R drivers is so very very 21st century. Welcome to the future.
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