[lowmagnet]

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All-New Reinforced Chassis built with Aluminum and Steel

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Would have been nice if you didn't cheap out with Mobius on the chassis. Maybe you learned to not trust injection-molded yokes. I had to replace my headphones twice, once on your dime under warranty and once on mine, and I'll never buy a product from Audeze again after this. Shame

 

[scratchmassive]

Here's my quick review of the Maxwell, after upgrading from the Penrose. Most of it won't be surprising to people around here, but I thought it's worth weighing in on the smaller things that makes it worth the upgrade.

- I'm far from the discerning audiophile, but sound quality is just as excellent as the Penrose. I did feel the Penrose was harsh at high frequencies so I had to EQ that down, however no such problem with Maxwell.
- Both Penrose headsets I owned had an intermittent wooshing sound in the left ear at quiet volume levels. This was infuriating, so I'm very glad they designed the Maxwell to fix this.
- Build quality seems really good. My Penrose cracked at the typical place on the plastic joint, and I'm glad they seem to have addressed this. This and the wooshing sound were my biggest gripes for the Penrose.
- I didn't expect any differences to the mic, but my gaming mates noticed that the mic was much clearer, before I told them about having a new headset. Also love the noise suppression feature.
- The sidetone feature is worse, unfortunately. When enabled, there is a white noise sound that is a bit crackly, whereas on the Penrose it was much more subtle. Also, when the mic is switched to mute, the sidetone is not disabled like on the Penrose - I found this useful to remind me when I was still on mute.
- Range and connection are massively improved. I can go anywhere in my place without disconnecting, where before I could only go as far as one room away. Also, the Penrose would sometimes take a few tries before it would connect - not anymore.
- Battery life also massively improved, although I did get used to just leaving my Penrose on charge after every session.
- Comfort is so much better. I had to mod the Penrose headband because it put a lot of pressure at the top of my head, whereas the Maxwell balances out really well even though it is heavier. It's a little tight but again, nowhere near as severe as the Penrose. I also really like the much wider earcups, maybe I have big ears but they feel much more spacious.
- Volume control is now linked to Windows volume, this is a great QOL improvement that I didn't expect to see.
- I also didn't expect iOS support because it was not a Penrose feature, but very excited for that to land.
- Kinda wish the controls weren't so sensitive, because I find that I'm accidentally toggling things when I go to take off the Maxwell.
- Voice cues - minor in the scheme of things, but they now sound nice and consistent. In the Penrose, the "2.4 and bluetooth" voice cue was so jarring because it sounded like it was recorded by two different voices!

So overall huge improvements almost all round. Hats off to Audeze, I am a huge fan of the Maxwell and I have been recommending it to friends - something I couldn't do unconditionally with the Penrose.

 

[pixelcowboy]

Does anyone know what exact material the head band and ear pads are made of, and how best to take care of them? i.e. Can I give them a coat of Scotch-guard? My Penrose ear pads were peeling badly after about 1.5 years and I'd like to avoid that this time around.

Every single earpad I've ever had made of synthetic leather ends up pealing after abound a year and half. I do sweat a lot. For the Maxwell's I intend to buy a replacement ear pad once those are out, that is hopefully more breathable for the summer, and then switch them around to extend the life of both.

 

[pixelcowboy]

Here's my quick review of the Maxwell, after upgrading from the Penrose. Most of it won't be surprising to people around here, but I thought it's worth weighing in on the smaller things that makes it worth the upgrade.

- I'm far from the discerning audiophile, but sound quality is just as excellent as the Penrose. I did feel the Penrose was harsh at high frequencies so I had to EQ that down, however no such problem with Maxwell.
- Both Penrose headsets I owned had an intermittent wooshing sound in the left ear at quiet volume levels. This was infuriating, so I'm very glad they designed the Maxwell to fix this.
- Build quality seems really good. My Penrose cracked at the typical place on the plastic joint, and I'm glad they seem to have addressed this. This and the wooshing sound were my biggest gripes for the Penrose.
- I didn't expect any differences to the mic, but my gaming mates noticed that the mic was much clearer, before I told them about having a new headset. Also love the noise suppression feature.
- The sidetone feature is worse, unfortunately. When enabled, there is a white noise sound that is a bit crackly, whereas on the Penrose it was much more subtle. Also, when the mic is switched to mute, the sidetone is not disabled like on the Penrose - I found this useful to remind me when I was still on mute.
- Range and connection are massively improved. I can go anywhere in my place without disconnecting, where before I could only go as far as one room away. Also, the Penrose would sometimes take a few tries before it would connect - not anymore.
- Battery life also massively improved, although I did get used to just leaving my Penrose on charge after every session.
- Comfort is so much better. I had to mod the Penrose headband because it put a lot of pressure at the top of my head, whereas the Maxwell balances out really well even though it is heavier. It's a little tight but again, nowhere near as severe as the Penrose. I also really like the much wider earcups, maybe I have big ears but they feel much more spacious.
- Volume control is now linked to Windows volume, this is a great QOL improvement that I didn't expect to see.
- I also didn't expect iOS support because it was not a Penrose feature, but very excited for that to land.
- Kinda wish the controls weren't so sensitive, because I find that I'm accidentally toggling things when I go to take off the Maxwell.
- Voice cues - minor in the scheme of things, but they now sound nice and consistent. In the Penrose, the "2.4 and bluetooth" voice cue was so jarring because it sounded like it was recorded by two different voices!

So overall huge improvements almost all round. Hats off to Audeze, I am a huge fan of the Maxwell and I have been recommending it to friends - something I couldn't do unconditionally with the Penrose.

By the way I've put in a ticket about the sidetone crackly noise and I was told by support that they are aware and are looking to fix it, hopefully it's something that can be improved in firmware and isn't a hardware flaw.

 

[HiFatality]

Hi @Audeze,

I would like to give a suggestion on Sidetone and Mute Switch.

I figured that you may want to make sidetone act like transparency mode, allowing users to hear surrounding sounds. Therefore, sidetone should be able to be activated even the mic is muted. However, this sometimes causes confusion.

My suggestion is as follows,

1. Whenever Mute Switch is switched to Mute, Sidetone should also be turned off.
2. Whenever Mute Switch is switched to Unmute, Sidetone should also be turned on. [optional]
3. When the headset Power On, Sidetone should follow the above rules and turn on or off accordingly.
4. All other features and functions remain the same. That said, Sidetone can be turned on or off separately by using the Mic Wheel.

This suggestion is to keep the transparency mode, and also make Sidetone and Mute Switch related.

 

[Itsjustmd]

Hi @Audeze,

I would like to give a suggestion on Sidetone and Mute Switch.

I figured that you may want to make sidetone act like transparency mode, allowing users to hear surrounding sounds. Therefore, sidetone should be able to be activated even the mic is muted. However, this sometimes causes confusion.

My suggestion is as follows,

1. Whenever Mute Switch is switched to Mute, Sidetone should also be turned off.
2. Whenever Mute Switch is switched to Unmute, Sidetone should also be turned on. [optional]
3. When the headset Power On, Sidetone should follow the above rules and turn on or off accordingly.
4. All other features and functions remain the same. That said, Sidetone can be turned on or off separately by using the Mic Wheel.

This suggestion is to keep the transparency mode, and also make Sidetone and Mute Switch related.

I'm pretty sure someone asked for this already, and they said the team discussed it and it will not be getting changed.

 

[Itsjustmd]

Damn, Christmas came a little late, or super early for you.

As for sidetone... it's remaining as is. We can't make everyone happy, but at the end of the day, giving people the option to turn it on and off independently of the mic mute is the more logical choice.

Hi @Audeze,

I would like to give a suggestion on Sidetone and Mute Switch.

I figured that you may want to make sidetone act like transparency mode, allowing users to hear surrounding sounds. Therefore, sidetone should be able to be activated even the mic is muted. However, this sometimes causes confusion.

My suggestion is as follows,

1. Whenever Mute Switch is switched to Mute, Sidetone should also be turned off.
2. Whenever Mute Switch is switched to Unmute, Sidetone should also be turned on. [optional]
3. When the headset Power On, Sidetone should follow the above rules and turn on or off accordingly.
4. All other features and functions remain the same. That said, Sidetone can be turned on or off separately by using the Mic Wheel.

This suggestion is to keep the transparency mode, and also make Sidetone and Mute Switch related.

Yep. Found the post.

 

[HiFatality]

Yep. Found the post.

What I suggested still supports turning sidetone on and off independently.

And Yes, they may not want to alter that, so I’m simply giving a suggestion, wishing to help Maxwell more user friendly. The decision is of course up to them.

Thank you for the reply!

 

[gisuepe]

Tomorrow @Audeze releases the Maxwell XBOX version for sale ??

 

[RedJohn456]

I gotta say its been great to see a lot of people mentioning 2042 on here. Long time BF fan really concerned about the game with the launch of 2042, but started playing it a couple months ago again and man is it good. Will never get the player base it should have had if it launched like it is now, but good to see some people are firing it up again to keep it alive and kicking well!

Me too, happy to see mentions of BF2042, been playing since day one, thousand hours in and still addicted to it like no tomorrow. Now that my audio side is taken care of, gotta get on that OLED bandwagon and maybe a nice GPU bump, my last pc build was to max out BF5 and BF1 so its been awhile!

EDIT: Also, what bit/depth settings do people set their maxwell to while gaming wirelessly on PC? 24/96 seems overkill and does it impact battery life?

 

[C_Lindbergh]

Hopefully more units gets out to EU distributors soon...Both dealers in my country don't really have a firm date for when its available.

 

[Granmir]

Does anyone recommend a hard case for the headphones?

 

[Ryno1]

Just received the Maxwell PlayStation. The sound is great, but rather drastic channel imbalance with my pair. Anyone else having channel balance problems?

 

[Scratchansniff]

Just received the Maxwell PlayStation. The sound is great, but rather drastic channel imbalance with my pair. Anyone else having channel balance problems?

Mine has been fine

 

[Blackrao]

Does anyone recommend a hard case for the headphones?

dropped mine twice and its fine xD