[Headsetist]

All I can say is your pair seems to be an outlier and please contact support.

Is it an outlier?

I can confirm that this is the case with at least 2 additional Penrose headsets in addition to this person's.
Toggling sidetone does nothing to the low buzzing sound coming from these headsets, and from what I've seen enabling sidetone does not increase it either.

This static sound is louder than the one found in the Arctis Pro Wireless, which is well known for its static sound coming from the sidetone that cannot be turned off.

As an update to my earlier "mini-review":
I do think this is a great sounding headset and the static is not a deal-breaker for me although it might be for some.
As for the clamping force, it does seem to be quite hard clamping (noticeably more than the Mobius I tried but maybe that one was worn in) but I have mitigated it somewhat by manually rotating the cups, they don't adjust to your head on the lateral axis like most other headphones and have to be placed, maybe this also is due to them needing to be broken in.

 

[amoeba1126]

Playing on Windows should be held to the same standard as the consoles. It is marketed as such. If not, they need to put on the box that it works well with the PS5 and Xbox, but is missing lots of features on Windows.

I'm extremely conflicted. I'm going to wait on a few more reviews before I decide if I'm going to keep my pre-order.

This is exactly why I don't usually buy products that are advertised via word of mouth. They never live up to expectations. The headphones that are getting the most buzz are getting that popular because they work well. Barely anybody even knows anything about this company and all I hear is they make "high-end audiophile headphones" like that's supposed to mean something to anybody in the gaming world.

Are you serious? Just because YOU (or other gamers) don't know anything about Audeze doesn't mean that barely anyone knows them. Every headphone enthusiasts knows about Audeze, harking back to the LCD-1 days. The LCD-2 and LCD-3 were both some of the great early planar headphones. Audeze themselves has been around for over a decade. Using gamer awareness is a pretty trashy standard. You pull 10 gamers off the street and ask them to list their top headphones company and you will get trash answers like Logitech, Razr, HyperX, or Astro, basically whatever they see streamers wearing.

 

[bigstickthunder]

Is it an outlier?

I can confirm that this is the case with at least 2 additional Penrose headsets in addition to this person's.
Toggling sidetone does nothing to the low buzzing sound coming from these headsets, and from what I've seen enabling sidetone does not increase it either.

I just want to be clear that on my headset turning sidetone off does reduce the static/hiss if the microphone is turned on at the physical switch of the headset. If the microphone switch is off, however, toggling sidetone on does not increase the static/hiss; it remains at the reduced level.

 

[crzyricn]

Are you serious? Just because YOU (or other gamers) don't know anything about Audeze doesn't mean that barely anyone knows them. Every headphone enthusiasts knows about Audeze, harking back to the LCD-1 days. The LCD-2 and LCD-3 were both some of the great early planar headphones. Audeze themselves has been around for over a decade. Using gamer awareness is a pretty trashy standard. You pull 10 gamers off the street and ask them to list their top headphones company and you will get trash answers like Logitech, Razr, HyperX, or Astro, basically whatever they see streamers wearing.

I also found that to be a really strange thing to say about Audeze lol

 

[KMann]

Maybe you should consider that you have accidentally enabled AGC even at the range between 1db and 3db. It will be obvious that the sound gets lower to anyone who replicates my testing. Unless, that's an outlier too?

I should have added additional qualifiers to that statement. but I was lazy and linked to the Zen desk article instead.. AGC will kick in if imminent clipping is detected as a net effect of the DSP and also the source material. Multiple factors affect this. 1. The inbuilt tuning 2. The Graphic EQ 3. Source material and the frequency content of the material 4. The volume level.

AGC should not kick in if the combined effect of all the above is not 3dB or more, but I should not have used the word 'certainly', perhaps used 'most cases' because there are instances where it is possible to hit AGC limit. Because this is a firmware change, we will certainly entertain he possibility of going easy on AGC if we hear enough feedback.

 

[amoeba1126]

I also found that to be a really strange thing to say about Audeze lol

Yeah, Audeze is not some newfound, kickstarter company. They are a respectable headphone manufacturer that has somewhat recently dipped into the "gamer" market.

 

[unknownsoil]

I guess you would just have to adjust it at the source, i.e. youtube/spotify/discord output settings level. It's also possible that there is an issue with my headset, but I haven't seen Audeze comment one way or the other about whether the windows volume slider is or isn't supposed to effect the headsets volume when used wirelessly.

Looks like this is not getting addressed, so this sadly will be the only way to adjust the volume.
Bye bye volume mixer

 

[KMann]

Wrong post

 

[amoeba1126]

I agree that the inability to independently adjust volume is going to be a HUGE inconvenience for gamers.

 

[Cazorp]

Am I hearing right that Windows system volume AND app volume sliders don't work? That's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[KMann]

I just want to be clear that on my headset turning sidetone off does reduce the static/hiss if the microphone is turned on at the physical switch of the headset. If the microphone switch is off, however, toggling sidetone on does not increase the static/hiss; it remains at the reduced level.

We see you are quite close to our HQ in Santa Ana, feel free to swing by and we will take a look at your pair, and also replace them given your issue with the loose mic. We will be happy to measure them for you too. and get your first-hand feedback

 

[bigstickthunder]

We see you are quite close to our HQ in Santa Ana, feel free to swing by and we will take a look at your pair, and also replace them given your issue with the loose mic. We will be happy to measure them for you too. and get your first-hand feedback

I will think about it, but I may just opt for a return. Another issue I have in testing these is that the 2.4ghz range seems to be around ~10 feet, but definitely less than 15 feet. Even walking to the other side of my bedroom, the Penrose start cutting out and repeatedly disconnecting and reconnecting. Maybe my pair just have connection issues, because they also just disconnected and reconnected twice while sitting at my desk and I didn't bump the mic either.

If this also sounds inconsistent to what you have tested in the lab, then DM me some details about hours and I can swing by. I do appreciate the offer.

 

[Scratchansniff]

Are these issues widespread? Even I am getting slightly worried now reading these comments. We pay more in the UK for it and I do have high standards when it comes to this kind of thing. A hissing static sound?. Is this happening on all your headsets?.

 

[amoeba1126]

Are these issues widespread? Even I am getting slightly worried now reading these comments. We pay more in the UK for it and I do have high standards when it comes to this kind of thing. A hissing static sound?. Is this happening on all your headsets?.

You need to be more specific... in terms of connection and hiss issues, it's one person thus far that and Audeze just offered to have that person drop by their HQ to replace their unit.

 

[Radioactivedwarf]

Looks like this is not getting addressed, so this sadly will be the only way to adjust the volume.
Bye bye volume mixer

The windows volume mixer is has always been a pain to use, however i recently found that pressing windows key and "g" brings up a volume mixer in their game overlay window, not quite as convenient as a headset button but you might find it better that the other way.