Audeze Penrose X and Penrose
Dec 3, 2020 at 5:34 PM Post #2,641 of 7,191
Great detailed review, really appreciate it!

Maybe this should be obvious, but the USB dongle has me confused a little. Does the Penrose work with regular-old-Bluetooth devices without the dongle? Like pairing it with a phone? Or does it only work with a source that has the dongle connected?
Penrose has 3 connection options
1. Low latency wireless dongle
2. Bluetooth
3. 3.5 mm analog.

For bluetooth connections you do not need any dongle.
 
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Dec 3, 2020 at 5:40 PM Post #2,643 of 7,191
So I have two phones, and yes, you can only connect to one at a time through bluetooth. I've left the bt connection on while having the wireless mode on the usb dongle to my ps5. I'll see if I get any drops or shenanigans.


Bluetooth doesn't support Low latency Condecs? This has absolutely nothing to do with the 2.4Ghz connection which has 16ms latency right? I'm a complete audio noob, bare with me. :p
No, it's there's only two low latency codecs I know of, Apt-X Low Latency, and since awful one called Fast Stream (which I have on a cheap bluetooth transmitter) which isn't typical, and sounds horrid.

Apt-X requires licensing, meaning more fees for Audeze. And it's not better than the wireless mode used by the Penrose which sounds better and is effectively near latency free.
 
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Dec 3, 2020 at 5:41 PM Post #2,644 of 7,191
Bluetooth doesn't support Low latency Condecs? This has absolutely nothing to do with the 2.4Ghz connection which has 16ms latency right? I'm a complete audio noob, bare with me. :p
Bluetooth low latency connections like AptX LL are still relatively high latency for gaming. So most gaming focussed wireless headsets use a 2.4 Ghz dedicated link. Penrose uses this 2.4 Ghz link, but also has an additional bluetooth channel for answering calls etc during gaing.
 
Audeze Stay updated on Audeze at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
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Dec 3, 2020 at 5:45 PM Post #2,645 of 7,191
The Penrose can connect to one BT device at a time. You will have to disconnect from TV to connect it to another source.

the user claims he did this. I am copying his post below:


I have my headphones connected to TV via BT, now I cannot switch to phone over BT.
Even after deleting "Penrose" from TV paired devices list I am not able to set it headphones to pairing mode again and it gets reconnected to TV automatically. Is there a way to clean up BT paring list in headphones itself?
Here is what I did:
1. Penrose is connected to TV over BT (2.4 ghz is not connected)
2. Double click power button, nothing happens. Iphone and Android search results cannot find Penrose.
Scenario 2:
1. Penrose connected to TV over BT. (2.4 ghz not connected)
2. Disconnect and remove Penrose pairing from Samsung TV
3. Ensure Penrose is in BT mode
4. Double click power button
5. No blinking blue lights, iPhone and Android search cannot find Penrose
6. Pop-up on TV that Penrose would like to connect (initiate pairing)
7. No other device can search for Penrose over BT

Note:
I was initially able to connect them to iPhone and then connected to TV. After that I cannot connect any other device over BT.
 
Dec 3, 2020 at 5:45 PM Post #2,646 of 7,191
Bluetooth low latency connections like AptX LL are still relatively high latency for gaming. So most gaming focussed wireless headsets use a 2.4 Ghz dedicated link. Penrose uses this 2.4 Ghz link, but also has an additional bluetooth channel for answering calls etc during gaing.

will the new update fix the connection drop out wile using bluetooth and wireless simultaneously?
 
Dec 3, 2020 at 5:48 PM Post #2,647 of 7,191
So trying with my two phones, while the BT is connected to once, I turn BT off on that phone, and go to my other phone and click connect on the Penrose option, and the phone switches over and connects.

Tried this back and forth, and didn't have any issues.

I probably wouldn't try to connect to more than two bluetooth devices. But so far it's painless.
 
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Dec 3, 2020 at 6:23 PM Post #2,648 of 7,191
Just got my Penrose two days ago (in Bangkok), ordered on October 6th I believe. Made an account here to give my two cents after reading all of the pages of this thread over the last few weeks.

I am a casual console gamer so my review will be limited to that usage. I don’t own a PC or Android phone, which makes it slightly annoying to have to do firmware updates and mixing by taking the headphones to my job to use my work computer. I understand the limitations – still annoying not having an iOS app in 2020.

Sidetone was default on for me.

I have not yet experienced the wooshing noise. On first use, I thought the sound was fine (sorry for the boring adjective, not an audio expert by any means), but didn’t really blow me out of the water. For reference, I used Sennheiser Game Zeros and an Astro Mixamp Pro with the PS4. On the second day, I listened to various songs and the headset really started to grow on me. I wasn’t convinced at the beginning it was much of an upgrade, but now I’m very happy and it definitely sounds much better in comparison. I am also happy to have a wireless headset, it is great being free of the amp and all of the associated wires.

I think my favorite feature is being able to be wirelessly connected to the PS5 and use Bluetooth with another device at the same time. Very, very cool.

The only issue I’ve experienced is the crackling and disconnecting mentioned by other players. It happened relatively frequently (crackling only in the right ear) on my first gaming session and was very annoying (I’m 4-5 feet from my PS5). I started out by placing the dongle in one of the rear USB ports because of what other users had suggested. After about two hours of gaming, I went to pull the dongle out and it was absolutely on FIRE hot. I was shocked and panicked a bit, I didn’t realize it would get so hot. Being right in between the fans seems like an awful place for it be. A friend said that when it would disconnect for me he could still hear me fine, so I guess it’s only the audio for me that cuts out, not my mic input.

The next day I placed the dongle in the front, and it only disconnected once. I suppose that’s the opposite experience most people are having, but the front port seems to work better for me.

The clamping feels very slightly tight but absolutely fine, I don’t foresee needing to use a pillow to stretch it.

Also, my friend said my mic quality sounded fine via Playstation chat.

Overall I’m pleased with the purchase, hoping future firmware updates sort out the minor connection issues.
 
Dec 3, 2020 at 6:43 PM Post #2,649 of 7,191
Bluetooth low latency connections like AptX LL are still relatively high latency for gaming. So most gaming focussed wireless headsets use a 2.4 Ghz dedicated link. Penrose uses this 2.4 Ghz link, but also has an additional bluetooth channel for answering calls etc during gaing.
I've been using AptX LL for the past couple years with various gaming devices (Oculus Quest, Nintendo Switch, and occasionally with my TV and thus PS4), and I'd have trouble noticing the 40ms of latency that AptX LL provides. I play plenty of rhythm games and have never had issues with latency, so I'm unsure that 40ms (2.4 frames of a 60fps game) is really that noticeable for most people. I do agree that wireless 2.4Ghz is better but I do wish more devices supported AptX LL because it's been great for gaming (I used Momentum True Wireless and Momentum Wireless 3.0 for this codec).
 
Dec 3, 2020 at 7:44 PM Post #2,650 of 7,191
Pressing in the mic wheel and adjusting it for game/voice balance (on Xbox) feels a bit awkward to do, though without an Xbox, I can't say how well this works. If anything, I just find it odd that it's a feature on the regular Penrose, which it doesn't apply to, as you can't connect to the Xbox. Unless I'm missing something, and it works on something else, I fail to see why it's a function on the non-X version of the Penrose.

One good reason to have this available on non X model, and Audeze have confirmed here, is that if Sony ever allow for game/chat mix to be altered by 3rd party usb wireless headsets, it's setup ready to go. As they never did it for PS4, can't see why they would for PS5.

No, it's there's only two low latency codecs I know of, Apt-X Low Latency, and since awful one called Fast Stream

You sure FastStream is supposed to be Low Latency? I was under the impression it is simply bidirectional SBC, so allowing you to send mic audio back through the connection.
LLAC is the the other low latency BT codec I know of.
 
Dec 3, 2020 at 9:02 PM Post #2,652 of 7,191
Thanks for the review, @Mad Lust Envy
Could you please confirm this?
Penrose is limited to SBC and AAC.
Is there any official documentation for that? Sadly, this is a showstopper for me.
I planned to use Penrose on travel with Android phone as well as home with PC. Very disappointed as Penrose seems to be the only planar headset with an OK mic.
 
Dec 3, 2020 at 9:12 PM Post #2,653 of 7,191
Is there any official documentation for that? Sadly, this is a showstopper for me.

Not on their web page, which isn't helpful. The dealer I purchased them from clearly labels it as:
Wireless Connection2.4 GHz Wireless + Bluetooth (SBC, AAC)

plus you have this:

This depends on the codec you choose. For SBC/AAC yes they are both comparable. For LDAC (which Penrose does not support), Mobius can sound better subjectively.
 

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