[SqueakyP]

We are planning to release the new firmware this week. If anyone here is eager to check it out, message us along with your location.

I sent over a PM to you as well. For the time being I'm having to use another headset due to the whooshing.

 

[ericking]

I did some more testing with my Penrose.
First off, I used two different USB extenders with my PS5 and Switch. Neither one fixed the unreliable connection or the crackling issue. I am not going to buy a powered USB extender, as these dongles should work with the PS5 naturally as they are advertised for the PS5. No matter what, I still get intermittent crackling or slight dropouts, and about 5-6 true drop-outs (followed up with a CONNECTED shout) every hour. Sometimes more - last night in a span of 5 minutes I was disconnected 4 times while playing Miles Morales. Extremely frustrating experience. I didn't try using the rear USB ports since that's where I connect my PSVR box and camera, but I'll try that tonight.

Playing on Switch was much better! I still got a couple dropouts, but probably only twice in about an hour of play. The crackling wasn't as noticeable, though I did hear it every now and then. This was a much more pleasant experience though.

Bluetooth allowed me to truly enjoy the audio quality of these headphones though. Without the dropouts and crackling, I could appreciate a lot of my favorite songs, from Jizue to Danyka Nadeau, sprinkled with some game OSTs (Sayonara Wild Hearts is beautiful). I compared with my Momentum 3.0's and definitely prefer the sound signature and clarity of the Penrose over the Sennheiser - the low end is deeper and less muddy and vocals sound a bit clearer to my ears as well. However, since I'm using these as a pair of bluetooth headphones on my mobile device, I admit I don't notice the difference as much when I'm walking around the house. I still prefer my Sony MDR-Z1R and Focal Clear when I'm sitting at my desk/computer, so I'm not sure I'll be able to appreciate the aural quality of the Penrose for most music (since that's not what I bought these for anyway). Also, I don't really find them as uncomfortable as I feared - they are only about 50g heavier than the Momentum (356g vs 309g) and honestly both have similar clamping force. Maybe I could wrap a ZMF focus pad around the headband to get rid of the hotspot on my crown though. Bluetooth range seems much better than the wireless dongle as well, as I could move to the kitchen to get a drink with no issues. Also, unlike a previous poster, simply connecting the Penrose to my phone via Bluetooth immediately reduced the volume coming from the PS5 dongle, even if my phone was not playing any audio. Odd.

I also tested my Momentum 3.0's on my PS5 and Switch using my Genki aptX LL USB adapter. I experienced absolutely zero disconnects with the headphones after about an hour of play with both the PS5 and Switch, though I did still notice a BIT of crackling on the PS5 (but much less common than with the Penrose). When A/B'ing them immediately like this, I could tell the Momentum had a muddier low end that exaggerated certain impacts (or the "drop" when you start swinging in Miles Morales), but overall this was a much more enjoyable experience as I didn't have to worry about losing audio at key moments. I could even walk to the kitchen to get a drink, which is impossible with the Penrose.

Overall, I still think the Penrose are good headphones crippled with some major UX issues. I'm unsure if the firmware will fix the bad connection issues, but I really am rooting for them and I hope it will, because the audio quality is definitely there. However, I did not purchase these to be bluetooth headphones first and foremost - they were meant to be my primary gaming headphones with occasional use case as a bluetooth headphone. For this use case, these are unusable for me, but I hope this will be fixed with this week's firmware.

Also, my Arctis 7p just came in this morning, so I'll do some more testing with these tonight.

Thank you for these impressions! They very closely mirror mine with the crackling and disconnect issues on PS5 but sounding great over Bluetooth. For what it’s worth, I unfortunately haven’t had much luck in trying a USB extender in one of the back ports. In fact, I think moving it to the back made it even worse. I’m curious to hear more of your impressions after you test this out, though.

 

[Arkard1]

I did some more testing with my Penrose.
First off, I used two different USB extenders with my PS5 and Switch. Neither one fixed the unreliable connection or the crackling issue. I am not going to buy a powered USB extender, as these dongles should work with the PS5 naturally as they are advertised for the PS5. No matter what, I still get intermittent crackling or slight dropouts, and about 5-6 true drop-outs (followed up with a CONNECTED shout) every hour. Sometimes more - last night in a span of 5 minutes I was disconnected 4 times while playing Miles Morales. Extremely frustrating experience. I didn't try using the rear USB ports since that's where I connect my PSVR box and camera, but I'll try that tonight.

Playing on Switch was much better! I still got a couple dropouts, but probably only twice in about an hour of play. The crackling wasn't as noticeable, though I did hear it every now and then. This was a much more pleasant experience though.

Bluetooth allowed me to truly enjoy the audio quality of these headphones though. Without the dropouts and crackling, I could appreciate a lot of my favorite songs, from Jizue to Danyka Nadeau, sprinkled with some game OSTs (Sayonara Wild Hearts is beautiful). I compared with my Momentum 3.0's and definitely prefer the sound signature and clarity of the Penrose over the Sennheiser - the low end is deeper and less muddy and vocals sound a bit clearer to my ears as well. However, since I'm using these as a pair of bluetooth headphones on my mobile device, I admit I don't notice the difference as much when I'm walking around the house. I still prefer my Sony MDR-Z1R and Focal Clear when I'm sitting at my desk/computer, so I'm not sure I'll be able to appreciate the aural quality of the Penrose for most music (since that's not what I bought these for anyway). Also, I don't really find them as uncomfortable as I feared - they are only about 50g heavier than the Momentum (356g vs 309g) and honestly both have similar clamping force. Maybe I could wrap a ZMF focus pad around the headband to get rid of the hotspot on my crown though. Bluetooth range seems much better than the wireless dongle as well, as I could move to the kitchen to get a drink with no issues. Also, unlike a previous poster, simply connecting the Penrose to my phone via Bluetooth immediately reduced the volume coming from the PS5 dongle, even if my phone was not playing any audio. Odd.

I also tested my Momentum 3.0's on my PS5 and Switch using my Genki aptX LL USB adapter. I experienced absolutely zero disconnects with the headphones after about an hour of play with both the PS5 and Switch, though I did still notice a BIT of crackling on the PS5 (but much less common than with the Penrose). When A/B'ing them immediately like this, I could tell the Momentum had a muddier low end that exaggerated certain impacts (or the "drop" when you start swinging in Miles Morales), but overall this was a much more enjoyable experience as I didn't have to worry about losing audio at key moments. I could even walk to the kitchen to get a drink, which is impossible with the Penrose.

Overall, I still think the Penrose are good headphones crippled with some major UX issues. I'm unsure if the firmware will fix the bad connection issues, but I really am rooting for them and I hope it will, because the audio quality is definitely there. However, I did not purchase these to be bluetooth headphones first and foremost - they were meant to be my primary gaming headphones with occasional use case as a bluetooth headphone. For this use case, these are unusable for me, but I hope this will be fixed with this week's firmware.

Also, my Arctis 7p just came in this morning, so I'll do some more testing with these tonight.

I'm interested in hearing more on this as well. 7p just went on sale today. My Penrose just came in so I'll be starting my testing with that. But if I can get close to same sound at half price then I'll take the little bit of difference

 

[ex0du5]

I think the clamp on the headphones is aggravating my tinnitus.

Either that or the low distortion is causing me to use higher than normal headphone volume (though I've never even gone past 4/10 volume through Bluetooth).

 

[drsnowball]

I think the clamp on the headphones is aggravating my tinnitus.

Either that or the low distortion is causing me to use higher than normal headphone volume (though I've never even gone past 4/10 volume through Bluetooth).

The low volume bug is also pushing me use higher volumes than I’m comfortable with to drown out the bug, so I’ve stopped using the Penrose until the fix rolls out.

 

[iOnlyEatMusic]

Just wanted to share the improved mic clarity with their latest firmware update. I did a quick test before the update and then one after it was applied.

Definitely an improvement with the latest firmware. Pretty much gets rid of that muffled overlay that was happening through the mic. The whoosh wind noise that I was getting last night has disappeared. Pretty happy with it so far! The microphone being so muffled was my main complaint since all my friends on Discord told me to go back to my Arctis 7. Will test it with them later tonight through Discord and see.

I used online-voice-recorder.com so keep that in mind. Wasn't using any fancy program.

 

[Breadwinka]

Just wanted to share the improved mic clarity with their latest firmware update. I did a quick test before the update and then one after it was applied.

Definitely an improvement with the latest firmware. Pretty much gets rid of that muffled overlay that was happening through the mic. The whoosh wind noise that I was getting last night has disappeared. Pretty happy with it so far! The microphone being so muffled was my main complaint since all my friends on Discord told me to go back to my Arctis 7. Will test it with them later tonight through Discord and see.

I used online-voice-recorder.com so keep that in mind. Wasn't using any fancy program.

Ohh man they sent you the update? Still waiting for a reply from them

 

[Naburu2cold]

From what I understand they will "begin" shipping this week though based on how the Penrose PS5 was handled you'd be lucky to get it before Xmas if you ordered sometime in October or heck even September.

They still hadn't released the update yet. They still have to update them all then ship. 2021 is my guess

 

[RoundAboutSally]

356g

I gather that is without the mic as mine weigh 374g with mic.

I'd be interested to hear if you find the 7P distorts when the PS5 is set to maximum headphone volume but not on the headphone itself. Generally on explosions or other things like shotgun sound effects.

I do not get this, PS5 set to max volume output, no distortion on the Penrose.

This is a great point - I do recall some people complaining about the front USB port not even charging their Dualsense.

This got fixed in the last PS5 firmware update.

Version 20.02-02.26.00

• An issue that prevented the PS5 wireless controller from being charged while in rest mode when connected to the PS5's front side USB Type-A port using the USB cable included with some PS5 consoles was resolved.

Two nights into use with PS5, I have no crackling or drop outs using the front USB-A port. It will disconnect at about 5.5m for me.

Nothing beats being able to tell where things are based entirely off audio. Stereo can't achieve that, ever.

I turned off Tempest to test them as raw as possible first, and found the Penrose to give fantastic spacial queues, could easily pinpoint the direction of sound including that which was in movement.

 

[undbecks85]

I was given the opportunity to test out the beta firmware on Penrose. As this is beta software, this feedback may not be exactly what the experience will be for everyone else once the new firmware is released.

My use case is a bit more narrow than what some other users have been posting here. I'm primarily solo gaming on PS5 and PC, and only really play in parties on the PS5. With that, I haven't had the opportunity to test out the microphone at all, so this is purely just feedback on audio quality post-firmware update.

My main issue prior to the beta firmware update was the common whoosing/noise floor issue that others have been experiencing. The best way I could describe it would be as a similar sound to lightly rubbing your finger on the outside of the headset whenever a sound would happen when navigating a menu or during quiet part of a game.

I can happily say that the new firmware completely fixed these issues for me. I tested this out on PS5 at max headphone volume output set from the PS5 menu. I tested with the headset volume turned down very low, all the way to a slightly higher volume than what's comfortable for testing purposes. I tried it out on a few PS5 and PS4 games (Destiny 2, Spider-Man, and Persona 5) with Tempest both enabled and disabled. In general, audio on the PS5 sounds a bit "clearer" and less muddled now as well.

I still can't find a Tempest setting that I like , so my next project will be trying out the Reveal+ plugin from Audeze to get a good EQ going on the Penrose and then try the Tempest settings again.

Hopefully this info helps out others with concerns. I was on the fence on whether I wanted to return these prior to this update, but now I am VERY happy with this headset. Thanks again to Audeze Support for letting me test out the beta firmware, and I can't wait for the rest of you to be able to get these fixes installed!

 

[Pizzamigo]

Ohh man they sent you the update? Still waiting for a reply from them

same, still checking my email or discord for a follow up but nothing yet! I need that firmware so I can enjoy Cyberpunk tomorrow hehe

 

[Breadwinka]

same, still checking my email or discord for a follow up but nothing yet! I need that firmware so I can enjoy Cyberpunk tomorrow hehe

Was hoping I could get it before raid tonight, discord is going to be fun probably just use my old Sennheiser HD598 + mod mic wireless.

 

[RoundAboutSally]

@Audeze I suggest you contact everyone you sent review samples to and supply the new firmware if you haven't already.
Complains about muffled mic in this review:

https://9to5toys.com/2020/12/08/audeze-penrose-x-review/

 

[RedTail]

@Audeze I suggest you contact everyone you sent review samples to and supply the new firmware if you haven't already.
Complains about muffled mic in this review:

https://9to5toys.com/2020/12/08/audeze-penrose-x-review/

I noticed in this video there were 5 presets in the mix amp application. I thought we were getting 2. Bonuses coming in firmware?

 

[drsnowball]

@Audeze I suggest you contact everyone you sent review samples to and supply the new firmware if you haven't already.
Complains about muffled mic in this review:

https://9to5toys.com/2020/12/08/audeze-penrose-x-review/

That review appears to have the new firmware update.