[Nickfry31]

Both Fedex and UPS are limiting the amount of units we can ship per day. So we are sending units with both to balance it out.

No worries! I'm just excited to try them out.

 

[amoeba1126]

It does, girlfriends Dell Latitude laptop, my work HP Elitebook laptop. I've tested using various systems, one device a day for the most part, all on the same desk.

I would contact Audeze support, see about processing an RMA

 

[j0nshfi]

I would contact Audeze support, see about processing an RMA

Chris @ Audeze reached out, pulled over my existing ticket, and is sending me a new dongle to test since the headphones appear to work. Hopefully it clears it up and maybe I just got a bum receiver? We'll find out! Looks like after the initial rush they are catching up to speed on tickets and comments here, really nice to see since I was starting to give up hope given that I've heard they are stellar in the past!

 

[Gunn3y]

It does, girlfriends Dell Latitude laptop, my work HP Elitebook laptop. I've tested using various systems, one device a day for the most part, all on the same desk.

Out of interest, are you using any UniFi/AmpliFi Access Points for wifi in your house? A couple of people with connectivity dropouts earlier in the thread mentioned they were and in my limited testing (mine are wrapped for the kids to give to me for Xmas now) I was also having poor connectivity and am using UniFi APs, so maybe there is something to that?

 

[j0nshfi]

Out of interest, are you using any UniFi/AmpliFi Access Points for wifi in your house? A couple of people with connectivity dropouts earlier in the thread mentioned they were and in my limited testing (mine are wrapped for the kids to give to me for Xmas now) I was also having poor connectivity and am using UniFi APS, so maybe there is something to that?

I am actually, I think I mentioned it earlier in another post but another gentleman @imac2much also has Unifi items.

I have 3x Unifi AC-Lite's (see attached photos of high level items).

 

[Gunn3y]

I am actually, I think I mentioned it earlier in another post but another gentleman @imac2much also has Unifi items.

I have 3x Unifi AC-Lite's (see attached photos of high level items).

Yeah okay, so I have a Dream Machine, a FlexHD and a NanoHD, meshed together via 5Ghz but with 2.4ghz enabled on Low for IoT devices. I might have to try disabling 2.4ghz on the AP closest to my desk to see if that helps (once I have my hands on the headphones again). @Audeze any of you guys do any testing around UniFi gear?

 

[AshA]

I tested DTS:X, dolby access atmos, waves NX all with warzone. My personal favourite was dolby.

Which in-game setting did you use with it? Assuming you leave the Penrose EQ as standard, too?

 

[j0nshfi]

Yeah okay, so I have a Dream Machine, a FlexHD and a NanoHD, meshed together via 5Ghz but with 2.4ghz enabled on Low for IoT devices. I might have to try disabling 2.4ghz on the AP closest to my desk to see if that helps (once I have my hands on the headphones again). @Audeze any of you guys do any testing around UniFi gear?

Same basic setup here as far as 2.4ghz power band.

 

[Dryad]

1) The changing volume settings in windows - This is a setting that we disabled in the USB interface (Dongle) to increase compatibility with other devices/consoles. We are evaluating/testing if we should enable this. At the moment you can change the volume on the application and also on the headset (volume wheel).
2) At the moment it is over USB. The android app will be released in a day or two and you will also be able to control it over bluetooth on Android. Wireless control (2.4 Ghz) will also be available in future.
EQ- The Penrose has multiple audio input options and mixer. Whe adjusting EQ settings, we do not want to cause clipping. So the automatic gain control kicks in to ensure there will not be clipping. The easiest way is to adjust the EQ and then set the overall volume.
With the latest windows app, you can save and load presets as well.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
Noticed something else during some gaming this night - my son and his friends were complaining about some kind of constant ticking/hissing sound - they kept asking "what's that sound" and "who's making that sound". Didn't hear anything myself, but when I put on my sons headphones I heard it also. Some sort of clipping, and that was with my headset just lying on my desk. Has anybody else had any similar issues?
Also, it turns out that I actually had the microphone disabled on the left ear cup, but apparently that doesn't do much since I was constantly talking with the others. Tried switching it on, didn't seem to make a difference. Back off again, still the same. On the Mobius, flipping the mic mute switch would actually mute it. Does it not work over wireless?

 

[sleepyweasel]

Here's my experience/feedback with the penrose from the last couple of days.

I've been waiting on these for quite some time. On paper they have the perfect specs for what I'm looking for. I was looking for an audiophile gaming headset and preferably wireless.
Didn't have a planar headphone yet and thought this would be a good introduction. I was using a PC37 before and when I'm not gaming a I use a T1.2. I didn't use any Audeze headphones before this one. I use them solely on PC, I don't have any intention to use them on a console.

Initial impressions were not good unfortunately. High noise floor, muffled microphone, way too loud notification voice, not comfortable... I'm happy that a couple of these issues were solved with a firmware updated. But not everything is fixed...

Comfort:
Coming from the pc37 these are not comfortable headphones when you wear them for hours on end. Not a lot of contact on the top of the had. Clamping force is way too much, to the point where I got a headache after wearing these for a couple of hours. The pads are not for me either, I like velour/fabric way more. I know that leather is better for noise isolation but they just don't feel all that good for leather as well imo and there's no option for other pads. The clamping force can be improved by stretching them out over something but that only fixes it partially.

I'm not sure why they went with this design. The penrose and mobius look different from other Audeze products. Too make them more appealing to gamers? Or because they are wireless? There's a reason almost all sennheisers and beyerdynamics for example look the same. They know what works and they stick to it. When you make a product for people to wear hours on end, ergonomics really need to be more important here. Maybe it's all very personal and they just don't fit me very well? I don't know, they are just not for me I guess. The pc37 is a breath of fresh air when I put it on after having tried the penrose.

Functionality:
This feels like a product that needs some more iteration. Things are just not on point. The scroll wheels for volume don't have enough granularity. They are either too loud or too silent for some games for me. Even by changing the EQ in the app to lower the overall volume, this is still not great. What's wrong with a continuous scroll? Also, does anyone use the scroll wheel for your voice? For me this is something that you find the ideal settings for on the mic, discord etc. and then leave it at that. Never ever have I thought to myself, now I want to increase my microphone sensitivity or lower it on the fly. You have 0 feedback when you change this so there's no way to see if it works correctly unless you look at something like discord and check your voice anyway, so whats the point.

The audeze HQ app is, well... Very basic. Doesn't work unless you connect through USB. Sidetone adds a noticeable (extra) hiss, and changing the mix between game/voice does not seem to work. To update the firmware you have to download a new app version, really? Why can you simply not show a notification in the app if a new one is available. And when you open up the app without connecting anything it shows stuff for the mobius? There's so much more that you could do with the app but it seems like a minimal effort kind of thing they went with.

Also, no way to see battery status, anywhere. Why is this not a thing in the app?

The 2.4Ghz wireless connectivity sucks. Goes out of range in about 5m clear line of sight for me and that's with the front, most accessible USB port. Doesn't matter which USB ports you use btw, I tried them all. Also had a couple of connection drops even though I'm just sitting at my PC with the dongle less than 1m from me. Go past a corner and the connection drops instantly.
Bluetooth on the other hand has great range and I can go anywhere without it dropping. Through walls/ceilings etc. is not an issue and seems to work great.

Sound:
This is the only good thing about this headset. The sound is awesome. It's the first time I've used planars so not sure if it's because of that or this headset specifically. But the detail is great in games. I hear things that I could not hear before in terms of clarity and spatial awareness. The imaging seems just right for locating footsteps and noises in games. And the powerful low end is great for immersion. Best gaming headset I've used so far in terms of sound quality, better than expected.

For music these are great as well. Very clean low end and punchy bass, exactly what I wanted from planars. I still prefer my T1's overall for everyday use but I can imagine this would be a good headset for the audiophile for everyday use in terms of sound quality.

The microphone quality is great after the firmware update. The PC37 I used before is known for it's good/clear microphone but people I play with said the sound is even better with the penrose.

There's 1 big issue imo with the sound, a very noticeable hiss. Even though it got improved with a firmware updated, it's still too much for a headphone at this price point. It does not matter if it's connected through 2.4, BT or aux. It constantly has a hiss that ruins the experience for me. I would have expected a tiny bit of hiss/noise from a wireless headset, but not this much. My girlfriends ATH-M50xBT for example, has some hiss but it's almost not noticeable. With the penrose it's even noticeable when there's audio being played at low volume. I have some mild tinnitus and having white noise constantly present at any volume, especially when there's no sound, makes this headset currently unbearable for me for longer usage. For an audiophile headset I would have expected better in this regard.

Conclusion:
I wanted the audeze penrose to be the perfect gaming headset so bad, it seems to have all the right specs. But in practice it fall short on everything except for the sound quality. It's clear that the drivers are the thing that audeze has put time and effort in (past experience), but I wished that they would have done the same for everything else.

To me it seems like they took 1 good existing thing and tried to make a new product with it, but everything else was basically an afterthought.
Maybe the comfort is something that only I have issues with? I don't see many people complain except for the clamping force.

I want to recommend the penrose to other people and tell everyone it's the best gaming headset there is. But looking at the full picture, it really is not. I hope that audeze gets there eventually, but at the moment I'm thinking of switching them out for something else

 

[anonuser]

Here's my experience/feedback with the penrose from the last couple of days.

I've been waiting on these for quite some time. On paper they have the perfect specs for what I'm looking for. I was looking for an audiophile gaming headset and preferably wireless.
Didn't have a planar headphone yet and thought this would be a good introduction. I was using a PC37 before and when I'm not gaming a I use a T1.2. I didn't use any Audeze headphones before this one. I use them solely on PC, I don't have any intention to use them on a console.

Initial impressions were not good unfortunately. High noise floor, muffled microphone, way too loud notification voice, not comfortable... I'm happy that a couple of these issues were solved with a firmware updated. But not everything is fixed...

Comfort:
Coming from the pc37 these are not comfortable headphones when you wear them for hours on end. Not a lot of contact on the top of the had. Clamping force is way too much, to the point where I got a headache after wearing these for a couple of hours. The pads are not for me either, I like velour/fabric way more. I know that leather is better for noise isolation but they just don't feel all that good for leather as well imo and there's no option for other pads. The clamping force can be improved by stretching them out over something but that only fixes it partially.

I'm not sure why they went with this design. The penrose and mobius look different from other Audeze products. Too make them more appealing to gamers? Or because they are wireless? There's a reason almost all sennheisers and beyerdynamics for example look the same. They know what works and they stick to it. When you make a product for people to wear hours on end, ergonomics really need to be more important here. Maybe it's all very personal and they just don't fit me very well? I don't know, they are just not for me I guess. The pc37 is a breath of fresh air when I put it on after having tried the penrose.

Functionality:
This feels like a product that needs some more iteration. Things are just not on point. The scroll wheels for volume don't have enough granularity. They are either too loud or too silent for some games for me. Even by changing the EQ in the app to lower the overall volume, this is still not great. What's wrong with a continuous scroll? Also, does anyone use the scroll wheel for your voice? For me this is something that you find the ideal settings for on the mic, discord etc. and then leave it at that. Never ever have I thought to myself, now I want to increase my microphone sensitivity or lower it on the fly. You have 0 feedback when you change this so there's no way to see if it works correctly unless you look at something like discord and check your voice anyway, so whats the point.

The audeze HQ app is, well... Very basic. Doesn't work unless you connect through USB. Sidetone adds a noticeable (extra) hiss, and changing the mix between game/voice does not seem to work. To update the firmware you have to download a new app version, really? Why can you simply not show a notification in the app if a new one is available. And when you open up the app without connecting anything it shows stuff for the mobius? There's so much more that you could do with the app but it seems like a minimal effort kind of thing they went with.

Also, no way to see battery status, anywhere. Why is this not a thing in the app?

The 2.4Ghz wireless connectivity sucks. Goes out of range in about 5m clear line of sight for me and that's with the front, most accessible USB port. Doesn't matter which USB ports you use btw, I tried them all. Also had a couple of connection drops even though I'm just sitting at my PC with the dongle less than 1m from me. Go past a corner and the connection drops instantly.
Bluetooth on the other hand has great range and I can go anywhere without it dropping. Through walls/ceilings etc. is not an issue and seems to work great.

Sound:
This is the only good thing about this headset. The sound is awesome. It's the first time I've used planars so not sure if it's because of that or this headset specifically. But the detail is great in games. I hear things that I could not hear before in terms of clarity and spatial awareness. The imaging seems just right for locating footsteps and noises in games. And the powerful low end is great for immersion. Best gaming headset I've used so far in terms of sound quality, better than expected.

For music these are great as well. Very clean low end and punchy bass, exactly what I wanted from planars. I still prefer my T1's overall for everyday use but I can imagine this would be a good headset for the audiophile for everyday use in terms of sound quality.

The microphone quality is great after the firmware update. The PC37 I used before is known for it's good/clear microphone but people I play with said the sound is even better with the penrose.

There's 1 big issue imo with the sound, a very noticeable hiss. Even though it got improved with a firmware updated, it's still too much for a headphone at this price point. It does not matter if it's connected through 2.4, BT or aux. It constantly has a hiss that ruins the experience for me. I would have expected a tiny bit of hiss/noise from a wireless headset, but not this much. My girlfriends ATH-M50xBT for example, has some hiss but it's almost not noticeable. With the penrose it's even noticeable when there's audio being played at low volume. I have some mild tinnitus and having white noise constantly present at any volume, especially when there's no sound, makes this headset currently unbearable for me for longer usage. For an audiophile headset I would have expected better in this regard.

Conclusion:
I wanted the audeze penrose to be the perfect gaming headset so bad, it seems to have all the right specs. But in practice it fall short on everything except for the sound quality. It's clear that the drivers are the thing that audeze has put time and effort in (past experience), but I wished that they would have done the same for everything else.

To me it seems like they took 1 good existing thing and tried to make a new product with it, but everything else was basically an afterthought.
Maybe the comfort is something that only I have issues with? I don't see many people complain except for the clamping force.

I want to recommend the penrose to other people and tell everyone it's the best gaming headset there is. But looking at the full picture, it really is not. I hope that audeze gets there eventually, but at the moment I'm thinking of switching them out for something else

Huge bummer to read posts like this, but it sounds like there are a lot of issues. I'll receive mine next week and give them a fair shot, but I almost considered canceling the preorder before they shipped. I don't think I've ever seen so many negative reviews for a product that I was so interested in.

 

[imnostatic]

Just got my Penrose X. Does the dongle not work with a Mac using USB-A to USB-C adapter (Apple adapter)? The headphones say connected but the source doesn't appear in the sound preferences. BT and direct cable work as described.

Agree that clamping force is too high but your head may vary...

 

[rtfg24]

There's 1 big issue imo with the sound, a very noticeable hiss. Even though it got improved with a firmware updated, it's still too much for a headphone at this price point. It does not matter if it's connected through 2.4, BT or aux. It constantly has a hiss that ruins the experience for me. I would have expected a tiny bit of hiss/noise from a wireless headset, but not this much. My girlfriends ATH-M50xBT for example, has some hiss but it's almost not noticeable. With the penrose it's even noticeable when there's audio being played at low volume. I have some mild tinnitus and having white noise constantly present at any volume, especially when there's no sound, makes this headset currently unbearable for me for longer usage. For an audiophile headset I would have expected better in this regard.

I also was very disappointed with the hiss until I realised that the sidetone toggle only takes effect when the headset is plugged in via USB. After turning it off the hiss was barely noticeable with nothing playing.

 

[Audeze]

Just got my Penrose X. Does the dongle not work with a Mac using USB-A to USB-C adapter (Apple adapter)? The headphones say connected but the source doesn't appear in the sound preferences. BT and direct cable work as described.

Agree that clamping force is too high but your head may vary...

This definitely works. You have to have the switch in PC setting. Unplug / plug it back again.

 

[Petes67bird]

So just got the Penrose. Man these are tight with small almost no padding ear pads. The issue is these pads have no form to them and smash completely in letting my ears touch the hard speaker part. Not sure how to fix this. On a comfort level these feel absolutely terrible compared to any Sennheiser product such as PC360/363, Game one and then the AT AD700. I put each of these on after wearing the Penrose for 45 minutes and it felt like I was wearing clouds they were so soft.

When setting up the ps5 do you keep 3d audio on? Also which format, Dolby vs DTS? Playing FPS Call of duty...... Any great EQ settings for footsteps?

So far after 45 min, I think these are being sent back just for comfort alone. Was expecting something that was luxurious due to the brand and cost, these feel like a child sized headphone. For reference my hat size is 7 3/4 and I am 6'6".