[cmdrdredd]

I've had my Penrose headset for a few weeks now. I can safely say that on both PC and PlayStation I don't have any of the crackling/popping/static issues many here have reported, nor do I get any disconnects on either console of pc. Comfort is also very good for my personal head size, I can wear these for hours no problem.

The only thing I can assume is that there must be some defects on certain units or the wifi setup in individual households has a big impact on the user experience. I also don't have a PS5 or xbox, so perhaps some of the issues are specific to those consoles.

The only thing I'm disappointed with is the lack of iOS support, as I would've loved to be able to change EQ presets on the fly instead of having to connect to pc, but this is something I can live with.

The popping is an interference or range issue. When I walk out of range where it’s barely getting a connection I get these pops and it doesn’t matter if I am on my Xbox or pc. It would do it the same. Under normal use it’s fine, it’s only when I walk away from the dongle and it begins to lose signal.

 

[Chase10784]

The popping is an interference or range issue. When I walk out of range where it’s barely getting a connection I get these pops and it doesn’t matter if I am on my Xbox or pc. It would do it the same. Under normal use it’s fine, it’s only when I walk away from the dongle and it begins to lose signal.

The people at audeze know this is an issue and are investigating it. They stated most the units are fine but are looking into why some are having this issue. I personally have mine coming tomorrow so fingers crossed I don't have the issues.

 

[BCM88]

Just thought I'd pop back here and say how much I've been loving Penrose in the few weeks I've had them.

Easily the best sounding headset I've ever used. Clamp force still a little tight but nothing I can't handle over my sessions, and had absolutely no issues regarding connection quality etc.

Regarding the EQ profiles that Audeze provided, anyone got any particular preferences or recommendations there? I find the flat EQ to be pretty great but heard that the 'Warm' on Mobius was pretty good?

 

[rapister]

The popping is an interference or range issue. When I walk out of range where it’s barely getting a connection I get these pops and it doesn’t matter if I am on my Xbox or pc. It would do it the same. Under normal use it’s fine, it’s only when I walk away from the dongle and it begins to lose signal.

thank you for the information

this proves that popping is due to signal loss between dongle and headset

 

[Chase10784]

thank you for the information

this proves that popping is due to signal loss between dongle and headset

You might want to do an exchange for a new headset or warranty claim and see if a new one helps matters. I have seen many that say they've had no issues especially are shorter ranges like within several meters.

 

[Najask]

They wrote to me and said yes the x dongle is currently working on ps5 but they can't guarantee of it will keep working. So it sounds like they might do an update in the next firmware to make it not somehow. Or the xbox will do it. So if happy with how it sounds now and they release an update id wait to see responses if it kicks people off of ps5. Prob their way to make you spend the 35 on a new dongle. Than you have to unpaired it to each dongle every time you switch consoles

Hope this don't happen @Audeze

 

[AshA]

My review of the Penrose X

I am your average gamer/worker who isn't an audiophile and just needs a decent headphone for gaming, watching movies, listening to music and conference calls. A generic Joe who isn't going to complain about noise floor or sound separation. So if you're also an average Joe like me, this might be useful to you. I assume a lot of casual gamers probably fall into the same bracket as me.

I don't use Discord I only use in-game or party chats so I'm not fussed about that side of it.

I have had the Penrose X since before Christmas. My tech is:

• Xbox Series X for gaming
• iPad Netflix watching
• MacBook Pro (and sometimes iPhone 12 Pro Max) music and voice conferences

Edit: As I write this review, I have connected being repeated into my ears and I cannot get them to connect to my MacBook Pro again to listen to music while I write this review, which is such a shame as this is the first issue I've encountered with the Penrose X. This was going to be positive in the most part, but as fate would have it, I too am plagued by some connection issues and what timing.

The fit and design of the Penrose X

I know there have been complaints of the clamping force, but I actually find these too loose. When I walk they move about on my head easily and if I shake my head from side to side lightly they slide about. My preference would be for more force, but I know I'm in the minority with a pinhead (unless y'all have huge heads and I'm just normal) -- so fit is a little loose for me, but since the first time walking about with these on my head was annoying, I've not done it again. Sitting at my desk is fine as I don't move my head too much (only when getting angry at Warzone!)

Colours don't bother me, they're on my head, I cannot see them.

They feel very premium and nice to the touch. I like them. Good packaging and they look like a quality pair of headphones. Kudos here!

Using the Penrose x with my Series X

I cannot fault them in this regard. Connect first time every time and I've not had a single connection issue. My Series X is on my desk where I sit to play games. I use the front port of the Series X and it stays connected with no issues.

The sound, however, fatigues my ears. The mids and highs hurt, so much so that I bought an Android phone just to EQ these as the app isn't out for Apple yet. I still cannot find a preset I like. I've tried using Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos and DTS Headphone:X with no EQ and then uncompressed with EQ and nothing eases it for me. The DTS are the best sound I've found, however, on games like Warzone any gun without a suppressor really hurts my ears.

If anyone has any presets for me to try or a recommendation please let me know.

Sound fatigue aside, I've also had complaints that people can hear me breathing, which is really annoying. I have the mic about 2 inches from my mouth, too. Either the mic is super sensitive or my breathing is really heavy. I'm a fit slim guy, so it's not like I have difficulty breathing or anything. I guess I just have powerful breath. I'm still messing about with mic placement to avoid any breathing sound issues. No one has commented on the mic other than this, either positively or negatively. I don't care as long as they can hear me.

One slight issue I had is that the battery died without warning, which was very frustrating. I had them on my head for about 3 hours straight in a gaming session and didn't get any warning at all, they just straight-up switched off mid-game. I think it would be nice to have some form of audible warning and maybe something when we have 10 minutes left as a final warning to charge them. Something like this would enable me to plug them in.

Oh and chat mix. How annoying is that. If I could have the mic gain swapped with chat mix, that would be great. I keep knocking my mic down when changing chat mix which obvs I don't know until someone tells me my mic is muted or I've gone really quiet again. I change chat mix a lot, different people have different mic gains so this is something I change all the time. I only change my mic gain once.

Watching Atmos-enabled films on Netflix via the Series X using Penrose was also an awesome experience, but the bass was a bit weak for my liking with the highs being overbearing on occasion, but on the whole, they sounded good.

Using the Penrose x with my MacBook Pro, iPhone and iPad

Edit: see the intro, this was going to be a near-perfect review, but ugh... I got stuck in a connected loop. No reason for it, I was sitting at my desk with the dongle plugged in about 2ft from my face on the desk. I can only assume that since this is a USB dongle and I have to use a USB-A to USB-C connector that this is the issue. I have a Kingston multi-adapter with one of the USB-A connected and powering a Scarlett 2i2, a USB-C to my NAS and this. So I assume since it needs power that perhaps the Scarlett was taking it all, who knows.

It also appears that if I accidentally knock the button to change from wireless to Bluetooth (when taking the mic off, for example) then I end up in the connected loop again. All noticed today. It's super easy to knock that button. A lock on these would be cool to prevent me doing this when taking them off as well.

@Audeze if possible, a USB-C dongle would be very much appreciated.

Anyway, before today's connection issues, these are my thoughts.

Using the Penrose X with my MacBook Pro has been a breeze. Connection the first time was difficult. It took a few 'off and on again' for the MacBook to pick them up, but when they did they stayed connected and music sounds good. I've just come back to work today and have used them for a few Google calls and they worked fine and were clear.

Using them with Apple Music sounds fine, too.

The only thing that is bothering me is the Bluetooth connection. Doesn't seem to be a way to disconnect unless I kill it at source via my device. If I connect to my Android phone to mess with EQ and then go back to wireless, I seem to be in wireless+bluetooth mode and cannot get into pure wireless. When I disconnect my Android then either my iPhone or iPad connects. Really annoying having to disconnect all devices to get pure wireless. This could just be user error though.

Am I pleased with my purchase of the Penrose X

Yes.

I swapped Turtle Beach for the Penrose X so a massive leap in terms of sound quality. I don't get disconnects when gaming and they're pretty easy to use now that I'm used to them. They're big and heavy though, much heavier than I was expecting. However, I do like them and they were worth the five-month wait. I just hope they hold out and don't break on me.

If anyone has any tips on improving the sound quality (particularly using Series X and Warzone) then please let me know. I use the standard studio reference sound setting in Warzone (the first option) and then DTS sound in Series X settings.

Thanks. Hope this was a little useful to anyone looking to buy some headphones with the same use case as me.

Okay just to add to my review, there is one annoying thing that I hope people might be able to help me with.

During the day, I'm using these to listen to music while I work as it sounds good. However, if I take the headphones off and leave them on the stand to go make a coffee, for example, when I come back they've gone into a low power mode or something. When I put them on again I get connected in my ears about 4 times and I've lost connection to my mac and the dongle no longer flashes.

I then have to power off the headphones and switch them back on again and disconnect and reconnect the dongle to get the sound back. Often more than once. Right now, it wouldn't connect again until I cycled through Bluetooth and Aux and back to wireless again.

Should I be turning these off when I take them off my head or is there another way to properly take them off if I need to pop to the toilet or make a cup of tea?

 

[QuackisJack]

What is the best EQ settings to get the most out of the headphones for;
1) FPS games like Warzone/Call of Duty
2) Story games like Assassins Creed Valhalla

I am looking to maximise the outputs!

 

[Fairchild670]

@Audeze

I’ve been following this thread for some time and felt after a few weeks of testing I could leave a lengthy review.

I brought the Penrose with high expectations however my experience is mixed and thus considering returning. The press release led you to believe these were Mac compatible out of the box but as yet owners are still waiting for a UI. & being Mac compatible you would expect an IOS app, in the same way PC users have an Android app. This discrepancy and delay should’ve been made clear before launch, as Mac/iPhone owners are unable to use the headphone & it’s features fully within the 30 day return policy. (I’m aware Audeze have recently stated an IOS app isn’t possible with current chipset).

After 20 days of regularly use I’ve found the following...

Comfortability, hasn’t been an issue as some other users have noted. Average gaming session 6 hours straight, ears don’t overheat, but do occasionally feel the pinch from the headband, slight adjustment and this disappears. Consider my head on the larger side, wearing baseball caps on the second button.

Connection, PS4/iPhone/Mac, main use with PS4 playing COD WZ using in game chat & PS party chat, with direct line of sight to the wireless dongle. I’ve found connection stable but limited to the immediate room roughly 5m from the PS4 to the door, once I leave disconnects instantly. Haven’t seen anyone report this fault but was mid game when the dongle simply powered down, with the headphones still on and connected. I had to remove the USB and plug in again for it to work, unsure why this happened? When using wireless and Bluetooth mode together I’ve had multiple connection issues when switching back to one source, it leaves the headphones in a frozen powered on state, with you having to press the multifunction button & both volume wheels together to reset the Penrose. Again not ideal. Also whilst connected only to iPhone via Bluetooth I get the repeated “connected” voice, rather frustrating with the phone in my hand. From these experiences It would appear the Penrose wasn’t truly ready for release, arguably not placed thoroughly through everyday real world environmental tests, as these faults are well reported in this thread.


Mic, sounds great once the gain balance is optimal. I set the gain fully on the PS4 and bring the gain up from off on the headphones until everyone can hear me clearly. The noise cancellation is incredible, I can eat a packet of crisps without the mic picking this up. Even more impressively the better half can blow dry her hair in the same room without anyone in chat hearing this! So it would seem users having difficulties with their mic might need to look again at gain levels, too high would cause the popping/muffled sound. Also play around with the mic gate/threshold level in game to reduce the chance of breathing being picked up.

User experience, overall has been good. Easy to connect to devices once you know how and are familiar with the Penrose. However placing the mic gain on the second volume wheel is irritating as it’s easy to knock and then you have to re-find the gain level you were at. I now turn them off before removing them to avoid this. User workarounds shouldn’t be needed for a £250 set of headphones. But I’m sure Audeze will do their upmost to address this in a firmware update, as many others want this switched with chat mix, which makes sense.

Audio, has been good but I wasn’t wowed by them. They’re very clear and pretty flat whilst listening to music and some would say lacking in the low end. Then in game the highs/mids can be harsh and loud, becoming fatiguing in battle after longer sessions. Footsteps are easy to pickup once familiar with the sound profile. I’m sure with EQ adjustments they can be optimised but being a Mac/iPhone user I’m unable to do this, which is one of the main frustrations. The left ear cup has a white noise/hiss that at first was low when running the latest firmware but recently seems to have become louder and I hear this almost constantly when the overall volume isn’t drowning it out. Then there is a concerning rattling type noise also in the left ear cup, whether this is a loose component I’m not certain as it could be the volume wheels pivoting. However you don’t notice this when sitting still.

Overall the build quality seems high-end, the mic is greet, the audio is almost their and once the Mac UI is released allowing for personal EQ settings I’m fairly sure they’ll sound incredible, a date for this would be appreciated @Audeze. My only concern is connection, white noise and the general problems facing the left ear cup, whether @Audeze believe these can be resolved with future firmware updates, or it’s more a hardware issue and best to return them?

If you’re still here, thanks for reading!

 

[DarkoWade]

The chat mix wheel must be fixed and switched. @Audeze, is this a possible change to do?

Not a single user user in this thread (to my knowledge) likes the way it is now.

 

[undbecks85]

Just thought I'd pop back here and say how much I've been loving Penrose in the few weeks I've had them.

Easily the best sounding headset I've ever used. Clamp force still a little tight but nothing I can't handle over my sessions, and had absolutely no issues regarding connection quality etc.

Regarding the EQ profiles that Audeze provided, anyone got any particular preferences or recommendations there? I find the flat EQ to be pretty great but heard that the 'Warm' on Mobius was pretty good?

I found that the “warm” EQ cuts down the highs way too much for my liking. I’ve been using the “RPG” (I think that’s what it was called) setting on Immortals Phoenix Rising and that seems to feel the most “correct”sounding for me personally.

 

[Pmaestro]

Looks like you've got the answer since, but here's the update. Gel pads arrived and very easily popped off the old and then put new ones on, feels very comfortable


Further to my early comments on here, sound quality still really impressed with, though I'm getting more frequent popping and crackling via Bluetooth or 2.4. I have tried multiple USB sockets without it resolving, and all with as little interference nearby as possible.

Hey,

Would you say these feel more comfortable than stock?
I had serious issues with clamping force that did ease up ever so slightly, just wish they wasn't as tight or the ear pads just had a little more depth.

Thank

 

[Kainy]

How do you prevent these from turning off all the time? If there's nothing playing for 10 minutes the headphones turn off automatically even if they are on your head and even when they are plugged by usb cable.

I'm using the headphones on my computer and there's a lot of times when there's no sound for 10 minutes.
Using these while working and usually when you get a call the headphones are off...

There has to be a way disable this, right?

 

[cold40]

@Audeze - made an account just to add in my vote to swap the mic gain/chat mix wheel function. Far more intuitive to have chat mix as the main wheel function for us console gamers, I would bet most of us never change our mic gain once it's setup properly.

 

[Chase10784]

@Audeze - made an account just to add in my vote to swap the mic gain/chat mix wheel function. Far more intuitive to have chat mix as the main wheel function for us console gamers, I would bet most of us never change our mic gain once it's setup properly.

I'm a pc game and I'm 100% in favor of switching them if it can be done. Once I get my gain adjusted just the way I want it that won't be touched again. The game/chat mix will be based on the game and situation.

However, I've heard that the game/chat mix on the headset for pc doesn't actually do anything nor does the app change it on pc. I'm getting my pair on Thursday. If anyone can confirm chat/game mix either on the headset or software works or doesn't that would be cool so I know don't even worry about it.