[jameswalker]

Oh, the reason for that is because I simply don't use those features.
My chat use has been on skype talks where I'm not playing.
I'm ok with the volume wheel and I use Android.

Glad to hear others with the left earcup sound are chiming in. And I agree it sounds like a software filtering issue as they managed to remove it from the right earcup a couple of patches ago!!!

 

[Iain72]

After purchasing the Playstation version of the Penrose I am now looking to get an xbox series X, do you know if you are able to buy a seperate dongle to make it work on both systems?

 

[waltdisneypixar]

After purchasing the Playstation version of the Penrose I am now looking to get an xbox series X, do you know if you are able to buy a seperate dongle to make it work on both systems?

penrose x works with playstation.
penrose playstation does not work with xbox
dongle can be bought for what i have read here

 

[Ryan84]

I think you are looking in the wrong direction then. DT770 is headphone and Penrose is a Headset, even putting that aside it is a "Gaming" Headphone at best. Versus a DT770 which is more of a studio headphone. So by default the tuning on the Penrose is way different, You won't hear the same things on it, you hear on the DT770. If you like the sound signature of your DT770 then you can pretty much forget about anything that doesn't start with Studio. I think audio is pretty difficult to do without wires, latency for one and the power to actually drive headphones, all in something that is comfortable and lasts long enough? Yeah, going to be a while.

Gotcha. Guess i'll be going back to by DT770's and Receiver, as much i was itching to ditch the wire. I'm not willing to sacrifice audio quality for convenience at least when it comes to headphones. And when you say, "it's going to be a while", would you say 5 years maybe before somebody actually releases a 2.4ghz headphone capable of at least sounding as good as the DT770's?

 

[Zojokkeli]

Gotcha. Guess i'll be going back to by DT770's and Receiver, as much i was itching to ditch the wire. I'm not willing to sacrifice audio quality for convenience at least when it comes to headphones. And when you say, "it's going to be a while", would you say 5 years maybe before somebody actually releases a 2.4ghz headphone capable of at least sounding as good as the DT770's?

Ananda and Amiron wireless are probably pretty good in terms of sound quality, but I’m not sure if they can be used as headsets.

 

[RyantheGamer]

Gotcha. Guess i'll be going back to by DT770's and Receiver, as much i was itching to ditch the wire. I'm not willing to sacrifice audio quality for convenience at least when it comes to headphones. And when you say, "it's going to be a while", would you say 5 years maybe before somebody actually releases a 2.4ghz headphone capable of at least sounding as good as the DT770's?

No one can put a timetable on it. Yeah more expensive gaming headsets are starting to exist, but it's rare for a wireless gaming headset to target higher than $300 besides the B&O one. If more boutique labels like B&O or Audeze keep at it and they release higher budget ones (say $700-$1000) you'll see a no compromises - studio-grade wireless headset. As long as they are using cheap components to squeeze everything into an affordable package I can't see them doing something that sounds better than the Penrose. They might be able to do what we get out of the penrose without bugs soon. But unless companies aim for a higher dollar, superior options, wireless headsets aren't going to sound better than the penrose for a long time.

 

[Qtax]

Audeze Penrose thoughts/review​

I bought the Audeze Penrose (PS/PC version) a couple of days ago (June 18th). The following are my thoughts and issues so far, based on the latest 0.1.10 firmware.

This turned out longer than I imagined, so for a TLDR/conclusion see the end.

My use case/needs are a closed-back headset for work & meetings, gaming after work, with music in between. So with Penrose that’s a dongle on a gaming PC for games and music, Bluetooth for meetings, and music to the work laptop and the android phone.

The Positive​

• Music sounds good, the bass is there and seems good!
• Not too uncomfortable for me. I can bear to wear them for hours in a +28C room, even tho my ears are touching the inner driver padding. Compared to the Arctis Pro Wireless which are also touching, but in that case it’s unbearable for me after only 45-60 minutes (at normal room temperature). I also had similar discomfort issues with Sony WH-1000XM, but not with Bose QC35s, Sennheiser HD600, or HD555.
• Can be connected to the wireless dongle and Bluetooth at the same time.
• USB-C. You’d think this be a given but many are still on micro USB.
• The announcer’s voice is not too loud like on some other headphones.

​

The Negative​

Now on to the wall of issues and annoyances. Listed partly by source device.

Windows 10 wireless dongle (WiFi) issues/problems:

• Volume steps on the headsets have too large volume jumps between them at the lower half of volume settings.
• Only 16 volume steps, with way too large volume jumps between them where it matters.
• Can’t adjust the volume in windows at all. This combined with that the volume steps on the headsets are too large makes it impossible to find a suitable volume level in cases you do not want to listen at a high or too low volume.
• Range with the dongle is horrible, cannot handle a single wall without disconnecting. The Bluetooth range is much better, handling a couple of walls, similar to the Bose QC35. But BT is not usable for FPS gaming (as Penrose doesn’t support any low latency BT codecs).
• The Audeze HQ app for windows doesn’t work unless connected with a USB wire to the Penrose.

Windows 10 Bluetooth issues/problems:

• Microphone muted in Windows sound setting by default, every time it connects or is turned on to BT. So you have to go all the way to windows sound settings, recording tab, properties of the “Audeze Penrose Hands-Free AG Audio” device, the levels tab, and click the mute button to unmute them. At first, when I was having a meeting, I couldn’t even figure out why the microphone was not working. I tried resetting them and then checked on 3 different windows 10 laptops, the same muted issue. I couldn’t find anything about this and ended up writing an AHK script that unmutes the microphone and runs automatically every time they connect to my work laptop via Bluetooth.
• Volume “1” to “6” in windows is actually the same volume on the headset, then a big jump in volume when changing to “7” in windows. “7” to “12” same volume, then big jump in volume to “13”, and so on. With the headset only having 16 volume levels/steps. And even worst for me is that the first lower volume steps, which are around the volume I prefer, have much higher volume difference jumps (maybe around 3-6dB) than the last steps at max volume (closer to 1dB). For reference here are the 16 volume step ranges in windows (at which the headset volume doesn’t change): 1-6, 7-12, 13-19, 20-25, 26-31, 32-38, 39-44, 45-50, 51-57, 58-63, 64-69, 70-75, 76-82, 83-88, 89-94, 95-100.
• Volume changes on the headset are not reflected on Windows. For example, you set your volume to say “50” in Windows to hear something quiet, then lower it on the headset to the equivalent of 10 on windows. But Windows will still shows 50. This is a problem if you want to increase the volume a little bit by clicking the speaker and scrolling with the mouse wheel, which increases the volume in windows by 2, to 52, but the Penrose will actually increase from 10 to 52, which in this case be much more than you wanted and can even end up hurting your years.
• Microphone issues in Discord: sometimes words are breaking up/cutting off. But I’ve found that if you turn off “Noise Reduction” and “Automatic Gain Control” that doesn’t happen anymore.
• Do not report battery level to the OS, unlike for example even the old Bose QC35 do.
• No media controls like skipping/going the track/previous track. On other headsets, without dedicated buttons, it's usually done with double/triple push of the play/pause "button".
• "Connected" spam while the wireless dongle is barely in range.

Android Bluetooth issues/problems:

• Only 16 volume steps, with way too large volume jumps between them where it matters. Making it impossible to find a suitable volume level in cases you do not want to listen to at a high or too low volume.
• Do not report battery level to the OS, unlike for example even the old Bose QC35 do.
• No media controls like skipping/going the track/previous track. On other headsets, without dedicated buttons, it's usually done with double/triple push of the play/pause "button".
• "Connected" spam while the wireless dongle is barely in range.

General issues/problems:

• Audible noise floor / white noise when nothing is playing. I don’t understand why almost no reviews mention this. Even reviews that make frequency response measurements do not mention or measure this. The comments I’ve seen about this are along the lines, “that’s normal for wireless headsets”. But none of the wireless headphones I’ve had earlier have had this issue: Bose QC35, Sony WH-1000XM, AirPods Pro, Powerbeats Pro (when the noise-canceling is turned off). But with Penrose, you can hear it clearly in a quiet setting. For comparison, the noise level is about the same volume as the Arctis Pro Wireless (“volume limiter” set to “on”).
• Impossible to position the microphone in a good spot so that it doesn’t pick up breathing, but close enough to the mouth to be heard loudly. Like a bit away from the corner of the mouth sounds good, but the microphone doesn’t stay there as the arm doesn’t stay bent and wants to straighten out. Maybe could use some rubber band or something to keep it bent in place.
• Does not remember the last selected source/mode that the headphone head when turning them on.
• Annoying that you have to hold the power button for several seconds to turn them on or off.
• Compared to my open-back Sennheiser HD600 and HD555 some highs in games sound very “sharp”, a bit uncomfortable, and almost hurting. Seems strange to me since the frequency response measurements I’ve seen for the Penrose do not stick out much in those regions.
  • Follow up after a bit more testing: The upper treble and higher frequencies are strongly raised. Background cymbals become clear foreground cymbals. Had to EQ & lower the 8k and 16k bands to -10dB(!) (and 4k to -5dB) to get them to sound similar to Sennheiser HD555 and HD600, and make the background cymbals stay in the background. No wonder my ears were hurting in some cases. Makes me wonder, is my unit is defective?
• In just a couple of days they have crashed/turning off randomly at least 5 times when changing modes while having BT (windows) and the dongle connected.
• Completely hung once, couldn’t even power them off. The triple button “reset” turned them off then.
• Seems like a bit too low battery life for me. Haven’t tested this yet but possibly can’t get through a full workday plus some hours of gaming in the evening. And that’s with fresh new batteries. Regular Li-ion batteries lose around 15-30% capacity per year depending on use and temperature. So after a year, I expect it to be ~30% less. And on top of that will need almost as long to charge. Not very convenient. But at least you can use them while they are connected and charging. Altho that kind of defeats the purpose of a wireless headset if you need to have it connected half of the time.

Comfort issues/problems:

• Locked ears feeling when putting them on and wearing them due to air pressure inside the cups. Almost impossible to get right. Annoying but you get used to it. (Nothing like this on Arctis Pro Wireless or Bose QC35s)

Conclusion​

In the end, the Penrose to me is like a nice OLED display but with only two brightness levels, dim and super bright (lack of volume control), with the black level never really going to black like an OLED should (the audible noise floor), overexposed whites (boosted high treble), every time you turn it on there is no picture until you go deep into settings (microphone muted by default), and it turns off if you are more than 2 meters away (the range issues). When it works it’s great, but the issues may be too much for some, myself included.

Good sound, but lots of problems with core functionality that may, unfortunately, end up making me return these. Even tho I haven’t found anything better for gaming with Bluetooth yet.

Edits:

1. Added a bit on the boosted treble after more testing. Really clear with cymbals and in Overwatch on Ana primary fire.

 

[JeffLo]

i feel the mic volume wheel is not needed, i prefer you can change its usage, or make it to chat mix, i never ever had the need to change mic volume on the fly ever

 

[tag Nero]

i feel the mic volume wheel is not needed, i prefer you can change its usage, or make it to chat mix, i never ever had the need to change mic volume on the fly ever

I have changed it a few times, esp when gaming with my Sons in same room

 

[TaylorTheOk]

I have changed it a few times, esp when gaming with my Sons in same room

I've also adjusted it myself, but it should definitely be swapped with the audio mix, making the microphone volume the click turn function

 

[Brutal Deluxe]

I've also adjusted it myself, but it should definitely be swapped with the audio mix, making the microphone volume the click turn function

Agreed. It seems quite a few think the same. I wish Audeze would comment if it’s in the works for the next update

 

[Scratchansniff]

Has anyone else’s mic just stopped working with low battery?

 

[Tyler fr]

Last time I had a message for low battery, mic didn’t stop but my friends said it started to make some cracklings.
i restarted it and it was ok.

 

[Montrez36]

I just sent my penrose back to Audeze. I was getting popping sounds so audeze sent me new usb dongle. That did not fix the issue so audeze wanted me to send them in to see if they are defective.

I noticed when I had the penrose connected to wifi and blutooth they would pop more frequently. On wifi only the popping/crackling sound would be a lot less. I don't understand how the range on these are so poor. Also I like the sound but the default sound without any EQ is way too harsh. The treble to my ears is earpiercing. I play a ton of shooters so guns going off is a painful sound with the penrose in FPS games with out changing the EQ. To my ears at least.

 

[Qtax]

The treble to my ears is earpiercing. I play a ton of shooters so guns going off is a painful sound with the penrose in FPS games with out changing the EQ. To my ears at least.

So it's not only me with this issue. I've settled with -10dB of EQ on the treble, when comparing them by ear to reference cans. That's a crazy amount of treble to EQ out and make them sound normal. Don't you think?