Audeze Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset for PlayStation, Mac, PC, and Switch

I have owned every headset known to man that has been labeled “gaming headset”. I’ve always been disappointed despite the reviews on the internet that state it’s the #1 headset on the market.The audio is always muddied and the volume is never high enough. Even after hours of messing with eq settings the headsets remain muddied.Steelseries, Astro, Corsair, whatever. All muddied.During one of my “best gaming headset 2024” internet searches I came across these. Never heard of it before, but I saw the price and the purple headset, so I went for it. Price = quality right?I was blown away the first time I played a game with these on my head. The immersion was insane. The audio, for the first time in my life, was not muddy AT ALL. It was crystal clear.The bass from explosions was immersive. It didn’t rattle my ear drums at all, but boy did it make the most amazing explosion concussion bass noise I have ever heard in my life.The direction of everything around me was on point using the included Dolby atmos on windows. There was no doubt where the gunfire, explosions, and vehicles were. I knew exactly how far to move my mouse to see what I was hearing. I was doing 180 degree turns to shoot the player running up behind me with a knife.But after saying all of this I ended up returning them for personal reasons. The quality is phenomenal. The build is solid. There’s nothing wrong with them. The best headset I’ve ever owned.Reason for returning:While the direction of sound was amazing in 360 degrees I couldn’t isolate foot step sounds enough. I can’t state this is a con because I do have some hearing issues (small). The steps could have been there but I couldn’t isolate them with eq enough or turn the volume up higher.I considered getting an amp for them but apparently they have a built in amp and hooking an external amp up to them would blow up the headphones.So I returned them despite being the best headphones I’ve ever owned.I’ve since ordered a Hifiman xs with Schitt stack. With the amp I should have all the volume I need, and be able to isolate the footsteps based on my hearing needs.Pros:- the best headset I’ve ever owned-phenomenal sound-crystal clear audio right out of the box- directional sound is flawless-immersive. You are in the game.-Dolby atmos brings these to life. They were made for eachother.-the purple color is gorgeous in real life and worth the extra $- plug and play. Dongle and headset already paired just turn on- download Dolby atmos for windows. Once installed the Dolby app auto recognizes Maxwell. No authentication codes or registering required.Cons:- when you turn the headset on it announces “headset on” in a female voice. Depending on your volume setting this could burst your eardrums, or trigger your ptsd. “Who you screaming at, lady?! Jc!”- they are very fragile.- no clamping force on head- tilting head forward or back will cause the headset to slide.-the ear cups are heavy. If they slide off your head they will hit the floor very hard-despite the heavy weight they are not uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.-be very careful when removing these from your head. Youre swinging around a sledge hammer.Games played:Star citizen – space never sounded so goodMw3 – not sure it wasn’t real lifeFfxiv- music sounded good. Full body rpg.Music: not my headset of choice. I like lots of bass. This headset has amazing concussion bass for games, but not for music.Audio: movies and YouTube videos I wasn’t a fan.Best gaming headset. For everything else have a different one. Imo.

I was waiting to upgrade my headset for many years but nothing seems to have the versatility of my logitech G933. When this came out and I was very hyped about this headset and decided to finally pull the trigger. I received this unit on 3/21 and been using it daily. This headset sounds amazing. Overall, i enjoy this headset and it was a well worth purchase.Here are some pros and cons after 2 weeks of use.Pros:- Headset sounds amazing and can get extremely loud. There are various presets such as bass boost and treble boost. These presets slightly boost the bass and treble and maintain very clear sound. It doesnt make the sound muddy. Setting this headset to volume of 78 is equivalent to my old headset at 100 with dolby atmos on. If i turn off dolby for the G933, the volume will be extremely low.-Battery life: the headset battery life lasts quite long. Under the first week, i manage to get around 60 hours. I havent done a true test yet as Audeze claims 80 hours with volume being 80 dB. During my first week of use, I push this to the limits and multiple times running volume at 100 and connecting to multiple device. Overall, huge step up from my old headset which lasts ..maybe 8 hours now.- Connection versatility – Like my old logitech, this can connect in a variety of methods- aux, usb dongle, bluetooth 5.3 and wired USB mode. All these require the headset to be turned on but the battery life is so good that its not a big deal. Also, this support mutliple bluetooth codecs SBC,AAC, LC3, LDAC.- Connection range – the range using the dongle is quite amazing. So far for my apartment, i was able to walk out to the living room and still have good audio. Distance is about 25 ft or more. With bluetooth, it was almost as good, audio did get a little static.-Microphone was very good . My GF said I sound clear and loud. The background noise suppression was amazing. I was able to eat chips while talking and she did not hear it. Theres also a built in mic when you remove the boom mic which is neat.-Build quality – Aesthetic is sleek and very understated. Did not look gaudy at all. EarPads were comfortable but gets a little warm. Earpads were deep enough but after long use, my ears can eventually touch the driver. The construction feels sturdy and nice. Although makes me worry that I will scratch the paint off.Cons:-No simultaneous bluetooth with the dongle. Not a huge deal but this may be important for some people. You can still achieve this via usb + BT or aux + BT. Due to the nature of the dongle, I dont see wireless simultaneous BT ever being a possibility. The dongle is not a 2.4 ghz dongle. It is actually an LC3+ bluetooth dongle. Despite this, the latency is just as good. I did not notice any latency.-Latency for gaming on phone at the moment is okay. Since most phones dont have LC3 support, we are stuck with SBC, AAC, or LDAC. All three dont have amazing latency. I play alot of rhythm games on phone and I can sense lag right away. So far SBC is the best for Android and AAC for iphones.-Comfort – this headset is heavy so may be a dealbreaker for some people. It was fine for me with the suspension headband. One annoying thing was that on the default notch for the headband, the bottom of my top of my ears touch the inner ear pad wall. However, if i move the band notch up, it becomes too tight and the bottom of my ear now touches the earpad. I ultimately went back to default configuration and wore a hat instead.- Software – still needs to be updated. On PC, none of the custom preset can be set at the moment. You can still use android app to set the preset on your phone and it will sync with your device I think. Also the battery indicator on the Audeze HQ for PC is not giving the right readings. If you charge to 100%, and start using, it wil quickly drop to 95%. However, the next time you turn it on, it will read 100% again. Customer support says they are working on a fix for this to show proper battery reporting.