Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “The hype is REAL! – Audeze Maxwell Ultraviolet”.
It’S here the headset – you guys have been asking us to cover for months at this point, the Audeze Maxwells and we got them in the ultraviolet variant.. If you’ve been looking for a gaming, headset you’ve probably heard a lot of hype about these.. These are kind of supposed to be the best of the best in terms of gaming headsets right now, which is why I’m so very excited to look at them.. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the company Audeze they’re, a high-end headphone manufacturer who focuses on planar magnetic headphones., Typically headphones are dynamic driver headphones, which means they have a speaker and a coil, and they look kind of like a tiny version of the speakers.
You’D see on say your desk or something.. A planar magnetic headphone, however, has a thin membrane with a wire embedded into it. That’S suspended between two magnets to vibrate back and forth, to create the sound. Odyssey, has a high-end history but they’re making quite a mainstream product.. As we’ve heard, it’s made a splash and wow. These are loud.. I can talk to the top camera now.. You know I kind of like the colorway.. I don’t know if I would wear it out of the house.. Oh and the headband. Is this really cool, electroplated metal that allows for this purple and green kind of gradient.? It looks significantly nicer than the kind of cheap plastic color on the sides of here.
We’re specifically looking at the Xbox versions of these today, which is why we have a little USB dongle that can switch between Xbox and PC. And I don’t think, there’s any difference. Between this or the PlayStation 5 model, other than support for Sony’s Tempest audio versus support for a Dolby Atmos license. Ooh a sticker.. We have a USB-C cable of a length that I will not guess at.. We also have a USB-A to USB-C adapter, which is great because the dongle’s USB-C and a shorter 3.5-millimeter TRRS connector, which is awesome..
That means you can connect via 2.4 gigahertz, Bluetooth, 3.5-millimeter jack or USB-C.. Funny enough. If you are a PlayStation user, you can actually still use these with your PlayStation, 4 or 5 using the 3.5-millimeter jack on your controller. But apparently some functionality might not work and Odyssey doesn’t recommend it.. Let’S make our way around the headphones. Shall we On the right side? We have a hole, presumably for a microphone and on the left-hand side we have all of our controls.. We got a chat, mute switch, a power button..
We have a indicator LED a noise suppression button. Not to be confused with active noise cancellation.. These don’t have any of that..
This is noise suppression for your microphone., An input for the boom mic, which is sufficiently bendy and a hypercardioid microphone., Oh cool, and they have this Odyssey styling that matches some of their higher-end headphones.. We have a USB Type-C, our 3.5-millimeter adapter.. We have two knobs one for game and chat audio, so probably the adjusting. How much audio is your game and how much is the side tone and then a volume rocker.. These are also buttons. Double-press for side tone on and off..
Oh, you can adjust the EQ.. The power button also functions as a multi-use button, so you can play pause with a single press.. You can start pairing with two presses. If it’s not paired to anything else.
Now I did see that there was a microphone on this side, but there’s a boom mic. So, what’s the deal Well inside the headphones themselves, we also have four beam-forming microphones on top of having a boom microphone. So if you wan na take these on the bus use them as just a normal wireless pair of headphones., You don’t want this boom in your vision or something like that.. You don’t even need it..
You can just use the headphones themselves.. I love this.. I love this so much because that just makes these so versatile.. This could be like the only pair of headphones.
You really really need, especially considering these have 80 hours of battery life, which is crazy. Two full work weeks of listening, that’s tons.. The ear cups are nicely labeled with left and right.. I thought these were stickers, but they’re actually just printed on really nicely..
The ear cups are removable. And we can kinda get a peek at how the drivers look. That’s kinda, neat.. The ear cups themselves are made of a plastic leather and are filled with a very plush and soft kind of memory. Foam material.. I found them to be rather comfortable, but maybe a little bit shallow for some people. If you have ears that stick out a little bit more. – And one thing to note – is that I don’t know what it is about certain types of plastic leather, but I got irritation on my ears..
I have a rash on my ears now from this.. It’S not unique to these headphones.. I’Ve had this before with other ones, but maybe if you have sensitive skin it’s something to note.. Luckily, they’re easy to replace, assuming you go to a third party because Odyssey doesn’t sell replacement pads for the Maxwell yet., But you can get replacement ear cushions from Wicked Cushions who’s. The sponsor of today’s video., Thanks to Wicked Cushions for sponsoring today’s video., Are your old, worn out headphones in need of some TLC, Or maybe you just wan na spruce up your new headphones., Either way.
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These are pretty heavy 490 grams.. So I wouldn’t really use these for, say I don’t know physical activity. They’re well built in my opinion..
I think the headband’s pretty sturdy. This whole mechanism for the ear cup is like really good and stable.. I’D say, the plastic is a little bit plasticky.
And, as we can see, just from the little bit of use, we’ve had there’s already kind of scratches on these, which is a bit of a bummer.. That’S kind of just the downside of choosing such a reflective and shiny plastic.. I still feel like these are gon na last quite a long time and they feel pretty stable. On the head.
I find that they don’t clamp too tight.. I don’t find that a heavy headphone really bothers me. With simultaneous audio. You can listen to something through Bluetooth and through your 3.5 millimeter jack or your USB at the same time, which is kind of weird., I don’t know of many headphones that can do that..
So that’s kind of a neat little trick. Also they support Bluetooth 5.3, which is awesome for a few reasons. One, because in the future, more devices will support it.. But two.
It’S gon na support the new Bluetooth Audio Codec LC3, which will bring higher quality audio to your headphones and from your headphones to your device.. You also get really strong, multipoint connection, so you can do really easy handoffs between devices, which is great because the more options, the more better. You don’t need to have a device that supports Sony’s LDAC.. You can use something that’s gon na be supported by any Bluetooth. 5.3 device..
This is like something that I feel like I bring up in every video where I go. It sucks that this headphone can’t connect this way. And Odyssey was just like yeah that does suck., So we’re gon na make it so that you can connect in every way possible every codec, every input., It’s just gon na work., And I love that. We’re gon na Use their wireless dongle, which actually is able to provide the same level of audio quality as the actual USB connection..
I like that it calls out very clearly what’s happening., It just goes. It just says USB dongle. I like that.. One thing to note is that these kind of launched in a bit of a buggy state but Audeze, has been doing a pretty good job so far of addressing those issues and sending out lots of firmware updates and patches for these headphones.. Before we get listening to stuff, I always wan na talk about the app real quick. There’s an app for your phone and for the desktop.. The app looks so cheesy, but it’s a really really good app.. It comes with six different pre-made EQs for Audeze treble boost bass, boost immersive competition, footsteps. And then also you can make presets with a 10 band graphic EQ.
Other than that. The app is useful for updating the firmware. Changing settings like your auto shutdown, timer, the loudness of voice prompts., You can set a volume limiter., It’s got everything you need and nothing you don’t..
It seems like the dongle and the Bluetooth. Don’T really mesh very well.. So if you wan na do a lot of device, switching, maybe stick to using a wire or to just Bluetooth, alone.
Audio impressions wise. This thing is pretty neutral, which is great.. It feels like something that almost everybody’s gon na enjoy. – It’s not super super sparkly or really bright or shrill, but it still maintains detail. And in the bass region it’s still punchy., It’s still fun, but it’s not overwhelming or bloating or ruining the mids.. If anything, I’d call this, like, maybe a little mid treble forward, which gives them like a lot of energy, but it might be a little overbearing for some people.
But like it’s just this has got ta, be a people pleaser.. These are just gon na sound good to most people. And that’s awesome.. If these didn’t have all of the gaming features and were just a wired pair of headphones with this audio quality, the price wouldn’t be crazy., But that’s just what I think.. Let’S talk about some measurements. Looking at our frequency response curve compared to our target.
That’S the dotted white line, the green line, which is the Odyssey Maxwell’s. They line up almost exactly.. Our target is supposed to represent what about 65 % of people in the world will find to be neutral and enjoyable. Sam in the lab actually went through and measured all of the different preset EQs..
He was the one who really pointed out to me how tasteful they were. So like the treble boost just see like a three to five dB increase only in the treble region like right up here with the presence and the lower end of the brilliant section.. It’S great., It’s subtle! It’S noticeable, but subtle.. The bass boost is like our original curve, but with like three extra dB in the sub bass and very low bass, regions, which is great., It doesn’t get boomy and bloated like some bass curves. That will apply at like 200 Hertz.. The immersive mode makes a V-shaped curve..
We see the boost in the bass and in the treble., The competition mode is interesting.. This is where the gamer focus comes. In. Remember this: is a gaming headset.
A lot of treble boost, especially up around this three kilohertz region., And we see a big decrease in the bass region.. This makes sense because the idea of a competition headphone is that you wan na hear a lot of details. Maybe call-outs from enemies or other details like rustling, bushes or just the voices of your teammate.. This allows you to lower that bass so that when say, like boomy explosions, happen, you’re not losing important information in the name of ooh feeling immersed., And then we have footsteps, which is like an even more exaggerated version of that three kilohertz bump that we saw in The competition mode., Basically all it’s doing – is literally just boosting the parts of the footsteps. So like.
When you put your foot down it’s kind of like heel toe., So you have a little bit of a higher click as well as more of a thud., And that is bumped up right around here at 100 Hertz and then also bumped up in the upper mids. And I tried it with some games and it works really well.. They really thought these EQs through and I think that’s pretty dang cool.. If we look at isolation, we can see that there’s a lot of isolation for the higher frequencies, which is typical of a closed back headphone and not a lot in the lower frequencies. Again typical..
Usually, you need active noise cancellation to attenuate some of these lower frequencies., And now we have mic measurements.. This is through the boom mic and the mic at least what we measured. It is kind of disappointing. But, as you can see, there’s this huge increase over the bass region, which is kind of making things boomy. And then there’s like an under emphasis from like one kilohertz to eight kilohertz, which makes the voice sound a little failed.. And then there’s that big dip above eight kilohertz that takes kind of the air out of the voice that can maybe make it sound like lifeless., And that reflects, I think, in the recording quality of some of our samples..
If you look at the integrated microphone curve, you can see it also looks kind of weird.. Ah the sound it’s a bit different. You’ll have to tell me what to think, but the sibilance issues kind of remain.. I kind of sound like Herbert from Family Guy with the like soft and subtle kind of S’s., It’s kind of disappointing..
I guess it’s serviceable if you’re just taking like a phone call or something, but I would not rely on this specifically for communications, which kind of indicates a pretty big weak point for this headset, especially for a gaming headset, where you want your microphone to be good Because clear comms are important., This is noise suppression on.. This is listening with noise suppression off. Just going to talk a little bit. Have a little chat. Noise suppression, low. We’re still listening to Crab Rave., And this is noise suppression high.. So does it sound better? How well does it suppress the random noise that is Crab Rave, But you know what’s more important is if I get to have fun playing games right now., So I’m going to play some games. Okay.
So I didn’t the footsteps, don’t work.! I got stabbed by a spy and I’m blaming the headset.. You know they’re pretty good., Obviously as a closed back headphone they’re not going to be the most positional as say an open back just because the soundstage is naturally a little bit closed off, but they do an admirable job.. The footsteps sound profile, I think, actually does make a big difference., Listen, they’re good at music., They’re, neutral. They’re, going to be good at gaming too.
And the fact that you have the ability to just kind of tinker them to your liking. They’Re, so malleable is just a bonus on top.. Really. The only disappointment here is just the microphone. As a package. These are excellent., They sound great., They’re durable., And the craziest thing is that these are just $ 330.. I know $ 330., That’s not cheap.! It ain’t! Cheap at all., But when you compare it to like other gaming headsets that are high end like the Arctis Nova Pros, I think these sound better. They work with simpler and less intrusive software..
They work with like everything.. You can listen to them. How you want., I get the hype.. If you want, though you can get these for cheaper.
If you get the Sony, ones. They’re only $ 300., There’s a weird price discrepancy between the Xbox versions and the Sony versions. Just think about that before you buy them, because the Sony ones still work with your computer. Thanks for watching ShortCircuit..
If you like this, why don’t you check out the last time I looked at like a planar magnetic headphone, the Moondrop Venus.? They were pretty dang good .