We have to talk about how heavy these are and if that matters to gamers who game for half the day. Can I wear them that long? No, I cannot. 490g is fairly heavy. This contrasts with our original test results, which were performed three times using Reaper software, resulting in our final averaged results of 85 ms via non-Bluetooth wireless and 43 ms via wired USB. These three measurements were among the high side of our testing and aren't representative of their typical latency. As a result, we updated the measurements in our review to be more representative.

I recall the days of playing the original Call of Duty: MW2 with my AD700. People would call me a cheater because the final kill cam would often show me lead a target with my pointer and gun before that person would even show up visible from behind a wall. Unique to Audeze, Fazor elements complement the magnetic structure by influencing sound waves. This enhanced control gives reduced distortion, better imaging, more accurate frequency extremes and an improved phase response. In short, it makes the Maxwell headphones the most lifelike sounding gaming headphones at their price. April 4th:Testing started. We noticed phase mismatch present in our unit and that non-Bluetooth wireless latency was higher than expected. However, these flaws didn't qualify the unit as broken—the Maxwell performed very well in most other tests. If a product doesn't perform as it should but isn't clearly broken, we refer to the out-of-spec policy. It's the manufacturer's responsibility to define what is out of spec for their products as they're the ones who know how their products should perform. Gamers aren’t that hard to please. Let’s be real, most gamers have no idea that much better options exist out there that aren’t branded as “ Gamer” headphones. Jazz, slow musical genres, vocalists in general, all that sort of thing feels great and engaging on this Maxwell but without ever being fatiguing. I’ve wanted this in a cheaper planar for over a decade.

How well does the Audeze Maxwell attenuate noise?

The Soundstage of the Maxwell is absolutely fantastic. Simply put you have to try them out to understand. Playing Apex legends, I can perfectly pin point where the bullets are coming from and work out if the players footsteps are above or below me. With Tempest audio on, you even get a sense of perception of just how far (or near) they are to you. I am pretty sure I can now work out what character I am chasing/ be chased by just from the footsteps! Those sweaty Wraiths now stand no chance against me (Huwah ah ah). It is like having a second controller but not only that, a second controller which brings you directly into the world you are playing. It is not supremely forward, but it’s well into the forward tier when references the placement of midrange vocals. However, the forward mids have a lovely pristine, dense feeling, meaty, and looming into the warm territory. The older LCD-X series and the LCD-GX do not sound like this in tonality. We've added a comparison between these headphones and the Logitech G PRO X 2 LIGHTSPEED Wireless in Comfort. In terms of chipset improvements, the Maxwell uses a newer more powerful dedicated DAC/AMP chip. The DSP is also much more powerful compared to Penrose. This gives Maxwell much larger dynamic range and a lower noise floor compared to Mobius and Penrose.

Maxwell, like the Penrose and Mobius, requires power as it is an active headset on all connection types. Like those headsets, Maxwell utilizes an internal DSP and houses a balanced amplifier for each driver. We suggest common sense in what you plug the Maxwell into with a 3.5mm/aux cable. If you use an amplifier and don’t set the volume accordingly, you can overcharge the circuitry inside the headset. It is highly recommended you either bypass using amplifiers, or set the volume very low and adjust up until you achieve a good balance between the Maxwell’s volume control, and your source gear. Using external amplifiers may be detrimental to sound quality and potentially add more noise and distortion. I’ve wanted this sound since the original LCD-3 and in my opinion, this is the only Audeze to come out after the original variant of the LCD-3 that sounds anything like it in tone and physical setup. They sound colder, more neutral, and closer to analytics. This Maxwell is much more fun sounding, softer, and more prone to sounding a tad warm and musical. Both headphones there offered excellent pinpoint accuracy and you can easily tell where sounds are coming from so that you can lead the target.The longest I have used them in a one-er was 8 hours and I could have really worn them for 8 more. Comfort: 9.5/10 The bass is accurate enough that you can hear all the sub-bass elements well. Though the bass goes deep, it’s worth noting that it is quieter than other neutral headphones and gaming headsets. It’s got a wider frequency range, yes, but it does not have a lot of oomph. As a result, explosions in games, videos, and music do not hit that hard unless you turn the volume up to 90% or the content itself has a lot of sub-bass. As a single-player user these days, I prefer bassier than balanced, so for me, single-player gaming takes a hit as it’s clear these Maxwells were aimed more at online passive-aggressive players who require pinpointing sounds in the gaming world with as much accuracy as possible. Mids This is my favorite type of treble experience. It is fun and musical. It is fatigue-free even after hours of playing. Loud bullets that come by the thousands during a gaming session are not annoying and don’t get painful.