Audeze Mobius Immersive Gaming Headphones Review & Comments

@The Nightfly I am not sure the Mobius or the Penrose would be the "simulated surround sound" headphone of choice if you are not a Xbox or PlayStation owner? Maybe others can comment.
Agreed. I’m not an Xbox or PlayStation user. As a general purpose standalone device, the JVC Exofield is quite close to what I want, main downsides are that it appears to be restricted to the supplied JVC headphones and I think that at £1,000 it’s more than I’m willing to pay for this application. Looks like the wait continues and my decade old Dolby Headphone solution will have to remain for now.
 
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@Greg Hook are you going to get a review of the Penrose?

@The Nightfly I am not sure the Mobius or the Penrose would be the "simulated surround sound" headphone of choice if you are not a Xbox or PlayStation owner? Maybe others can comment.

Also one reason why the Penrose drops the sound effects of the Mobius is because the next generation Xbox Series X and PS5 will both offer 3D audio onboard

If they can keep the build quality and planar magnetic drivers of the Mobius at the reduced RRP it should be a massive success. As you say, you don't really need onboard DSP if a console is providing simulated surround sound. If they truly make it usable wireless, which is not possible with the Mobius, that only cements the deal.
 
@Geesus, Audeze has to make the Penrose cheap in order to sell imo and also if Microsoft and Sony make 3D audio compatible with existing headphones (and I see why not) then headphone owners have less reason to purchase the Penrose. Just get a microphone if you multiplayer or stream
 
The Penrose should be an interesting proposition. Bluetooth 5, cheaper price point but with the Planar magnetic drivers. I’d say these are more aimed at the console gamer than a PC gamer.
 
Are they suitable for people with giant heads? I struggle with headphones duringoong sessions as the noggin is quite big.
 
Are they suitable for people with giant heads? I struggle with headphones duringoong sessions as the noggin is quite big.

They do have a good adjustment.

How big are we talking here? Megamind or Mr Mackey?
 
I'm a little confused to be honest...
As these are primarily aimed at gaming, why was the microphone not a major consideration within the review? How is the chat capability of the mic? Is there noise cancellation? And why, oh why, does it offer the stupid plug-in microphone vs the infinitely better boom design that offers 'raise to mute'. After all - no one, I repeat no one, wants to hear their team mates heavy breathing, coughing or chatting to the partner while they're trying to game.

I believe some more gaming headsets should be reviewed on this site - with time, that will allow the reviewers to hone in on the features that PC gamers want, what XBox users may look for etc.
 
I'm a little confused to be honest...
As these are primarily aimed at gaming, why was the microphone not a major consideration within the review? How is the chat capability of the mic? Is there noise cancellation? And why, oh why, does it offer the stupid plug-in microphone vs the infinitely better boom design that offers 'raise to mute'. After all - no one, I repeat no one, wants to hear their team mates heavy breathing, coughing or chatting to the partner while they're trying to game.

I believe some more gaming headsets should be reviewed on this site - with time, that will allow the reviewers to hone in on the features that PC gamers want, what XBox users may look for etc.

I missed a paragraph from my review so have added that in.

Whilst I agree raise to mute mics are better, the quality of this one is particularly good and the left side of the headphones has a mute switch for the mic. It can also be bent out of the way for partial muting.

You are correct, no one wants to hear their team mates heavy breathing, but if you have your settings correct in whatever chat program you use, that shouldn't be an issue anyway.
 
Never had a problem with the mic here either, but I have only used it on xbox.
 
I had these for a while and then sold them. I was seriously unimpressed with the sound quality. Lacked any lower end for me

I was the opposite, I found the bass adequate but lacking in mid-range and they had a rather narrow soundstage.
I ordered them on the strength of this review.
Got them from Amazon on Saturday and have just returned them today for a refund.
I'm not a gamer, I bought them for listening to music (mainly orchestral and movie scores) and wanted to sample what 100mm planar magnetics sound like. I was disappointed and will stick to using my Sony WH-1000XM3’s which, to me, sound far superior.
I can see why gamers will love them, the 3D effects and surround sound are phenomenal, I played a few YouTube surround sound samples connected via USB to my MacBook Pro.

I have a few tracks in my music library I use to test headphones.
There are some plucked Harp strings in the right-hand channel at 1.47 of “Together We Shall Fly” (Track 28) of the soundtrack to the movie “The Basket” by Don Caron...these are hardly noticeable on the Mobius but stand out on my Sony's.
I used them in Equaliser Flat mode but also tried the Audeze default and the other modes and also wired and wirelessly.
Sources were an iPhone XS Max using Bluetooth and AAC and my MacBook Pro connected wired via USB and Flac files.
They sound good but are, to my ears, inferior to my Sony's in overall sound quality, comfort, battery life and price.
 
Couldn't disagree more, aside from comfort and battery life, which are obviously better on the Sony. I'm presuming you turned 3D off for music playback?
 
Yes, 3D off.
I guess everyone’s taste is different and my ears obviously prefer the XM3’s sound signature.
The comfort on the Mobius wasn't too bad, I could probably have lived with it, it's just that they were heavier than the Sony's and had a greater clamping force.
 
I was the opposite, I found the bass adequate but lacking in mid-range and they had a rather narrow soundstage.
I ordered them on the strength of this review.
Got them from Amazon on Saturday and have just returned them today for a refund.
I'm not a gamer, I bought them for listening to music (mainly orchestral and movie scores) and wanted to sample what 100mm planar magnetics sound like. I was disappointed and will stick to using my Sony WH-1000XM3’s which, to me, sound far superior.
I can see why gamers will love them, the 3D effects and surround sound are phenomenal, I played a few YouTube surround sound samples connected via USB to my MacBook Pro.

I have a few tracks in my music library I use to test headphones.
There are some plucked Harp strings in the right-hand channel at 1.47 of “Together We Shall Fly” (Track 28) of the soundtrack to the movie “The Basket” by Don Caron...these are hardly noticeable on the Mobius but stand out on my Sony's.
I used them in Equaliser Flat mode but also tried the Audeze default and the other modes and also wired and wirelessly.
Sources were an iPhone XS Max using Bluetooth and AAC and my MacBook Pro connected wired via USB and Flac files.
They sound good but are, to my ears, inferior to my Sony's in overall sound quality, comfort, battery life and price.
Yup, the soundstage was also quite narrow. For the price I expected far more. For gaming after listening to several different brands I thought the Astro A50's were by far a better bet.
 
Yes, 3D off.
I guess everyone’s taste is different and my ears obviously prefer the XM3’s sound signature.
The comfort on the Mobius wasn't too bad, I could probably have lived with it, it's just that they were heavier than the Sony's and had a greater clamping force.

Did you have Hi-res mode turned on?

Yup, the soundstage was also quite narrow. For the price I expected far more. For gaming after listening to several different brands I thought the Astro A50's were by far a better bet.

I've got the Astro A50's and found the Mobius to be miles ahead.
But audio is very much to the person's own taste and as above we all are different.
 
I've got the Astro A50's and found the Mobius to be miles ahead.
But audio is very much to the person's own taste and as above we all are different.
[/QUOTE]
Exactly that Greg :)
 
Yup, the soundstage was also quite narrow. For the price I expected far more. For gaming after listening to several different brands I thought the Astro A50's were by far a better bet.

You can make the soundstage as wide as you like using the software.
 
You can make the soundstage as wide as you like using the software.
I get that and I did, but, I just didn't like the sound.
 
Soundstage is a wide term. For gaming I consider location and direction information is more important than the ultimate size of the stage. But the size of the stage can affect how easy it is to pinpoint where sounds are located
 
i thought you could not use these on the xbox - i bought a set last year and love using them on the pc. i assumed though they were not compatile with the xbox?

my understanding is that you only get 2 chaneel stereo with the xbox and that the 3d options dont work - you can of course use the xbox window or atmos headphone options through the mobius but the other 3d options dont work. - or has this been changed and are you reviewing a newer updated model?
 
hello,
is it possible to use the mobius to listen to dolby atmos music and dolby atmos movie sound connecting it to the headphone output of my yamaha cx-a 5100 surround processor ? or is it only meant for listening to games with a pc or so ?
 
hello,
is it possible to use the mobius to listen to dolby atmos music and dolby atmos movie sound connecting it to the headphone output of my yamaha cx-a 5100 surround processor ? or is it only meant for listening to games with a pc or so ?

It's got a headphone 3.5mm jack so should play the audio. It won't do dolby atmos.
 
hello,
what will it do then ? i thought it was a surround headphone as i have read ? with 3D ?
is there an alternative to do dolby atmos through a headphone ?
best regards,
frans callebaut
 

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