I was recently given the chance to check out and share my thoughts about the Audeze Maxwell headphones. So let’s get right into it and see for yourself if you should grab a pair for yourself!
Audeze Maxwell
I’ve had my hands on the Audeze Maxwell headphones for about a month now and I’ve been using them for just about 8 hours a day, so you know I’ve really been able to get a feel for them, and I think I’m finally ready to share my thoughts.
Comfort
The main concern I had going into this review was how comfortable these headphones were going to feel on my head. I’ve previously reviewed both the Audeze Mobius and Penrose headphones and both felt really uncomfortable on my head after just a few minutes.
This was due to the headband only having the small amount of soft foam between the actual headband itself and where it rests on top of the head. This issue was a major part of why I felt I couldn’t recommend the Mobius or Penrose headphones.
Luckily, Audeze has finally decided to change it up with their gaming-style headphones and they’ve added a replaceable suspension strap to prevent the headphones from resting directly on your head.
This is something that absolutely needed to happen and I’m glad that Audeze has finally done it, because it is by far the most comfortable Audeze headset I’ve ever worn. I can wear these at work for 8 hours a day and I don’t get much, if any, discomfort at all….at least on top of my head.
The Maxwells are pretty heavy on the ears and the drivers are huge, so on occasion I’ll start to feel them droop down and start to irritate my ears, but honestly I’ll take that over having to take the whole thing off my head for a while and reset.
Overall, a win for Audeze.
Battery Life
Audeze claims the Maxwells get a battery life of 80+ hours, and I have to say I believe it. I’ve gone multiple days using these things for an entire work day without having to worry about charging them, and I think the average consumer probably isn’t using them that often anyway, so these should have more than enough battery life for all of your gaming needs.
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Even if you do manage to drain these things and need a quick boost they do charge incredibly fast. You’ll be able to get a full day’s use from just 20 minutes of charging, according to Audeze’s product page. From my experience, I was able to get a few hours from maybe 10-15 minutes of charging when I accidentally left mine on over the weekend, so it’s a fairly accurate estimation from Audeze there.
Connection
So, with the Audeze Maxwell, you’ll have 3 different ways to connect to devices:
- Bluetooth (BT 5.3)
- 2.4 GHz dongle
- Wired
The Maxwells support multi-point connection, which is awesome because it allows you to connect them with up to 2 different devices at the same time using both Bluetooth and a wired connection. Unfortunately, the dongle does not support multi-point connection. At first I thought it just didn’t add to the connections to give you 3 available connections, but no it just straight up does not work. You can connect the second device, but the audio will not play through both sources at once, just the active one. Kind of a bummer, but I guess we can’t win them all.
Speaking of the dongle…..wow. I did not expect this to be such a game changer. Using the dongle, audio is so much louder and fuller, it really is a completely different experience. Which just adds to the disappointment that it doesn’t play nice with multi-point.
Microphone
The included microphone is…fine. It’s fine. Nothing to write home about, but also not the worst headset microphone I’ve ever used. What confuses me is that alongside the included detachable microphone, it seems there is also a microphone built into the headset itself. Now, that in and of itself doesn’t confuse me, what confuses me is that it’s….better than the detachable microphone?
Some might disagree with me, but I just feel like the detachable mic is so much more muffled than the internal mic. Sure, the internal is a bit more hollow but I would much rather have a somewhat hollow mic than a muffled one that sounds like I’m speaking underwater.
This one’s a weird one.
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Noise Cancelling
One thing I should also note, I’m not really sure if it’s user error or if it’s just incredibly subtle, but I literally cannot tell whether the noise cancelling on these things is working or not.
I’ll cycle through all the different noise cancelling settings and I just…do not hear a difference. Granted, I can’t really hear anything else when I’m wearing the Maxwells anyway, but I just feel like something’s off here.
Should you buy the Audeze Maxwell?
Overall, I’m a lot more impressed with the Maxwells than I’ve been with other Audeze headsets in the past. However, at $300 it’s not the easiest decision to make for most consumers.
If you’re looking for a do-it-all headset with great sound that you can use with all your devices and you can afford to splurge a little, I absolutely recommend the Audeze Maxwell headphones. They sound great with or without the dongle (but the dongle really does sound worlds better), and it’s incredibly easy to swap between devices without even really thinking about it. (Except for maybe Windows and its horrible Bluetooth implementation, but that’s on Microsoft.)
If you’re instead looking for more of a budget-friendly option…well…Audeze probably is not the brand for you.
Check out the Audeze Maxwell headphones here!
Wallflower Writing 
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