Audeze Penrose Wireless Gaming Headset for PlayStation Mac PC and Switch (Black)

(Reviewed on Xbox Series X) I preface this by saying that I love quality audio; I’ve owned fancy THX-certified speaker systems for PC gaming and a variety of headsets, including brands such as Astro, Turtle Beach, and Sennheiser. I have never owned true “audiophile grade” headphones before. Therefore, the sound from these blows me away. Even coming from my Sennheiser PC 360 G4ME headset I’ve been using for almost a decade, there’s little comparison to the richness and detail of the sound I’m getting from the Penrose X, particularly with Dolby Atmos enabled (for the small fee through the Xbox digital storefront). Performance: With Atmos enabled (or the 3D positional audio format of your choice), you should not struggle to locate distinct sounds all around you. I tested this in Gears 5, Doom Eternal, and Battlefield V. Audio is detailed and explosions/gunfire boom with an impressive amount of bass for a pair of headphones. Mid and high range don’t get swamped and I can’t handle turning the volume up all the way...plenty of power, here. I also tested them out with the Bluetooth connection to my iPhone X to listen to music; again, I was amazed by the sound quality. I heard layers of songs I’d never heard before, songs I’ve listened to hundreds of times. Playing music games (Aaero, Fuser, Invector) was also a special treat. I have not watched any movie content yet, but given what I’ve heard so far, I have high expectations regarding sound fidelity. Connection: Others have complained of disconnecting issues or popping, buzzing, or audio cutting out. I’ve had none of these issues except when trying to record and instantly upload video using the Xbox controller’s “share” button. The additional processing may mess with the audio, but it’s momentary (less than 3 seconds) and manifests as a brief stuttering...nothing terrible. The wireless connection to the Xbox through the included USB dongle seems solid. I sit 10-15 feet away from my Xbox and haven’t had issues so far. If you prefer, you can connect to a controller through the included aux cord, but I’ve preferred going totally wireless. Build: Feels solid and weighty. I’m not a huge fan of the specific shade of green they chose as the accent on Penrose X, but I don’t have to worry about that while they’re on my head. They look plenty slick, otherwise. Feels appropriately “next-gen.” Comfort-wise, they were fine. Some of have complained about too much “clamping force,” but I haven’t experienced this myself. I’m a pretty large guy and the headband feels fine to me; the ear cups are squishy but seal nicely, keeping that sweet, sweet audio where I want it: pumping directly into my ear holes, not bleeding into my gaming environment. The App: it’s serviceable. I put it on my PC and connected the headset through USB to see if there was a firmware update; my headset appeared to already be updated, unless it did it automatically for me when I plugged in. I didn’t detect a new version of the firmware, but I’ll check every now and then just in case. You can download EQ settings from the Audeze website for a variety of purposes (an FPS-oriented profile, for instance) or mess with the EQ sliders yourself, but I’ve left the EQ at the default “flat” level and it’s been plenty good for my ears. Value: If you have $300 burning a hole in your pocket, desire a gaming splurge, and also value sound quality in your entertainment, these come highly recommended! I’ve never gone wireless for audio, but so far, I’m sold.

These are phenomenal. Usually I am very skeptical on anything headphone related when the word gaming is around it. Gaming headsets usually give up a lot of audiophile pros while giving into ease of use, low quality builds, or bad mics. These aren't just gaming headphones. These have the best sound I've found in over the ear headphones. Period. The planar magnetic drivers deliver sounds so crisp and locatable I was taken away. It's INSANELY loud because of the giant drivers too. Footsteps are easy to locate in ear, every sound has its own track so nothing is overlapping and blowing out your earphone. Not to mention the best music listening experience you could put on your head. The lows take on life of their own and don't become too shaky like other bassy headphones but are still so loud with the bass I still have a hard time understanding it. The mids all stay separated, and the highs allow all the crisp symbol sounds to be heard from one another even if it's at the same time. You can hear every instrument by itself and almost point to it. These are just as good sounding as some of those 800$+ wired headphones for audiophiles. Oh yeah it's wireless. Perfectly. Out of box, it connected to both my PC and Xbox series X with the switchable USB dongle. Range tested like 15ish feet going outside through two walls so not bad at all. Worked all inside my house. When I did first turn it on it had mic monitoring auto enabled, but once I used the cord to connect the headset to my PC and got the software audeze provides from their website. It had a firmware update and it corrected the mic monitoring, and was able to turn it on and off normally. The mic sounds great. It's no desk mic of course but for what this mic is, it blows my mind. Reminds me of a blue snowball or low quality yeti sitting there on your headset. It has great sound filtering and even when we tried putting three fans around the mic no one heard it in Xbox party chat, or discord. The comfort is pretty good. But. I have a larger head so it's not particularly easy for my to find headsets that fit well. These have enough give and adjustment that I can wear them for about and hour and then I realize the stress from them, but it could also be from how exceptionally loud these are. I did try a long gaming session of about 5 hours and again I noticed an hour in but after that if I kept wearing it I found the headset took shape to my head and stopped pressing so hard. Awesome headphones. The sound is worth the price. Hard to find a combo of all these features at this price point. Including the planar magnetic drivers. Didn't test bluetooth

So I've used this product for several months now and I've come to both love and dislike some aspects of this headset. Likes: I'll start off with the sound quality, obviously and easily the best part of the headset, almost unmatched. Also I'm very happy with the build quality and over all design of the headset. They feel like they will last a good long time if you take too care of them. Take away from this is that you don't feel like you purchased a cheap expensive product, it feels like it had real thought and quality put into it. Dislikes: I'll start off with my biggest issue with the headset, the mic. The mic is of decent quality however other headsets currently do have better mics for gaming and better noise canceling. Also depending on how you want to use the headset (wired or wireless) the mic will sound entirely different. Through some testing in game chats, most people agreed the wireless mic quality actually sounded better than the wired mic which was a bummer because I actually wanted to keep these wired but it's not that big of a deal. Secondly, the headset has a Bluetooth and wireless option so theoretically you could listen to music off your phone while also connected to your Xbox or pc. I don't ever use this function like I did my last headset because for some reason the volume control on the phone also controls the volume on the Xbox or PC instead of allowing me to balance the 2 audios separately. Normally, my phones music is way louder than my Xbox and I can't raise or lower the music without it also raising or lowering the Xbox game I'm playing, and also since the headset is connected wirelessly, no you cannot change the volume settings through the Xbox, only through the scroll wheel on the headset or using your phone. My previous headset, a steel series, connects to the Xbox wirelessly without a USB and also connects to my phone by Bluetooth and when I change the volume on my phone, it doesn't change my Xbox volume at the same time. They are completely separate. Also wanted to say that some days they like to disconnect a lot from my Xbox and other days I have no issues with it. The days it happens it's extremely annoying because it stays crackly until I hear "connected" in my ear over and over. Thirdly I wanted to bring attention to the comfort and the battery real quick. The comfort is okay at best. I can wear it for about an hour with glasses on until I start feeling to much pressure and heat from the headset. It hugs tight and the fabric it's made of doesn't allow for easy air flow. Now the battery is just a minor complaint but it last about 8-10 hours for me before needing another charge however for some reason charging it (with a fast charger) takes about 10 hours to fully charge back up. Not sure if that's just my headset or if other people are also experiencing that. I can put them on the chatger before I go to bed but when I wake up they still aren't fully charged. Overall: If you buy these just for a good quality headset and you're mainly looking for the best sound with a decent mic this headset is for you. However, if you're looking at this headset and want it for some of the extra features like the Bluetooth and wireless connectivity then I'd say look somewhere else first and try them. I think in the future this company can make some amazing gaming headsets, they just have some kinks to work out still to really get competitive in the market for gaming headsets.

As many others have stated about these here, and online, there is a lot of issues with this headset, even with the latest "update". Im on FW 0.1.5 and still have all of the problems. If I were you, I wouldn't waste your $300 dollars on this non-working and problem-ridden set of headphones. Buy something else. I constantly have disconnecting and reconnecting issues. Sometimes 10-15 times in a row and lasts about 60-90 seconds at a time. Ive tried all of my USB ports with the same issue. Super frustrating to hear the "connecting" voice over and over and over and over with no other sound when you rely on communication and sound to effectively play your games. I also have the buzzing, popping, cracking noise that is a big complaint too. Sounds kinda cuts in and out and gets garbled when this happens either with or without the buzzing, popping or cracking. The crappy microphone issue was supposed to be addressed/fixed in the latest update. People tell me my microphone sounds like crap and its cloudy and distorted. The positive - These headphones sound awesome when these issues aren't present, but thats pretty rare. Footsteps for warzone are very accurate and pinpointable. Directional sound is amazing on these, which is exactly what I was looking for in a wireless headset. If these issues were fixed, these headphones would be 10/10 all day. In the end, my advice is to stay far far away from these headphones and get something you know will work. I will update my review if an update comes out that resolves these issues.

Penrose X were a disappointment. Sound was amazing, but design and quality (made of plastic) were horrible. They have 2 dials on the left ear cup. One for headset volume. And the other for mic volume and if u click the wheel in it gives u maybe a 2 second window to adjust game/chat volume which u have to keep clicking over and over at the end of ur match to balance out the game noise to hear ur friends. By the time u get it dialed in boom ur back in the next match have to adjust again lol It’s irritating man. I found my myself opening up the chat settings for Xbox multiple times a day to figure out what I was doing. And no u cannot change the headset volume settings through the console. Everything has to be done on the headset. I just sent mine back after 2 weeks of use. Sound was amazing. Mic was too long and flimsy but sounds amazing. Everything else about it is poor. Left ear cup sound like it has foil in it and won’t stop making a crumbling noise. The suction of the earcups is pretty tight to the point where my left ear drum was being sucked on and pulled out of my ear. U guys know that feeling? If not put the palm of ur hand over ur ear and press hard then let off. It’s that feeling. The headset is made of plastic. Doesn’t have LED indicator to let u know ur mic is muted. What year are we in again?? Also everything has to be done on the headset which I stated earlier is a FREAKING nightmare. I don’t know what Audeze was thinking when they developed these. Sound is great. Everything else is just poor. I’m mad. Tired of these companies trying to finesse everyone out of a quick buck. Make 1 headset that does it all please. So tired of corporate America. If we could put the great sound quality of the Audeze Penrose into the headset of the LucidSound LS50X headset that would be the perfect headset for everyone, I believe. LS50X were great in every aspect especially CONTROLS except for the sound WHILE gaming. Sound for listening to music and movies however was awesome and freaking epic!! Unfortunately sent both headsets back and going back to my trustee Hyper X headset until we get a proper headset or an updated version from any one of these companies. 😡😡 hope this helps anyone out there with the same frustrations I’ve been having with finding my next headset to game for another 5/10 years. Good luck guys. UPDATE - Sent the first set back, got another set. It feels like the first headset they gave me was a used one. Pulling this one out of the box just felt amazing. Everything was stronger and more durable. The foil sound in the left ear cup is now gone. I love it now. Was finally able to download the Audeze HQ app this time on my Mac OS laptop so I did the update and is awesome. I’m in love with these again. Wish that the controls would still get an adjustment as far as game/party chat goes. Wish the side tone/mic monitoring was louder. Can’t hear myself at all. But not necessary I guess. Sound quality is superb and I’m hooked. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to regular 40/50mm driver again. UPDATE AGAIN - Hahahahaha nevermind, the 2nd headset I just received 3 days ago now won’t turn on at all and is completely dis functional. This company needs to learn to perfect there product before they make it available to the public. What a nightmare!!!!

Had this thing for a few months, Sound quality is amazing, isn't too heavy, clamp force is perfect and the material that the cups are made of are really durable and soft kind of like a memory foam instead of a hard packaging foam that my pulse 3d headset had, great build quality, I'm really clumsy and rough with things and I have dropped this thing a few times and nothing has broken so far, the versatility is awesome I love having the option between wireless, bluetooth and aux, the usb wireless dongle works seamlessly on my pc, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. The software is easy to install and use, and saves the eq setup on the actual headset so you don't have to worry about having different eq setups on each device. Also the mic sounds decent and has adjustable mic volume as well as playback so you can hear yourself talking, and if you have a mic with aux playback you can just plug that into where the mic would go and your good to go for streaming or voice recording. Things that I don't like about this headset #1 having to hold down the power button to turn it on and off #2 when I go outside to let the dog out I like to switch over to bluetooth mode and hook the headset up to my phone so I can listen to music while I let the dog run around the yard, however before I do this I need to physically remove the wireless usb dongle from my pc before going outside because even though my headset is in bluetooth mode and hooked up to my phone, it still holds a connection to the wireless dongle in my pc meaning it is connected to both my pc and phone at the same time. The reason this is an issue is because when I go outside I am reasonably far away from my pc and the connection for the wireless usb dongle will go in and out, resulting in a constant "connected" "disconnected' message interrupting my music constantly. Not that big of a deal but I felt like it was worth mentioning.

UPDATE #2: Audeze had me send in the busted pair and sent me a brand new one. They say the hinge issue has been resolved. Really great customer support considering I was out of my official warranty period yet they still made it right. UPDATE: Little over a year later... like many other people encountered... the plastic hinge on the left side snapped randomly and, while they still work fine audibly, they're broken. It's a very cheap piece of plastic on the extenders for the ear cups... suspect everyone will run into them randomly snapping at some point. For $300, it's a hard sell to buy them a second time and will likely have reduced audio quality through a competitor but at least not have them break after a year of regular usage. Definitely the best quality audio I've ever heard in a wireless gaming headset. There are lingering reviews out there about microphone issues but, whatever Audeze did in latest firmware updates, the microphone sounds fantastic. If you have an Nvidia RTX video card - pass the microphone audio through Nvidia Broadcast for a truly, studio-quality broadcast experience. Extremely happy with my purchase. Been waiting months for it to be back in stock and purchased it, immediately, once it did. PROS: * Absolutely fantastic audio quality * Microphone sounds great * Well packaged CONS: * Tight squeeze but read they break-in eventually * Heavier than most gaming headsets due to the drivers * Would look more professional if Audeze left off the blue (green for Penrose X series) accent color. Would prefer this, personally. * Microphone defaults to pass-through audio, so you hear what you're saying. The only way to disable this is to download the Audeze HQ software/app and connect the headset via the included USB cables. * USB port is ONLY for charging / managing the headset settings. Cannot solely use the USB connectivity to listen to audio.

Ottime cuffie con suono meraviglioso.L unica pecca a mio avviso è il bilanciamento del volume della chat vocale con il suono del gioco:non si può bilanciare se non chiedendo ai compagni in di abbassare il volume del loro microfono..o almeno io ho risolto cosí il problema visto che l' app sul Cell in questa circostanza non aiuta perchè non permette tale bilanciamento!Per il resto suono meraviglioso!!!!!🤩🤩

Besser als mein Astro A50, bei dem nach 3 Jahren der Akku über Nacht aufblähte und somit sofort auf den Sondermüll wanderte, da akute Explosionsgefahr.. Bisher habe ich es seit über 2 Jahren und es läuft wie man ersten Tag. Die Ohrpolster sind noch frisch, Sound ist 1A, mehrere Geräte gleichzeitig zu verbinden für bspw. Podcasts nebenher hören auch mega. Kann ich in dem Preissegment nur empfehlen.

not comfortable at all for long session sound quality is very good

Bien sonido, buena batería pero el software regular

Heureux propriétaire des consoles nouvelles générations je voulais que le son soit à la hauteur mais sans acheter un casque pour chacune d'elle. Pourquoi vouloir l'image si on sacrifie le son ! Le casque Penrose X est la solution. On choisi la norme PC pour la PS5 et le tour est joué. Le son est vraiment exceptionnel et est quasi un son HiFi haut de gamme dédié aux consoles. Un rendu du son Atmos (après avoir acheté la licence 17 €) extrêmement impressionnant. Un chaine HiFi de dernière génération dans les oreilles. Certes près de 300 € c'est cher, mais pas tant que cela au regard de ce qu'il vous apporte en qualité, et de sa polyvalence (consoles, baladeur, PC, chaine HiFi etc...). Pour comparer et apporter une réelle appréciation j'ai comparé ses performances à mes casques Hifi Pure Meze 99 et Sennheiser HD650, le Penrose X est un peu plus basseu pour les besoins des consoles étant donné qu'il a été imaginé pour elles. Mais il ne démérite pas du tout, bien au contraire. Seuls bémols un logiciel non traduit et dont la fenêtre ne peut s'agrandir, des explications d'utilisation réduites à leur plus simple expression par des petits dessins pas toujours très explicites, ni housse de transport et un Bluetooth un peu capricieux lors des connections pour la première fois avec un appareil. A ce prix on pouvait attendre mieux. Vous voulez un casque de qualité pour jouer sur PC ou sur les consoles XBoX et/ou PlayStation vous aurez un son fantastique qui vous donnera la chair de poule tellement il est pur. Ne chercher pas plus loin. Vous avez trouvé le Graal, mais ça a un prix. La qualité a toujours un prix.