Audeze Mobius gaming headset overview: an audiophile expertise with a heap of gimmicks

Let me begin off this Audeze Mobius gaming headset overview by informing you that you simply’re most likely studying it flawed. No, not the Mobius bit, that’s fairly apparent. It’s the precise firm identify I’d wager you’re lacking the mark with. It’s not learn Ordeez. No, it’s really some type of tortured pseudo portmanteau of audio and odyssey. So quite I’m really reviewing the Audyzzey Mobius. Yeah, gross.

And if it wasn’t such an unbelievable sounding headset I’d most likely spend rather a lot longer than simply the opening paragraph of this overview ripping into the ridiculous identify. But it’s, and so I received’t. Luckily for Audyzzey.

But that glorious sound isn’t a results of the headline-grabbing head monitoring ‘cinematic 3D audio’ schtick, although Audeze places that expertise entrance and centre with its packaging and on the product web page of its web site. Rather it’s the planar magnetic drivers which ship an audio expertise so clear, detailed, and wealthy that it’ll make your different headsets appear all too uninteresting by comparability. Sure, the Mobius is an costly buy, however for those who’re after audiophile-level gaming soundscapes then you definately’ll wrestle to seek out higher.

I used to be, and nonetheless am, a large fan of the Oppo PM3 headphones, one other planar magnetic set priced at across the identical $399 (£345) price ticket because the Audeze Mobius cans. Unfortunately Oppo’s headphone division was a little bit of a conceit challenge which was closed down final yr, making the PM3s unavailable.

Thankfully the Mobius headset is taking over the problem, providing the under-used driver expertise to nice impact, and packaging it in a extra gamer-friendly setup.

Most gaming headsets, certainly most headphones full-stop, use dynamic drivers which function in largely the identical means as your commonplace audio system do. They use a skinny coil of wire that the audio sign is fed by means of, and which is able to then react with typically a single magnet and trigger a cone-shaped diaphragm to quickly transfer forwards and backwards inflicting the sound you hear.

That’s principally tremendous, however dynamic drivers do have a number of drawbacks in that at loud volumes you will get critical distortion, and hitting low-level frequency response is a little bit of a wrestle for them. They’re not /dangerous/, and since they don’t require numerous energy to operate don’t want headphone amps or particular DACs to sound good.

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But they’re not fairly in the identical league as planar magnetic drivers. They use many extra magnets within the design, which might make for a heavier headset, the place the diaphragm or membrane is moved between these units of magnets. By utilizing a bigger, flat membrane, with the wire embedded in it, planar magnetic drivers produce a much more correct copy of sound, with out having any problems with distortion or the sound bouncing off elements of the ear cups earlier than they get to your ears.

And the membrane that Audeze makes use of for its drivers is as skinny as a human hair, and based mostly on NASA expertise. Space expertise. These are house headphones.

They do typically want a bit bedding in to get probably the most out of them too. Dynamic drivers will worsen over time, whereas planar magnetic drivers get higher, rounding out the marginally over-detailed audio with use, changing into richer and hotter as you take heed to them.

And I’ve acquired to the stage with the Audeze Mobius the place they sound incredible. It’s not simply by way of music both, the gaming audio is beautiful. Racing round in Dirt Rally 2.zero I can virtually hear the person items of gravel rattling off the underside of my struggling Ford Escort.

The positional cues in commonplace mode are glorious, which has me questioning simply what worth the 3D audio actually has by way of gaming. The default setting is for the 3D audio to be turned on, and the ‘Gypsy Muse’ woman that responds if you press completely different buttons sounds audibly upset when she has to announce “3D off.” It’s such as you’re crushing her hopeful little spirit by going towards the default, however I a lot want the straight game sound of the Mobius in conventional planar magnetic mode.

But the built-in head-tracking and 3D audio means you’ll be able to set the headset up in order that the positional audio will transfer as you shift round your head. And you’ll be able to even enter the precise dimensions of your cranium if you wish to get tremendous detailed audio tailoring to your individual anatomy. Though, realistically, if you’re gaming you’re probably not making an attempt to maneuver your head round in any respect – you’re trying immediately forward on the display screen you’re gaming on.

But you can flip off the pinnacle monitoring and easily use the 3D audio to supply a extra correct, positional soundscape to your games with out it shifting round if you occur to look away from the display screen when your cat has simply knocked one thing over since you’re ignoring her.

The 1,000Hz head monitoring isn’t simply concerning the audio although as Audeze has added a beta function into its HQ software program that permits you to tack instructions onto head gestures. There are six completely different gestures – lookup, look down, flip left, flip proper, tilt left, and tile proper – which you’ll connect macros to.

Being capable of create gaming profiles the place you’ll be able to go into stealth mode by nodding, for instance, is likely to be helpful. Kinda. I attempted attaching copy and paste to the pinnacle gestures, however I simply saved deleting elements of this overview whereas listening to music and bobbing my head… So yeah, it’s a little bit of a gimmick.

But neglect the gimmicks as a result of this can be a incredible gaming headset that just about ticks all of the packing containers for audiophile sound. It’s additionally impressively versatile too. The removable mic is efficient, and due to this fact doesn’t get in the way in which if you don’t want it, the headset has built-in quantity and mic-level controls, and it has wi-fi in addition to wired connectivity too.

You can join by way of Bluetooth, so any digital gadget, even your PC, can get in on the motion, however that’s not the way in which you will get nice audio. “BT is inherently lossy,” says Audeze, “and we consider it a convenience feature rather than a primary connection mode.”

The main connection mode is definitely by way of USB-C, and that can each cost the battery and ship the very best high quality, multi-channel audio down the wire. You can use a 3.5mm connection, however you’ll nonetheless have to run the headset on battery for that, which is able to solely final round 10 hours or so.

As an previous man I’m not essentially one for the gimmicks, however within the Mobius Audeze has created an important sounding gaming headset, with a degree of audio high quality that’s had me put apart my beloved HyperX Cloud Alphas. The downside is, in fact, the value. At nigh-on $400 it’s over 5 instances the value of the sensible HyperX cans, and you actually do must be somebody that craves that superior aural expertise to wish to drop this type of cash on a pair of headphones.

But if that’s you, then the Audeze Mobius can genuinely supply an audiophile expertise that’s onerous to beat.