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Audeze Penrose X Wireless Headset (for XBox, Playstation & PC) $339.15 Delivered @ Addicted to Audio

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This remains a bit of a sleeper, arguably still one of the best value closed back headphones for under $500, but doubles as a wireless and bluetooth headphone alongside its backup analog function. The XBox version comes with a dongle that allows you to switch between XBox certified wireless and PC/PS4/PS5 support. Bluetooth support is standard SBC and AAC, but AAC quality is high on iOS devices and SBC and AAC bitrate can be tweaked on Android.

Acoustically it is the successor to the Audeze Mobius minus the head tracking function, and offers the cheapest entry into Audeze house sound, which is tonally pretty balanced in their closed backs. It's best used in wireless or bluetooth modes, and has been tuned for these. The mic is extremely high quality, but is bandwidth starved in wireless mode, so you have to plug the unit in to get its full potential, but you can run all 3 modes simultaneously.

The seperator here between almost every other bluetooth or wireless headphone market is the level of detail and separation from the Penrose, but it comes at the expense of a mid-treble dip against the - very few - better tuned competitors. Its biggest draw back is the compromise it makes on wireless range and battery life to deliver this sound quality, but there's a pretty cheap fix if you have issues: use the wireless dongle on the front of your PC or attach it to an extension cable to improve the line of sight between your headset and the dongle.

Recommended EQ presets are 'flat', 'classical' and 'music', even while gaming. May also be a warm tilt preset available these days.

If you can handle the risk-reward trade off and can't wait for the next wave of bluetooth gear to save the day, this is a really great place to land for high quality wireless gaming. Enjoy!

This is part of Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals for 2022

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closed Comments

  • Have the PS pair and they’re fantastic. Definitely don’t get enough recognition.

  • Comparable to the other common known brands ala astro steelseries etc.?

    • +2

      They're all gamer brands, who don't use high quality engineers to tune their products, while this is a headphone company. Audeze house sound has had a bit of technical compromise in the mid-fi gear until recently as well as an upper mid dip typical of planars, but their latest open backs (MM-500, LCD-5) have fixed the tonal issues.

      For a closed back in this price range, the detail level is very much at the upper end of the price bracket, and their wireless config maintains enough of it.

      • Hmm thanks for the info, I will consider it becaue I do love high quality audio on my desktop and not needing additional headphones for my xbox is the feature add for me

        • If high quality audio is your jam, look into the world of wired audiophile headphones. Gamechanger

  • I'm interested vs Arctic Pro. Dual battery setup on the Arctis Pro is a life saver.

    • This beats it on sound quality by miles. Battery replacement is doable as a DIY thing, or at a 3rd party repairer in 2-3 years time. Simple disassembly and refit.

      • In that case I'm very tempted lol

    • +1

      Get the Arctis Pro, you'll have far less issues. Dual battery is a novelty when you can just plug in to charge, but it's definitely a great QoL feature.

      • I have Arctis Pro already. Sound quality doesn't blow me away. (profanity) plugging in :p

  • +3

    I do not recommend these headphones.

    Pros-
    Insanely good sound quality

    Cons-
    Random whirring noises
    Random static
    Range is awful
    When leaving range it will contually say "connected" "disconnected"

    • -2

      Random whirring noises

      That's crinkling from the planar driver if you shake/move your head around enormously.

      Random static

      Make sure your firmware is up to date, and that you've optimised your wireless range with these.

      Range is awful

      That's the trade off, they can't weave magic with codecs and bandwidth requirements.

      When leaving range it will contually say "connected" "disconnected"

      Not sure on the firmware settings, but that seems like a feature working mostly as intended?

      • +3

        Yes that is the planar drivers, its good people are aware this is something to expect.

        Firmware is updated and i use it from a desk (50cm range max)

        Yes trade off is fine, again, it is good people know before spending a few hundred on a headset.

        The last one might be because im so use to headsets that just cut out and cut back in. This one just spams it constantly, not sure why they implemented this when the standard is the former.

        Again, I still do not recommend these headphones. If you're an audiophile go wired. If you're a gamer go steelseries.

        • The direction Steelseries are going in (partnership with Bang & Olufsen) is something I cannot recommend to anyone. B&O do not give a shit about headphones.

          • @jasswolf: Thats fair enough, I'm not too knowledgeable on that. All i know is i got to trial a pair of arctis pro wireless and i wish i went that direction for the better user experience.

        • Agree, esp the last sentence.

          Per-ordered the PS version and yes it is the best sounding wireless headphones but other than that, the exp was mostly a nightmare. Returned it and got a Steelseries.

  • +5

    These are not worth the price. the planar magnetic film crinkles like crazy after the first week or so of getting it., wireless range is very low compared to other headsets and they broke very easily from moderate use.

    Wouldnt bother.

    • -2

      The only way you're getting that much crinkle is if you're physically shaking the unit…

      • +2

        Nope, basically the slightest movement would cause a crinkle. More pronounced in the left ear then right. Also not covered by warrenty.

        Sound was good but there are to many negatives for me to recomment these.

        I bought them preorder and after delays in delivery and many firmware updates it just isnt worth it.

        It was always great walking a few meters to the kitchen to hear disconnected/connected over and over again while my wifes alienware headset could go outside at triple the range without issues.

        • I would have contested that warranty further if you are certain you didn't loosen the driver housing. Range compromise is how it delivers the audio bandwidth unfortunately.

          LC3 Bluetooth will be your solve.

    • My planar magnetic film hasn't crinkled so far, but I can definitely relate to the weak build quality.

      My first pair, the plastic band snapped under normal usage. I actually babied these headphones due to how much they cost. Was still under warranty so got a replacement (postage at my expense).

      Same thing has happened now with the second pair, and I was even extra careful with these after the first pair.

      Others on reddit with the same issues, breaking in different areas too.

      Sound is good, but just wanted to give a warning on the build quality.

  • +6

    I bought a pair of these, and whilst the sound quality is awesome, there are a lot of downsides, can only repeat what Fooah has said, with bad range, static hissing. Penroze themselves have helped troubleshoot with the basic advice that the manual gives you - should only be used with USB2.0 (?!), try another port, etc., etc. but they can't offer much more than that outside of warranty.

    My receiver also stopped connecting a couple months out of warranty, effectively making these an over-priced bluetooth headset and I cannot say enough how bad bluetooth audio lag still is.

    • -2

      Contact Audeze about your dongle issues, they may still happily help you for free out of warranty. As with all budget planar models - HIFIMAN included here - quality control is difficult, but after-sales support is top notch.

      Most of your issues are fixed by figuring out reduced line of sight between dongle and headphone, but the range is clearly stated as lower than other wireless headsets in the marketing.

      • +5

        Thanks, might give it a go, but I've already moved on to a new headset, if they can help, bonus, otherwise ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and also, none of my issues can be resolved with the range/hissing - I've tried every USB port on my computer, monitor, USB hub (hubs not recommended) and nothing works. Hissing is constantly in the background.

        These kinds of QA issues shouldn't make it to market and they are very common issues with the device.

    • Not sure why you are being downvoted for speaking from your experience. I hope it is not to hide product issues.

      My favourite thing about Ozbargain is it is a (mostly) non biased place to discuss bargains and products.

      • +1

        OzB is very biased, likely downvoted to hide, but it appears to be gone now.

        • You're downvoting the deal based on rare issues that you would get proper warranty coverage for if you patiently communicated with their customer support. That's reddit-level behaviour, and the neg should probably be removed because I've clearly stated the caveats of this product in the deal post.

          • @jasswolf: I've spoken with customer support and trouble shot every thing possible… Since then, the dongle stopped working and I might contact them again for that separate reason.

            As for rare issues, they unfortunately aren't. Look, the sound quality is fantastic, but the connection methods are not. I don't think that it's that great of a deal based on that, when you can get more solid options for less or equal to the cost of these.

            I got these from AA for $399 and the static was there from the start - this is a QA issue that should have been sorted out before they went into manufacturing, which other headsets don't struggle with. Sorry that I've had a seemingly common issue that is apparently rare, I guess? Static is something I could live with for the quality trade off of the audio, but dongle failure was the straw that broke my back.

            • @DanasaurusRAWR: Their rep is a regular on head-fi, if you haven't tried to @ him in the Penrose thread, or to request an escalation from technical support, I don't know what to tell you other than to go back and do that.

              The whole reason why they troubleshoot with you is the same reason why ISPs do: not everyone sets up their wireless connections well, and they want to rule that out. Firmware can also improve specific situations, so they encourage that too. Lots of people's issues with static disappeared with firmware updates followed by a hard reset.

              I can almost guarantee they will help you out with the dongle failure, and it highlights that in your case, that may have been the original issue. QA cannot capture every fault, they only test so many from each batch in detail.

  • I have the PS version of these and they have been fine - the sound quality is amazing. However, this has not been everybody's experience. I highly recommend that anyone considering a purchase skim through this forum link for opinions. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-penrose-x-and-penrose…

  • +1

    Fantastic sounding closed cans, I got it not for gaming but as a closed back that has decent mic for work (mine has Shure mic btw). Prob best one I’ve tried, beats the more exxy Dan Clark Aeon Closed IMO. Can be EQd using the Audeze software, fantastic feature to have.

    So far I have never had an issue with it touch wood. Never had any hissing issue that’s very common with wireless 2.8GHz or BT, luck of the draw I suppose. Also, it should stop hissing once you start playing something. Has to do with how the the built in DAC and wireless receivers connects. may want to switch wifi to 5GHz to avoid interference with the 2.4GHz. Better range, less noise, less choppy that way.

    But my biggest gripe is how crap the build quality is! Feels flimsy and feels like it’s gonna break the moment I stop babying this pair. Look up the forums and you’ll see so many people with broken headbands and all. Audeze did a revised version with better support around areas that are prone to breaking and they have fantastic customer support, but still. For a pair this exxy, I’d expect better quality and QC.

    • Planar driver matching requirements and tolerances ensures that costs have to be driven down hard to get a headphone into this sub-$400 range. HIFIMAN solve for this with a lot of re-used part designs for a variety of headphones, the latest being their Stealth Magnets.

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