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The Audeze Maxwell 2 headphone is well-named – because maximalism is the order of the day. This pair of high-end gaming headphones is powered by 90mm audio drivers, and is designed to give you the absolute most. The most audio fidelity, the most bass response, the most lag-free gaming experience.
Specifications
Price: $329 / £339
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB-C wireless dongle
Compatibility: Auracast, LE Audio, LDAC, AAC
ANC: Yes
Battery: Up to 80 hours
Weight: 490g
Drivers: 90mm
And they’re big. They’re a huge, honking pair of cans that weigh almost half a kilo. They have a dedicated input for attaching a mic (sadly I didn’t have one on hand to test), and once you delve into the app, there’s a 10-band EQ at your fingertips.
So, it’s a lot. But $329 / £339 isn’t a small chunk of change either, even for the best Bluetooth headphones, so does the Audeze Maxwell 2 do enough to deserve it? Let’s take a listen.
Sound profile
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Whenever I test a pair of headphones, the first thing I do is hook it up and put on some music. I don’t look at the app or fiddle with the settings – I try to mimic the experience that an average user is going to have. I did as much with the Audeze Maxwell 2, and as such, my first experience with this pair was pretty disappointing.
Granted, I’d just come off from testing the DALI IO-12, a $1,699 pair that crams in high-end hi-fi technology, so this was arguably a bit of a case of hydrogen bomb versus coughing baby. But still, even with 90mm drivers at its disposal, the sound produced by this headphone was just so… drab. There was none of the richness and warmth I’ve come to appreciate from premium headphones. A big, luscious, orchestral album like Lux by Rosalía lacked the breadth and space that it needed. There was no room around her voice, and the big swells, when they came, didn’t land with any grandeur.
Now, it’s important to say that this is fixable, and I’ll talk about it more when I talk about the EQ in the next section. But we also have to acknowledge that nobody is buying the Audeze Maxwell 2 as a primary driver for listening to music. This is a pair of gaming headphones! So, let’s game.
I was enjoying myself enough to try out some other favourites from my library. Resident Evil 4 has never sounded so good. On the Mercenaries mode – in which you try to last as long as you can against an endless stream of enemies before you’re overwhelmed – I truly felt surrounded by the horde, with growls and snarls emanating from every corner, punctuated by the whip-crack shots of the guns. I actually achieved my best-ever score with Leon on the Village stage while using the Maxwell 2. Coincidence? Probably. But nevertheless.
Features
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The USB dongle supplied with the Audeze Maxwell 2 provides lag-free, high-resolution audio at up to 24-bit / 96kHz. I was pleased to have it – you may not be aware that Sony is quite parsimonious with regard to allowing third-party Bluetooth headphones to pair with the PS5, for reasons that presumably have almost nothing to do with the official PULSE Elite™ wireless headset available directly from Sony for the low price of $150.
With this headphone, I had a wireless gaming audio setup, and I was very happy. The promise of lag-free was fulfilled as far as I was concerned – I noticed no perceptible latency at any point.
Download the Audeze app and you have access to a suite of controls for the headphones, including a full 10-band EQ. After fiddling with this, I was able to produce a sound for music from the Maxwell 2 that was much more to my liking. A simple V-shaped curve did the trick, boosting the low and high ends a little for some more punch and clearer definition. So rest assured – if you were thinking about buying the Maxwell 2 for gaming first and music second, it will definitely fulfil that function. You just might want to EQ it a little first.
You also get access to a number of EQ presets. As well as the ones you’d expect, like Bass Boost and Treble Boost, there are a few specifically optimised for gaming. ‘Immersive’ is designed to heighten environmental sounds, and I did appreciate it for my adventures in Cyberpunk. ‘Competition’ raises the mids and lessens the bass, the thinking being that in competitive shooters, you want to be able to hear what’s going on more than you want to be distracted by rumbling explosions. And ‘Footsteps’ is designed specifically to heighten footstep sounds – I’m not much of a competitive shooter player, but I’m assuming it’s to improve your ability to hear your opponents’ movements.
ANC is present, labelled as ‘AI Noise Removal’. It comes in three settings – High, Low and Off – and it works well enough. I am forever spoiled by using the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM6 whose ANC is simply otherworldly, but this system works well for home sounds like outdoor traffic and family members on calls, which is likely how it’s mostly going to be used. A transparency mode, called ‘Sidetone’, gives you some awareness of your surroundings.
Finally, I have to shout out the battery life. I didn’t think it could get better than the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s 60 hours, but 80 hours is absolutely bonkers! You could literally complete an entire playthrough of Cyberpunk without having to charge your headphones – and when you do, five minutes’ charging is enough to get you 24 hours’ listening. Tremendous.
Value
At $329 / £339, the Audeze Maxwell 2 sits in the upper mid range for premium gaming headphones. You can spend a bit more than this, and you can also spend a lot less. The price means that they are only worth it if gaming is your primary intention with them – if you’re more into listening to music, then you can get much better value from similarly priced headphones like the Bose QuietComfort Gen 2.
Comfort & build
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It seems to be a law of the universe, on which I was not consulted, that nothing marketed to gamers can ever be aesthetically tasteful. So it goes with the Audeze Maxwell 2, a hulking black monstrosity of a headset that looks like an industrial torture device and entirely envelops your head. My partner burst out laughing the first time she saw me wearing this, and me explaining that I was off to do some Serious Gaming did not help matters.
At 490g, it’s one of the heaviest pairs of headphones I’ve ever tested, and after a protracted period of wear, believe me you do notice. The size does at least mean that they don’t feel cramped or close on the ears, and a ventilated head strap makes the band sit easily on top of the head.
All that real estate does mean that the Maxwell 2 can accommodate plenty of physical controls. You use buttons and wheels rather than touch gestures on an earcup, which personally I vastly prefer. On the left earcup you have a wheel for volume (which can be clicked to cycle through EQ modes) and one for adjusting the relative levels of the game/chat mix. One the same earcup you’ve also got a 3.5mm jack input, a mic output, and (told you they were big) a button for toggling the AI Noise Removal. On the right earcup there’s less, just the power button and the mute switch for the mic.
Should you buy?
I’m concerned that the Audeze Maxwell 2 has spoiled me. Now that I’ve experienced gaming with these sumptuous high-fidelity cans, I don’t really want to go back. They’re not worth buying if you don’t spend a lot of time gaming, but if you do, I think the $329 / £339 asking price is pretty reasonable for the level of quality and functionality you get. And if you’re okay with spending some time on the EQ, you get a pretty solid pair of music-listening headphones in the bargain too.
