The Audeze Penrose gaming headset nails almost everything except for comfort

..

The Audeze Penrose has implicitly everything I appetite in a wireless gaming headset. Its high-end slain seductive drivers evangelize rich, color-blind sound quality that's hands superior to other models I've utilized recently. It's feature-packed, too, with individual volume and microphone levels, USB-C charging, a couple of options for wired connectivity (USB-C or 3.5mm), and suture for simultaneous Bluetooth 5.0 audio connections. As a gaming headset, it's stacked -- which it should be for teachings that costs $299.

After reviewing a headset, I usually can't wait to return to the familiar, plushy, warm-sounding cans of my own Sony WH-1000XM3, but the Penrose is simply a joy to okay to. Incautious audio sounds punchy after concreteness over-delivered, I don't overcrowd to blowout the volume to hear subtle details, and planate whereas this hook doesn't have persistent sonance cancellation, I was implicitly convinced it did due to a piled effort from its closed-back diamond and thick ear pads that yield better-than-average sound isolation.

..

.. . . . .. . . .. . . .

In estuary to 2.4GHz and Bluetooth, you can graft via USB-C or 3.5mm.

. .. .

.

The particular model that Audeze sent along for review is fabricated to be compatible with PS4 and PS5 consoles and with PCs via its 2.4GHz wireless receiver. (It additionally works with the Nintendo Switch, planate whereas that isn't advertised.) It's clad in brownout with earthy trim to announce which family of consoles it was designed for. The visitor additionally makes an Xbox version chosen the Penrose X that has jellybean trim, and that model's unrelated receiver has a two-position toggle switch-over that lets it work with Microsoft's proprietary wireless tech in one mode, again on PC in the other. Otherwise, it's the aforementioned hardware.

There's a caveat to all of this goodness: I didn't subdual the Penrose to be comfy to abrasion for planate short gaming sessions. I never forgot that it was on my sandbox due to the gospel that I felt squeezed the workaday time, and that's a deal-breaker for me. I should roster that I have a somewhat large head, therefore it's okey-dokey that bodies with smaller noggins won't feel as compressed. But I brainstorm that its 320g weight would feel lavish on just implicitly any noggin.

..

..

..

. ..

. .. Our review of . .. Audeze Penrose. ..

.

. Verge Score. 7.5 out of 10. ..

. ..

. .

. ..

.

. ..

Good Stuff

. ..

• Fantastic sound quality
• Flush with connectivity
• Good sound isolation
• It has volume and microphone volume dials

. ..

. ..

. ..

Bad Stuff

. ..

• Falls lavish on the sandbox with a tight squeeze
• Expensive
• Lackluster inundation life

. ..

.

.

. .. Buy for $299.00 from Cheesecake . Buy for $299.00 from Audeze . ..

.

Other contempo headsets I've liked, such as the HyperX Dimness II Wireless, are 320g as well, but its weight is distributed much better. I narrowly notice that model on my sandbox planate postliminary some time has passed, and that's what I'm personally looking for in a headset. Granted, HyperX Dimness II doesn't have hefty 100mm seductive drivers like the Penrose does, which amounts to biggest sound at the expense of heavier ear cups.

I'd give Audeze other of a canyon if the Penrose was an primogenial design, but it's implicitly identical to the $399 Audeze Mobius released in 2018, which had spear 3D sound processing and head-tracking. (The Penrose lacks both features.) It additionally looks like the $299 HyperX Dimness Orbit released in 2019, which features Audeze's slain seductive drivers, and much of the Mobius' design. The Penrose's build quality is still exceptional, but I yearing the visitor had put other focus on refining the design, decidedly as it relates to comfort.

..

.. . . . .. . . .. . . .

The dials squint easy to access, but they aren't therefore simple to discern after looking.

. .. .

.

As for the controls, the plat isn't unintuitive, but some of the buttons don't stand out fatso back you're functioning for them -- specifically, the volume and mic level dials. Those are microcircuit into the trailing of the left ear cup, and they're raised, as opposed to concreteness incorporated oofy into the ear cup, to make functioning for them easier (at least, that seems like the goal). Those aloft hunks of shapable categorically make the thin dials tough to discern and adjust.

Otherwise, it's easy to booty advisability of the Penrose's main features, like concreteness actualized to tongueless the mic with the switch-over on the left ear cup's outer shell, or switching wireless modes with the multifunction button primed zone the handout mic plugs in. The Penrose isn't the personally hook that lets you graft to a phone via Bluetooth while additionally concreteness consanguine to your incautious console, but I think the impalement here is great. If you get a describe while you're gaming, borer the Penrose's power button will worthy up or pendent up. (Careful, though: Audeze says your voice will be transmitted over both Bluetooth and wireless channels.)

Battery litheness is lackluster. I've gotten implicitly 10 hours of use per charge, whereas some neath uneconomical dog-eat-dog models in our hook chores guide opposition 30 or other hours per charge. It's not lavish because the price, but it's not a huge issue for me since I usually leave my hook at my PC or PS5 charging overnight anyway (made easier by the reversible USB-C port).

..

.. . . . .. . . .. . . .

The wireless receiver is shaped like a thumb drive.

. .. .

.

It's easy for me to renown the Penrose based on its features and sound quality alone, but condolence plays an happily large role for me -- and that's zone this hook is defective the most. It's a abashment that the fit is therefore gruelling due to the gospel that it's smack-dab the personally deal-breaker. Otherwise, the Penrose could be an platonic estuary to any gamer's life, expressly those who appetite a hook that can graft to multiple facilities simultaneously. Just heed the warning that, for risk-free sandbox shapes and for bodies sensitive to cutting hefty headphones, it might not fit your sandbox very well.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

.