Audeze Mobius gaming headphones, what should you expect with this $400 headset?

Audeze is known for making high-quality/high-cost headphones, with some of their products reaching into the thousands of dollars, but what about their Mobius gaming headphones? Do they deliver enough to justify the $400 price point?

Audeze was kind enough to send me a pair of their Mobius gaming headphones for free, in order to share my thoughts and experiences with the headset, so let’s get right into it!

How does the Mobius sound?

In terms of sound quality, the Mobius does not disappoint. These headphones are phenomenal, due to their unique planar magnetic drivers, rather than the typical dynamic drivers.

What’s the difference between dynamic and Audeze’s magnetic drivers? Well, traditional dynamic drivers send a signal through a magnetic coil that moves rapidly back and forth – this movement creates the sound waves that are produced throughout the headset.

With the Audeze magnetic drivers, however, everything stays the same except the design. The design of these drivers causes the entire diaphragm to move back and forth, rather than just what is attached to the coil on a dynamic driver.

This leads to an increase in surface area that allows sound the diaphragm to move faster and with a higher accuracy.

I’ve found that the Mobius sounds great with both wired and wireless connections, however Audeze intends you to use the Mobius primarily through a wired USB-C connection, as this allows you to take advantage of the many options provided with the AudezeHQ software.

AudezeHQ Software

The AudezeHQ software for the Mobius headphones is pretty extensive, offering standard sound profiles including:

• Fist
• Default
• Foot Steps
• Ballistics
• Music
• Racing
• RPG
• Warm

Now, I’m still not exactly sure what you would use “Fist” or “Warm” for, but the options are there if you need/want them.

For gaming, you’re probably going to be swapping mostly back and forth between “Foot Steps” and “Ballistics” for battle royale games like Fortnite, Call of Duty Warzone, and Apex Legends, so that you’ll be able to hear each and every footstep taken in your direct area, or every single bullet that flies past your face.

READ MORE: Marvel’s Avengers Next-Gen (PS5) Review

Other options in the AudezeHQ software include device info, firmware, profile (for Mobius as well as Audeze Penrose headphones), and HRTF Personalization, which is where it really gets interesting.

3D Audio

The Audeze Mobius headphones come equipped with 3D audio – I forgot about this until after accidentally moving my head and hearing all of the sound move to my right ear, which came as a very shocking, but ultimately awesome surprise.

The 3D audio feature on the Audeze Mobius gaming headphones is one of the biggest selling points of the headset, and it works great. It’s great for surround sound and pinpointing where that stray footstep came from in Warzone or Fortnite.

Within the AudezeHQ software, I noted an option for HRTF Personalization; this is where all of your 3D audio settings, such as head circumference, inter-aural arc, and room ambience, can be adjusted and fully customized.

There’s even an animation that tracks your head movement in real time, and it closely resembles the futuristic AI, Gideon, from The CW’s Flash series.

Microphone

When you purchase the Audeze Mobius gaming headphones, you’ll also get a detachable microphone, which sounds above average for a detachable headset microphone.

READ MORE: Asus announce 3 RTX 3060 models: ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, Dual Models

However, the coolest thing about this microphone isn’t even on the microphone itself; it’s on the headset.

The Audeze Mobius gaming headphones include a separate volume control rocker on the left side of the headphones exclusively to control the output volume of your microphone.

I find this extremely convenient, because it means that you don’t have to go into Discord (or whatever else you may use) to manually adjust your microphone volume.

Comfort

So, one of the most important things I look for in a headset is how it feels. Is it comfortable? How long can I wear it before it starts to feel uncomfortable?

This is the single area in which I feel the Audeze Mobius gaming headphones fall short. It’s very difficult for me to go more than 5 minutes without needing to adjust the headphones, due to the memory foam headband.

READ MORE: Xbox Cloud Gaming: 16 OG Xbox and 360 games now playable

There just isn’t all that much foam to protect the top of your head from the rest of the headband, and I feel that with a $400 headset, this is one area where you can not cut corners.

Other than the headband being pretty rough to deal with, I have found that these headphones are actually really comfortable. The earpads are very snug around the ear and let very little sound through, and with the magnetic drivers, there doesn’t yet seem to be any rattling due to loud, bass-heavy music.

Overall, I love these headphones. There’s so many different options available, and while I don’t personally see myself using very many of them, as I’m pretty content with how they sound out of the box, the options are there for those that want to take advantage of them.

Hopefully Audeze improves upon the memory foam on the headband to really make the most comfortable feeling headset they can as they continue to develop and innovate in the industry.

To find out more, and purchase, the Audeze Mobius gaming headphones click the link here. (I highly recommend you do!)