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The Audeze Mobius Immersive 3D Audio Headset offers really cool spatial sound coupled with a terrific mic, lots of flexibility, and surround sound decoding too. It can even react as you move your head around. But is it a great gamer headset overall? Is it a great choice for enjoying movies in 5.1 or 7.1 surround? Tech expert Dave Taylor checks out the Audeze Mobius and offers his opinion...
Check out the Mobius at https://amzn.to/3gFHtYp
Check out Dave's tech Q&A at https://www.askdavetaylor.com/
and his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/askdavetaylor
#audeze #gamer #headset #discord #portal2
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0:00
Are these the best 3D headphones on the market? Let's check them out
0:04
Dave Taylor here and I'm checking out this. This is really cool
0:14
This is the Audeze Mobius 3D audio headset. And it's big thing is that it can duplicate 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound
0:24
Which means it's not only really great for gaming, but it's really great if you want to just watch movies on your computer
0:32
and get the full surround sound experience, which a lot of sound engineers are really working on
0:38
Movies now are very 3D. And these duplicate that in a really kind of weird but amazing way
0:46
So let me tell you a little bit about them. They have feature of planar magnetic drivers
0:52
And like I said, they can do both 5.1 and 7.1. You're looking at that microphone and you're thinking
0:58
hmm, can you take it out? And the answer is yes, you can. So you can actually skip the microphone if you just want to use them as headphones
1:05
But they're really designed to be gamer headset. So the idea is that a lot of software, a lot of games are using 3D sound
1:14
So you can hear from behind you someone creeping up on you
1:18
And there's a lot of oral clues that are happening. So like you hear gunshots in the distance, but they're off to a side
1:25
So you know that if you go in that direction, you can actually find the people that are shooting
1:30
So we played around with Portal 2, and that has great sounds anyway
1:35
And this made it a really immersive experience, really fun. It does head tracking too, which is super interesting
1:42
So you have this sort of 3D model of what's going on around you and sound
1:47
And as you turn your head or move it up or down
1:51
the sound actually responds to that because they have some chips inside the headset
1:57
that are actually processing all that data. It's pretty cool. You can even set up room emulation if you want it to sound like a specific room
2:05
that you really love gaming in, you can do that. Now, the way you do some of that is they have an HQ app that you can download for free
2:14
You plug in your headphones, and I should back up and say that for the most part
2:19
you want to use these via USB. So you can do it. It includes USB-C to USB-3, which is the longest cable
2:29
and then USB-C to USB-C. Either way, you can plug it into your computer and you're going to get the best sound
2:36
That's really the only way to get that full 3D surround sound
2:40
They also work with Bluetooth. You can also plug in 3.5 millimeter on both ends
2:46
So you could use these for headphones for your phone, for example
2:50
but you're not going to get that full audio experience unless you're using that USB connection
2:56
And I did think I said that they're Bluetooth too. So it really gives you every possible way to listen
3:02
but for the best and most full experience, you want USB, which then if you run it on your Mac or PC, you can get the app
3:10
And here's what that app looks like. It gives you some nice functionality
3:15
It's not a very well-written app in my experience. It's just sort of like lags behind what you're trying to do
3:21
but it doesn't really matter because you use it once, you set things up the way you want
3:26
you get that data into the headphones, and then you're done. So it is certainly good enough for the task
3:33
I can't imagine people are going to leave it running full time, but it is, if nothing else, interesting to see how it matches the motion of your head
3:41
which is kind of fun. Now, I said Mac and PC. These headphones work with Mac, PC, PS4, and Xbox just fine
3:51
And if you're using them in Bluetooth mode, they give you 10 hours of battery life
3:55
If you use them wired, they will give you AAC or LADC, but not aptX
4:01
So for those of you in the Android world, these will work as Bluetooth headphones
4:06
They won't give you the absolute best possible quality audio, but AAC is just that on the iPhone side
4:13
They're also Discord certified. So Discord's been certifying gamer headphones so that you just know they're going to work well
4:20
they're going to have super low latency and everything. And these indeed have really low latency
4:26
So one of the things I wanted to do is I wanted to give you a chance to hear what the microphone sounds like
4:31
So I'm going to switch and give you a microphone sample that I recorded with these through my computer
4:38
I'm recording this in a very loud environment, but it's still picking up my voice
4:42
And you can see by the waveform, it's doing just fine, differentiating me speaking from all the ambient noise around me
4:50
Now, it's worth mentioning that there are a lot of controls on the left earpiece
4:56
So here's a close up. The first thing to know is that on the back are microphone mute and power buttons
5:04
When I first plugged these in and started to use them, I didn't know that I needed to turn on the power switch
5:09
Go figure, because I was just looking along the edge where there's plenty of buttons
5:14
So now let's look at that edge. So from right to left, there's volume control
5:20
There's microphone input volume control. There's that 3.5 millimeter jack for using it in that mode
5:28
There's USB-C for charging and or using in wired USB mode. There's the plug for the microphone
5:36
And then there's the 3D control. So you can push and hold, and that'll step through 3D off, 3D manual, and 3D automatic
5:45
And it's definitely fun to turn that on and off while you're listening to something
5:49
because you get just such a different experience. And so it should be no surprise that these have a huge sound stage
5:57
For listening to music or for really like the music in your favorite game or something
6:02
they have a really big 3D sense to them, and that's really fun
6:07
They're also bass-heavy. Even when you set flat as your preferred EQ in the app, they're still really bass-heavy
6:14
which is exactly what you want for a gamer headset, because you want to feel those explosions
6:20
You want to turn it up and really have it be a fully immersive experience
6:24
whether you're doing Call of Duty or Portal or whatever the heck is your favorite game
6:29
You want it to just be where you can zone out and really just be in the game
6:34
And these really definitely let you do that, which you would hope
6:38
because they are premium price headphones. Now, one more thing, and then we'll talk about the price
6:44
They do come with detachable and replaceable memory foam earpads. So that's the thing that tends to go and get grody the fastest is these earpieces
6:57
especially if you wear them for hours on end because you get a little sweaty, so you can replace these
7:02
And I should mention, in speaking of wearing them, is they're heavy
7:06
These are big, heavy headphones. So the last headphones I looked at were super, super light, and you barely knew they were on
7:14
These are not that style of headphone. These are clampy, and they really are doing their very best to get a really good seal around your ear
7:24
which is really good if you want to cut out all the ambient noise around you
7:28
They're not ANC, but kind of you don't need them because for their intended use
7:32
you're probably going to have the volume pretty loud anyway. So you won't be hearing any of your friends in the room talking to you
7:40
but your friends over the game, you will hear perfectly well. There's also the soft part on the top of the headband
7:47
So I find them pretty comfortable, but again, for this style. The microphone is easy to put in
7:57
Well, of course, I say that, and then I can't get them in. There we go
8:01
So now, and then it's quite adjustable, so I've found best results having it just like an inch or so from my mouth
8:09
And of course, that means, you know, you have all those issues with P's popping and stuff
8:15
So if you really have a problem with that, you might move it further away and then use that dial to dial up
8:21
It's gained a little bit, so you still sound louder, but pretty easy to use
8:26
Remember, there's that mute switch on the earpiece. So now it's muted, so I don't have to worry about people hearing me
8:33
I can also just move it out of the way, but that does not automatically mute it like it does with some other headphones
8:39
So they sound really good. It was really fun. I went and listened to some really early Super Tramp, and there's just like this, the detail in the music and that 3D sense that I know it's being added by chips and stuff
8:56
It's not in the original recording, but it gave me a lot of detail for the music that I wasn't really aware of previously when I had listened to it
9:04
So these are really fun as just audio headphones, but where they really shine is as a gamer headphone
9:11
Now they are premium, so again, let's get to the price in just a second
9:15
Let me just make sure I tell you that it comes with a nice soft carry bag
9:19
This is not going to protect it at all, but I really like the soft ones
9:23
It has that USB-C to USB-C, USB-C to USB-3, and 3.5 millimeter to 3.5 millimeter
9:34
It has a little cheat sheet, which is really helpful because they're manual
9:40
This is the Traveler's Handbook to the Mobius Universe. It's actually really well done. All their packaging and stuff are really well done
9:47
But this is a lot of data about a pair of headphones, right
9:52
So, okay, let's talk about that price. But before we get to the price, I'm going to ask if you could subscribe to my channel
9:59
Just a click or a tap on that subscribe button and kaboom, you're subscribed
10:04
Cool. How easy is that, right? Give me some feedback, too. What else do you wish I would have shown or talked about with these
10:10
But having said that, let's talk about these. These are the Audeze Mobius 3D Audio Headset, and it is $399 at Amazon.com
10:21
That makes these premium gamer headphones. And honestly, I think they're worth it. They're really nice
10:28
They feel tough and rugged. I feel like they're going to last a long time
10:32
They're super flexible with all the different ways you can get music or audio to the headphones
10:38
And if you're using them with USB, you can fine-tune what you're getting using the Mac or PC app
10:45
And they sound good. The microphone sounds good. All the controls are super helpful. Lots to like here
10:52
They're spendy. They're not flashy. There's no neon or fluorescent on the earpieces or anything, but I like them
11:00
So, I definitely think you should check them out. And with that, I think I'm going to go back to Portal, so I'm going to have to catch you in my next video
11:30
Thanks for watching
#Movies
#Audio Equipment
#Virtual Reality Devices
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