Audeze Mobius first impressions review

I am one of the first to actually get ears-on with the debut gaming headset from Audiophile headphone makers, Audeze. Furthermore, instead of just slapping a mic on a set of their rather great cans, they’ve packed the Audeze Mobius with tasty tech aplenty.

At a rather select gathering in London’s Fitzrovia, Audeze allowed me to try on and test out their Mobius gaming headset.

As well as featuring the company’s renowned planar magnetic drivers, they are equipped with head-tracking and all sorts of other wonderment.

Audeze has certainly gone large for their first foray into gaming audio.

Audeze Mobius

The Mobius sport a comfortable, lightweight, and wireless design. Just the thing for gaming marathons.

Your lobes are cushioned by contoured memory foam ear pads, which are replaceable. You also get a memory foam-padded headband.

The headphones also offer a detachable boom microphone. This is a definite plus as, unlike many other gaming headphones, you will want to use these away from your battlestation.

Additionally, the mic comes with built-in noise attenuation, independent volume control as well as the mute/unmute function.

Audeze claims the Mobius can run over 10 hours on a single charge.

However, although designed with gamers in mind, music and movie fans will also enjoy the audio.

Mobius tech

With 3D emulation alongside surround sound support, the Audeze Mobius offers an integrated low latency 3D head-tracking system.

The audio output for 3D listening can be set to 7.1, 5.1, 5.0, 2.1 and 2.0 modes, alongside Ambisonics support.

Thanks to room emulation technology and anatomy calibration, the audio effects get a life-like feel. The output on the Mobius headphones sounds great, but that is hardly surprising.

Also, these headphones will cater to mixed reality platforms as well given it comes bundled with audio plugins from Waves such as the B360 Ambisonics Encoder and the NX Virtual Mix Room.

Among other options, you can connect the device wirelessly through Bluetooth (AAC, LDAC). Physical connectivity options include support for type-C and type-A USB cables, as well as a 3.5mm jack.

Audeze Mobius first impressions

Build quality was pretty good on the pre-production set I tested, although there was definite signs of wear on the headband. The colour-scheme of black with blue highlights did win me over as my rig is white with blue highlights. The other headset design is black and gold.

The head-tracking tech stuttered a little and, when playing audio from an Astell & Kern AK70, the Bluetooth dropped out for a second. But, as I said, this isn’t quite the production model yet.

Watching Kenau kick ass as John Wick, the immersive surround sound was brilliant. The headphones actually sounded like they were open-backed the soundstage was so vast.

A quick blast of Prince (When Dove’s Cry) and the planar drivers were swift and precise. Yes, the Bluetooth did wander off for a second, but these sounded so much more than gaming headphones.

Finally, actual gaming. I was played a show reel featuring titles such as Overwatch and Battlefield and they did sound impressive. However, it wasn’t until I tried my hand at a spot of first person shooting that the head-tracking and sound localisation made sense. Granted, it didn’t stop me from dying every few seconds (I blame performance anxiety) but the audio just made gaming even more addictive.

The head-tracking does give you more spatial awareness in games and you find yourself looking the direction of where the sound came from, rather than the screen sometimes.

I really cannot wait until the Mobius is on the market. As long as they stay at a reasonable price, then they will make great 3-in-1 headphones: Gaming, movies and music.

Price and availability

The Audeze Mobius is currently available through an Indiegogo campaign with early bird offers of $269.