p.s (they also do a great job for music listening)

The Penrose is equipped with Audeze’s 100mm planar magnetic drivers, a high-performance microphone, and a 2.4 GHz low-latency lossless dual wireless connection. This means gamers can experience the best in audio quality and wireless functionality at the same time. With the Audeze HQ App, you can fully customize your sound experience. With sound profile selection and presets as well as a a brand new 10-band EQ specifically for Penrose.

Get Your Game On

Make sure you check out the full listing and product breakdown on audeze.co.uk here.

T3 is very enthusiatic about the qualities of the Penrose: “This is a headset that’s really well put together, with no hint of cheapness or flimsiness anywhere. It feels like a piece of hardware that’s going to last a long time. While it’s robust, the Audeze Penrose headset is also comfortable to wear, and you’ll have no problems wearing this for an extended period of time while you’re gaming. The on-board controls are all easily accessible and intuitive to use, too. It’s the audio quality that really sets the Audeze Penrose headset apart though. Even though there’s no surround sound feature, the special planar magnetic drivers that Audeze has developed do a wonderful job. You can use the headset connected to your computer or wirelessly, and if you choose the latter you get about 15 hours of battery life before you’ll have to recharge the device again.”

You can see the featured buying guide here: Best PC Gaming Headset 2021.

Do not forget to check out all of our reviews and news of Audeze’s products throughout our blog!

The post Audeze Penrose Wins “Best Premium Gaming Headset” from T3 appeared first on HiFiheadphones.

Fit and Comfort

First off the Penrose fit securely on your head, albeit with slightly high clamping force. Luckily you can leave the Penrose stretched out over some books to help loosen the clamp if you find it too much. The earpads are big enough for most ears, and the headband is well padded.

Comfort overall is good with no issues after a couple of hours, due to their closed back design I would still recommend taking a break every couple of hours to let your ears breathe. But overall the Penrose are a very comfortable headset.

Features

There are 2 versions of the Penrose, the Penrose and Penrose X. Both versions work fine with PC, but for console use the Penrose is suitable for the PlayStation 4 and 5, whereas the Penrose X has official Microsoft Certification for use with the xBox One and Series X.

They can be use in wired mode with an aux cable, via Bluetooth or via 2.4GHz wireless in conjunction with the included USB dongle. 2.4GHz will likely be the most used configuration, and you can expect around 14hrs of battery life from the headset. There is a high quality microphone that is detachable, there is a scroll wheel for the microphone volume and on the Penrose X if you press and scroll you can change the game/chat mix. The game/chat mix is currently only functional on the xBox – but future firmware updates should hopefully bring this feature to PC and PlayStation versions.

The firmware can be updated quite easily, but at the moment only via a Windows PC. There is a mute switch on the left earcup, along with a volume wheel and source select button. There is an Audeze HQ app for Windows and Android, with MacOS and iOS versions in the works. In the app you can set various EQ presets and in the future thegame/chat mix should be functional too. You can even have the Penrose connected to the source via 2.4GHz whilst also connected to your phone via bluetooth and change settings that way which is handy. In theory you can also use them as a bluetooth headset whilst connected via 2.4GHz, but bluetooth bandwidth is more restricted and the microphone quality will suffer so you’re better off using the in-game chat or background app chat instead of bluetooth.

Sound

Once set up the Penrose really are an impressive headset – first off, the microphone, whilst not crystal clear (bandwidth issues) does a good job of picking up your voice and your teammates will be able to hear you without issue. Next up is the immersion, on the latest generation of consoles there is some excellent audio processing that give you “surround” like sound from regular 2ch headphones like the Penrose. The same can be said for certain PC games, going in to the audio settings and selecting the correct output really does wonders. This bring us to the hardware side of things where those planar drivers come in to play, giving you excellent bass depth and impact without taking away the clarity overall.

Depending on the game you will get subtle rumbles to full blown explosions, all delivered with excellent control and clarity whilst also packing a punch. These drivers can push some air without ever sounding muddy or overwhelming. In-game dialog comes across clean and clear, speech is well rendered and this greatly helps if you use them as a headset, hearing your teammates is vital. The treble is precise and clear without being emphasised or piercing, these are designed for long sessions and thus have an utterly fatigue free sound.

The closed back nature of the Penrose means they block out a fair amount of outside noise, allowing you to immerse yourself, whatever is happening around you. The in-game effects are incredible though and the Penrose really do a stellar job at pinpointing spatial sounds, from footsteps to gunshots you know exactly where you stand in the game. This could prove to be a handy avantage if used in a VR system, but sadly I don’t have the equipment to test this. For long PC gaming sessions the Penrose have proved themselves a worthy companion, helping me pinpoint enemies with ease.

The Penrose do music playback well too, having quite a well balanced sound that is clean, detailed but with a slightly full bodied nature. They have good depth for a closed back headphone, and great instrument separation. The bass is full yet articulate and well controlled, the midrange manages to be well separated and clean whilst not being pushed forward. The treble is detailed and well extended but never harsh or fatiguing, there are not sharp peaks to create a false sense of air or detail retrieval.

The post Audeze Penrose Planar Gaming Headset Review appeared first on HiFiheadphones.