Audeze Mobius 3D 8-channel audio
Gaming headsets come and go in the gaming world. Typically, gaming headset experiences are associated with companies like Turtle Beach, Astro, and HyperX. They have owned the gaming market for some time, providing good solutions at reasonable prices. While they certainly have all made headsets that have impressed over the years in terms of quality and delivery, there is another company in the shadows waiting right now to spring forth possibly one of the most impressive headset experiences that the gaming world did not know they wanted or needed. While the hardware will certainly cost you a pretty penny, the delivery is like no other. Let’s talk about Audeze’s Mobius 3D – 8-channel headset experience.
HCI and the Learning Curves
The HCI design of Audeze’s Mobius is superb on the surface. For example, gaming headsets typically have their power button underneath provides a double-feature and acts like the mute button (depending on how long you press it – it can shut things off). As much as I appreciate the duality of that typical button construction and the countless times it has failed me when trying to mute myself while a child is asking relentlessly for something, it always is a fumble spot in terms of design. If you press it too long, the power goes out. If you press too quickly it may not work. Having a timed amount of press in a location that you have to fumble to reach can be a pain in urgent scenarios. The design has never been a huge plus in my eyes…or ears.
For the Mobius, the power button lies on the outside of the left ear cup towards the bottom. The mute button is a switch on the same cup above it. Having them separated, easily accessible, and less of a blindfolded button hunt is something I did not know I needed until I experienced it. It’s quick, easy, and the location makes complete sense. The same power button, when held, activates Bluetooth as well, which informs you of when you successfully hold it down. Two quick pushes of the same power button activates Bluetooth pairing, so you can be disappointed quickly when your Sony PlayStation 5 says, “Want to register? HA! You can’t.” I’ve never met a headset or earbuds that don’t require you to smother that Bluetooth button to pair it, so the changeup was a nice, quick feature that will get you going as soon as it can (I activated a pair with my laptop and phone within two minutes of each other – a new record). It’s smart, it’s easy to do, and the multi-purpose pushing works and makes sense.
As for the other pushables, you have your headset and mic volume wheels separated on the back of the left ear cup on the edge, the mic input (where the mic physically plugs in) on the same edge, and you have a place to hook up an auxiliary cable, should you need it (see PS5 below for details). Not to spoil it for you, but it works both wired and wirelessly seamlessly.
Then there is a button in the front. Oh, that button in the front. It is such a lovely button. It turns on 3D sound. If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing 3D sound, like yours truly, it is a wonder to behold. That is for the next section of this review, though. Right now, that 3D button might be the most awkwardly placed of the headset’s design, but you will forgive the finger cramp in lieu of its quality and sound delivery.
Overall, the headset is designed well on an HCI level, and its accessibility makes it an easy-to-use device. On the software side of the tracks, well that’s a bit of a different scenario.
Typically, when you plug in a gaming headset, you jump right into the gaming fray without much effort. The countless Turtle Beach headphones I have reviewed and the few HyperX and Astros that have come across the Digitalchumps desk never seemed to be an issue in this area. The Audeze Mobius headset needed a bit more prodding.
Driving the drivers that drive the gamer
While the plug-and-play via USB is simple enough when you’re digging into a game, as well as the Bluetooth setup, the issue you will run into first with this headset is using it to communicate via Discord and or Zoom. While the latter is more for meetings and showing terrible backgrounds that everyone thinks is clever, Discord was supposed to be immediately compatible with the Mobius, or at least that was my assumption (it was on the box). The evening I received Mobius, I took them to work to jump into the reviewing process on the morning show I run for the University of Kentucky. I plugged them into the Alienware machine (I know, don’t judge), launched Discord, and…nothing. I appeared in the live chat, saw everyone, but couldn’t communicate or receive communication from them. I went to audio/video settings to check and see if Discord was seeing them, and it was seeing Mobius, but I couldn’t hear my fellow morning gamers, nor could I talk to them. It was weird. I always blame myself and my methods before turning towards the hardware, so I double-checked to make sure the USB worked. Tried out the aux cable, still no dice. I even went the route of activating the Bluetooth option and tried going that route – no dice.
Next, I checked for a Discord update, re-launched Discord, and still nothing. Again, the Audeze headset was being identified on the A/V list, but it wasn’t doing anything. I swapped them out with another brand and waited until I got back to my office to try them on my Alienware machine (I KNOW, DON’T JUDGE – it has a 3060Ti card in it, I sold my soul for that card). The exact same thing happened, and I began to wonder if the driver wasn’t built into Discord. The next best IT solution for this problem was to search for a driver. I found a driver on Audeze, installed it, and BOOM. Everything worked perfectly. My own ignorance of assuming that this was going to be a plug-in-play deal may have caught me a bit on this process, but in this day and age of plug-in-play, one should assume such a notion.
Should you go the Mobius route for your gaming headset needs, and you should strongly consider it, just know to prepare yourself for this process. Ever since I installed the driver, the headset has worked swimmingly in every program (yes, even Zoom). It’s a small hurdle to jump over to get to the headset’s ‘umph’, and boy is it worth it.
3D sound…my GOD
I can never go back. I never knew that 3D audio was just so mesmerizing. It makes sense for the most part and it brings an entirely new audio experience that I could not have imagined existed, especially in the gaming world. Imagine this, you are walking down a street, you hear a sound in front of you. Another sound happens to the left of you, then another to the right. You turn your head at each sound, while the others are still happening. Each sound firmly stays in the place where it originated as you move your head, which creates a 3D environment for your ears that only a virtual reality device could appreciate. This is 3D audio and it’s so important in taking another step towards the perfect gaming experience. This is one of the main options that Audeze’s Mobius delivers. It’s unbelievably immersive and adds another layer to whatever game you might be playing. We will get back to that experience in just a second. Let’s get back to that 3D button.
That dastardly 3D button that is awkwardly placed on the headset has three modes to it – manual, automatic, and off. Manual and automatic deliver two different types of experiences that are either controlled by the user (manual – duh) or driven by the Waves Nx algorithm (automatic). Each one serves a purpose, so listen up (pun intended). Off delivers no 3D sound. I really didn’t need to type that sentence.
3D Manual – This is a mode that is made for gaming, as well as it is made for any type of sitting audio experience. Remember that word ‘sitting’. When you’re at your gaming desk or just looking at your screen as a game plays, you establish a 3D space using this mode. You can keep the audio in front and around you, but also trap it in that space you maintain. Much like the example above, you can set the direction of the audio (weird to write) and enjoy a realistic sound experience through this mode. I played the hell out of Hellblade using this setting and it was audibly breathtaking. Hearing all of Senua’s voices around your heard in a 3D sound environment that is delivering 7.1 sound action is indescribable. It’s the best way to immerse one’s self into Hellblade’s world. It certainly adds to her horrible experience through the game and touches on your emotions through audio. In short, it’s the best way to experience her trauma. Gaming experiences, right? Now, with this mode, you can also recalibrate the direction of the audio by just quickly pressing on the 3D button, which makes it easy to reset the audio’s positioning. It’s akin to resetting your VR view in PSVR. It makes sense in what it’s trying to accomplish. That said, the one item that this mode doesn’t do well with is mobile audio. Should you get up to move around, that audio will sit firmly in the place you establish it. While as entertaining as it sounds (pun intended) to get up in the middle of a Nine Inch Nails song you were facing (still weird) and go to another room and have it lie in your right ear instead of in front of you, well, it’s not pleasurable at all. Which brings us to…
3D Automatic – 3D sound on the go is where it’s at when you’re in this mode. The Waves Nx algorithm automatically calculates your positioning as you move within the 3D audio space and adjusts as need be to your positioning. It’s clever and it works in the mobile device world. I’m in a television studio most of my days streaming things and I usually have my headset on listening to music to get pumped for the day. Having this mode available helps a lot and helps me drown out people talking to me. Win-win.
On top of the 3D sound, the delivery of 7.1 promises is outstanding, as is the bass that goes with it. The Mobius is worth every penny you put into it and it delivers on all promises when it comes to sound quality and control.
Added bonus – This headset works with the PlayStation 5 via the aux cord and delivers 3D audio from the system. Is it officially licensed to work with Bluetooth on the PlayStation 5? That is a hard no, but it does work via the aux cord. Sony doesn’t particularly like sharing its Bluetooth signals with other headset manufacturers for some weird reason, as I’ve never been able to get a Bluetooth device that wasn’t made by Sony to pair with the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5. Go figure. Anyway, enjoy that 3D sound hooked up to the PS5 controller. It’s magical. OH! And yes, the mic works that way too.
The price of perfection
The Mobius is $399, which might be a hard pass for a lot of people. For a headset to deliver a Bluetooth 3D sound solution, feature an amazing algorithm that works as advertised, provide 7.1 channel sound with a beautiful amount of even bass, provide the option to work with PC, PS5, and mobile devices, while still delivering superb sound quality, what more do you want? The comfort of the headset is there too. It’s light, it disperses heat away from your ears, and it’s comfortable after a long period of time. My ears do not get fatigued with this headset, which is an enormous plus.
I like my gaming headsets quite a bit. I’m picky when it comes to price and comfort. The Mobius sets a new bar for gaming headset sound solutions. It is worth every single penny asked because it makes you appreciate the investment. It’s everything you would want in a gaming audio experience.
