Odi Productions
In this article, I’m going to share my HONEST Audeze Maxwell review for those who are wondering whether they are WORTH IT in 2025. I’ll also be comparing the Audeze Maxwell vs Focal Bathys, Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, Sony WH-1000XM6, Bowers and Wilkins Px7 S3, Px8, Apple AirPods Max, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, Sennheiser Momentum 4, and more!
I’m going to do my best to share whether these headphones are worth it, and ideally who these headphones are for. I’ve owned these headphones for a while now and have quite a few thoughts.
I’ll be sharing my critical opinion with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, audio engineer, and tech journalist.
Let’s dive right in!
Audeze Maxwell review in short
The Audeze Maxwell desperately needs EQ to bring out its full potential, but offers unparalleled wireless sound quality for the money. Just make sure you’re okay with it being the heaviest headphone tested, with zero noise cancelling. Competes very well against Focal Bathys, Sony WH-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, Bowers & Wilkins Px8, Apple AirPods Max, Sennheiser Momentum 4, Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, and Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H95.
Watch this Full Review on YouTube!
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Audeze Maxwell Pros and Cons
- Unparalleled wireless sound quality
- Up to 80 hours battery life
- Low-latency for gaming
- Heaviest tested to date
- Zero active noise cancelling
- Needs EQ for music listening
- Very bulky
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Audeze Maxwell Sound Quality
Stock sound first impressions…
The expectations were high going into this one, hearing constant praise how a $300 gaming headset is actually the best-sounding wireless headphone today.
On one hand, that claim seems rather preposterous on the surface.
But add in the brand name Audeze, a brand well-respected by audiophiles such as myself, and the claim doesn’t seem too farfetched.
My initial impression is probably more lukewarm than others, especially compared to the audacious claims.
Yes, these are incredibly detailed thanks to its 90mm planar drivers, but it become rather obvious to me these are a gaming headset first, music-listening headphone second…
That focus on being a competitive gaming headset means these are optimized for hearing footsteps and small sound cues, but that isn’t the best for music enjoyment out of the box.
The sound profile is bright, pushing a ton of treble energy. There is bass from the planars, but it’s easily overshadowed by all the treble detail being pushed.
Is there such thing as too much detail? Yes, and the factory Maxwell has it. This makes sounds come off as unnatural and artificial, but yes, uber-detailed.
Luckily, Audeze has a very flexible 10-band EQ that greatly impacts the sound, unlike other native EQs, and the Maxwell takes EQ very well.
So, I’ll be sharing my best EQ settings below, and conduct the rest of this review using these settings…
Best Equalizer (EQ) Settings for Audeze Maxwell
V1 – Mainly for Pop, Hip Hop
Result: Much more musical and consumer-friendly sound profile. Treble has been tamed immensely but still incredibly detailed. Bass is now a main focus. Warmer sound than stock, with more realistic timbre versus the artificial treble.
Sound Quality after EQ…
Even though I have my gripes with the stock Maxwell sound, I was never really in doubt that these would end up sounding excellent after experimenting with the 10-band EQ.
I think the star of the show here is the hardware – namely, those 90mm planar drivers.
Simply put, I haven’t heard this audiophile-worthy level of detail in other wireless headphones tested to date…
Once you get used to the planar sound’s fidelity, it’s a bit difficult to go back to regular drivers that lack the precision.
As mentioned in the EQ notes, my goal was to simply make the Maxwell much more musical than stock.
I believe we’ve achieved something incredible between the Audeze’s hardware and some fine-tuning, especially for a $300 gaming headset.
By smoothening out the hot treble, we still have so much detail cutting through the mix with ease.
And one of my favorite parts is the bass has been shaped to be less boomy and more impactful and focused.
Thanks to the hardware, we get the best of both worlds between a massive bass and vocal clarity.
Simply put, this is the best-sounding headphone tested to date in mid-2025, and the one to beat currently.
Sound Quality Score: 9.5 out of 10 (after EQ)
Audeze Maxwell Comfort
The Audeze Maxwell is the heaviest in this class, as weighed on my scale:
- Bose QuietComfort – 236.1 grams
- Sony WH-1000XM5 – 245.9 grams
- Sony WH-1000XM4 – 251.6 grams
- Sony WH-1000XM6 – 252.8 grams
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra – 254.4 grams
- Beats Studio Pro – 268.6 grams
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 292.9 grams
- Bowers and Wilkins Px7 S3 – 298.3 grams
- Bowers and Wilkins Px7 S2e – 305.2 grams
- Sonos Ace – 318.1 grams
- Bowers & Wilkins Px8 – 320.1 grams
- Bang & Olufsen H95 – 323 grams
- Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE – 329.9 grams
- Focal Bathys – 350 grams
- Apple AirPods Max – 387.8 grams
- Audeze Maxwell – 503.9 grams
The biggest drawbacks to the Maxwell are its weight and lack of noise cancelling.
First off, at over 500 grams, it’s hard to describe how much heavier this is than your average wireless headphone.
That’s almost double the weight of the Sony WH-1000XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra.
Now, the suspension headband strap that Audeze added does do a great job of counter-balancing that weight with nice dispersion, but there’s no getting around the physics of that mass.
Personally, I actually find the Maxwell to be somewhat comfortable after you get used to the weight.
But it’s just so bulky in size that I would never really consider bringing these out into the real world.
Comfort Score: 3.5 out of 5
Features / Build Quality / Battery Life / Noise Cancelling
Features
The Audeze Maxwell was released in January 2023 and has many modern wireless headphone features:
- Mic attachment
- USB dongle for low-latency wireless connection
- Bluetooth 5.1
- Dolby Atmos (Xbox version only)
- Multi-point connection
- Companion Smartphone app to customize EQ, settings, and update firmware
- 10-band EQ
- USB-C to USB-C charging cable
- USB-C to stereo cable
Please note, these do NOT include any active noise cancelling feature or any kind of hardshell case.
Audeze Maxwell Build Quality
I guess one positive to being the heaviest headphone tested to date is that the build quality is solid.
Plenty of metal and leather materials used throughout, this doesn’t feel fragile at all.
Audeze has a long history of making higher-end audiophile headphones so I’m not concerned with the build quality or long-term durability.
Audeze Maxwell Battery Life
The Maxwell is rated at 80 hours of battery life on a single charge, but it’s important to note that it doesn’t have active noise cancelling like the competitors listed.
- Marshall Monitor III – 70 hours (ANC on), 100 hours (ANC off)
- Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE – 60 hours (ANC on), 100 hours (ANC off)
- Audeze Maxwell – 80 hours (no ANC included)
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 – 60 hours
- Sony WH-1000XM6 – 40 hours (ANC off), 30 hours (ANC on)
- Sony WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM4 – 30 hours
- Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 and Px8 – 30 hours
- Sonos Ace – 30 hours
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra – 24 hours
- AirPods Max – 20 hours
In my testing, I found this figure to be accurate.
Just want to reiterate, since the Maxwell has no active noise cancelling, its battery life should be noticeably higher than wireless ANC headphone competitors.
Audeze Maxwell Noise Cancelling Performance
First off, the Audeze Maxwell does NOT have any active or adaptive noise cancelling features.
With that out of the way, does it at least have good passive noise isolation due to being closed-back?
My answer is sadly, no.
Despite being huge and bulky, I find that sounds seem to cut right through those massive earcups.
Testing the Maxwell against true wireless noise-cancelling headphones made me realize that even the WORST ANC headphones are still a massive improvement over having zero ANC at all.
So if ANC is important to you, look elsewhere.
These are meant to be a gaming headset resigned to a desk, after all.
Features / Build Quality / Battery Life / Noise Cancelling Performance Score: 4.0 out of 5
Value
The Audeze Maxwell (Playstation version) retails at $299 USD, with the Xbox version including Dolby Atmos retailing at $329 USD.
At first, I was thinking $300 for a gaming headset is rather steep.
But after hearing what music sounds like after EQ’ing the Maxwell properly, all of a sudden, the price is easily justified.
That said, these are super heavy, bulky, and have no active noise cancelling.
If you’re okay with its limited use case, say hello to wireless audiophile goodness.
Value Score: 4.5 out of 5
Overall Scoring Breakdown
Sound Quality: 9.5 / 10 (after EQ)
Comfort: 3.5 / 5
Features / Build Quality / Battery Life / Noise Cancelling: 4.0 / 5
Value: 4.5 / 5
Total: 21.5 / 25
Is the Audeze Maxwell WORTH IT?
Being one of the rare recipients of a perfect “Value” score, the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 is worth every penny, and then some.
I must note here that this headphone is really all about its audiophile-level sound quality rivaling headphones costing 3-4 times as much, but is not a perfect noise cancelling headphone as a whole.
The main drawbacks you must be aware of are that it’s rather heavy, below average noise cancelling, and looks goofy when worn due to a very wide headband look.
If you’re okay with all of the above, then the P100 is simply one of the best value deals in audio currently available today.
For the truly discerning audiophile, I still get more enjoyment from listening to the Focal Bathys, but it’s a toss-up between the Bang & Olufsen H95 and the P100 right after.
Some very Strong Alternatives in this class of noise cancelling headphones are:
- Sony WH-1000XM6
- Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra
- Bowers & Wilkins Px8
- Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e
- Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H95
- Apple AirPods Max
- Sennheiser Momentum 4
- Sony WH-1000XM5
- Bose QuietComfort (2023 model)
- Beats Studio Pro
Some Relevant Comparisons in this class of noise cancelling headphones are:
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra vs Apple AirPods Max
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra vs Sony WH-1000XM5
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 vs Sony WH-1000XM5
- Sennheiser Momentum 4 vs AirPods Max
- Sonos Ace vs AirPods Max
I highly recommend you check those out next!
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Order Here for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
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How We Tested and Our Methodology
RecordingNOW.com is a 100% independent publisher with over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing consumer electronics and headphones.
We currently purchase EVERY product we test with our own money, and are not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.
After purchasing the product, we conduct up to hundreds of hours of detailed hands-on testing in a controlled, acoustically-treated environment.
ODi Productions is our resident expert and author of this article, with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, tech journalist, and audiophile.
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