1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,800 It's here. The headset you guys have been asking us to cover for months at this point. 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,600 The Odyssey Maxwell's. And we got them in the ultra-violent variant. 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,280 If you've been looking for a gaming headset, you've probably heard a lot of hype about these. 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:18,160 These are kind of supposed to be the best of the best in terms of gaming headsets right now. 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:23,040 Which is why I'm so very excited to look at them. For those of you who aren't familiar with the company Odyssey, 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:28,080 they're a high-end headphone manufacturer who focuses on plainer magnetic headphones. 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,760 Typically, headphones are dynamic driver headphones, which means they have a speaker 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,280 and a coil, and they look kind of like a tiny version of the speakers you'd see on, 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,520 say, your desk or something. A plainer magnetic headphone, however, has a thin membrane with a 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,480 wire embedded into it that's suspended between two magnets to vibrate back and forth to create 11 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:49,280 the sound. Odyssey has a high-end history, but they're making quite a mainstream product. 12 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:55,840 As we've heard, it's made a splash, and wow. These are loud. I can talk to the top camera now. 13 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,280 You know, I kind of like the colorway. I don't know if I would wear it out of the house. 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:05,120 Oh, and the headband is this really cool electroplated metal that allows for this purple and 15 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:10,720 green kind of gradient. It looks significantly nicer than the kind of cheap plastic color on 16 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,640 these sides of here. We're specifically looking at the Xbox versions of these today, 17 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,480 which is why we have a little USB dongle that can switch between Xbox and PC. 18 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,760 And I don't think there's any difference between this or the PlayStation 5 model, 19 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:27,120 other than support for Sony's Tempest audio versus support for a Dolby Atmos license. 20 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:37,760 Oh, a sticker. We have a USB-C cable of a length that I will not guess at. We also have a USB-A 21 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:43,440 to USB-C adapter, which is great because the dongle is USB-C, and a shorter 3.5 millimeter 22 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:49,600 TRRS connector, which is awesome. That means you can connect via 2.4 gigahertz, Bluetooth, 23 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,800 3.5 millimeter jack, or USB-C. Funny enough, if you are a PlayStation user, you can actually 24 00:01:54,800 --> 00:02:00,240 still use these with your PlayStation 4 or 5 using the 3.5 millimeter jack on your controller. 25 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,480 But apparently some functionality might not work, and Odyssey doesn't recommend it. 26 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,760 Let's make our way around the headphones, shall we? On the right side, we have a hole, 27 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:14,320 presumably for a microphone. And on the left hand side, we have all of our controls. We got a 28 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:23,680 chat mute switch, a power button. We have a indicator LED, a noise suppression button. Not to 29 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,800 be confused with active noise cancellation. These don't have any of that. This is noise 30 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:31,440 suppression for your microphone. An input for the boom mic, which is sufficiently bendy, 31 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:36,400 and a hypercardioid microphone. Oh, cool. And they have this Odyssey styling that matches some of 32 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:42,640 their higher end headphones. We have a USB type C, our 3.5 millimeter adapter. We have two knobs, 33 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:48,640 one for game and chat audio. So probably the adjusting how much audio is your game and how 34 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:54,880 much is the side tone, and then a volume rocker. These are also buttons. Double press for side 35 00:02:54,880 --> 00:03:02,480 tone on and off. Oh, you can adjust the EQ. The power button also functions as a multi-use button, 36 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,680 so you can like play, pause with single press. You can start pairing with two presses if it's 37 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,120 not paired to anything else. Now, I did say that there was a microphone on this side, 38 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,280 but there's a boom mic. So what's the deal? Well, inside the headphones themselves, we also 39 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:17,360 have four beamforming microphones on top of having a boom microphone. So if you want to take 40 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,480 these on the bus, use them as just a normal wireless pair of headphones, you don't want this 41 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:25,120 boom in your vision or something like that. You don't even need it. You can just use the 42 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:29,120 headphones themselves. I love this. I love this so much because that just makes these so versatile. 43 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,880 This could be like the only pair of headphones you really, really need, especially considering 44 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:40,320 that these have 80 hours of battery life, which is crazy. Two full work weeks of listening, 45 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:45,120 that's tons. The ear cups are nicely labeled with left and right. I thought these were stickers, 46 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,960 but they're actually just printed on really nicely. The ear cups are removable, 47 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,160 and we can kind of get a peek at how the drivers look. That's kind of neat. The ear cups themselves 48 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,640 are made of a plastic leather and are filled with a very plush and soft kind of memory foam material. 49 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:04,400 I found them to be rather comfortable, but maybe a little bit shallow for some people if you have 50 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,560 ears that stick out a little bit more. And one thing to note is that I don't know what it is 51 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:13,200 about certain types of plastic leather, but I got like irritation on my ears. Like I have 52 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:18,720 like a rash on my ears now from this. It's not unique to these headphones. I've had this before 53 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,960 with other ones, but maybe if you have sensitive skin, it's something to note. Luckily, they're 54 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,840 easy to replace, assuming you go to a third party because Odyssey doesn't sell replacement pads for 55 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:33,280 the Maxwell yet. These are pretty heavy, 490 grams. So I wouldn't really use these for say, 56 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:37,600 I don't know, physical activity. They're well built in my opinion. I think the headband's pretty 57 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,560 sturdy. This whole mechanism for the ear cup is like really good and stable. I'd say the plastic 58 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,880 is a little bit plasticky. And as we can see, just from the little bit of use we've had, there's 59 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,560 already kind of scratches on these, which is a bit of a bummer. That's kind of just the downside 60 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,160 of choosing such a reflective and shiny plastic. I still feel like these are going to last quite a 61 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,600 long time and they feel pretty stable. On the head, I find that they don't clamp too tight. 62 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,920 I don't find that a heavy headphone really bothers me. With simultaneous audio, you can listen to 63 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:07,360 something through Bluetooth and through your 3.5 millimeter jack or your USB at the same time, 64 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:12,000 which is kind of weird. I don't know of many headphones that can do that. So that's kind of 65 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:17,040 a neat little trick. Also, they support Bluetooth 5.3, which is awesome for a few reasons. One, 66 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:21,360 because in the future, more devices will support it. But two, it's going to support the new Bluetooth 67 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:26,640 audio codec LC3 plus, which will bring higher quality audio to your headphones and from your 68 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:31,920 headphones to your device. You also get really strong multi-point connection. So you can do really 69 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,920 easy handoffs between devices, which is great because the more options, the more better. You 70 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:39,600 don't need to have a device that supports Sony's LDAC. You can use something that's going to be 71 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:46,640 supported by any Bluetooth 5.3 device. This is like something that I feel like I bring up in every 72 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:52,560 video where I go, it sucks that this headphone can't connect this way. And Odyssey was just like, 73 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,240 yeah, that does suck. So we're going to make it so that you can connect in every way possible, 74 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:01,440 every codec, every input, it's just going to work. And I love that. We're going to use their 75 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:06,320 wireless dongle, which actually is able to provide the same level of audio quality as the actual USB 76 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:12,000 connection. I like that it calls out very clearly what's happening. It just goes, it just says USB 77 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,800 dongle. I like that. One thing to note is that these kind of launched in a bit of a buggy state, 78 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,800 but Odyssey has been doing a pretty good job so far of addressing those issues and sending 79 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,080 it lots of firmware updates and patches for these headphones. Before we get listening to stuff, 80 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,280 I always want to talk about the app real quick. There's an app for your phone and for the desktop. 81 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:36,160 The app looks so cheesy, but it's a really, really good app. It comes with six different 82 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:42,960 pre-made EQs for Odyssey, treble boost, bass boost, immersive competition footsteps. And then also, 83 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:49,200 you can make presets with a 10 band graphic EQ. Other than that, the app is useful for updating 84 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,680 the firmware, changing settings like your auto shutdown timer, the loudness of voice prompts, 85 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,200 you can set a volume limiter. It's got everything you need and nothing you don't. It seems like 86 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:01,280 the dongle and the Bluetooth don't really mesh very well. So if you want to do a lot of device 87 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:06,480 switching, maybe stick to using a wire or to just Bluetooth alone. Audio impressions wise, 88 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:11,200 this thing is pretty neutral, which is great. It feels like something that almost everybody's 89 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,920 going to enjoy. It's not super, super sparkly or really bright or shrill, but it still maintains 90 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:21,760 detail. And in the bass region, it's so punchy, it's still fun, but it's not overwhelming or 91 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,760 bloating or ruining the mids. If anything, I'd call this like maybe a little mid treble forward, 92 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:30,000 which gives them like a lot of energy, but it might be a little overbearing for some people. 93 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,840 But like, it's just, this has got to be a people pleaser. These are just going to sound good to 94 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,880 most people. And that's awesome. If these didn't have all of the gaming features and were just 95 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:43,520 a wired pair of headphones with this audio quality, the price wouldn't be crazy. But that's just what 96 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:47,600 I think. Let's talk about some measurements. Looking at our frequency response curve compared 97 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:52,000 to our target, that's the dotted white line, the green line, which is the Odyssey Maxwell's, 98 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:58,240 they line up almost exactly. Our target is supposed to represent what about 65% of people in the world 99 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,720 will find to be neutral and enjoyable. Sam in the lab actually went through and measured all 100 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,400 of the different preset EQs. He was the one who really pointed out to me how tasteful they were. 101 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:11,280 So like the treble boost, just see like a three to five DB increase only in the treble region, 102 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,880 like right up here with the presence and the lower end of the brilliant section is great. 103 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,120 It's subtle, it's noticeable, but subtle. The bass boost is like our original curve, but with 104 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,640 like three extra DB in the sub bass and very low bass regions, which is great. It doesn't get 105 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:27,280 boomy and bloated like some bass curves that will apply at like 200 Hertz. The immersive mode makes a 106 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:33,200 V shaped curve. We see the boost in the bass and in the treble. The competition mode is interesting. 107 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,440 This is where the gamer focus comes in. Remember, this is a gaming headset, a lot of treble boost, 108 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:42,320 especially up around this three kilohertz region. And we see a big decrease in the bass region. 109 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,600 This makes sense because the idea of a competition headphone is that you want to hear a lot of 110 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:50,080 details, maybe call us from enemies or other details like rustling bushes or just the voices of your 111 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,560 teammate. This allows you to lower that bass so that when say like boomy explosions happen, 112 00:08:54,560 --> 00:09:00,480 you're not losing important information in the name of feeling immersed. And then we have footsteps, 113 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,640 which is like an even more exaggerated version of that three kilohertz bump that we saw in the 114 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,880 competition mode. Basically, all it's doing is literally just boosting the parts of the footsteps. 115 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,920 So like when you put your foot down, it's kind of like heel toe. So you have a little bit of a 116 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,200 higher click as well as more of a thud. And that is bumped up right around here at 100 Hertz and 117 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,560 then also bumped up in the upper mids. And I tried it with some games and it works really well. 118 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:27,360 They really thought these EQs through. And I think that's pretty dang cool. If we look at isolation, 119 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,440 we can see that there's a lot of isolation for the higher frequencies, which is typical of a 120 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:36,560 closed back headphone and not a lot in the lower frequencies. Again, typical. Usually you need 121 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:40,720 active noise cancellation to attenuate some of these lower frequencies. And now we have mic 122 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:45,200 measurements. This is through the boom mic and the mic, at least what we measured it is kind of 123 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:49,120 disappointing. But as you can see, there's this huge increase over at the bass region, which is 124 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:53,120 kind of making things boomy. And then there's like an under emphasis from like one kilohertz to eight 125 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:58,240 kilohertz, which makes the voice sound a little failed. And then there's that big dip above eight 126 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,240 kilohertz that takes kind of the air out of the voice that can maybe make it sound like lifeless. 127 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,840 And that reflects, I think, in the recording quality of some of our samples. You have the 128 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,960 integrated microphone curve, you can see it also looks kind of weird. The sound, it's a bit different. 129 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,800 You'll have to tell me what to think. But the sibilance issues kind of remain. I kind of sound 130 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:20,880 like Herbert from Family Guy with the like soft and subtle kind of S's. It's kind of disappointing. 131 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,240 I guess it's serviceable if you're just taking like a phone call or something. But I would not 132 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,560 rely on this specifically for communications, which kind of indicates a pretty big weak point 133 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,000 for this headset, especially for a gaming headset where you want your microphone to be good because 134 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,440 clear comms are important. This is noise suppression on. 135 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,880 This is listening with noise suppression off. Just going to talk a little bit. 136 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:49,040 Have a little chat. Noise suppression low. We're still listening to grab rave. 137 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:55,280 And this is noise suppression high. So I tell, does it sound better? How well does it 138 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,200 suppress the random noise that is crab rave? But you know what's more important is if I get to 139 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,000 have fun playing games right now. So I'm going to play some games. 140 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:16,080 Okay. So I didn't I the footsteps don't work. I got stabbed by spy and I'm blaming the headset. 141 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:23,280 You know, they're pretty good. Obviously, as a closeback headphone, they're not going to be the most positional as say an open back, just because the soundstage is naturally a little bit closed 142 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:28,960 off. But they do an admirable job. The footsteps sound profile, I think actually does make a big 143 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:34,480 difference. Listen, they're good at music. They're neutral. They're going to be good at gaming too. 144 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:40,560 And the fact that you have the ability to just kind of tinker them to your liking, 145 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:45,760 they're so malleable is just a bonus on top. Really, the only disappointment here is just 146 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:52,000 the microphone as a package. These are excellent. They sound great. They're durable. And the craziest 147 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,960 thing is that these are just $330. I know $330. That's not cheap. It ain't cheap at all. But 148 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:00,640 when you compared to like other gaming headsets that are high in like the Arktis Nova Pros, 149 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:07,280 I think these sound better. They work with simpler and less intrusive software. They work with like 150 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:12,320 everything. You can listen to them how you want. I get the hype. If you want though, you can get 151 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:16,240 these for cheaper. If you get the Sony ones, they're only $300. There's a weird price discrepancy 152 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:20,160 between the Xbox versions and the Sony versions. Just think about that before you buy them because 153 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,600 the Sony ones still work with your computer. Thanks for watching ShortCircuit. If you like 154 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:29,360 this, why don't you check out the last time I looked at like a planar magnetic headphone, the Moondrop Venus. They were pretty dang good.