WEBVTT 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. 00:00:04.800 --> 00:00:09.600 The Odyssey Maxwell's. And we got them in the ultra-violent variant. 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. 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. 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, 00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:28.080 they're a high-end headphone manufacturer who focuses on plainer magnetic headphones. 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:31.760 Typically, headphones are dynamic driver headphones, which means they have a speaker 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, 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.520 say, your desk or something. A plainer magnetic headphone, however, has a thin membrane with a 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 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:49.280 the sound. Odyssey has a high-end history, but they're making quite a mainstream product. 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. 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. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:05.120 Oh, and the headband is this really cool electroplated metal that allows for this purple and 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:10.720 green kind of gradient. It looks significantly nicer than the kind of cheap plastic color on 00:01:10.720 --> 00:01:14.640 these sides of here. We're specifically looking at the Xbox versions of these today, 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.480 which is why we have a little USB dongle that can switch between Xbox and PC. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:21.760 And I don't think there's any difference between this or the PlayStation 5 model, 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:27.120 other than support for Sony's Tempest audio versus support for a Dolby Atmos license. 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 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 00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:49.600 TRRS connector, which is awesome. That means you can connect via 2.4 gigahertz, Bluetooth, 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 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. 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:04.480 But apparently some functionality might not work, and Odyssey doesn't recommend it. 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, 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 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 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.800 be confused with active noise cancellation. These don't have any of that. This is noise 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:31.440 suppression for your microphone. An input for the boom mic, which is sufficiently bendy, 00:02:31.440 --> 00:02:36.400 and a hypercardioid microphone. Oh, cool. And they have this Odyssey styling that matches some of 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, 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.880 This could be like the only pair of headphones you really, really need, especially considering 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, 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, 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.960 but they're actually just printed on really nicely. The ear cups are removable, 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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, 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 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, 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 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:26.640 audio codec LC3 plus, which will bring higher quality audio to your headphones and from your 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 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.920 easy handoffs between devices, which is great because the more options, the more better. You 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 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 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, 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:24.080 it lots of firmware updates and patches for these headphones. Before we get listening to stuff, 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. 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 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:42.960 pre-made EQs for Odyssey, treble boost, bass boost, immersive competition footsteps. And then also, 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 00:06:49.200 --> 00:06:53.680 the firmware, changing settings like your auto shutdown timer, the loudness of voice prompts, 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 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 00:07:01.280 --> 00:07:06.480 switching, maybe stick to using a wire or to just Bluetooth alone. Audio impressions wise, 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:11.200 this thing is pretty neutral, which is great. It feels like something that almost everybody's 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 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 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, 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. 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 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 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 00:07:43.520 --> 00:07:47.600 I think. Let's talk about some measurements. Looking at our frequency response curve compared 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, 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 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 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. 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, 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. 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 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 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 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. 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, 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. 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 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 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:54.560 teammate. This allows you to lower that bass so that when say like boomy explosions happen, 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, 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 00:09:04.640 --> 00:09:08.880 competition mode. Basically, all it's doing is literally just boosting the parts of the footsteps. 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 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 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. 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, 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 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:36.560 closed back headphone and not a lot in the lower frequencies. Again, typical. Usually you need 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:40.720 active noise cancellation to attenuate some of these lower frequencies. And now we have mic 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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. 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 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. 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 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.560 rely on this specifically for communications, which kind of indicates a pretty big weak point 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 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.440 clear comms are important. This is noise suppression on. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:42.880 This is listening with noise suppression off. Just going to talk a little bit. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:49.040 Have a little chat. Noise suppression low. We're still listening to grab rave. 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 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 00:10:59.280 --> 00:11:02.000 have fun playing games right now. So I'm going to play some games. 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. 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 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 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. 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 00:12:20.160 --> 00:12:23.600 the Sony ones still work with your computer. Thanks for watching ShortCircuit. If you like 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.