Today we have a very expensive toy: headset Audeze mobius. Many talked about her, but no one was able to draw a whole picture and explain why and who could think of giving 35,000 rubles per headset. We spent more than a month with this model and today we will answer this question.
A little story
To begin with, Mobius works with any devices: at least with a top sound board, at least with a USB laptop, at least with a bluetooth phone. Further, she uses technology Waves NX , which tracks the position of the head and changes the sound picture in games. Finally, there are magnetic planar speakers in it, which, judging by the reviews, sound best that anyone has heard.
For the world of sound Audeze is very young and has existed only ten years. The founders have engineers, but without a loud past in large sound companies. Two worked in the film industry, one fulfilled NASA orders, another for thirty years has been studying planar speakers and had ten patents on this topic by the time of its foundation.
In 2009, the company showed LCD-1, then updated it and released LCD-2, which provided the Green Light in the world of audiophiles. Then LCD-3 appeared for 160,000 rubles, LCD-4 for 325,000 and a little more than a dozen models of different types and sizes, including “plugs”. And now – mobius.
If 35,000 rubles for Mobius seems to be overgrown, in front of you are Audeze LCD-4 for 325,000 rubles
Set
They are supplied beautifully. Three cables-USB Type-C, USB Type-A and 3.5 mm Jack-a removable microphone and excellently written instructions (though only in English). The headset itself is made qualitatively. The main material is softtach plastic. Clamps and a pillow on the headline – from soft eco -leather. Structurally, this is a classic. The headline, speakers through arcs, four degrees of freedom, the large course of the cups and deep outfathers, which fully cover the ears.
They sit on the head of Mobius tightly and competently distribute weight
The design is closed, so it is hot in it in it, but, from personal experience, to sit for five hours in the game is more than real. Well, if it is quite difficult, Audeze offers gel outpatules with a cooling effect. They cost 3,000 rubles, how they work – we do not know, but it sounds unusual.
The headset is confusing, but the instruction helps. All buttons – on the left dynamics. This is a microphone switch, power button, volume wheels that switching tracks when pressed, and a microphone wheel with an echoing equalizer. Last eight pieces: three for music and five for games of different genres. In general, for wireless headphones, the presence of profiles is already unusual, but they hardly change sound.
Original move – when pressing the volume wheel, tracks switch
Connect
On the connection of Mobius everything is serious. In the database these are wireless headphones on Bluetooth 4.2 with support for both top-ends for Apple AAC profile and top-end for Android LDAC profile. Bluetooth is fast, we did not notice. The second option is through USB Type-C. It's simple here. Poking into the computer and listen. Well, you can put a program for choosing stops of equalizer and “sound around” settings.
The third option is an analogue connection. The headset can be connected to the gamepad, Nintendo Switch or a good amplifier with a tsap. In the latter version, however, it makes no sense. Mobius does not have bypass, and the analog signal is digitized, processed and again turns into an analogue. For such expensive headphones, this is wrong, but, apparently, Audeze did not want someone to miss WAVES NX technology. And she is responsible for the equalizer settings, emulates the “sound around”, monitors the position of the head and properly adjusts the sound picture.
All connectors of Mobius are standard. Lost my native wire – replaced with any other
Waves NX creates a feeling of a real room and speakers around the listener. Turn your head to the left – you better hear the right speaker, turn your back – rear speakers. It turns out very naturally, and the developers themselves believe that the technology is useful in games. I heard a sound from somewhere, turned his head, oriented himself and ran to kill the enemy. Or collected a multi -monitor configuration for races or aircraft systems, you twist your head, and the sound picture is not lost. In practice, it works, but turn your head, instead of pulling the mouse, is too difficult.
Mobius settings program is very simple and effective
But what is really interesting is the head of the head. Any key can be assigned to a nod or tilt. And, for example, in Battlefield 5, we thus first actively used fast chat. True, everyone does not care, but it works.
About 3D we note that they can be controlled. Firstly, for accuracy, it is advisable to measure the head and distance between the ears and enter the data into the proprietary program. Secondly, the headphone key centers the position of the head, and also turns off 3D and tracking the position.
Sound!
Further – about sound. The main feature lies in it. As already said, Audeze is a very young company, and its sharp take -off is a miracle in the world of audio. The secret, however, is simple. Audeze revived the idea of planar speakers and decided a lot of related technical difficulties.
Planar speakers for more than a dozen years, but they could bring them to the ideal recently
Planning speaker is a membrane with a thickness of a milimimeter on which the conductors are applied, and two neodymium lattices are located on both sides of the membrane, which act as magnets/reel. The bottom line is that the radiating surface is so thin and light that it is almost instantly fading and does not give extra ghosts. In general, the scheme is similar to electrostatic drivers, also from Hi-End, but if electrostats are mainly about high frequencies, then magnets are an average and low-frequency ranges.
Despite the apparent simplicity, Mobius is the most complex headphones of those that we tested
As a result, mobius play very well. By virtue of the design, they lack piercing at the top, but they voiced everything else perfectly. Bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals – are reproduced in such detail that you can hear the creak of the mediator, the double batch of guitars or "back" in a familiar song. And they do not interfere with this, nor digital signal processing, nor virtual 3D. Moreover, in our practice, these are the first completely digital headphones in which the difference between FLAC and pushed in 320 kb/s is heard. And for such things in Mobius there is a HI-RES mode, which turns off all unnecessary and translates a DAC of 24 bits at 192 kHz.
For what?
In the reviews of such headphones at this moment put an end. But we will continue. We must understand that Mobius act in a serious price range, and many adequate competitors are capable of cool sound here. However, they need a wire, good DAC and usually an amplifier. Mobius all this is not necessary.
Although technically the Mobius are very difficult, each detail and function are worked out to the end and frying as it should.
We do not know who and who was sacrificed to whom, but these Winstler Casino sister sites are the first headphones in our memory with an audiophile sound on a built -in tract and battery. And they do not need a player for 40 thousand, nor a mini-subsiliary for the "Crohn". This is what makes from Mobius the very unique solution.
The question is what niche they should take. At this price, we see several options. The first – Mobius will become hiking headphones for audiophiles, who want to get high -quality sound on the go with a minimum of effort. The second-for someone, Mobius will become a ticket to the world of high-quality sound without additional investments and efforts. Connected to the phone – received a cool sound. I stuck into a computer on a USB – a little more cool. Disabled all digital processing-moved to hi-rem.
Naturally, we will once again note Waves NX technology. For games, it is not very useful, but gives new sensations and does not cause a desire to turn off the effects. And, in our opinion, the technology will soon appear in many models. Note the microphone. He is removable, on a long flexible arc. There are no global questions to him, but we would add noise reduction.
Mobius are very adult headphones who really play on their own money and, in addition, offer high -quality sound without unnecessary investments in DACs and amplifiers.
Technical characteristics
Type of construction: Closed
Type of speakers: Magnaplanar
The number of speakers: 2
The range of frequencies of speakers: 10 – 50,000 Hz
Nonlinear distortion coefficient: 0.1% (1 kHz, 1 MW)
Sound pressure level: 120 dB
Connection: 3.5 mm Jack, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 4.2 (AAC, LDAC)
CPU: Audeze DSP
Weight: 350 g
Price for August 2019: 35,000 rubles ($ 540)