Our favorite wireless headphone under $300 arrive in a limited edition new color in 2024. The Audeze Maxwell Wasabi Edition features shimmering hues that shift from green to gold in a new iridescent chameleon-like electroplated finish. Or in other words, it’s shiny green. Or is it gold? Depends.
The Maxwell Wasabi Edition follows another limited run color from last year, the Maxwell Ultraviolet Edition (2023 model now sold out). Underneath the fancy paint jobs are the same award-winning Maxwell headsets, which still come in standard black for either PS5 or Xbox at the same price, $299 or $329 respectively.
So the good news is Audeze is not charging a premium for the Wasabi Edition. Just note that it only comes in a version for Xbox.
Audeze Maxwell Wasabi Edition
Maxwell is most often thought of as a gaming headset, and it is especially designed to work with Xbox. However, it’s much more. Maxwell is also a Bluetooth wireless headphone, a studio headphone for mixing Dolby Atmos spatial audio, as well as convenient for taking calls or recording podcasts thanks to its advanced noise cancelling boom mic. Plus its audiophile-grade 90mm planar magnetic drivers are the largest in its class. Audio quality not only surpasses gaming headsets, but regular over-ear headphones of similar pricing as well.
We don’t know exactly how many Wasabi Edition models will be made, but expect them to sell out rather fast. Each one is said to be made one at a time, so if you want one, we advise not to wait.
We got a sneak peek of the new Wasabi color a couple months ago while visiting Audeze Headquarters in Santa Ana, California where we took all photos. In our brief demo, I got to hear how audio engineers can use Maxwell to mix music in Dolby Atmos without the need for a complex speaker setup. It was quite remarkable, especially with head-tracking enabled.
Whether you’re an engineer, audiophile or gamer, if you’re curious about the immersive capabilities of Dolby Atmos for music you definitely want to check these out.
Features:
- Iridescent green/yellow Wasabi finish electroplated ear cups and headband
- 90mm planar magnetic drivers, delivering the powerful and precise Audeze sound
- Ultra-low latency wireless, offering 3X the range of traditional 2.4GHz connections
- FILTER™ A.I. noise-reducing microphone technology for clear communications
- 80-hour battery life with quick-charge, for up to a full day’s gameplay in just 20 minutes
- Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC support for high-quality wireless audio
- Included Dolby Atmos license for Xbox and PC gaming
Price & Availability
The Audeze Maxwell Wasabi Edition Wireless Gaming Headset will be available for order in limited quantities starting October 22, 2024 for $329 at Audeze.
The regular Maxwell headsets in black are available for $299 at Amazon (PlayStation version) or $329 at Amazon (Xbox version).
The Bottom Line
The Maxwell offers a superior gaming experience and has become Audeze’s best-selling headphone by a wide margin. If you’re looking for a gaming headset that also works extremely well with music and movies — this might be the best value in high-end headphones right now.
Related Reading:
