The Audeze Maxwell 2. A top of the line gaming headset with amazing potential, hampered by quality control issues. The most glaring problem is a constant hissing sound when the headset is turned on.
I’ve tried everything. First, updating to the latest software. Hissing still audible. Double checked that sidetone was off, still hissing. Tried different devices, different ports, nothing helped. The hissing starts immediately when powered on (even when not connected to anything), and only stops once powered off.
And it seems I’m not alone with this problem. Audeze forums are full of complaints about similar problems, and nothing has been found to help.
The final nail in the coffin seems to be this response from Audeze customer support:
Based on your description, what you’re hearing is most likely the inherent noise floor of the internal DAC and amplifier.
Maxwell is a fully active headset, meaning the internal DAC and amplifier are always powered while the unit is on. Because of this design, there is a very low baseline noise floor present. Our planar magnetic drivers are extremely resolving, which can make that noise floor more noticeable in very quiet environments or at lower listening volumes.
This behavior is similar to what you mentioned with active speakers, though headphones can make it more apparent since the drivers are directly next to your ears.
Our engineering team continues to evaluate potential firmware optimizations to further minimize this where possible. However, at this time, we do not have a confirmed update or timeline for changes.
While you could wait and see if a software update fixes anything, it has already been 3 months since release, and Audeze’s statements don’t sound hopeful. For now, anyone with similar hissing problems, I’d recommend returning the unit, and either take a replacement and hope it’s not affected, or buy something else.
Myself, I ended up returning my unit, as detailed here: Audeze Maxwell 2 - Why I returned them
