The Audeze Maxwell 2, like their first iteration, are highly regarded as top of the line gaming headphones. It seems most reviewers have them as their top gaming headset pick1 currently in 2026.
After reading many of these reviews, I bit the bullet on the Audeze Maxwell 2.
The packaging looked premium. The headphones had a high quality feeling. But as I turned them on for the first time, I was disappointed. Not with the audio quality, as they sound great. But because there was a constant hissing sound, which I’ve detailed more about here: Audeze Maxwell 2 Hissing - Is It Fixable?
I tried giving them a chance. Even while gaming, with constant audio playing, in my case the hissing is loud enough to be heard constantly in the background. After a few hours, I felt relief finally turning the headset off. Finally, silence.
There’s no way I could use the Audeze Maxwell 2 daily because of the hiss. So I ended up returning them, and continue my search for a good gaming headset.
Footnotes
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Or top high budget pick, as they cost $329. ↩
