When it was launched in December 2022, the Maxwell planar magnetic wireless gaming headphones were not exactly the prime example of Audeze's design efforts - a brand that can be proud for having designed and launched distinctive, premium-looking products. And yet, the Maxwell was not only a gaming headset, after the original Audeze Mobius, this was also one of the most ambitious and technically sophisticated products the company developed, including for being its first Bluetooth LE Audio-ready design with support for a vast range of codecs, including LDAC, AAC and LC3plus.
These understated headphones - to put it frankly, one of the ugliest headphones to be launched in the last twenty years (and gaming headsets are usually very ugly) - ended up being one of the brand's most successful products. In fact, there was a reason why Audeze caught the eye of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the PlayStation division of the Japanese electronics giant, which recently bought the company. No doubt, the Maxwell being the best PlayStation-compatible gaming headset in the market contributed to that.
Now, Audeze is using all the built-in technology already incorporated in the ugly headset to expand its market reach to a whole new dynamic playground, which are the creators of Dolby Atmos content. "We plan to use the head tracking capabilities of Maxwell for future collaborations, and expect to foster a growing community of Dolby Atmos creators," says Sankar Thiagasamudram, Audeze CEO and founder.
With virtual and remote collaborations growing amongst the creative community, Audeze’s enhanced Maxwell headset is suited to meet the needs of this growing field. In parallel, the creativity community is fully embracing Dolby Atmos, making the Maxwell headset a great tool for creatives looking to break free from the traditional constraints of stereo to deliver unparalleled immersion and clarity in their mixes.
All that Maxwell users need to do is open up their latest Dolby Atmos session, connect the Dolby Atmos Renderer application, and plug in the USB dongle or USB cable to create and monitor Dolby Atmos mixes with real-time head tracking, providing a highly immersive preview of their audio creations. Given the quality of the Audeze planar magnetic drivers used in the Maxwell, these can become a true reference resource for studio on-the-go.
Maxwell’s new integration for the Dolby Atmos Renderer will offer a streamlined user experience. Users can create and monitor Dolby Atmos mixes with real-time head tracking, providing a highly immersive preview of their mix. For further information on how to enable head tracking with the Dolby Atmos Renderer on Mac or Windows machines, visit this link.
Head tracking follows the orientation of the user's head and allows to interact with a virtual room in real-time when monitoring binaurally with headphones. By creating a spatial reference, the users will know where is front and back, and the virtual speakers in the room will remain in place even when the user turns its head. As now established by everyone using Apple earbuds or headphones with Apple hardware to watch content, this creates a more lifelike experience that mimics the studio environment with speakers.
The same spatial reference that is enabled by head tracking can lead to greater accuracy when placing objects in the three-dimensional space. Additionally, because it approximates the experience of an acoustic mix room, users may find that they can spend more time comfortably mixing on headphones, especially for those occasions when they’re traveling or otherwise away from the studio.
As everyone that watched a movie in a decent movie theater already experienced, Dolby Atmos is an innovative audio experience that envelops users in an immersive soundscape when using an array of speakers in a real room with a calibrated reproduction system. In movie soundtracks, helicopters and spaceships fly above us, and we are immersed in a real world experience by being directly at the center of the action. Being essentially an object-based format, Dolby Atmos can be approximately rendered to binaural, creating an enhanced experience when compared to stereo - even though not the same thing as having real speakers in a room.
Today, studios are using Dolby Atmos to create a bigger, tridimensional stage, where sounds don't necessarily move but can be located within a sphere, instead of just front right and front center. While music mixed in stereo is limited to left and right channels, music mixed in Dolby Atmos allows artists to now place individual sounds all around the virtual sphere, and using headphones can be effective in locating those placed sound objects - given that 99% of users will listen to the same mix also using a binaural rendered version for headphones. The approach also allows users to decide the volume, size, and diffusion level of each vocal, guitar, or drum to reveal nuanced details in the music, when reproduced that way.
This is important, because artists and producers can now deliver music in Dolby Atmos through several leading streaming services, and the most popular devices for streaming music, including mobile, smart speakers, and even automotive sound.
www.audeze.com
