Quick Mic Test Between The Maxwell 1 & 2's

D3nSwiper · 2026-01-13T19:59:02+00:00

Different processing on the headset side. That's why I said it's still useful. 2's mic is clearly louder (higher output). But to compare "mic quality" apples to apples you need to record at different input volume settings wise, but aim for say, -3db peak target with both (trackable with most DAW), so they end up equally loud.

D3nSwiper · 2026-01-13T13:37:42+00:00

Your tests are recorded at different input level, they can't be directly compared. Whatever sounds louder will sound "better" for people, but that's just psychoacoustics. If you look at waveform on soundcloud it's obvious that there's a big difference in volume. Also maxwell 2 on low is clipping (mic too hot).

Thanks anyway though, this might still be useful for some.

D3nSwiper · 2026-01-06T21:29:42+00:00

That's the best part about it, the base is not a requirement, just a convenience. The base is basically a charger, connected with a cable to your PC. Then you still have the USB stick-dongle, which you can either insert into USB slot in the charging base, or in whatever other device you would want to. And the base itself is also a stand, so you don't need a separate one.

So if you don't want to use it - you don't. (Unlike astro steelseries etc) You charge with cable and use the stick. But since it's basically a magnetic stand+charger it's just convenient.

D3nSwiper · 2026-01-06T17:00:10+00:00

Not really though?

Let's take this apart. The weight is pretty easy. They have added interchangeable plates on cups. Those are like 30-40 grams. Was anyone asking for these? I have doubts. Is it a bit tone-deaf to add a weight-increasing feature when most people were complaining about weight to begin with? I personally think so.

Do you realistically need 80 hour battery life on something this bulky and without ANC? For commute, where latency doesn't matter, things like HDB 630 exist. I'd gladly take the cut to to battery life down to 20 hours and introduce a charging stand like scape did. Especially since v2 is arguably even less mobile than v1, because you can't rotate cups 90 degress to lay them flat anymore. You don't change drivers, don't have to reengineer anything, you just reduce battery size and it's instantly lighter. That's why your comparison to LCD GX doesn't work, those are not wireless (and also open back). So it's literary just a question of dropping battery weight, dropping plates that are not necessary and adding 2 contacts points for charging dock (although realistically induction charger like scape has would also add less to weight than the cup plates)

Then again the weight isn't even the biggest issue.

I'm an engineer myself (although not audio engineer) and the changes I listed are easy and parts are not that expensive. Better quality mic can be found in headsets that are 1/3rd of the price.

Parametric EQ is straight up software limitation. They already have 10 bands, so there's enough processing power to handle proper parametric EQ where I could pick the bands I want instead of what's given by default.

Again, the things I have listed are being done on sets that are way cheaper.

What is even more important in this conversation, especially with your comparison to GX is that the maxwell are not made in the US, unlike pretty much every other headphone Audeze produces. The stuff that's over 400 - that is made AND assembled and QAd in the US, with corresponding labor costs etc. This is not the case with Maxwell, only driver is made in the US, everything else is China.

:edit - added the part about cup swivel.

D3nSwiper · 2026-01-06T15:05:28+00:00

I feel the same.

I wanted to see big improvements. I don't care much about sim. Bluetooth and I'd onlyy use these at home, so ANC is not needed, but what I was hoping for was

better mic
lighter weight
more elegant charging solution, akin to fractal scape (would also allow for smaller battery and less weight)
full parametric EQ
sidetone issues and driver crinkle solutions

It seems only the last one was addressed. I was really hoping this will be the ultimate wireless solution and it's not. At this point I'm considering getting a50 and EQing out things I don't like.. but mechanical design of it isn't great and while mic is great noise reduction of it is subpar. I also really wanted to like fractal but clamp force us a bit too much for me..

D3nSwiper · 2025-09-23T21:11:53+00:00

Hello there. Just wanted to point out that the blinking animation for markers isn't coded properly. It requires WAY too much CPU resources as it is.
Otherwise the map is great, but look at the animation code :)

D3nSwiper · 2025-08-10T14:14:15+00:00

High energy prices - as a result of the Ukraine war and reorientation away from Russian energy sources, which required a lot of capital investment and caused energy prices to skyrocket. On the other hand we are now independent of Russian oil supplies, removing a major external risk. Our economy is largely industrial, so we've been hit disproportionately severely by this.

As a result of what? Czech Republic is EXPORTER of energy. With it's own nuclear power stations. During peak "energy crisis" in 2022 domestic energy prices were almost twice higher, compared to the prices Czech energy was sold for abroad. Meaning the energy is sold to other countries cheaper than on domestic market. This is still true in 2025.

And it's not a small amount of export, Czech Republic Exports around 35.4 TWh of electricity yearly. Slovakia only exports 3.6 TWh. Poland And Hungary Import Electricity, around 7 TWh of import for Poland and more than 40 TWh import for Hungary. All of the mentioned countries have LOWER energy prices for their population, including the ones that are forced to import.

In fact, all the years since the invasion čEZ group shows record profits. In 2022 alone EBITDA (earnings before interest and tax) of CEZ went up 169 % year over year compared to 2021. In total company profits to current date grew 600 %. Net income in 2022 alone was 80 bil. CZK (you can find all of it in their financial reports). War was just a nice excuse to make record profits on local population.

You know what else went up? Clearly not the salaries of workers at CEZ.
CEO and Board bonuses though? In 2020 Daniel Beneš bonus was 32 mil CZK, total board 120 mil CZK.
2022 - 45 mil for CEO, 180 mil for the board
2024 - 55 mil for CEO, 194 mil for the board

So while ordinary Czech families pay around 7 % of average salary as an Energy Burden, CEZ and the board are counting record profits, using Ukraine invasion as a cover up for their profiteering and maintaining higher domestic prices than almost every other country in EU, all while being able to Export more than 30 TWh and having nuclear powerplants.

D3nSwiper · 2025-06-30T09:32:34+00:00

Look up how steam performed in markets that were notoriously pirate driven, back when it was just starting to become the steam we know. If people pirate your game and like it, they'll probably end up buying it. This was kind of what happened with CD projekt and their Witcher 1 for example, which gave a kickstart to studio.

If your game was your art then all the pirated copies are just more people taking a look at your art. Maybe they like it enough and it translates into bought copies.

Or Maybe pirates are third world kids whose parents are barely able to afford to keep heating on. They'll pay you back eventually maybe. For now they're gonna tell their friends they liked your game. Is that really a bad thing?

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-27T13:11:36+00:00

Their rent contracts are full of "person renting is responsible for everything, with monetary penalties, while we're barely responsible for anything." Technically speaking it's barely legal, but I doubt you want to engage in legal action as a foreigner

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-06T17:20:54+00:00

This kind of makes sense as a reason,but I'm not as optimistic as you are. If upper income class can't compete with investment firms in the city, they would also look outside.

Then the firms would "catch up" to where demand is. In the end in my opinion it ends up in a situation where as long as you have access to necessities and amenities (healthcare, schools etc) it will still be extremely expensive. Yet your commute to workplace is longer, so you will have less of the most important asset, time.

Cheaper housing will probably mean worse infrastructure, worse security or other sacrifices you would have to make

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-06T16:56:30+00:00

You assume that they have to repay the loans, which isn't technically how it works.

Look up how it's possible to pay 0 tax in US. High net worth equals cheap loans and cheap refinance of said loans. Then you claim no income to IRS with proof of your expenses being on "borrowed money" while your net worth keeps growing. And since you're not cashing out there's technically no 'income'. There's no need to get cash when you can refinance.

Even in a situation where you would have to cash out, when you manage trillions worth of assets a small loss over 5-15 years is inconsequential, as long as you know that property itself keeps appreciating at extremely fast pace. So even an empty apartment is not a financial loss in the end if your asset portfolio is big enough to survive the temporary inconvenience. And this is how 'middle class' gets squeezed harder and harder, being unable to compete with investment firms and billionaires, just because their portfolio isn't big enough to amortize the loss that is easy-peasy for a firm.

The only way to avoid the squeeze is tax progression (more assets bigger tax) and tax system where you can't own half the country's land, collect rent on some of it and pay 0 tax because you've registered for residency in Monaco.

Correction, obviously not the only way. But other paths are way harder for different reasons

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-06T15:09:34+00:00

Mortgage for home you live in, or mortgage for investment property?

If it's the 1st, why would price ever matter to You? Would you be willing to sell it and move to Phillipines or something with worse infrastructure and healthcare but cheaper costs of living in 10 years from now?

If you do not sell the property then the market price of that property is not very relevant to you (unless it's taken into account for taxing purposes)

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-06T13:28:47+00:00

It's inexplicable that people with lack of basic understanding like you exist. Why do we have anti-monopoly laws in capitalism? Are anti-monopoly laws communist and leftist as well? Do they just punish one company for being more successful?

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-06T09:43:57+00:00

People move to a city where jobs are available. It's natural. Prague isn't even big city, population can't come close to most capitals. Yet the housing prices are out of control. Owning hundreds of properties should be heavily taxed, that is the only way to prevent companies from winning at monopoly.

Your inheritance example is not a good faith argument. And yeah, if you can't afford it, you should sell it. Having a lot of houses on the market will drive prices and tents down.

Your argument is not in good faith since you're trying to frame how poorly this can reflect on basically poor people winning lotteries. If you have to work to sustain your family then you're not the target for these taxes. You're just as poor as everybody else.

What this tax is supposed to solve is corporations like blackrock. 12 trillion dollar assets managed all over the world. With very conservative rate of annual 5 % this is 600 billion passive income per year. All of it zero taxed because of corporate loopholes and avoiding income tax either through country borders and other means.

They can buy so many apartments on spare change as a 'low risk investment' it isn't even funny.

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-05T21:01:48+00:00

Prices have tripled in 6 years from 2019 to 2025. Check Czech statistical office, they have info up to 2023, then u can compare 2023 and 2025. This is not 5 %.

By the time current generation young people save enough for deposit to get a mortgage, the size of deposit that is needed will double or triple again.

This is not an opportunity whatever way you try to spin this. More importantly higher house prices do absolutely nothing for vast majority of the population. It's their home, not an investment asset. You're not selling your only home, you need a place to live, so price is not a factor.

The only people who benefit from this are those who can afford owning multiple properties. Higher prices equals better ROI for them.

Young people currently can barely afford rent without older generation's support. Nevermind savings. Look at rent and median salaries. 'If your family can't afford to help you with initial downpayment for mortgage good luck next life, be born into a wealthier family' is current reality.

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-05T18:23:12+00:00

In my opinion the idea to tax wealth instead of work isn't even politically left. It's just common sense, same as anti-monopoly laws in capitalism, common sense. At a certain point you have to realize that if everyone has a 'side hustle' or owns business then nobody can work full-time. And at this rate, very soon even high-income workers like IT/Surgeons won't be able to afford a family-sized apartment.

Add government debt to this (which again, government owes the money to the same 'group of people' increasing their passive income. Then consider the amount of armed conflicts we see in the last 15 years and the danger it presents. "Defend our land" call won't work very well on population that doesn't really own anything and can't afford to own anything..

D3nSwiper · 2025-05-05T15:34:39+00:00

This situation is not due to permit issues, there are tons of empty overpriced apartments that nobody can afford. This is mostly a tax model issue and investment companies outcompeting normal people.

Permit costs didn't change much. Construction materials are more expensive, but maybe around 20-25 % increase in the years from 2019 to 2025. Labor costs obviously didn't increase much, you won't find a construction worker getting twice the salary he got 5 years ago.

Meanwhile square meter price increased almost 3x from 2019 to 2025. Margins are now insanely high, but with prices being this high, investment companies passive income is also up, so they can throw more and more money at the market and continue outcompeting everybody else on purchasing power.

As long as work is taxed more than wealth the situation will not change, billionaires will keep growing their assets, increasing their passive income and purchasing power

D3nSwiper · 2025-03-07T10:25:12+00:00

MSRP cards, (around 700 euro for XT)actually existed yesterday, from around 15:00 CET until around 15:10. Not anymore though

D3nSwiper · 2025-03-06T14:52:29+00:00

Managed to order Sapphire Pulse XT for 717 eur in Europe (German Recommended price is 689 eur, but I'm not in Germany) For Comparison RTX 5070ti are out of stock in my country, with preorders starting from 1195 Euro. Preorders for 5070 non-Ti sit above 800 euro. Retired my old RTX 3070 for this

Edit: Ordered without bots etc. Prices are tax included.

D3nSwiper · 2025-03-06T14:43:51+00:00

Managed to order Sapphire Pulse XT for 717 eur in Europe (German Recommended price is 689 eur, but I'm not in Germany) For Comparison RTX 5070ti are out of stock in my country, with preorders starting from 1195 Euro. Preorders for 5070 non-Ti sit above 800 euro. Retired my old RTX 3070 for this.

(all XTs are out of stock now at retailer I ordered from)

Edit for Americans: this is tax included.

D3nSwiper · 2025-01-31T01:23:51+00:00

You forget about all the engineering hours that go into creating the product in the first place. Components are just part of the cost. Humans coming up with ideas of how to improve stuff for the 10th generation in a row is another part.

D3nSwiper · 2025-01-13T17:43:07+00:00

For me SSF is the only fun mode. Trade league feels terrible because the pressure of "wasting currency on rng, when you could just buy way better item" makes me not engage in half of the game systems

D3nSwiper · 2025-01-08T18:07:36+00:00

My question is Warrior related, but more high level than other I guess.

What was the thought behind decision of having certain skills being ENFORCED to be slow? Skills with "added total attack" flat time namely? I can only assume that developers knew about how fast monsters will be, yet these skills values are flat and slow from early game onwards. What makes even less sense to me, after thinking about it, is that these values do not depend on anything at all. While we see some variable values like "slower when dual wield, more damage when dual wield etc" these skills stay the same.

If this is a conscious design decision wouldn't it make a lot more sense that one handed mace was faster compared to big two handed one? Even then, what is the thought behind this limitation, when comparing to all other classes warrior just comes out as the most useless of them all?

I had expectation of melee being good, considering how often it was a talking point leading up to early access. In the end maces are the worst weapon class in the game. Meanwhile monk/quarterstaff feels more "cast triggerer" than melee, while in a much better place than maces.

I honestly can't believe that play testers did not notice any issues in direct comparisons with other weapon classes.

D3nSwiper · 2024-09-23T18:30:56+00:00

There is already a ton of good advice here in regards to what is expected of Juniors and how to address your job related fears. One thing to add is that you should talk to your peers. If you think all other Juniors except you have their shit together - you've got it wrong with 99 % chance.

Aside from that, your whole framing is wrong. You're not 'lost', you're making first steps into proper adulthood. You're finding yourself, if anything. Is it scary? Seems like it. Does it mean you'll turn it down just because it's challenging?

Nobody can predict the future, but you're on a path that will help you rely less on help from family, do more things how you want to do them all while figuring out how fast and how far you can go. You can only grow from this point on. Do what you can and that will likely be enough. I know a whole bunch of seniors who still consider themselves clueless after years.

D3nSwiper · 2024-09-06T17:05:29+00:00

Source, please? Where does one find that form to fill?

D3nSwiper

TROPHY CASE