My Penrose X came last weekend, and I've been putting it through it's paces over the last week or so.
Just a little background on myself, I am not an audiophile and this is by far the most expensive pair of headphones I have ever purchased. I'm primarily a console gamer, and was using a Cloud Stinger plugged into PS4 controller the last few years. (which for the price is pretty darn good IMO) I bought the Penrose X primarily for PS5 and Switch use, and probably Xbox in the future. I initially tried the Pulse 3D headset, which I didn't like very much and returned.
Initial impressions right out of the box: These do have that 'premium' audio gear feel, which is nice. They just feel 'substantial'. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure most folks reading this know what I'm talking about. The Pulse 3D feels like a Fisher Price toy compared to these.
First thing I did was hook them up to BT on my phone. They sound really good hooked up to my phone this way, the volume gets extremely loud. In fact I was not able to turn it up more than halfway. They do connect to BT and the dongle at the same time if you want. I'm not sure how much I'll use it, but it does work well. The phone/dongle audio balance, the phone is a bit louder. So it's really good for podcasts, with the game audio still going quietly in the background. Pretty neat.
I connected them to my PS5 via the dongle. It paired right away with the dongle and I have had no drop outs. PS5 even recognizes it as 'Penrose'. I sit about 3.5m away from my PS5 and the dongle was plugged into the front port.
The audio quality on the PS5 was good, but seemed not quite as good as BT to my phone. I tried several different games. Tetris Effect and Amplitude, since they are music games. Sound is plenty loud. I also tried MK11 Ultimate, Tomb Raider, and AC: Valhalla (lol). I'm still unsure about the 3D Audio on PS5. Just seems for the most part to make things quieter. Tomb Raider def. has some positional audio going on and MK 11 has good bass. Valhalla is infamous for it's poor sound, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did sound better to me. Not great, but better. I was worried the higher quality of the headset would actually amplify the issues, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Astro's Playroom probably sounded the best. 3D Audio def. noticeable in that game, and the sound stage is much wider than my Stingers plugged into the controller.
Real quick, on Switch they also work well and sound very good. Actually think they sound better than PS5, it does get louder. The
Panzer Dragoon OST sounded magnificent through the headset.
One last, but important note on comfort. It definitely has a high clamp force out of the box. the padding on the top and earphones seems good and is soft, but after about an hour I could def. feel it.
I wear glasses as well. I've been doing the 'pillow trick' to loosen them up a bit. That does help, and I hope to break them in more going forward. The Stinger was the same way where there was a break in period.
There is an Android and Windows app you can use to set eq levels and update firmware. Windows app works fine, but I didn't mess with the EQ. Nice you can get firmware updates.
Overall I'm pretty happy, these are def. nice and I will use them a lot this console generation.