would love to hear some more thoughts regarding the 7p compared to the penrose...7p is super comfy and sounds great but im pretty curious about the penrose especially how it fits...its just about double the price so im not sure if i wanna take that dive
I have the 7x and Penrose X. I'm assuming audio is similar across the Penrose line / 7 line though.
Penrose:
+ Audio is way better. I don't know how to really describe it because I'm not an audiophile but music and game audio sounds really good. I can pick out individual sounds better and things are less muddled if that makes sense.
+ BT. I actually might just use these in BT w/ my phone to take meetings so I can move around
- Connection distance is SHORT. This might be a deal breaker for some people but I can get about 3-5x further away from the dongle compared to 7x
- Definitely not as comfortable and my ears get kind of hot after long use since there is clamping action that creates a seal around your ear
- Controls are generally not great; I'm hoping they improve this in future FW updates but things like not having a button to pause music, not being able to change presets w/o plugging them in, weird interface for switching input modes, etc.
- Audeze HQ doesn't work on mac yet so if you don't have a PC you can't upgrade or change presets
~ So far battery life seems better on the Penrose. I had a couple weird sessions with the Arctis where battery died in <6 hrs for some reason but charging indicators on both these headsets aren't great or I haven't figured it out yet
? Not sure on mic. Generally people haven't commented on the mic quality compared to my other headsets and I haven't run any tests
Arctis 7:
+ Man these things are ridiculously comfortable. You can get replacement pads for cheap that even make the more comfortable (the Penrose have their ear pads glued to the piece of plastic so you can get same-style replacement from Audeze for $30 but you can't get your hands on velour pads or anything like that without spending $$$)
+ Dongle just works. I can switch my usb hub between computers, move around, etc. it just picks it up. (With the Penrose I have to sometimes unplug/plug my dongle to get it to show up on mac. It might just be a mac thing but 🤷♂️ Audeze seems to only show up when the headset is connected but it's kind of inconsistent. This might be a pro or con for the Arctis but the dongle is always an audio output even if the headset is off so if you're on a computer your output devices won't shift around as you turn on/off the headset)
+ Connection distance is good (better than my gen 1/2 astro a50s).
~ I like the mic retraction. Idk how durable it'll be in the future but it's cool to have so it doesn't get in your way
~ The button you use to mute the mic is a lot more ergonomic than the switch on the Audeze. I also like the visual indicator that you're muted
~ The dials are way easier to spin on the 7 so when I take and put the headset on I'm always changing my volume which can be annoying
- Audio is pretty OK, on-par with my a50s I think. Basically nothing amazing but serviceable for gaming
I think if you need long connection distance definitely stick with the Arctis. If you want a headset for more than just gaming then maybe check out the Penrose.
