Whilst it is next to impossible to predict the future with a high degree of accuracy, there is no question that the past 10 years were extremely kind to the high-end headphone industry and for some brands — the strategic moves they made are likely to pay off in a big way in the years to come.
That will not be the case for everyone. Even with the headphone category projected to grow into the $50 billion range globally over the next few years.
If we were to put our money down on one brand — Audeze would be a rather logical choice.
When Sony’s gaming division acquired Audeze earlier this year, more than a few eyebrows were raised wondering why the Japanese electronics giant would acquire a niche, high-end headphone brand based out of California.
The simple answer is that Audeze’s decision a few years ago to start engineering and selling gaming headsets was a stroke of genius.
Not only did gaming headsets become 40% of its annual sales, but it dramatically widened the base of younger consumers who had heard of the brand.
Branding, which has never been one of the strengths of the high-end audio category, matters enormously to younger consumers who use platforms like TikTok and Instagram for buying research.
If the gaming community has never heard of your headphones — you might have a problem long-term.
Audeze’s Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset might be targeted at the gaming community, but don’t let the “gaming” term fool you — these are extremely capable audiophile headphones for only $299.
The Maxwell are closed-back wireless headphones featuring trickle-down technology from the company’s $1,000+ audiophile lineup.
The headphones combine planar magnetic drivers, noise cancelling microphone technology from the Filter, head-tracking from the Mobius, a USB dongle from the Penrose, and proprietary DSP (digital signal processing).
You can read our review of the Audeze Maxwell here for an in-depth look at their gaming and music performance.
The Maxwell is the hottest selling gaming headphone on the market today and for good reason. It’s basically an audiophile wireless headphone that has been tweaked with a handful of features to make it more useful when gaming.
None of those features interfere with music listening, movie watching, podcasting, or using the Maxwell as an office headset. In short, it is best $300 wireless headphone on the market in terms of versatility and sound quality which explains why it is sold out everywhere (particularly the Xbox version with its Dolby Atmos support).
Where to buy: $299 at Audeze for PlayStation version | $329 for Xbox version
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