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There are gaming headsets, and then there are headphones that happen to be extraordinary for gaming.

The Audeze Maxwell 2 belongs in the second category.

Audeze comes from the world of serious high-end audio. The California-based company built its reputation around planar magnetic headphone technology used by demanding listeners, musicians, engineers and audio professionals. Maxwell takes that audiophile DNA and applies it to gaming.

At the center are enormous 90mm planar magnetic drivers. The result is exceptional detail, separation, low-frequency authority and spatial definition: qualities that matter just as much when listening to a beautifully produced soundtrack as they do when locating another player somewhere in a game environment.

And that's exactly why Maxwell 2 belongs in Music In Gaming.

We don't want a headset that's merely good at reproducing footsteps, gunfire and voice chat. We want to hear the score. The production. The sound design. The space around individual instruments. The tiny details that disappear through lesser gaming headsets.

At the same time, Maxwell 2 doesn't sacrifice the things a gaming headset actually needs: ultra-low-latency wireless audio, high-resolution playback, a detachable boom microphone with noise reduction, extensive connectivity and more than 80 hours of claimed wireless battery life.

It is unapologetically substantial. This isn't the lightest gaming headset on the market, and it isn't trying to be. The tradeoff is the hardware inside it and the level of sound it can produce.

Audeze is headquartered in California, where the company develops and engineers its planar magnetic headphone technology. That combination of California audio engineering, high-end listening culture and gaming technology makes Maxwell particularly appropriate for what Music In Gaming is about.