Over-Ear
Audeze Maxwell 2
88Outstanding
$330
Full review dataAudeze Maxwell 2 vs Yamaha YH-WL500: which should you buy?
Specs, scores and condensed review verdicts for the Audeze Maxwell 2 vs Yamaha YH-WL500, side by side. Where a product has no HearWiki score yet, not enough reviews have been aggregated to rate it.
Score breakdown
Each axis is a 0–10 blend of what reviewers scored, not a lab measurement.
Audeze Maxwell 2 leads on 5 of 6 measures.
- Audeze Maxwell 2
- Yamaha YH-WL500
HearWiki score
88
-
Sound
9.5
-
Battery
9.5
-
Calls
9.0
-
Value
7.5
-
Price (USD)
$330
$250
Generation & platform
The scores rank quality. This is the other question: is the newer one actually newer technology, or the same platform in a new shell?
New platform
Audeze Maxwell 2 (2026) against Yamaha YH-WL500 (2019). The Audeze Maxwell 2 is the newer platform here: Bluetooth 5.3 against 4.2, Top codec LC3 against SBC, LE Audio (LC3) and ANC type Adaptive against None.
- Maxwell 220267 yr newer
- YH-WL5002019
What differsMaxwell 2YH-WL500
- Bluetooth
- 5.3
- 4.2
- Top codec
- LC3
- SBC
- LE Audio (LC3)
- Yes
- No
- ANC type
- Adaptive
- None
Platform
Specifications
Maxwell 2YH-WL500
- Type
- Over-Ear
- Over-Ear
- Price (USD)
- $330
- $250
- HearWiki score
- 88
- Not scored
- Released
- 2026
- 2019
- Availability
- Sold new
- Discontinued
- Driver
- 90 mm planar magnetic
- 40 mm dynamic
- Driver type
- planar
- dynamic
- Driver size
- 90 mm
- 40 mm
- Drivers per side
- 1
- -
- Frequency response
- 10 Hz - 50 kHz
- 20 Hz - 20 kHz
- Bluetooth
- 5.3
- 4.2
- Codecs
- SBC, AAC, LC3, LC3plus, LDAC
- SBC
- Multipoint pairing
- Yes
- -
- Battery life
- 80 h
- 9 h
- Battery life (ANC on)
- 35 h
- -
- Full charge time
- 120 min
- 180 min
- Active noise cancelling
- Yes
- No
- ANC type
- adaptive
- -
- Transparency mode
- Yes
- -
- Companion app
- Yes
- -
- Custom EQ
- Yes
- -
- Wear detection
- No
- -
- Controls
- buttons
- -
- Weight
- 560 g
- 315 g
- USB-C
- Yes
- -
- Connector
- -
- 3.5 mm
- Microphones
- 2
- -
- Call noise reduction
- Yes
- -
- Call NR technology
- AI ENC
- -
What reviewers said
Audeze Maxwell 2
No summary yet - we haven't aggregated enough reviews.
Yamaha YH-WL500
The Yamaha YH-WL500 is a wireless over-ear headphone aimed at musicians, offering a 2.4 GHz low-latency connection plus Bluetooth for versatile use. Its semi-open back design and included transmitter make it easy to pair with instruments, though it lacks active noise cancellation and has a modest battery life.
- Pro:Low-latency 2.4 GHz wireless for instrument play
- Pro:Semi-open back design for natural sound
- Pro:Includes transmitter for easy instrument connection
- Con:No active noise cancellation
- Con:Battery life is only 9 hours
- Con:Supports only SBC codec
Summaries are AI-condensed and paraphrased from published reviews and specs - not original hands-on testing. More on our method.
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