I’ve tried several gaming headsets over the years and at this point, it almost feels like there are fewer and fewer things that I can be impressed by. Enter the Audeze Maxwell, a gaming headset from a brand that has a storied history in the high-end audio community. When Audeze reached out and asked if I wanted to try the Maxwell, I of course said yes. I’d been wanting to try it for a couple of years now. So I jumped at the chance.
My main reasoning was to see if it could hold a candle to what I found to be the best gaming headset on the market, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. Up until I tried the Maxwell, the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless had been my go-to. I was using it for gaming on PS5, PC, and even mobile. It was the only headset I would use for basically anything. Including streaming movies and music. Not only was the sound great, it was just so convenient and comfortable.
That being said, it wasn’t without its faults. The more I dabbled in high-end audio I also wanted to see if Audeze had something to offer that could sway my opinion on what the best value in gaming headsets is. Without beating around the bush, the Audeze Maxwell has exceeded nearly every expectation I had. At $299, it’s not an inexpensive gaming headset option. However, it does a lot of things right and I think that after this review, you’ll probably agree that it’s at the very least, worth considering. That being said, let’s break down the Audeze Maxwell and see if it’s worth your hard-earned money.
Audeze Maxwell Review: Hardware & Design
I’ll be honest when I say the Maxwell isn’t my favorite when it comes to the design of a gaming headset. That isn’t to say it looks bad by any means. It’s stylish, just not as stylish as some others I’ve used in the past. However, I want to follow that up with the very obvious realization that this is a completely subjective point. While I do think there are better-looking gaming headsets out there, this really matters very little.
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What’s most important is how the headset functions, and that it’s made with high quality. These are two things that the Audeze Maxwell knocks out of the park. Design-wise, the Maxwell is a big headset. Probably the biggest I’ve ever tested, at least when it comes to wireless options. While I think the size takes a tiny bit away from the design, it also means you get nice, sizeable ear cups that hug your ears in a pillowy embrace, so comfort is a definite factor here.
The larger size also means there’s more room in those ear cups for things like the planar magnetic drivers. Which, goes a long way to making this the best-sounding headset on the market across the board.
What’s in the Box
When it comes to the hardware, there’s a lot to unpack. Both literally and metaphorically. When you open up the box, you get the headset, the detachable mic, the low-latency USB-C dongle, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-A cable, and a 3.5mm TRRS analog cable.
Hardware & Build Quality
The Audeze Maxwell features a high-quality metal construction that makes it very clear a lot of thought and attention to detail went into building this headset. The ear cups swivel to adjust to head shape, and you can twist them so they sit flat if you slide the headset down to wear it around your neck during breaks. This also makes it decent for packing in a bag, although it’s still a massive gaming headset so it’ll take up a decent amount of space anyway.
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What I really like is that there’s a physical mute switch you can toggle when you need or want to shut the mic off for a second. You also get physical controls for volume adjustment, and there are separate volume wheels for game audio and chat audio, something that I think is very underused in gaming headsets as they often incorporate both into a single dial that forces you to pick what’s louder.
The headset itself doesn’t have an extendable headband like some do. Instead, the Audeze Maxwell uses an inner band with three holes on each side. These can be fitted to the knobs on the left and right sides of the main band to adjust for sizing. The band itself is made from high-quality leather that feels premium, which I love, and it’s also pretty comfortable against my head even after longer gaming or listening sessions.
The only complaint I have about the band is that because it’s made of leather, the sizing holes don’t expand at all. This makes it quite a chore to adjust the band for sizing if needed. Luckily, you may only have to do this once if you’re the only one using the headset. So once that’s out of the way, you won’t have to mess with it ever again. In my experience, I wasn’t quite sure if the band was where I needed it to be. So I tried adjusting it to a different size and it was just more difficult to do than I had anticipated.
As it turns out, the band was at the right size for my head right out of the box (the middle of the three holes), so I never needed to mess with it in the first place. However, I do think it’s important that you find the right fit before you really start using it. So you may want to test all three size options anyway. Just be aware that you might have to fiddle with the band for a few minutes.
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In terms of remaining hardware, there’s also a nice big physical power button and a button for turning the active noise cancellation on and off as you desire. Overall, the Audeze Maxwell is a very well-built gaming headset from top to bottom. There are just a couple of things I would personally change.
Audeze Maxwell Review: Comfort & Fit
I thought I knew what comfort was before I put the Audeze Maxwell on for the first time, and I was wrong. At least in part. I have more than a few gaming headsets hanging up right now and they’re all pretty comfortable. Some more than others. The Audeze Maxwell overshadows all of them. Like I said earlier, the headset is big because the ear cups are big. By design, the ear pads are also big. They’re nice and thick and they envelop your ears in a soft cushion that does a great job at isolating sound even if the ANC is turned off.
And yet, even with the good seal to isolate outside noise, they’re still breathable enough that I didn’t have to worry about sweat after wearing this headset for hours. I can confidently say that this is the most comfortable gaming headset I have ever used. That does come with a caveat though. And in my opinion, it’s a caveat that might turn some people away. The Audeze Maxwell is a very heavy gaming headset by comparison. It weighs 500 grams which is kind of astonishing when you look at other options on the market.
The only reason I say this is a caveat is because it can impact comfort, mostly in the long term. I still think the Audeze Maxwell is the most comfortable gaming headset I’ve used. However, its weight can’t be ignored and it can lead to issues with long-term comfort. Not over the lifespan of the headset, but over a longer period of use in a single session. For example, I find that the Maxwell has a tendency to start putting pressure on my neck if I wear it for longer than 4-5 hours.
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Now, you might be thinking, “4-5 hours is a pretty long time just take the headset off and take a break.” And you’re right. I can just take the headset off. In most cases, this is exactly what I do. I take little breaks throughout my gaming sessions pretty often. Whether it’s to get up and grab a snack and walk around for a few minutes, or to go do something else for a little while. There are times though when I sit down and play all day and if I’m in chat, I often leave the headset on because I’m talking with friends the whole time.
In these situations, it’s very easy to get lost in the moment and before you know it, several hours have flown by. This is where the weight of the Audeze Maxwell can start to become a minor issue. If you play games for very long periods of time, just know that this might become a factor for you, and it might not.
In terms of fit, the headset fits very securely and there are zero issues here in my opinion. I think for the most part, the weight isn’t going to hinder the experience for most gamers, but it is something that I felt needed to be mentioned. Overall, the comfort is really high up there and I’d even venture to say the Maxwell is more comfortable than the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, even if only by a little bit.
Audeze Maxwell Review: Microphone Quality
The microphone is always an important part of any gaming headset if you’re planning on using it for game chat. Whether that’s in-game chat or through something like Discord, you want a good microphone so your voice comes through clearly. The last thing you want is for your teammates to have a hard time hearing you. Especially if you’re playing games where clear callouts are a major part of the gameplay.
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Of all the gaming headsets I’ve tested over the years, I have only ever had issues with a few microphones. That’s based on feedback from friends who I chat with telling me I don’t sound good and that I’m just a little harder to hear. These are people I have played games with and sat in chat with for several years. So they know the sound of my voice and I trust their opinions on the matter. With that being said, I want to start by saying that I have had zero complaints from friends when chatting while using the Audeze Maxwell.
The microphone quality, from my end, seems to be top-notch and, it might just be the best microphone of any gaming headset I’ve used so far. As I’ve said, I normally use the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, which I thought had a pretty good microphone. After using it for 2+ years, my friends agree. Once I started using the Audeze Maxwell, I held off for a few sessions before asking how I sounded in comparison to how I normally sounded. Everyone I asked said I sounded just fine, while a few even said I sounded better than usual.
My voice comes through more clearly and that’s really an important detail for callouts. Now this won’t matter for every game. However, we often play games like Call of Duty where callouts in multiplayer are a big deal to us as a team. We’re very vocal in calling out the enemy position to try and win. We also play a lot of Destiny 2 where callouts are important for endgame content like raids and dungeons. The slightest trouble in hearing one another could mean a wipe, and that’s no fun for anyone. This was never an issue in all my time using the headset for gaming so far.
So I think it’s safe to say I will probably never have an issue with the microphone on the Audeze Maxwell. I obviously can’t speak to how this will be long-term. But given the build quality of the headset, I don’t anticipate the microphone quality degrading over time. If there’s anything I would change with the mic, I would add a few more options in the companion software to adjust the sound and really fine-tune it. This is something that I really appreciate about the SteelSeries GG app. It has tons of settings for adjusting how the mic sounds, that being said, you don’t need a SteelSeries headset to use that software. So really, you could use it with the Audeze Maxwell if you really wanted to, and just tweak things in the Sonar tab. Though I don’t know if this is really necessary.
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Audeze Maxwell Review: Sound Quality
There was a time when sound quality didn’t matter very much to me when playing games. It was a simpler time. As long as the headset I was using sounded relatively decent, I was fine with it. Then I started using nicer and nicer headsets, and now I’ve arrived at Audeze’s Maxwell headset. An option that clearly stands above most options on the market for sound quality.
That shouldn’t be surprising. Audeze specializes in high-end audio. I knew the headset would sound good, I just didn’t know it would sound better than anything else I’ve ever used. While I am not an audio expert, I have used several high-end headsets at this point so I do have some inkling of when one clearly sounds better than another. The Audeze Maxwell provides a sound experience for games that I really do feel is unmatched.
While using it in games like Space Marine 2 or Diablo IV, I can more easily pick up the nuances of the varied and layered tracks laid on top of the rest of the game’s audio. The ambient tracks of Space Marine 2 come alive as if I was standing in the crowd at a concert. And there’s something magical about having that kind of audio quality for in-game music as you’re ripping into aliens with a chainsaw sword. Speaking of, the Maxwell really amps up these kinds of sounds too.
In an age where some games are best when they can immerse you in the world, playing Space Marine 2 while wearing the Maxwell headset almost made it seem as if I was actually the Ultramarine revving up the sword to slice and dice the enemies of humanity. For Diablo IV, the Maxwell really shined with the different music tracks of each zone. But even little details like the sound of a health potion dropping and then being consumed were more pronounced. The screams of my character as they were cutting down demons were more clear.
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In games like Final Fantasy XIV, which is packed to the gills with a damn near life-changing soundtrack, the Maxwell not only brought the music to life but it made the world of the game feel more real. The sound even gets a little more lively if I’m playing with my DualSense controller plugged in. Because when it’s plugged in for Final Fantasy XIV, the advanced haptics of that controller kick in.
So walking on grass almost feels like walking on grass. Harvesting wood from a tree and chopping away at it with your hatchet sort of feels like the vibrations you might feel from the wooden handle as the blade of the hatchet meets the tree on impact. And the sounds that are linked to those haptics are clear as day with the Maxwell. It all really just plays into the fantasy that I’m in the world of the game, walking on that patch of grass myself, or chopping away at that tree. Now, part of this is a true testament to the skills of the game’s audio engineers.
At the same time, it’s a testament to Audeze. For being able to harness what the game’s audio engineers have done and make you feel like you’re in the game you’re playing. Based solely on delivering sound so rich with life, that you start to feel like you’re hearing these sounds in person.
I’ll say it again, there was a time when the sound quality of my gaming headsets didn’t matter much to me. Those times are gone and the Maxwell has a part in my shifting opinion on the matter. Using the Maxwell is not so transcendent of an experience that I can’t ever use anything else. It is however very enjoyable to hear my games in a way that makes them significantly more lively. And Audeze deserves a lot of praise for it. The Maxwell is quickly becoming one of my favorite headsets to use, if not my favorite headset.
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Out of the box, the Maxwell headset sounds superb and you don’t need to do anything to it to enjoy the audio experience. However, you can fine-tune things by adjusting the sound profiles inside the Audeze HQ app.
Audeze Maxwell Review: The Audeze HQ App
The app is your tool for playing with the preconfigured sound profiles as well as updating the dongle and headset. For instance, there’s an option to change to a Footsteps profile so you can better hear footsteps in games like Call of Duty.
The headset picks up footsteps and relays their unique sound signature to you pretty well without turning on this sound profile. Better than most headsets I’ve tried, too. But in using the Footsteps profile it amplifies their sound slightly so they’re just a bit easier to hear. You can certainly choose to ignore the footsteps in these kinds of multiplayer games, but I find that you will almost always do better if you’re paying attention to these audio cues.
One thing I’ve noticed is that while using this particular sound profile with the Maxwell, there wasn’t a major difference between when it was on and when it was off. It was a subtle change, but still noticeable. In the end, it makes a difference, however small, so it’s worth picking as opposed to leaving the headset on the default “Audeze” setting. Alternatively, if you’re playing an RPG or another type of game where it’s very story/narrative heavy, you can choose the headset’s Immersive sound profile to bring the game to life.
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This is the kind of profile I chose for games like Final Fantasy XIV, Diablo IV, and Space Marine 2. There are also profiles for bass boost and treble boost among a few others. You can also choose one of the few “Preset” options that are there if you want to manually adjust the EQ and save these as specific profiles. So you get complete granular control of how all the frequencies sound and adjust things to your precise specifications.
In addition to the different sound profiles, the HQ app also lets you toggle the side tone, with a slider bar for how much of the sidetone level you want to hear. This is just so you want to be able to hear your own voice while in chat. It acts as a way to see how you sound to others, while also letting you know how loud you are. It’s intended to help nail down the best possible sound for the mic so your voice is clear and at a reasonable volume level for others.
On top of that, there’s another feature for mixing the game and chat audio, although I left this untouched as I can control the volume of my chats in Discord directly while using the volume wheel on my keyboard for game audio. All of this is doable with the PC app, but unfortunately, there’s no app for PS5. There is an app for mobile, but changing the sound profiles didn’t seem to do anything for the sound coming out of my PS5. A nice touch with the PC app is that there’s a tab with a layout of the headset that tells you what all the controls are for.
It’s nothing major, just a nice little addition if you weren’t quite sure what everything on the headset does. Overall it’s a decent app but nothing too special. No bells and whistles or extra features. Just the basic stuff you’d need. And that’s completely fine.
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Audeze Maxwell Review: Battery Life
I talked for several months with my boss about this headset. He’s been using it for a while and wouldn’t shut up about how good it is. I take his opinion about audio seriously because he takes audio seriously. More seriously than anyone else I know. Still, despite his praise for the Maxwell, I had my reservations. Mainly for two reasons. One, the lack of its ability to play simultaneous audio from two sources if I was connected using the low-latency dongle (it will allow this if you have the headset wired and connected to another device with Bluetooth), and the battery life.
One of the reasons I love the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wireless so much is because of these two things. The battery life in particular is a non-issue. Because it utilizes a hot-swappable battery you can just pop out and replace it when it needs to be recharged. So you ALWAYS have a charged battery ready to go, and you basically have 100% uptime on the headset. I didn’t want to give up this convenience. How does Audeze get around that with the Maxwell? With a battery life that lasts for up to 80+ hours.
That’s an astounding amount of time between charges, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I went an entire two to three weeks before I needed to plug the Maxwell in. I still kind of prefer the convenience of not having to plug in a headset at all. That being said, I can overlook this fact with the Maxwell because it lasts so long between charges. I can easily plug it in during the start of my day and it’ll be done well before I need or want to use it again. Then it’s back to a full battery which will last me for a few more weeks.
What’s more, is that the Maxwell supports fast charging. If the battery happens to die on me while using it, I can plug the headset in for only 20 minutes and get several hours of game time. Likely more than I’ll need. Then I can plug it in for a full charge after I’m done. All-in-all, the battery life on the Audeze Maxwell is stellar, and I don’t think anyone is going to have a single complaint about it.
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Should you buy the Audeze Maxwell?
Getting down to brass tax, I think there’s a large subset of the gaming community that would never buy this headset. That’s not because it’s bad, as my review clearly shows it’s the exact opposite. It’s simply because there are many gamers out there who just don’t care about all the little niceties that the Audeze Maxwell headset provides. They just want something that works and isn’t going to fall apart on them in two to six months.
Having said that, I think there are still plenty of people who would spend the money on this headset if it meant an overall better and more enjoyable gaming experience. Sound plays a big part in games. Certainly, more than many people give it credit for. You can’t truly experience how influential it is though if you don’t have a headset that can deliver audio at that level. The Maxwell delivers. It has a few flaws, as everything does. It’s heavy, for one. It’s also not the most portable so you’ll probably need something else entirely if you want an over-ear or on-ear headset for listening to music outside of the home.
Those issues notwithstanding, everything else about the Audeze Maxwell has been an amazing experience. So if you don’t mind spending a little more money on a gaming headset, I can confidently say I don’t think anyone who can and would buy this headset would regret the purchase.
You should buy the Audeze Maxwell if:
You want a high-end audio experience when playing games
You’re looking for something with long-lasting battery life
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Just in time for Halloween 2024, Meta has unveiled Meta Spirit LM, the company’s first open-source multimodal language model capable of seamlessly integrating text and speech inputs and outputs.
Designed by Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team, Spirit LM aims to address the limitations of existing AI voice experiences by offering a more expressive and natural-sounding speech generation, while learning tasks across modalities like automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), and speech classification.
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Unfortunately for entrepreneurs and business leaders, the model is only currently available for non-commercial usage under Meta’s FAIR Noncommercial Research License, which e grants users the right to use, reproduce, modify, and create derivative works of the Meta Spirit LM models, but only for noncommercial purposes. Any distribution of these models or derivatives must also comply with the noncommercial restriction.
A new approach to text and speech
Traditional AI models for voice rely on automatic speech recognition to process spoken input before synthesizing it with a language model, which is then converted into speech using text-to-speech techniques.
While effective, this process often sacrifices the expressive qualities inherent to human speech, such as tone and emotion. Meta Spirit LM introduces a more advanced solution by incorporating phonetic, pitch, and tone tokens to overcome these limitations.
Meta has released two versions of Spirit LM:
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• Spirit LM Base: Uses phonetic tokens to process and generate speech.
• Spirit LM Expressive: Includes additional tokens for pitch and tone, allowing the model to capture more nuanced emotional states, such as excitement or sadness, and reflect those in the generated speech.
Both models are trained on a combination of text and speech datasets, allowing Spirit LM to perform cross-modal tasks like speech-to-text and text-to-speech, while maintaining the natural expressiveness of speech in its outputs.
Open-source noncommercial — only available for research
In line with Meta’s commitment to open science, the company has made Spirit LM fully open-source, providing researchers and developers with the model weights, code, and supporting documentation to build upon.
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Meta hopes that the open nature of Spirit LM will encourage the AI research community to explore new methods for integrating speech and text in AI systems.
The release also includes a research paper detailing the model’s architecture and capabilities.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, has been a strong advocate for open-source AI, stating in a recent open letter that AI has the potential to “increase human productivity, creativity, and quality of life” while accelerating advancements in areas like medical research and scientific discovery.
Applications and future potential
Meta Spirit LM is designed to learn new tasks across various modalities, such as:
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• Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR): Converting spoken language into written text.
• Text-to-Speech (TTS): Generating spoken language from written text.
• Speech Classification: Identifying and categorizing speech based on its content or emotional tone.
The Spirit LM Expressive model goes a step further by incorporating emotional cues into its speech generation.
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For instance, it can detect and reflect emotional states like anger, surprise, or joy in its output, making the interaction with AI more human-like and engaging.
This has significant implications for applications like virtual assistants, customer service bots, and other interactive AI systems where more nuanced and expressive communication is essential.
A broader effort
Meta Spirit LM is part of a broader set of research tools and models that Meta FAIR is releasing to the public. This includes an update to Meta’s Segment Anything Model 2.1 (SAM 2.1) for image and video segmentation, which has been used across disciplines like medical imaging and meteorology, and research on enhancing the efficiency of large language models.
Meta’s overarching goal is to achieve advanced machine intelligence (AMI), with an emphasis on developing AI systems that are both powerful and accessible.
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The FAIR team has been sharing its research for more than a decade, aiming to advance AI in a way that benefits not just the tech community, but society as a whole. Spirit LM is a key component of this effort, supporting open science and reproducibility while pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve in natural language processing.
What’s next for Spirit LM?
With the release of Meta Spirit LM, Meta is taking a significant step forward in the integration of speech and text in AI systems.
By offering a more natural and expressive approach to AI-generated speech, and making the model open-source, Meta is enabling the broader research community to explore new possibilities for multimodal AI applications.
Whether in ASR, TTS, or beyond, Spirit LM represents a promising advance in the field of machine learning, with the potential to power a new generation of more human-like AI interactions.
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Cuba lost power across the nation on Friday after a major power plant failed, according to the country’s energy ministry. Blackouts have been a recurring problem for Cuba’s aging power grid, the New York Times reported, noting the country has lacked fuel to run the gird fully for weeks.
Its national electricity system was completely disconnected at 11:00AM local time, the energy ministry posted on X. By around 4:00, the ministry reported that it was able to get micro power grid systems running in some areas.
The night before, officials had asked residents to curb their electricity use and announced that schools and nonessential businesses would close, The Washington Post reports. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said the country would need to “paralyze” its economy amid an energy crisis.
Authorities say they are working to get the Antonio Guiteras power plant up and running again after it went offline this morning. It’s the nation’s largest power plant, according toReuters.
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The country’s energy emergency is the result of US sanctions making it difficult to import fuel, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on X on Thursday. Cuba typically gets a lot of fuel from Venezuela. But both countries face US sanctions, falling fuel supplies, and economic crises.
There was a time when the Kindle range set the example for other ereaders to follow, but looking at the new 2024 Kindles from Amazon, I’m quite sure that time has passed. It now seems that Amazon is doing just enough to keep up with Kobo and that’s particularly true for the new Kindle Colorsoft.
The first-ever color Kindle doesn’t come to Australia (where I’m based) until 2025 – date and price TBC – so I haven’t even seen it yet, but just going by what my colleagues in the US have said about it, I’m not convinced it should cost as much as $279.99 / £269.99 (about AU$420).
In comparison, both of Kobo’s 2024 color ereaders – the Libra Colour and the Clara Colour – are more affordable, with the former actually offering far more value for money. Oh, and they’re both repairable too, which none of the new Kindles are as far as I can tell.
Show me the features
There were rumors (via Good eReader) that Amazon’s first color Kindle would have stylus support and could adopt the new E Ink Gallery 3 screen technology, which promised better saturation than the current E Ink Kaleido 3 displays used in other ereaders, including the Kobo Libra Colour and Clara Colour.
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Neither of those, as we now know, are true. The Kindle Colorsoft uses the Kaleido 3 panel and there are no writing features. While it shares the same screen size as the Libra Colour (7 inches) and the same amount of internal storage (32GB), it misses out on the ergonomic build of its Kobo counterpart as well stylus support. Both offer Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity too, but the Kindle Colorsoft does get you wireless charging.
However, given how fiddly wireless charging was to use on the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, I’m not quite sure this one feature alone should account for the higher price over the $219.99 / £199.99 / AU$359.95 of the Libra Colour.
(Image credit: Amazon)
I’m still not convinced
Without the asymmetric thickness and the page-turn buttons, the Colorsoft seems to be in direct competition with the Kobo Clara Colour instead, which retails for $149.99 / £139.99 / AU$259.95. This price, however, is for a 6-inch ereader using the same screen tech and with just 16GB of onboard storage.
Despite the color display, the Clara Color is cheaper than the 2024 Kindle Paperwhite ($159.99 / £159.99 / AU$299) which, however, now sports a 7-inch E Ink Carta 1300 display. I’m really keen to see this display in action on the new Paperwhite as I loved it on the Kobo Clara BW. It proved to have not just faster page turns, but I said that it was the best display on any monochrome ereader to date in my Kobo Clara BW review. If Amazon has managed to optimize it well for its new 7-inch ereader, I could justify the purchase of the 2024 Paperwhite, but I am struggling with the Colorsoft in context with the competition.
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While the entire Kindle range (other than the Scribe) really needed a facelift, I’m not entirely sold on the new releases. That said, I haven’t yet seen – or tried – any of them in person and will happily stand corrected when I’ve done the usual in-depth testing I do for ereaders. Until then, if you need me to recommend ereaders, I’d probably say go for a Kobo.
Also, Amazon, where the heck is an updated Kindle Oasis? It was too lovely an ereader to have been killed off!
Kevin Costner recently released the first entry in his series of Western films dubbed Horizon: An American Saga. However, for the vast majority of Yellowstone fans, the only saga they want is the conclusion of the Dutton family’s story and a glimpse of what comes next. Costner reinvigorated his career by headlining Yellowstone as John Dutton, but his clashes with Paramount Network and showrunner Taylor Sheridan have led to Costner’s departure from the series.
Although we’re still several weeks away from the return of the series, we’re sharing everything we know about Yellowstone season 5, part 2. And we’ll keep updating this post when anything newsworthy comes up.
To celebrate the sixth anniversary of Yellowstone‘s premiere, Paramount Network has finally announced when the final episodes will release. Yellowstone season 5, part 2 will begin on Sunday, November 10 on Paramount Network. Viewers in Canada will be able to watch it on Paramount+ on the same day. In America, Peacock retains the streaming rights for Yellowstone, but it’s currently unknown how quickly those episodes will appear on the service.
Additionally, Paramount is attempting to bring in an even larger audience by sharing the midseason premiere with CBS. AT 10 p.m. on Sunday, November 10 — two hours after its premiere on Paramount Network — viewers will get a chance to see the encore presentation of the first episode from Yellowstone season 5, part 2. For now, only one episode from the new season will be on CBS.
Sure! You can try live TV streaming options like Sling, Hulu Plus Live, and YouTube TV. The cheapest and best possible, though, is Philo. Philo is a live television streaming service that offers more than 70 top-rated channels and the entire AMC+ library for just $28/month. Some of the channels include A&E, MTV, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, MTV, BET, and the Paramount Network, which is the home of Yellowstone.
Philo also has over 90 free channels available to watch anytime without creating an account. In addition, the service has a library of over 75,000 content titles on-demand and an unlimited DVR that saves recordings for a year. Philo can be used on mobile phones, tablets, TVs, and desktops so you can watch the Dutton clan pretty much anywhere on any device.
No, but there is a teaser for the final episodes of Yellowstone. There’s not much in the way of new footage, yet it manages to find time to bring the conflict between Jamie and Beth to the surface.
Jamie seems to be desperate to get Beth to back down, and he suggests that their family legacy is at stake. For her part, Beth doesn’t care. She’ll burn it all to destroy Jamie.
With the new episodes now just a few months away, Paramount Network has released the first photos of Yellowstone season 5, part 2. And the first pic, seen above, doesn’t look very good for John Dutton. His estranged adoptive son, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), is appearing alongside Governor Perry (Wendy Moniz), which may be how the show chooses to acknowledge the death of the previous governor, John.
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
The second pic features Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and Mo (Moses Brings Plenty) presumably making their own plans for Yellowstone ranch.
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) has a quiet moment with a resting Carter (Finn Little).
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
It wouldn’t be Yellowstone without a porch side scene. In this case, Monica Long (Kelsey Asbille), Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill), and Kacey Dutton (Luke Grimes).
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
Chances are very good that the future of the show will revolve around Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly).
Paramount Network
Rip and Beth are seemingly joined at the hip, and their bond may determine whether the Duttons still have control of the ranch at the end of the season.
The cast of Yellowstone has been privy to the ending for months, but now Luke Grimes is sharing his thoughts about the series finale.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Grimes told EW. “I think it’s a perfect ending for the show for every character. It’s just a testament to what a good writer Taylor [Sheridan] is, and it’s a very, very profound, beautiful ending. I can’t wait to sit down and watch it one day.”
Inevitably, some things had to have changed if the original plan was for Costner to finish out the series. But according to Kelly Reilly, John Dutton was already meant to be written out of the series by the final episode.
“The absence [of John Dutton] was part of the ending,” Reilly told EW. “That’s not something that we had to pivot, that was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just happened a little bit differently.”
Despite the hope that Costner and Paramount Network would work something out, the actor has definitively announced that he will not be back for the final episodes of Yellowstone.
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Costner said, “I just want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on Horizon and doing all the things that that’s required… and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love. I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue, season 5 or into the future.”
“I loved it and I know you loved it, and I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning,” Costner added. “I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”
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Costner’s public attempts to restart a dialogue about his return began earlier this year. Matthew Belloni of Puck News reported in March 2024 that Costner was telling people he will return in some capacity, perhaps in a cameo.
“Kevin Costner has been telling people he’s planning to return for at least a cameo and possibly more, but there are currently no discussions for him to do that,” Belloni wrote. “Even if Costner significantly lowers his financial and time commitment demands, Sheridan may not want to bother reopening his finished scripts to accommodate a send-off for John Dutton.”
Costner teased a possible return to the show
Despite the fact that the show appears to be moving on without him, Costner reiterated his interest in coming back, via Variety in mid-June.
“I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it,” Costner said during a June 2024 appearance on Today. “It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances I think that all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances.”
Even now, Costner refuses to fully give up on the possibility of his return.
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“Saying there’s a chance, there’s always a chance,” added Costner. “I love the thing. You’ve got to be really clear about that.”
After almost a year of silence on the issue, Costner finally made some public comments about his potential return to Yellowstone for the final episodes. The good news is that he does want to return, but even Costner doesn’t know whether it’s going to happen.
“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to … I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we’re at five,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight. “So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”
Costner also appeared to indicate that he wants a say in the fate of his character.
“[Dutton] needs to be proactive in what happens, and I’ve kind of had my own fantasy how [the character’s final arc] might be,” Costner said. “But that’s Taylor’s thing. I said as much to him a while back. I had thoughts how it could happen, but we just have to see.”
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Costner struck a more conciliatory note during an interview at the beginning of May.
“No, [Sheridan and I] haven’t [talked],” Costner said. “He’s doing special work in a lot of different ways. He’s very prolific about the things he does, and if he sees me in something that he wants to do, I’ll look at it just the way I did Yellowstone and maybe we will end up doing something together. He likes a lot of the things that I like, and the idea of us working together is not out of the question for me. The subjects he chooses are very interesting to me. I like a lot of that stuff. Yellowstone stands as something that could continue. But that is a Taylor question. But other things that he’s doing I think are really, really good. He likes the same subjects that I do.”
While Costner was feeling more hopeful about the future earlier in May, he came out with a more combative tone during his interview with Deadline on May 13, and he provided his side of the story for the first time.
“Well, I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,” Costner said. “It wasn’t truthful. So now I’m talking about a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”
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“I don’t want to get down in the gutter with the Yellowstone thing but what I’m telling you is straight up,” Costner said. “I have taken a beating from those f***ing guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong. I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.”
“I could say ‘no comment’ all the way through,” Costner continued. “I won’t say my life is fair game or that any questions are fair game, but this is a realistic question. I will address it. They should have known that there was going to be an opportunity for me to say something. I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working. They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record.”
Fox Nation / Fox Nation
Costner also forcefully pushed back at the rumor that his commitments on Horizon kept him from shooting Yellowstone.
“That’s not true,” Costner said. “There were blocks of time that we didn’t get 10 episodes done. Basically, we were starting in April and May, and we’d usually go through August. We’d do 10. We didn’t even get 10 done during that time. I only worked 43 days. So that’s bulls***. That’s a lie. That’s not correct. They sent me away for seven days to go to London, to go to England during Covid, to do [promotion]. They made the contract and they picked the days.”
Costner also explained the origin of the report that he was only willing to film a week of Yellowstone season 5, part 2.
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“They didn’t have the scripts for anything else,” Costner said. “So, what you read in the end was that I said, ‘Well, look, I’m doing my movie. If you want me to work a week because you want to kill me or whatever else, I can give you a week.’ I really didn’t have that week to give them, but I said, I’ll do that. And then they [spun that] into, I only wanted to work a week.”
“I’m usually working six or seven days per each, whatever they are,” Costner said. “And they took that and a source on their side spun that into, well, he only wants to work a week for a whole season. Do you think that’s who I am? I’ve never missed a day of work. I’ve never left before fulfilling my contractual obligations. A lot of times, I stay as much as I can. In fact, I worked the nine-day stretch just to try to help them in July, when I was starting [Horizon] on August 1. I worked a Saturday and Sunday for them, and they still needed four more days. I gave it to them, when I thought we were going to do this so-called B, but there was no B thing. I was just going to give ‘em those extra four days.”
Even during this interview, Costner left the door open for his return. But it certainly seems a lot less likely now.
Sheridan had a very revealing quote on the subject when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023. He said that Costner’s exit “truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.” This implies that John Dutton won’t survive the end of Yellowstone even if Costner does reappear.
Via ScreenRant, one of the theories regarding Dutton’s fate is that he will meet his demise from colon cancer. During the first season, Dutton survived his first bout with that illness. If that’s the way John Dutton dies, then it would bring his fate full circle.
Luke Grimes, who plays John Dutton’s youngest son, Kayce Dutton, recently shared his thoughts about Kevin Costner’s apparent departure from the show. And he sounds largely supportive of Costner’s decision.
“Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show was going to unfold,” said Grimes during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I know, [Costner] got busy with his movies that were like passion projects. At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love.”
While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Yellowstone co-star Ian Bohen revealed that he hasn’t seen any of the scripts from the final episodes yet, but he is aware of where the story is going. He also dropped a very bold prediction about the series finale.
“[The fans] are going to get the [best] conclusion that could possibly be written,” Bohen said. “Everything will land in a way that is perfectly set. A lot of shows just kind of finish… and they don’t satisfy you. This will be completed in a way that it will make sense.”
“I don’t know that any show has finished this strongly ever,” Bohen added. “We’re expecting to have the best series finale in history. Overconfident maybe, but I think that’s what it’s going to be. We thank everyone for their patience… It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.”
Bohen also indicated that he expects Yellowstone‘s final season to resume production in May, but it could also be pushed to later in the summer.
That is the general idea that Paramount Network sold to fans when the end of Yellowstone was announced. However, a report on Puck states that three of the show’s principal cast members, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, and Luke Grimes, are in a pay dispute with Paramount Network because they want significant raises to reprise their respective roles as Beth Dutton, Rip Wheeler, and Kayce Dutton.
The report also indicates that those cast members have to be paid for Yellowstone season 6 even though it won’t be produced. That was a provision in their contracts for the previous series. There’s no indication yet whether the actors and Paramount Network have come to terms. If they don’t re-sign with the new show, then the spinoff series will lose key characters who could have been the bridge to the future of the franchise.
Yellowstone season 5, part 2, may not be the last time fans see Rip and Beth. In an April 2024 interview with Country Living, Hauser explained his focus is on finishing the final episodes of the series. Hauser then hinted that there could be a future for Rip and Beth in future Yellowstone iterations.
“I’m so focused on finishing Yellowstone the way it needs to be finished right now — well, just the show itself,” Hauser said. “We’ll see where that leads, but I know that there’s some stuff on the horizon when it comes to Taylor’s ideas for Kelly Reilly, myself, and some of the other cast. I’m excited to see where he goes creatively with that, but right now it’s just, let’s finish strong; let’s do the best we can.”
Reilly shared a similar viewpoint about the spinoff in a March 2024 interview with Collider. Once again, the goal for Reilly is to finish Yellowstone on a high note. However, Reilly did not close the door on appearing in the spinoff.
“I just care about finishing [the main show] with as much care, as much passion, and as much love as I can muster to put into it,” Reilly said. “That’s what I care about. I’m sort of prepping for that now, [and] that’s my tunnel vision thing that I care about most. And what goes on beyond that? There are discussions, you know. Don’t believe everything you read. It’s just nonsense. But we’re gonna, you know, let’s wait and see. I don’t have an answer right now. But we’ll see.”
The first half of Yellowstone season 5 featured the complete deterioration of the relationship between Beth and her adoptive brother – who doubles as the black sheep of the family – Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley). Beth and Jamie even openly contemplated murdering each other in a struggle that may destroy the Duttons. That is one of the big unresolved plotlines heading into the second half of the season.
Note that Bently’s name was not mentioned in Puck’s report about Yellowstone cast members seeking a raise for the spinoff series. If there’s any veracity to that story, it may mean that Jamie isn’t going to make it out of Yellowstone season 5, part 2. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Jamie will die, it could also mean incarceration or exile from his family. For now, we can only speculate.
If Sheridan wanted to follow the established model for TV spinoffs, Matthew McConaughey’s new character from the upcoming spinoff would be introduced in Yellowstone season 5, part 2. The only problem with that idea is that there’s no official report that McConaughey has even signed on for the spinoff.
McConaughey’s name has been mentioned in conjunction with the spinoff since February 2023. Since that time, all of the Hollywood trades have simply said that McConaughey is in talks to lead the spinoff. So it’s just talk until McConaughey actually signs on the dotted line. For now, there’s no indication that he has.
Yellowstone Season 5 Official Trailer | Paramount Network
Originally, only six episodes were planned to conclude the series. But Sheridan told THR in 2023 that he has the leeway to change that, if he chooses to. “If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10,” said Sheridan. “It’ll be as long as it needs to be.”
Via The Wrap, Yellowstone season 5, part 2 has officially begun filming after a nearly two-year hiatus. As with the previous seasons, production is on-location in Montana. Notably absent from the news was any word about Kevin Costner returning to the show. Now that cameras are rolling again, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that Costner will return, barring some last minute deal.
The current production schedule means that Yellowstone season 5, part 2 will be able to make its premiere window later this year.
While it’s still unknown whether or not Kevin Costner will return, John Dutton will be popping up in season 5, part 2. Josh Lucas, the actor who plays a younger version of Costner’s character, told Deadline on March 14 that he will return as the character for the final season of the show.
The actor revealed that part 2 will be “10 episodes or so,” which, while still vague, does narrow it down a bit in terms of how many times we’ll see the Dutton clan this season.
Epic’s lawsuit against Google resulted in a final ruling that would require Google to open up its Play Store to third-party app store competitors, but that no longer appears to be a requirement. Judge James Donato, the judge presiding over the case, made some changes to his ruling following Google’s request for a stay on the new regulations that Google was going to have to follow. This also comes after Google confirmed it would be filing for an appeal to that ruling. No doubt in hopes that the entire ruling will be reversed.
In the original ruling, Donato said Google would be required to open up its Play Store to third-party app stores. That would mean that companies like Epic could bring an Android version of the Epic Games Store to the Play Store. Where it would be more easily discoverable by users. The ruling also stated that Google would have to allow this for three years to allow competition to gain some growth. All of this was set to begin on November 1, 2024. So, just under two weeks from now.
Here’s where the change takes place. Donato has granted Google’s request for a stay. This means the Play Store can remain closed to competitors for the time being. Giving Google time to follow through with its appeal. The stay was also granted to all other parts of the ruling except for one of the requirements Donato was imposing.
Epic’s Play Store lawsuit that would allow competitors access still requires one key change
While Google won’t have to comply with most of Donato’s ruling, for now, one part of the ruling remains intact and will begin on the proposed November 1 date. Google will no longer be able to ink deals with developers or manufacturers that would benefit the Play Store and wall off competitors. In Epic’s lawsuit claims were made that Google was securing deals with developers and manufacturers that harmed competition. For example, it would offer revenue share, perks, and/or money to manufacturers to make the Play Store the only pre-installed app store on their devices.
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It was offering similar deals to developers to put their apps on the Play Store exclusively. Donato ruled that this in fact did harm competition and was part of the reason the Play Store was designated as an illegal monopoly. Starting November 1, Google can no longer make these deals. It’s not likely to be quite as impactful as Google having to comply with the full ruling. However, it should allow a small opportunity for the time being for competitors to stand a chance against Google.
Google could be granted a longer stay by the Ninth Circuit
Donato’s administrative stay may be temporary but there is a chance Google could have it extended. With the temporary stay in place, Google has time to appeal the verdict with the Ninth Circuit. The appeal could still end up in Epic’s favor. That being said, Donato says that he believes the Ninth Circuit may also grant a longer stay, The Verge reports. That would allow Google to push out the initial ruling even further. Potentially allowing it to circumvent Donato’s initial ruling for several years.
There’s also the possibility that the appeals court could reverse Donato’s decision. It’s still too early to tell what happens there, but there are some things that will be impacted immediately. Microsoft recently announced it would soon allow Xbox gamers to buy and play games from the Xbox app on Android. That might not happen for quite some time now. With the administrative stay in place, Google no longer has to allow developers the ability to choose another option other than Google Play Billing for transactions.
That leaves companies like Microsoft with two options. One is to put its plan for purchasing Xbox games from the app on hold. The other is to use Google Play Billing. The former seems more likely.
It’s been over a year since Peter Parker and Miles Morales joined forces for their epic crossover adventure game on the Sony PlayStation 5. Now they are swinging their way to PCs early next year.
Sony announced at New York Comic Con today that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is getting a PC release on January 30, 2025 on Steam and the Epic Games Store. The fans who got to hear the news first also witnessed the new trailer for the game’s PC remake.
The new release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will come in two different versions and both have plenty of extra features and perks for those very patient PC players. The “Standard Edition” comes with the full game and all the PS5 updates such as 14 new suits, “Ultimate Levels,” new styles of symbiote suits and an action figure mode in photo mode. The “Digital Deluxe Edition” also comes with five exclusive new suits for Peter and Miles each, early unlocks for Peter’s Arachknight suit, Miles, Shadow-Spirit suit and the web grabber gadget and additional items for photo mode.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 features the two most famous names from the Spider-Verse (not counting Stan Lee) in an expanded version of the Big Apple taking on one of the longest lists of villains in just about any comic book based game. The two take on bad guys like Kraven, Black Cat and Scorpion without giving away too many appearances. Of course, the one most of the fans looked forward to seeing is that deep voiced, slimy symbiote Venom.
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