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Compared to what? I keep thinking about when people say ‘I don’t like the design’, but it’s something that I feel like it’s more about the functionality than it is the aesthetics. You know what I mean? Like I think all these headphones generally are somewhat ugly, but is it really about the ‘looks’ as much as it is about the sound?
Compared to what you expect from a typical Apple product..or even beats designs..there are great looking headphones such as Bang & Olufsen models B&O H9i,H8,H7 and more..
 
They only support AAC which means they’re already substandard. No Sony LDAC. No Qualcomm aptX HD.

LDAC does 990kbps. AAC does 250kbps. I don’t need to review them to know there’s no possible way these headphones are of high end quality when they are limited to that bitrate. They are limited to mid-quality mp3. If using a service like Spotify that does 320kbps (ogg vorbis codec) you’re already cutting down your quality. Then because you’re streaming a different codec the processors are going to use more power converting it on the fly. Which also increases lag. It’s why you hit pause and the music keeps playing for a couple seconds.

These have a premium price tag and I’m sure some cool features and good build quality but they are not going to revolutionize anything with their basic sound output. They’ll signal process as much as they can but they’ll still not compare to true premium models. Between the Bose, Sony, and these only the Sony supports the higher bitrate qualities.

If you want a true and noticeable quality improvement then don’t use Bluetooth and don’t use apple products. You’re stuck using aac and it’s crappy bitrate caps. I have an $80 pair of gaming headsets that plug in and sound much better than anything over streamed over Bluetooth to my $350 Sonys and it’s all thanks to Apple.
Thanks! The only other area where they could be a "must have' would be if noise cancellation were "magically" better (e.g. totally cancelling out the spouse's conf call chatter in the other room)... but the first in-depth reviews are saying the APMs are basically equivalent to Sony/Bose...

Another would be if they got spatial audio working with APMs and a Apple TV

Sound like as much as I love having Apple products day one the smart thing to do is keep rolling with the Sony WM-1000X3s and wait for Apple to refine the product to a point where it's compelling to move over.
 
If you even suspect they might be too expensive for you, then they are. Staying within a budget is a lost art it seems. There are plenty of less expensive alternatives.

It isn't so much that I think that they are too expensive for me - I think that they are too expensive for everyone. I think the price for this product is disproportionate to its value proposition.
 
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