Sometimes, I feel like "internet speak" goes a bit too far. I am fine with lol, FYI, ASAP and those basic ones. And sometimes people abbreviate video games and I would have NO idea what game they are referring to.
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AirPods Max Begin Shipping to Customers Ahead of December 15 Launch
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Except in this case you can't get a product from a different company that does exactly the same. A lot of people simply like **** that works and Apple has a long track record of producing exactly that. Combined with the fact that there is proprietary hardware and software in the ecosystem that you can only get from Apple, you don't need to be "a fan of the brand" to be ready to wait. Is this good or bad? I don't know, but I know I keep buying Apple's stuff because they are the only company with a close to end-to-end offering that mostly just works.
In the real world nobody buys wireless headphones for critical listening, there is a lot of other stuff that goes into it where other brands have poor track records. Bose has always been know for great noise cancellation but the sound quality of their QC series was mediocre at best. Sony XM3s had a microphone that made it basically useless for teleconferencing, yes this is apparently fixed in the XM4 but the doubt remains. Additionally every one of these other brands has had bluetooth issues throughout history and are still not as reliable when switching between devices as Apple is.
Its not like the Sony or Bose or Sennheiser bluetooth headphones are ridiculously confusing. They are quite popular for a reason. Who said anything about critical listening? I said my family and friends. I was not referring to music professionals that need $1,000+ equipment. My family/friends are just fine with $50 headphones.
....but nevertheless still sounding bad and overpriced.
well maybe they should? There are plenty of phones for half the price of the 12 Pro Max with higher resolution screens, more Ram, bigger batteries, more storage etc. Granted they don’t have an A class CPU (but 99% don’t need one or use the power) and they don’t have a $600 operating system.
Remember the iPod shuffle 3rd gen that is a sleek aluminum but has no buttons? This feels like that, a well crafted device but with questionable user functionalities. I bet by next year or two that we will see a cheaper SE version that has a more traditional case/power switch, minus the fancy materials.
Yeah, bashing Beats is a sport.
I’m sure someone will respond to this bashing Beats. They’re still 70%+ of the market, though, so, even for all of the accolades heaped on Sony, it hasn’t led to runaway marketshare increase.
Yes! Also, the cheap plastic notebook, the bottomline plastic phone, the cheap electric car... they already exist, they are out there and can be bought at those price points, just not Apple’s or Tesla’s.
There’s a big difference between “I wish they were $300” to “they should be”. Myself sometimes I wish that too as that would make said expense a lot more comfortable to incur at times but it is what it is.
$550 is fine if they didn’t have these glaring flaws:
1) It has no USB-C... I’m done with Lightning and refuse to buy any more products with it besides iPhones (and even on iPhone I’m sick of it, but thankfully iPhones can be wirelessly charged, AirPods Max can’t).
2) It has NO form of auto-off besides losing 2 hours of charge first (source: mkbhd 1st look). No on/off button to alleviate this is even more baffling on such a spacious product.
3) The smart case offers no actual protection unlike the included XM4 hardshell case (which also has convenient slots for the included 3.5mm to 3.5mm analog wire, the included usb-c to usb-a charger, and the included airplane adapter, and also the XM4 case has a very large external mesh pocket on the outer shell for even more carrying capacity).
4) They don’t include the analog wire like the XM4s do. Since they claim to be about audio fidelity, what is more fidelous than a wired connection for the real audio engineers/creators? For $550 no detachable wire nor a decent case???
5) They are so heavy that they move around on your head with a delay (see daringfireball review).
6) They have a lightning port!! This is so egregious it’s worth mentioning twice.
7) Absolutely no fast charging, seems to have been confirmed by multiple reviewers beyond the abysmal quoted 5 minutes for 1.5 hours, even though the included charger is lightning to usb-c, there is still no fast charge as confirmed by reviewers.
8) L/R interchangeability/ear auto detect is nowhere to be found???
9) Lack of touch controls on outside of cans is suspicious, like they rushed this version out... they could’ve at least copied XM4’s palm to cup creating immediate temporary transparency mode. Instead you have to press a button to switch to Transparency, and press the button again to switch back.
10) The H1 chip is not there yet. I have a 2020 Intel MBA with Big Sur and my AirPods Pro with H1 chip still can’t auto detect when I switch to my Mac with 100% regularity (and yes I have a good and fast Wifi connection). I often have to fiddle with the AirPods and sound settings to get that instant “seamless” connection. I’m at the point where I’d rather just connect manually with Bluetooth since at least it won’t create an insane nightmare scenario by randomly deciding to not work. Just the other day I had to reset and repair my AirPods just to get my 2020 Mac on Big Sur to recognize them. Took 2-5 extra minutes to diagnose the problem.
11) Nearly no transportability. The XM4’s fold up easily and nicely into their included hard case to the size of a man’s hand 🤚. The XM4’s are surprisingly small when put into their case, I was shocked. AirPods Max don’t shrink in size in any meaningful way. Again, look to the “smart” case to see that no thought was given to a more compact means of storage.
There, for all these reasons I’m spending my money elsewhere and waiting for them to transition to a better revision of AirPods Max. I don’t mind waiting 2-5 years for AirPods Max 2 on the XM4 that I just got for $278 which includes so many features and accessories I won’t even bother to list them.
I love Apple, but these are a ridiculous proposition due to multiple design flaws/compromises.
Edit: XM4's hurt my ears after just 2 hours. Returned them. Waiting for the Sport version of Airpods Max now, or for a discount on Amazon of $50-100 for the SKY BLUE. Whichever comes first! VIVA APPLE.
It's a shame, I wanted to love the XM4's too but they're just too small.
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Well yeah, they are expensive, but you actually get two products in that price - headphones and a bra.
looking forward to the full reviews for sure even though I have no reason to buy any....early impressions seem great but they should be I guess.
Because Apple have built one of the biggest if not THE biggest audio brands with the use of the word ‘Pod’ right back to 2001 with the original iPod. To not use that in the name would be ridiculous from a brand marketing perspective.
The ‘Air’ in the name I’m guessing relates to the fact they are wireless.
The name makes total sense.
If these are used with iphones primarily it would make no sense to have two different connectors for charging and plugging into an analog device. I think thats why it's a lightning cable. Also, many iphone users will already have a lightning to headphone adapter. Apparently the DSP conversion on those adapters is meant to very good from from an audiophile point of view.
There isnt any on-off buttons etc.. because if you haven't noticed, apple's etho's is to create devices to do that for you. Whether you agree or not, they are going all in. The airpod's dont have on-off buttons either.
The reality is that this product is an extension of technology they already developed with the airpod and the apple watch. The digital crown, auto power, spatial audio etc.. This is apple's team saying "what can we do if we had a little more space and a little more power in terms of sound. Could we produce a more hi-tech version of very expensive headphones like Grado / Seinhiesser etc..?
I dont think its really about making huge amounts of money from this product. I think for apple its laying out there ethos and brand as a premier engineering company that think different. They use the flasgship products as marketing in a lot of ways. They know that the masses wont buy the mac pro, or the air pod max. But it serves the brand well, keeps the engineering division happy and doesnt lose them money. And it also feeds down to their lower priced products eventually.
The business model is like the car industry. Think of them as a BMW or Mercedes but with a high volume selling department like Volkswagen. The impressive thing to note about apple is the ability to cover several price ranges with the same brand. Thats really hard to do. They give you the impression they are a really premium company but also sell ipads at $300. Thats pretty hard to do without killing your brand.
re: Comments on the XM4s ...
It's not 100% about the sound though. I'm currently in the market for a pair of bluetooth headphones.
Reading forums (which admittedly brings all the complainers to the yard), the XM4s have issues with multi-point pairing and call quality. I expect the Airpods to work flawlessly with Apple devices at least. Also, as it's now winter here and I wear gloves, I'm hesitant to buy headphones that only work with touch controls.
So I've been looking at the PX7s. Buttons! Yes. But multiple complaints of a high clamping force (which from my previous pair of headphones, I know will affect me), bad high frequency response (treble) and no EQ in the app.
Then I looked at the Bose 700s. Brilliant call quality, but every possible forum that discusses these talks about disconnect issues, sound stuttering, failure to multi-point, an app that doesn't work properly and sound quality which is love or hate.
So this brings me to the Airpod Maxs. I've ruled these out as the case looks stupid and doesn't protect the 'phones while travelling which is important to me. Plus the price. In conclusion, I'm about to buy the Sony XM4s knowing they have issues as they're half the price of the Airpod Max's here (FR.300 vs Fr.600).
It's not 100% about the sound though. I'm currently in the market for a pair of bluetooth headphones.
Reading forums (which admittedly brings all the complainers to the yard), the XM4s have issues with multi-point pairing and call quality. I expect the Airpods to work flawlessly with Apple devices at least. Also, as it's now winter here and I wear gloves, I'm hesitant to buy headphones that only work with touch controls.
So I've been looking at the PX7s. Buttons! Yes. But multiple complaints of a high clamping force (which from my previous pair of headphones, I know will affect me), bad high frequency response (treble) and no EQ in the app.
Then I looked at the Bose 700s. Brilliant call quality, but every possible forum that discusses these talks about disconnect issues, sound stuttering, failure to multi-point, an app that doesn't work properly and sound quality which is love or hate.
So this brings me to the Airpod Maxs. I've ruled these out as the case looks stupid and doesn't protect the 'phones while travelling which is important to me. Plus the price. In conclusion, I'm about to buy the Sony XM4s knowing they have issues as they're half the price of the Airpod Max's here (FR.300 vs Fr.600).
yes your right, deliberate, as you know normally u get a full review just before launch so usually can be pretty confident hitting the button!.I think one of the reviews in comments section said he was not allowed to do comparisons that that time.
oh well time will tell eh.
I have the Parrot ZIk 3, and while these are not sold any more by Parrot, this was a most excellent touch control headphones with great noise-canceling, and these worked great with gloves.
I was hoping fot Parrot to make a new version, but they no longer make headphones.
And because the Zik is practically falling apart (I always just throw them in my backpack ) makes the Max a great successor, and I already knew the price would be moren then 500,-, so no surprise for me
If no 3rd part will make a better case, I will make one myself
That's an interesting point about just throwing them into a bag. If the build quality of the Max's is good then there's no need for the protection of the case. All the case does (apart from look stupid imo) is put the phones into some kind of low power mode. I believe they do that anyway after some time, otherwise a judiciously-placed magnet will also do the trick.And because the Zik is practically falling apart (I always just throw them in my backpack ) makes the Max a great successor, and I already knew the price would be moren then 500,-, so no surprise for me
If no 3rd part will make a better case, I will make one myself
You maybe waiting a few years as I can’t see these being updated annually..
I cant tell what you’re saying here. I think your statement means they aim for 33% margin, i.e. pricing to cover cost of production and operations then a third margin. But I do not get how you have written it.
I don’t think you’ll ever buy them at any price. Some of the items you listed are never going to be changed, whether it’s Revision 2 or 20.
And yet I'm typing this on my first gen M1 MacBook Air.
Everything "just works." Incredibly fast. Especially the SSD. And I can go two days before needing to charge. It's dead quiet and cool. A far superior laptop compared to my 2017 MBP, in all aspects.
please do - then they will go into the refurb store at a lower price