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AirPods Max Development Took 4 Years, According to Former Apple Engineer

Im glad Apple spent time making these. Hopefully the R&D will trickle down into other products.
These are too expensive for me, but there are loads more expensive headphones out there with way less features and technology.
 
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I'm sure this thread is a carbon copy of when the first AirPods launched. And the Pro's. Oh, and the iPad. Pretty much every new product Apple has ever launched starts with 'HOW MUCH!?!?!' or 'THEY MUST BE ON CRACK!!!!'.

This usually follows with that new product or part of the business becoming worth more than the competitors entire company. (The AirPods business is worth around $20 billion a year to Apple. Sony's entire business is worth $45 billion).

The 'Audiophile' world is a place of ever diminishing returns the more you spend. Apple won't be looking to be in that space and will only be interested in making the best sounding headphones they can for 90% of people. Everyone above that is not their customer.

These will sound better than the Sony XM4's. They won't sound better than a pair of Focal Utopias.
 
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matrix07 said:
Because the wireless is what it's supposed to be. I'm back using my NAD and suddenly very annoyed at the wire.
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The issue (at the time) was cost. We jumped from $20 for decent headphones to $160.

I agree wireless is the future (and the future is now), but it was a hard pill to swallow for them to call it "courage" to remove the jack and then "force" the $140 upcharge.

It smacked of "greed" instead.

But that was the precedent. Apple has normalized this upsell tactic, to the point of then tacking on $100 for the "new and improved" version of those headphones, and now they've tacked on $300 to that, so... well... you know. Now the "hard pill to swallow" in 2016 (not that one ;) ) has now become the "budget" version.

And whadayaknow, they've been more than a little successful, so at this point I'm neither hating the player nor the game.

It just is what it is.

But here's the rub: the products themselves are DAMN good, so... 🤷‍♀️
 
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roar08 said:
I still love my wireless Sony MDR-1000X ... a LOT. They were $350 new which was a little bit of a mental stretch for me but worth every penny. I'd seriously consider the AirPods Max but kind of agree with the pricing. Even if people believe/write it's a steal because it competes in the $500-1,1000 headphone range ... that still seems to be a much more limited market. I don't think I've ever knocked Apple for pricing but this one seems little out there. Granted, I'm no expert in the high end audio market.
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I agree wholeheartedly.

I'm no expert either but this product almost sits on the Apple Display, Display Stand, Mac Pro, iMac Pro product-pricing categories for me.

While I CAN afford (all of) these, I have to do some mental gymnastics to justify them to myself.

Maybe not that much gymnastics... I find them to be really, really dope.

It also triggers the OCD collector in me... iPhone 12, iPad Air, Watch 6, and these, all in green. $2.7K

I paid around that for my TV... Oh NO!! RESIST! RESIIIIIST!!
 
There are many headphones on the market that are 2 to 6 times the price. But what is missing on Apples website are sound specs for these. Sound wise if they come to other headphones in the $300 to $700 price range, then they could be a good option. I'm not sure if wireless headphones however can have the sound quality of wired ones.
 
Somebody has to pay for that waste of time. Didnt know headphones were in need of change....ears can only hear so much except for the 1% who can hear beyond the normal and call themselves audiophiles
 
drunkdane said:
People complaining about the $550, and here I am just wishing it was only $550 for us. In Denmark, it's 4.799 DKK (781 USD). No way I'm paying that, and judging by the "short" 3 week delivery, I guess I'm not alone.
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There are two possibilities: you are alone, a lot of people are buying it anyways hence why the delivery dates are just slipping and slipping (there are threads of people saying they ordered one and the chosen color option). Or they have actual production issues hence why the delay. For a trillion dollar company I would put my money on the former.
 
ouimetnick said:
Sounds like the rumors of production issues were real and supply is severely constrained.
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That’s what I believe. People ordering the sky blue with a delivery in March probably have a good chance of seeing their order arrive earlier. It’s not good to give your customers too much time to change their minds.
 
Chompineer said:
4 years and they didn't once look at the Sony XM3's, Bose 700's/QC's, B&O's, etc, and realize "Man, this price is really stupid, only fools will buy this".
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You realize of course that if all Apple fans that are also fools buy them they will be the best seller in the category.
 
I really don’t see how anyone can justify the AirPods Max over the Audeze Mobius(399.99). There is no way dynamic can outperform Planar for clarity and frequency response. The Mobius also has 3d spacial stuff, and a really good detachable mic.
 
Braderunner said:
There is only one thing that matters. Sound quality. If they don't sound as good as Sony's, Bose...they are a rip-off.
Swappable ear cushions, higher build quality, etc., are worth extra. But, if they don't sound as good...nope.
Right now...it's pointless to debate the price.
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You can swap Bose QC35 ear cushions with a $12 replacement set from Amazon in two minutes.
 
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Apple really couldn’t sell the AirPods Max at or near the cost of high end Beats so to me it the only logical reason for the $549 price tag.
 
Apple really loves this design element so much they have to have it somewhere in all their products.
 

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Just a pet peeve of mine, but the existence of Apple NDAs is covered within the NDA in perpetuity regardless of whether the product has been announced already or not. Maybe he got a different NDA than the standard schpiel, but I doubt it.
 
kemal said:
I bet they don't loan any to reviewers.
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This is interesting, here I was, waiting for MKBHD to drop his video on the cans. He would undoubtedly explain if he can tell if there's a 30/40pc difference in audio quality compared to the XM4s or 700s.

Guess we'll have to just wait and see...
 
What's the betting Apple repair costs of these headphone are going to be in the $300-$400 range because it will be complete left or right ear cup assembly rather than take it apart to replace faulty electronics.

Also, what's going to happen when the battery needs replacing because it's not holding it's charge properly, is Apple going to charge $200+ to fix it because of how much the actual product costs?

When ifixit get their hands on one and take it apart and investigate what the pricing of all the individual parts are, I think people will be extremely shocked at just how much $$$ having the name 'Apple' attached to a product costs.
 
nwcs said:
I wonder why he bothered to delete the tweets? There is no prohibition on saying when you signed an NDA.
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'#1 rule about tech club, is you don't talk about tech club'. Esp if your new employer is as secretive as Apple. Trust.
 
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