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AirPods Max Firmware Update Appears to Fix Smart Case Battery Drain Issues
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Because I absolutely hate AirPods Max and everyone I saying I should get one and I don’t know why.
I finally got mine to update by doing a hard reset and then plugging them into the charger, even though they were already at 100%. They updated in 15 minutes.
I 100% agree with this. One of the biggest problems I had with wireless headphones prior to my APM was that I’d just constantly forget to turn them off, then I’d go to put them on and no power. At least for me Apple’s solution works well.
As someone who owns a pair, trust me, you do. It is very annoying having to find the smart case every time you have connectivity issues or the headphones act up, which they do quite often. Every morning, for instance, my AirPods Max disconnect about a minute after first use, and have to be put back into the smart case so they disconnect and then taken back out to reconnect. If there's ever an issue with AirPods that require turning them off and then on again, having to take them off and put them in the case wastes a lot of time when compared to toggling a switch off then on again.It doesn't seem like a big deal, especially considering the AirPods and AirPods Pro require a case, but for over-the-ear headphones it is impractical. It's a completely avoidable nuisance and a bad design.
Overall, while the sound is fantastic, it's comparable to other headphones on the market. When you factor in the poor design choices, AirPods Max simply are lackluster when compared to alternatives from Sony, Bose, and others. They don't justify the premium price. I would recommend holding off until a second generation, I wish I had.
Same. I've done the recommended steps, and even removed the headphones from my devices and linked it to my iPhone only. No luck.
Don't buy them, then. Not sure I understand the animosity towards them, but if they don't appeal to you, just leave them alone
You want a premium listening experience that integrates well with the apple ecosystem.
Apple products have always been about that one key experience which outweighs every other drawback or limitation combined.
A ton of people in the comments and MacRumors with the good ratings on the AirPods Max.
? My iMac has a power switch. My iPhone and iPads have power switch equivalents - sleep/wake button + volume button
I can go weeks or even months without using a particular set of headphones. With my Sony headphones I check the power level before I turn them off. I know I'll be good for power when I power them up after weeks of non-use. Besides the inconvenience of having to use the case to set the Airpods max in low power mode, it sounds as if there is still power being used even when in the case. I assume that they eventually would lose all power much faster than the Sony headphones which, being powered off, would have either a null or very low power draw.
My headphones are kept on headphone stands. I just pull a pair of headphones off the stand to start using them. The case prevents me from doing that, and as they lay flat take up more counter space. Having to remove them from the case is just extra work.
Guess I'll have to wait for a revised model.
Just out of curiosity, let me ask: did folks around here complain so fervently about, say, the iPod nano’s inability to be turned off? This isn’t the first time Apple has made this choice.
It has another job as well, which it’s fashionable for folks to discount: it protects the AirPods Max.I'm laughing so hard at this because, wasn't that the WHOLE POINT of that smart case?
IT HAD ONE JOB!! And it didn't even do that!
I'm glad they fixed it though.
I actually love the Smart Case, but that’s because I don’t imagine it’s a travel case. I love that with a minimum of fuss, I can slip my AirPods Max into their case and set them down anywhere without worrying about scuffing the aluminum or dirtying the ear cushions.
P.S. Oh, and while I’m going against the grain, at the risk of upsetting those of my fellows MacRumors forum readers whose nerves are fragile, allow me to point out that if the aluminum ear cups are clacking together when you take your AirPods Max out of the Smart Case, you’re holding them wrong!
I’ve learned that with just a little pressure from my thumb on the headband to hold the cups apart, I can easily prevent them from clacking.
(Somehow, I expect this will be one of my more controversial forum posts.
)
While those do function as power buttons, they’re mostly sleep/wake buttons during daily use. There are no dedicated on/off switches on modern Apple devices as far as I know.
I finally got them to update by leaving them plugged in (out of the smart case) when they were close to my iPhone.
With the update, the power drain issues are totally gone for me. They act like I turned them off (with a power button) when I put them in the smart case. I’m very happy with the update. Now I am perfectly happy without an on/off switch.
There’s lots of headphone stands available that will accommodate the APM with the case, unless you specifically want the old head shaped stands, of course.
Or if that’s the kind of stand you want, you could be like me and not use the case very often. The power drain on mine has been negligible out of the case, 1-2%/24h. So long as I remember to juice them up when they get low, as with any of the wireless cans I have, I don’t have a problem.
Incidentally, to Illustrate the lack of power drain I experience. I'm now on day four since they were last charged and since they were last placed in the case. As I'm mostly working downstairs at the moment - apparently I'm too noisy for my wife in her craft room next door, working from home
I had just been putting them on the table, but in the past couple of days they've been on one of my headphone stands (the charging station I have set up for them is in my office and I can't be bothered moving it 😁).Anyway, I should have been monitoring times more closely (I'll do that at some point), but totting up the hours of listening in the past 4 days would easily surpass 10 hours. My headphones are now at 60% of the battery left, I don't consider that to be too bad for something with a claimed 20 hours (or whatever it is) of battery life.
If I were to just leave them sitting, not playing music it would (going by what I've observed over the past few weeks) take somewhere between 50 and 100 days, before the battery would give up the ghost. I'm sure I'd remember to top the battery up at some point in that period.
Further battery update. Today (Monday) is day 6 since last charge and last time in the case. Across Saturday and Sunday I used them for a further 7 hours 47 minutes, bringing total use to around 18 hours (estimated as I hadn’t counted for the first 3 and a bit days).
My battery is sitting at 31% which isn’t bad for almost a week with quite a lot of use. Either that’s going to drop very rapidly, or I’m going to exceed the advertised 20 hours. Though again, 10 hours of that use was an estimate for the first three days, albeit a conservative one as they were without doubt used more then, than they were over the weekend. Incidentally, I always have Transparency enabled when I use the APM.
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I don't know why there should be three reasons, but I'll bite:
* they sound amazing
* build quality is great
* they integrate very well with the whole Apple ecosystem
Of course, they are not cheap, but they are worth the money.
Now that the update fixed the battery drain issue, they are worth the money. Now I think I will get 20 hours of use out of them from a single charge. Before it felt like 5 hours.
It has another job as well, which it’s fashionable for folks to discount: it protects the AirPods Max.
I actually love the Smart Case, but that’s because I don’t imagine it’s a travel case. I love that with a minimum of fuss, I can slip my AirPods Max into their case and set them down anywhere without worrying about scuffing the aluminum or dirtying the ear cushions.
P.S. Oh, and while I’m going against the grain, at the risk of upsetting those of my fellows MacRumors forum readers whose nerves are fragile, allow me to point out that if the aluminum ear cups are clacking together when you take your AirPods Max out of the Smart Case, you’re holding them wrong!
I’ve learned that with just a little pressure from my thumb on the headband to hold the cups apart, I can easily prevent them from clacking.
(Somehow, I expect this will be one of my more controversial forum posts.
The thing with the case (although I don’t use mine all that much, I normally just put mine on a stand, not always obviously), I do agree with you. This will no doubt also be furiously contested, I don’t worry about my APM as much as most of my other cans.
They’re built like a bloody tank, putting them into that silly case to keep them clean and scuff-free when I drop them in a bag is good enough for me so far. Normally, with mostly plastic construction, I like a hard case for my cans. If someone sat on my Sony’s, Audio Technica and so on, I’d probably break out in a sweat. If someone sat on the APM, I don’t think I’d bat an eyelid..... Not that I’d want to put it to the test of course
Also, well done for pointing out how to remove them from the case without clacking. I tend to do the same thing myself when I do use the case. But it’s probably worth mentioning as some people do seem to have a problem there.
