AirPods Max Reviews

[Rogifan]

Like I said, that's cool. If you prefer plastic looking and feeling stuff, you go, girl! I like my stuff to look nice and be nice, and I'm ok with the $ premium for that combination.

I like premium looking/feeling but sound quality is more important to me.

 

[Mr. Y]

Needs Spatial Audio to work on Apple TV and Mac before I consider it.

I really need Apple to get on this! I sometimes have to use headphones to watch TV/movies and it seems a complete loss not to have that capability through Apple TV but instead I have to watch on a small iPad or iPhone screen.

 

[applelover4242]

Here's a first impressions/unboxing comparison between the Sony XM4 and Apple Airpods Max. It's nice because he doesn't seem like an Apple influencer like all the other reviews I've seen so far:

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He also did a voice recording comparison, which I haven't seen before. I was really surprised how bad the XM4 voice recording is, but for everything else they're comparable.

 

[Herrpod]

Another video stating they’re indistinguishable from the XM4, which is half the price and more feature rich.

 

[Moriarty]

Another video stating they’re indistinguishable from the XM4, which is half the price and more feature rich.

And uncomfortable as hell because the earcups are too small for my ears. I don’t care if the rest is not even better, that’s an instant dealbreaker for some of us.

There’s plenty of other reports that the ANC and sound quality are better.

 

[serpico007]

I’ll wait until head-fi reviews come in 😉

 

[Dave245]

looking forward to mine arriving. I think they will sound great and they definitely seem durable and premium.

Apple does audio well, the HomePod sounds great as do the AirPods Pro. Based on that I’m guessing the AirPods Max will be good too.

 

[supergt]

That case. There have been some questionable design choices in apple’s history (Magic Mouse 2 I’m looking at you) but this case is kind of jaw dropping dumb. I really wonder if they had presented this with a live audience at wwdc or at another event, it would’ve been laugh out loud material. The kind of laugh you get with the shameful introduction of the $1000 monitor stand (that was cool).

I just don’t understand how this saw the light of day. Totally dumbfounded.

 

[Royksöpp]

That case. There have been some questionable design choices in apple’s history (Magic Mouse 2 I’m looking at you) but this case is kind of jaw dropping dumb. I really wonder if they had presented this with a live audience at wwdc or at another event, it would’ve been laugh out loud material. The kind of laugh you get with the shameful introduction of the $1000 monitor stand (that was cool).

I just don’t understand how this saw the light of day. Totally dumbfounded.

It really is a total waste of materials and resources. And that is coming from a company that's supposedly going green. I'd rather them just not include it, period.

 

[Rogifan]

Another video stating they’re indistinguishable from the XM4, which is half the price and more feature rich.

What makes them more feature rich?

 

[Rogifan]

Here's a first impressions/unboxing comparison between the Sony XM4 and Apple Airpods Max. It's nice because he doesn't seem like an Apple influencer like all the other reviews I've seen so far:

.

He also did a voice recording comparison, which I haven't seen before. I was really surprised how bad the XM4 voice recording is, but for everything else they're comparable.

Why do you think that? I ask because often times any positive review of an Apple product brands the reviewer as just an Apple shill. Or people think the only good/honest reviews are ones that are critical.

 

[zhenya]

The "obsession" is that they're 550 dollars and still pale in comparison to the battery life of cheaper, better headphones, and to top it off, you can't ever turn them off, so much like their AirPods namesake, they just sit in their case and drain battery. The difference being the AirPods sit in a case that actually keeps them topped off to 100 percent, whereas these 550 dollar headphones will just sit there and drain battery.

You are assuming a very simplistic design to these when they are out of the case and idle. The most likely scenario is that even during that first two hour window, the sensors know that the device is not being worn and not moving. Thus it is largely 'off'. There is no active noise control or other sensing going on, so the only things being powered are the accelerometer and low powered bluetooth to maintain the connection. Modern BT is so low powered that I have devices that last years from a coin cell.

Again, the most likely scenario is that after that 2 hours, the BT connection is shut down and again, the only thing powered is the accelerometer which is also incredibly low powered. I will bookmark this post because my bet is that standby time in this state will be measured in weeks if not a month.

You know what? My kids bluetooth headphones (which were all relatively expensive for kids headphones) have physical on/off switches and guess what. They never turn them off. The batteries are dead the next morning, and they are scrambling to charge them before school starts.

Apple's decision to leave out the power switch and use the sensors that are more than capable of detecting when the device is in use and when it is not makes sense. It will prolong battery life in many situations, and greatly improve the user experience all of the time.

I will enjoy coming back to this thread when the above scenario is borne out by the full reviews. 😉

 

[Herrpod]

What makes them more feature rich?

They come with a standard 3.5 to 3.5 cable and you’re not milked extra money to get a very limited lightning to 3.5 cable. Cover your ear for instant transparency mode. A power button so your headphones can shut off and not constantly waste battery. An app that allows you to modify all aspects of the headphones, including an EQ. And on and on.

 

[Herrpod]

You are assuming a very simplistic design to these when they are out of the case and idle. The most likely scenario is that even during that first two hour window, the sensors know that the device is not being worn and not moving. Thus it is largely 'off'. There is no active noise control or other sensing going on, so the only things being powered are the accelerometer and low powered bluetooth to maintain the connection. Modern BT is so low powered that I have devices that last years from a coin cell.

Again, the most likely scenario is that after that 2 hours, the BT connection is shut down and again, the only thing powered is the accelerometer which is also incredibly low powered. I will bookmark this post because my bet is that standby time in this state will be measured in weeks if not a month.

You know what? My kids bluetooth headphones (which were all relatively expensive for kids headphones) have physical on/off switches and guess what. They never turn them off. The batteries are dead the next morning, and they are scrambling to charge them before school starts.

Apple's decision to leave out the power switch and use the sensors that are more than capable of detecting when the device is in use and when it is not makes sense. It will prolong battery life in many situations, and greatly improve the user experience all of the time.

I will enjoy coming back to this thread when the above scenario is borne out by the full reviews. 😉

There is no situation when the current AirPods Max are more battery efficient than the XM4s.

 

[zhenya]

There is no situation when the current AirPods Max are more battery efficient than the XM4s.

Well now you've moved the goal posts. We weren't discussing which product has better battery life. Again - you keep repeating the same trope that they will 'use up 2 hours of battery life before sleep'. I guarantee that's not how they work in practice. When not in use the battery drain will be almost imperceptible.

I own the XM3's and have for years. They are very average in everything other than NC. The touchpad for transparency is very finicky - so much so I never use it - I'll just remove an ear cup. I'd far prefer a button. Yeah, there's an eq which is great because they really need it - and even eq'ed they are unremarkable. I basically have stopped using them because the sound is so ho-hum. I have never once used them wired. It's basically only useful on an airplane to use the built in video system. If you use them wired with a dead battery, they sound terrible. Oh - and when you use them wired - the mic doesn't work (which isn't saying much - the mic is barely usable over bluetooth).

 

[AppelGeenyus]

There is no situation when the current AirPods Max are more battery efficient than the XM4s.

I've had APM's on my head for most of the past 2 hours with noise cancelling on and no audio playing, lost about 2% battery. And earlier I had them on my desk for about an hour and the battery level didn't drop at all, at least not enough to register a 1% decrease. Battery life and lack of power button both appear to be non-issues.

And as a previous owner of XM4's I can confirm most of what that garbage Sony app does is pointless. Taking photos of you ear to improve sound? Give me a break, it did nothing. Heck the bass slider doesn't even register finger touches properly, how they screwed up a simple slider I will never understand.

 

[MecPro]

Another video stating they’re indistinguishable from the XM4, which is half the price and more feature rich.

Hmm, so far no one has felt that these are worth the price over the XM4 or NC-700

 

[lietsche]

They come with a standard 3.5 to 3.5 cable and you’re not milked extra money to get a very limited lightning to 3.5 cable. Cover your ear for instant transparency mode. A power button so your headphones can shut off and not constantly waste battery. An app that allows you to modify all aspects of the headphones, including an EQ. And on and on.

I have the XM3's and use them for work behind my computer. And honestly, when I put them off I rarely switch them off (too busy or I simply forget) and they do not go to sleep either because the bluetooth connection is still active and they are slowly draining the battery. So yes, they have a power button, but I think in my case the Apple solution will be more power efficient for me, even if it takes a while before they go into low power mode.

 

[MecPro]

You are assuming a very simplistic design to these when they are out of the case and idle. The most likely scenario is that even during that first two hour window, the sensors know that the device is not being worn and not moving. Thus it is largely 'off'. There is no active noise control or other sensing going on, so the only things being powered are the accelerometer and low powered bluetooth to maintain the connection. Modern BT is so low powered that I have devices that last years from a coin cell.

Again, the most likely scenario is that after that 2 hours, the BT connection is shut down and again, the only thing powered is the accelerometer which is also incredibly low powered. I will bookmark this post because my bet is that standby time in this state will be measured in weeks if not a month.

You know what? My kids bluetooth headphones (which were all relatively expensive for kids headphones) have physical on/off switches and guess what. They never turn them off. The batteries are dead the next morning, and they are scrambling to charge them before school starts.

Apple's decision to leave out the power switch and use the sensors that are more than capable of detecting when the device is in use and when it is not makes sense. It will prolong battery life in many situations, and greatly improve the user experience all of the time.

I will enjoy coming back to this thread when the above scenario is borne out by the full reviews. 😉

But why does it have to be either or

The Bose NC70 has a power off switch and a customisable timer to turn the headphones off after x period of time.

IMO you’re trying too hard to argue against a simple point where something with an non-replaceable battery should have a power button.

 

[Schnegg]

This was the first review I saw that went into a bit more detail about the sound:

Review: Apple AirPods Max noise cancelling headphones – Pickr

Apple has officially entered the big headphone space, and the AirPods Max aren't just big on price, but big on sound and design, too.

www.pickr.com.au

 

[kmanmx]

Some guy on reddit comparing them to his Sennheiser HD6XX and Audeze LCD-2

Quick comparison to some other cans: Audeze LCD-2s, Sennheiser HD6XX, & a pair of lightly modded Fostex T50-RP Mk3s (all driven by a Modi 3 & Magni Heresy), and I can compare it to my recollections of the XM4s, that I no longer own, and the Sennheiser Momentum 2 over-ears.

So to start, these aren't completely neutral. There's a bit of fun to them, but it's nothing like the XM4s that had that fairly huge boost to anything below 120Hz. Sound-stage wise, these are some of the most impressive closed-backs I've tried. They're pretty equivalent to the Fostex in sound signature: A little bump in the bass but nothing silly. There's a bit of sparkle in the cymbals but nothing ear-piercing. They sound better than the Momentum 2s, and I actually prefer them to the Fostex. I like them about as much as the 6XX, which is saying a lot. They sound a lot faster than the 6XX too, although not as quite as fast as the Fostex.

If I were to sit and listen to a full album in my arm chair just for the album, I'd pick the LCD-2s over these pretty handily, but those are decidedly non-portable.

Fit and finish wise, they blow all of the above out of the water. They feel significantly more premium than any of the above, and are more comfortable than any of the above headphones.

ANC wise they easily best the Momentums. They're pretty equivalent with how I remember the XM4s. They're definitely no slouch. Transparency mode on these is also just 100x better than it was with the XM4s -- everything sounds a lot more "natural" in transparency mode. Better than the AirPods Pro, too, so if transparency mode is your jam, these things are top tier.

I'm probably going to end up wearing these things for 8 to 10 hours every day. I'm pretty happy with the purchase.

Sounds like a win to me if other people have similar feelings. Really glad they have a more neutral audio signature.

 

[Moriarty]

Some guy on reddit comparing them to his Sennheiser HD6XX and Audeze LCD-2



Sounds like a win to me if other people have similar feelings. Really glad they have a more neutral audio signature.

Very interesting. The Fostex headphones are related to the Denon D2000s that I own, which sound phenomenal for a closed-back headphone.

If they are in that same ballpark, then the AirPods Max are the real deal.

Now I’m just waiting for the courier to arrive...

 

[kmanmx]

Very interesting. The Fostex headphones are related to the Denon D2000s that I own, which sound phenomenal for a closed-back headphone.

If they are in that same ballpark, then the AirPods Max are the real deal.

Now I’m just waiting for the courier to arrive...

The impression I get so far is they sound great, but you can get better sound quality for less money, significantly less if you are willing to get wired headphones - and this is not surprising. I think for most people, they are probably overpriced and not worth the money and they should probably get the Sony XM4 or Bose QCII's. But if you are embedded in the Apple ecosystem, will use them with your iPhone, Mac etc, and value the other features such as spatial audio and the build quality, then they are worth it to that subset of people. You get the integration with Apple products and slightly better sound quality and ANC than the competition. For me and others deeply in the Apple ecosystem, I think that's a winning combination, but I don't think they will have anything like the mass appeal and success of AirPods IEMs.

 

[ipponrg]

Here's a first impressions/unboxing comparison between the Sony XM4 and Apple Airpods Max. It's nice because he doesn't seem like an Apple influencer like all the other reviews I've seen so far:

.

He also did a voice recording comparison, which I haven't seen before. I was really surprised how bad the XM4 voice recording is, but for everything else they're comparable.

There are plenty of xm4 mic tests. The xm4 have always had some of the worst sounding mics in the market. Surprisingly the AirPods/Pro also have bad mics too. In the recording, his iPhone and alleged Max testing sounded the same. I am skeptical if he had recorded it right

 

[MecPro]

There are plenty of xm4 mic tests. The xm4 have always had some of the worst sounding mics in the market. Surprisingly the AirPods/Pro also have bad mics too. In the recording, his iPhone and alleged Max testing sounded the same. I am skeptical if he had recorded it right

He also needed to test the microphone with audio in the background.

I think he recorded the audio fine, don’t know how else he could have done it.