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AirPods Max Unboxing Videos: 'More Than Good Enough to Compete With Other High-End Headphones'

MrJM said:
Anyone else find these tech youtubers really hard to watch? There is just no substance to them. I’ll wait for the verge review.
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It’s par the course for a “first impressions” video. It’s probably going to be at least another week or two before we fully know how good these headphones are, as well as any problems or limitations they may have (and if they even are issues).
 
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mattopotamus said:
These early reviews seem to signal they are in no way, shape, or form worth $150+ offerings from Bose/Sony/B&W.
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Were you honestly expecting anything different? There wasn't anything announced spec-wise about these that suggested they'd offer an experience drastically different than other premium over ear headphones.
 
G5isAlive said:
Just telling you as an Air Pods Pro owner, they have the exact same setting, and that's what it does. Be really surprised if Apple does it differently device to device. 'Off' Essentially turns them into 'standard' Air Pods with no processing (well at least no NC or transparency, dont know about spatial awareness). You still hear what is being played, they are still 'On', but no features. If you haven't experienced transparency or noise cancellation, they are very distinctively different, than standard headsets.
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Thanks for clarifying, I don't have AirPod Pros (have first gen AirPods though).

If the ANC is off, and there's no music being played, then the device must be in some low power state. I hear my AirPods "switch on" and "off" in my ears with a very subtle "pop" when music is started, and shortly after music is paused - it must be something similar with the Pro and Max models?
 
I will wait 2-3 years for Apple to come up with affordable AirPods Mini if the Max is so expensive and lackluster. They just rushed it before really making it great for the money they want. Mhm no! No matter what the paid YTubers will say.
 
mattopotamus said:
These early reviews seem to signal they are in no way, shape, or form worth $150+ offerings from Bose/Sony/B&W.
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they shouldn't be compared for that price range though...they are to be compared to the high priced headphones. value for people cheaper Sony's are the better option

what's worth it in terms of 150 more is all about preference which what is worth it is all about
 
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Jmausmuc said:
Not a fan of these headphones.
i thought the time of big over the ear headphones was over.
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What is that nonsense? If I want over the ear headphones then I'll wear over the ear headphones, and the opinions of some opinionated guy on the internet doesn't matter one bit to me. I'm old enough to do what I like and not to follow some stupid fashion.
 
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thejadedmonkey said:
To be fair, the iPhone got a $200 price drop, and the iPod didn't really become popular until it got a $200 price drop too...

And no one is saying that they're bad headphones (actually I am, I think they're too heavy, but I'm in the minority), just way overpriced for what they bring to the table. And they should be about... wait for it... $200 less.

See the pattern here?
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mentioning two instances over five years old out of literally 100's of releases that refute the point, doesn't make your examples a pattern, makes them the exception (not sure about the rule though lol). A better example might have been the HomePod. All this talk about them being overpriced assumes they are the same or similar to cheaper units. They aren't. Time will tell, but from what I read there are advanced features that are not available on the $300 units. Whether those features are important to people, is for that individual to decide, just like it is up to individuals to decide if too heavy or not (after they have actually tried them). I doubt Apple is going to discount these.
 
simplistic subdued looks but if they perform great then i'm in
though i already have sienheiser products these aapl will need to exceed
simplistic looks are refreshing compared to all the garish gaming headsets out there
go aapl
 
Please for the nth time write who the video reviewer is below the video so that we don’t have to pick one at random and false give a views to someone we don’t like! Come on Macrumours how many times do people have to ask!
 
Zimmy68 said:
Very skeptical that iJustine returns anything (or MKBHD for that matter). Maybe some do (The Verge) but not them.
Most that do explicitly say they are review units and will be returned.
I can be sure on 2 things, you will see iJustine wear these in future videos and
Did not lay out $550 for them.
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Apple makes the return rules. You say this like $550 is a lot of money for them. It’s not. The MacRumors channel has 375k subscribers compared to iJustine’s 6.8million, and even we can afford a $550 pair of headphones for YouTube without hesitation.
 
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G5isAlive said:
Did we watch the same review? He was effusive but restrained until he had more time with them. I dont think he could've been more positive, he just wants to reserve time to make a more thorough evaluation. That's being responsible. All the reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt at this point as they are rushing to be early, but yeah, to me they seem positive. I guess we hear what we want to (pun intended). And yep, I know that describes me too LOL
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Well I mean to quote him on the case... "there are no redeeming qualities about this case at all".

And unless I missed it he didn't discuss the audio quality or the noise cancelling at all. In a headphone unboxing and first look he didn't even mention how they sounded or how the noise cancelling worked. Not even a "they sound good so far" or "the noise cancelling is impressive at first glance".

Like he didn't seem enthused by them is my point, he didn't gush about anything and complained about the case. His facial expressions and body language didn't make me think he found them impressive or warranting of their high price point.

And like.. I own two pairs of AirPods Gen 1 and Airpod Pro's. Bought both soon as they were available, replaced my first pair of Airpods after running the batteries to death. I have two Homepods and love them. I'm looking for the good here, I'm in the market for some high quality cans (was considering the Sony MX4's actually). So I'm not "hearing" what I want to. I'm open minded and his first impression didn't seem like he was impressed.

I will of course watch full reviews too when they actually reveal how they sound and we get some proper audio engineer comparisons like we did with the Homepods.
 
i cant understand why apple tagged 550USD for Airpods Max ?
Right now, market leader Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones cost 350USD, and apple has charged 200USD more but on what basis. I don't think the feature of spatial audio justifies 550USD price, Apple has really lost their minds
 
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I'm sure they are fine sounding headphones and have great noise cancelling and fit well into the Apple world but can you (?) please stop calling them 'high end'? They are not. I will not be replacing my Audeze LCD-3s with them.
 
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Quu said:
Well I mean to quote him on the case... "there are no redeeming qualities about this case at all".

And unless I missed it he didn't discuss the audio quality or the noise cancelling at all. In a headphone unboxing and first look he didn't even mention how they sounded or how the noise cancelling worked. Not even a "they sound good so far" or "the noise cancelling is impressive at first glance".

Like he didn't seem enthused by them is my point, he didn't gush about anything and complained about the case. His facial expressions and body language didn't make me think he found them impressive or warranting of their high price point.

And like.. I own two pairs of AirPods Gen 1 and Airpod Pro's. Bought both soon as they were available, replaced my first pair of Airpods after running the batteries to death. I have two Homepods and love them. I'm looking for the good here, I'm in the market for some high quality cans (was considering the Sony MX4's actually). So I'm not "hearing" what I want to. I'm open minded and his first impression didn't seem like he was impressed.

I will of course watch full reviews too when they actually reveal how they sound and we get some proper audio engineer comparisons like we did with the Homepods.
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well he's not really going to go over all of that though is he? thats what the full review will be for
 
rulymammoth said:
Were you honestly expecting anything different? There wasn't anything announced spec-wise about these that suggested they'd offer an experience drastically different than other premium over ear headphones.
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Honestly, yes. For example, the HomePod is priced higher than the higher end google home/Alexa devices, but sounds better and looks better (IMO). These actually look worse than the competition and are significantly more expensive. While Apple products always carry a premium, they usually deliver.

They are directly competing with Bose/Sony's $300-$400 headphones, and I would argue that a large majority of those owners use them for travel. How they are lacking a 3.5mm is mind boggling. While there are alternatives (Airfly) for planes, it is hardly as reliable for in flight entertainment.
 
mattopotamus said:
These early reviews seem to signal they are in no way, shape, or form worth $150+ offerings from Bose/Sony/B&W.
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I think people hear what they want to (yep I reused that pun). I think the reviews offer plenty of signals they are worth the price difference due to quality of build (the cheap $300 units of plastic consistently fail on me in a year), acoustical processing (better noise cancellation is a common theme in the reviews), and ease of use in the apple ethos (which I am a part of).
 
The Game 161 said:
well he's not really going to go over all of that though is he? thats what the full review will be for
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Yeah imagine mentioning even casually how headphones sound in a headphone video................

(Both iJustine and CNET mentioned sound quality and noise cancelling btw)
 
Quu said:
Well I mean to quote him on the case... "there are no redeeming qualities about this case at all".

And unless I missed it he didn't discuss the audio quality or the noise cancelling at all. In a headphone unboxing and first look he didn't even mention how they sounded or how the noise cancelling worked. Not even a "they sound good so far" or "the noise cancelling is impressive at first glance".

Like he didn't seem enthused by them is my point, he didn't gush about anything and complained about the case. His facial expressions and body language didn't make me think he found them impressive or warranting of their high price point.

And like.. I own two pairs of AirPods Gen 1 and Airpod Pro's. Bought both soon as they were available, replaced my first pair of Airpods after running the batteries to death. I have two Homepods and love them. I'm looking for the good here, I'm in the market for some high quality cans (was considering the Sony MX4's actually). So I'm not "hearing" what I want to. I'm open minded and his first impression didn't seem like he was impressed.

I will of course watch full reviews too when they actually reveal how they sound and we get some proper audio engineer comparisons like we did with the Homepods.
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I’m pretty sure at the end he says he spent a few hours listening to them and they sound “really good”.
 
MidwestMacGuy said:
Just make sure you use them playing TIDAL or Qobuz. Expensive headphones deserve hi-def sound, not the watered down MP3 Apple Music provides.
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Apple Music has no .mp3 music at all. You get .mp3's from Amazon; if you have Apple Music you can download a .aac version from Apple. And lots of Apple's aac music is created from masters at higher than CD quality.
 
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