Almost returned AirPods Max Until....

[spokenblurb]

Sorry for the clickbait lol.So I have AirPod Pros and when I compared them to the Max I felt underwhelmed,like it was only a slight improvement, mostly to the base and sound stage and I was really disappointed like how could these cost soooo much more and only be marginally better so in my denial and last ditch effort before I returned them I went looking into the settings on my iPhone and found under accessibility>Hearing>Audio/visual >Headphone Accommodations!,turn those on!!! I kid you not it changed my whole experience I changed the Soft sound slider to moderate and tune audio for balance tone though I also like vocal range and I can’t believe the difference,it sounds like what I though it should have in the beginning. Im starting to wonder if the APM might receive a firmware update soon like maybe something is not right, because for me I repeat for ME it’s a craaaazy difference I even went to bed to sleep it off and test whether I was being objective and not just a victim of wishful thinking and nope blown away again this morning. So I’m asking others to try it out and report what your experience/opinion is. I will say it makes me hopeful that like the APP maybe the Max could improve and receive new features in the future.

 

[Pug72]

Thats's great if you prefer a brighter sound, not for me sadly. I wouldn't mind a bit more bass, though I'm coming round to how they sound. But should I?

 

[yticolev]

There were some epiphany reports on head-fi.org when this was discovered, but balanced with the slider all the way to the left. A bit of controversy though: one person said that slider controls compression (like what a radio station does). Not so good, but no doubt like any other possible setting, will sound better to some.

 

[spokenblurb]

There were some epiphany reports on head-fi.org when this was discovered, but balanced with the slider all the way to the left. A bit of controversy though: one person said that slider controls compression (like what a radio station does). Not so good, but no doubt like any other possible setting, will sound better to some.

I will head over there now to see what others are saying, thanks!!

 

[yticolev]

60 pages of posts there, and quite helpful. Last half dozen pages have a lot more back and forth. But nice to see enthusiasts like the Max - even the negative comments were positive from my perspective, so I bought them today. Far more helpful than the youtube reviewers.

I love headphones, used to own electrostatic ones but not for several decades, and had been thinking about buying headphones when the Max was announced. But no way was I spending that kind of money until I read some reviews! I would prefer the rumored less expensive Sport version, but can't wait that long. I don't need the excessive build quality, but they are worth the money I'm convinced nevertheless.

 

[SaddleSC]

For me...most of the songs in my Apple Music sounds better by going to Settings -- Music and setting EQ to Rock. Even with Classical and Jazz music. With no EQ, my Bowers & Wilkins PX7 sounds much richer with better, controlled low end. My Sony XM4 have much muddier bass but sometimes they are fun to passively listen to. I really wish the APM could reach a bit lower and sound a bit fuller. They are a little bright for my taste.

 

[jab234]

Been playing around with these - huge difference. Out of box they sound so muffled. Thanks!

 

[jterp7]

The firmware they ship with makes them sounds weird. Theres a ”clear” difference after the update lol. Def on the bright side depending on the track. If you like warm the beats are usually better for that.

 

[jab234]

The firmware they ship with makes them sounds weird. Theres a ”clear” difference after the update lol. Def on the bright side depending on the track. If you like warm the beats are usually better for that.

is 3c16 the latest firmware? how do they even update?

 

[jterp7]

Yes they start off 3B.

 

[Untapped Potential]

For me...most of the songs in my Apple Music sounds better by going to Settings -- Music and setting EQ to Rock. Even with Classical and Jazz music. With no EQ, my Bowers & Wilkins PX7 sounds much richer with better, controlled low end. My Sony XM4 have much muddier bass but sometimes they are fun to passively listen to. I really wish the APM could reach a bit lower and sound a bit fuller. They are a little bright for my taste.

Try setting it to Late Night instead of Rock.

 

[AppleRobert]

The B&W px7 are the best bang for buck wireless headphones currently for sound quality. I haven’t fiddled with any settings yet on the APM, they sound very good but don’t match the px7 quality so maybe I will.

I posted a link to the headfi discussion about a week ago about the settings. Guess I should have posted it under its own thread though I figured most folks would have come across it in their browsing about the APM in macrumors.

 

[Neonblue]

Thanks! This has definitely improved my listening experience!

 

[robert109]

Thanks for the trick, the Max sounds much much better than it was!

 

[Enygmatic]

It’s definitely nice to have this functionality, particularly when EQ settings are so sparse within iOS. The best part is: there’s no wrong way - whatever sounds good to you! And Apple has put some thought into this as well - I detect extremely minimal distortion at any extreme, even at max volume.

 

[iL15hts]

You can also quickly adjust the transparency volume via control center. Very cool feature.

 

[SBruv]

There were some epiphany reports on head-fi.org when this was discovered, but balanced with the slider all the way to the left. A bit of controversy though: one person said that slider controls compression (like what a radio station does). Not so good, but no doubt like any other possible setting, will sound better to some.

Yes, Accommodation applies multiband compression, reducing the dynamic range of particular frequency bands to raise their overall levels. It's profoundly changing the signal, much more than EQ would. If that doesn't bother you, then go for it, but don't think that you're just applying EQ – it's a more 'destructive' (albeit in a good way) process than that.

 

[drifter7508]

Sorry for the clickbait lol.So I have AirPod Pros and when I compared them to the Max I felt underwhelmed,like it was only a slight improvement, mostly to the base and sound stage and I was really disappointed like how could these cost soooo much more and only be marginally better so in my denial and last ditch effort before I returned them I went looking into the settings on my iPhone and found under accessibility>Hearing>Audio/visual >Headphone Accommodations!,turn those on!!! I kid you not it changed my whole experience I changed the Soft sound slider to moderate and tune audio for balance tone though I also like vocal range and I can’t believe the difference,it sounds like what I though it should have in the beginning. Im starting to wonder if the APM might receive a firmware update soon like maybe something is not right, because for me I repeat for ME it’s a craaaazy difference I even went to bed to sleep it off and test whether I was being objective and not just a victim of wishful thinking and nope blown away again this morning. So I’m asking others to try it out and report what your experience/opinion is. I will say it makes me hopeful that like the APP maybe the Max could improve and receive new features in the future.

Thanks! That actually did a huge difference in sound. Way better in the high ends and less muddy sound!

 

[Argelius]

Sorry for the clickbait lol.So I have AirPod Pros and when I compared them to the Max I felt underwhelmed,like it was only a slight improvement, mostly to the base and sound stage and I was really disappointed like how could these cost soooo much more and only be marginally better so in my denial and last ditch effort before I returned them I went looking into the settings on my iPhone and found under accessibility>Hearing>Audio/visual >Headphone Accommodations!,turn those on!!! I kid you not it changed my whole experience I changed the Soft sound slider to moderate and tune audio for balance tone though I also like vocal range and I can’t believe the difference,it sounds like what I though it should have in the beginning. Im starting to wonder if the APM might receive a firmware update soon like maybe something is not right, because for me I repeat for ME it’s a craaaazy difference I even went to bed to sleep it off and test whether I was being objective and not just a victim of wishful thinking and nope blown away again this morning. So I’m asking others to try it out and report what your experience/opinion is. I will say it makes me hopeful that like the APP maybe the Max could improve and receive new features in the future.

Thanks for this! I love it!!!