Apple Announces AirPods Max Over-Ear Headphones With Noise Cancellation, Priced at $549

[LiE_]

Looks like a bra

Yep, or a hand bag.

 

[urbanslaughter1997]

That case looks quite stupid. Oh well. At least Apple is licensing the H1 chip to competitors and I can shop around. Lololololol

It looks like you're carrying a little purse. How many rappers or athletes are going to want to look like they're carrying a purse around?

 

[Deliro]

550$ wait what? For a headphone? WAIT WHAT !?

I say the same thing about a stainless steel smart watch. But I'm sure I will see a bunch of folks maxing out their Apple Credit cards soon to add this to their collection.

 

[M87]

No way to connect a cable, so useless for anything where latency is a concern. I think I’ll stick with my Audio-Technica ATHM50xBTs, thanks though Tim Apple.

 

[mike...]

£549 headphones

£309 to replace the battery

£35 if you want to use a cable

lmfao

 

[darkcompass]

Headphones are the main audio device for some people.

Agreed, but a thats a sub-audiophile (or fashion-statement) price. I like my music, but I'm not going to take a punt on Apple Airpod Max over Sennheiser or Bose. I guess it will need to be proved in the field.

 

[Reason077]

Digital Crown for volume control? Can’t they use the technology in the Magic Mouse so the AirPods Max can do touch controls?

Ask Sony WH-1000X(M3/M4) owners about touch controls. Many consider them a significant weakness of the product.

 

[M87]

It looks like you're carrying a little purse. How many rappers or athletes are going to want to look like they're carrying a purse around?

Probably a lot of them, ‘cause you know...

 

[Tozovac]

Are yes, the curse of expected annual revenue growth shows its ugly head once again.

On a sidenote, it’s a good thing these don’t require optional caster wheels to achieve their full functionality.

 

[rp100]

My wife saw the carrying case up on the screen and thought I was shopping intimates for Christmas...

 

[gknewell]

Um, Hard Pass. Drop it down to $250 and people might bite.

 

[MacManTexas56]

It looks like you're carrying a little purse. How many rappers or athletes are going to want to look like they're carrying a purse around?

have you seen what they wear? Cam Newton would love this!

 

[ryuworks]

Freaking sick of the annoying pricks screaming hell when something is not on USB-C. ****. All Apple accessories have lightning chargers and it will be more annoying for one to look for a USB-C cable just for this one item. MFI Lighting cables are made well while even expensive USB-C can be shoddy sometimes. USB-C wannabes probably have way lesser apple accessories and iPhones than the regular Apple owner with easily 20 over items needing Lightning. USB-C is not better than microUSB or Lightning for charging (in fact it is worse with all the ridiculous standard changes) your random accessory so don't force it down our throats because it's likely only annoying people who don't have a lot of cables in the first place who want it.

 

[Rce84]

But Max is a stupid name. And Apple really doesn’t know how to read a room. Who’s gonna spend $550 on headphones in 2020? Unless you’re able to pay for these in installments like the iPhone?

Also considering two brand new gaming consoles just launched as well. People don't have the disposable income to buy all this stuff. Apple is going to regret this price point.

 

[Eduardo Forneck]

well, i'll keep my Sony XM4 after that

 

[contacos]

maybe my gayness shows but this case looks like an ass in really tight work out shorts from the 80s or 90s

#NSFW

 

[ericwn]

If u can’t afford them why are you looking at them? It must drive you crazy

Maybe stop assuming. Just because someone doesn’t like the price doesn’t necessarily mean they cannot afford it.

 

[Mr. Dee]

That’s 80,000 Jamaican dollars or a well paying salary. If you are depending on a stimulus check or rental assistance, Apple is likely saying these are not for you.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Helmet I understand but collars? WTH you’re talking about?

Some shirt collars, jacket collars, trench coats, rain jackets, snow jackets, 'clothes'...

 

[aoverflow]

Quite a big gap in the encoding....

288kbps max bit rate (AAC at 48kHz) vs LDAC max bit rate (990 kbps) but is still lossy encoding like AAC.

Anyway, AAC 256 is audibly transparent for a human ear. No need to waste extra bandwidth and potentially sacrifice the connection stability when no one (professional sound engineers included) will tell the difference. Also, LDAC encodes frequencies above the range of human hearing - why would you ever want that?

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

If u can’t afford them why are you looking at them? It must drive you crazy.

So much whining in here from people who still wouldn't buy these if they were $200 cheaper. Too expensive for your budget? Ok. Don't buy them. 🤷‍♂️

Let’s be honest here buddy, people are upset because they were hoping they had a solid apple option that was still priced reasonable. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say the mass majority of the commenters on here would have dropped between $350-400 for these. What apple did was a bug middle finger to their core buyer. A lot of people on this board can afford these but their is a difference between being smart with your money and not being able to afford it.

 

[Devyn89]

$780 Canadian lol. That’s a nope from me, my AirPods Pro are just fine (wonderful actually)

 

[femike]

Apparently these have a lightning port so you could use a lightning to 3.5mm cable with them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1336312456868663299

Actually you most likely cannot, as it is probably only a charging port (as in the Beats Solo Pro's).

 

[deckard666]

can you hear the tsunami of hate-filled rage from the usual suspects? Seriously, shouldn't the haters at least wait until the reviews are in? Its not like these are the most expensive headphones ever made (links later). If they are indeed top-of-the-line for what they offer, they are not overpriced for what they are, just priced higher than most people want to pay for more mediocre (but good enough) headphones.

So for grins and giggles, here are some links. The haters heads should explode on some of these:

Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro. $559. https://www.techradar.com/news/audio/portable-audio/best-over-ear-headphones-1280342
Sennheiser HD 800 $1399 (yes, I didn't miss a decimal point) (same as above)

Sony MDRZ1R Signature $1799 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KOE8DKU?tag=sa0a83-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

Pioneer SE-MASTER1 $1489-used https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SE-M...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00YPH79T4

Sennheiser HD 660 S. $469 (on sale!) https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-H...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B076HP574T

HIFIMAN HE1000 V2. $2999 (again, no skipped decimal point). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I50644C?tag=sa0a83-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1


So hey, I do get it, $550 is probably more than I will spend for headphones, but....it seems there is a market for better sounding over-ear cans. Just saying, just because you don't want one, doesn't mean someone else might not think they are a deal for what they are.

I would be surprised if Sony's XM3/4s dont wipe the floor with apple sound quality wise at half the price....obviously dependent on source...

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I can't seem to find out how they charge for sure, but with the included lightning cable I'm guessing its that way. That is a disappointment. Was hoping they'd charge with USB-C. That only reaffirms that Apple is content to sticking with Lightning for awhile longer.

I'm pretty sure that until things can go full wireless they'll stick with lightning for all accessory grade devices like phones and peripherals and reserve USB-C for productivity devices like iPads and Macs.