Let's be honest: These headphones could sound like crap and you would still find a way to justify it because Apple fanboys always do.
Sure you can. If it's 'the style', people will fall all over themselves to get 'the look'.
Yep. Apple probably spent 100x more on R&D for these things than any other headphone in the price range. Maybe 10x more than Sony/Bose, but still a magnitude of more R&D.
I'll certainly be interested to see what reviewers say, if they do push the limits of audio quality for wireless headphones or this price range it'll be impressive... just a bit skeptical that if these could compete with real studio HPs in their price range that Apple would be willing to price them competitively. Certainly people would willingly pay (a lot) more if these were up there with the crème de la crème.
They don't have to. You can buy a lightening to 3.5" cable for these headphones.
To be fair yeah, batteries in these over-ears are probably much larger than those found in the little buds, my mistake.
While I know you are trying to "poke the bear" so to speak, any consumer electronic device I buy has to have good ratio of value to price that meets my subjective criteria. The engagement of the company into being green or carbon neutral or environmentally friendly is another matter altogether is clearly a plus for all of us, but that is not my main criteria.
I’m being unreasonable for waiting to get them in hand to judge for myself?
Sure , but the comments are far from sensible , I can post hundreds of audio/video products that are very expensive vs the budget options , but they still have a market , are apple allowed to try and design and sell products in a more high end market? if they can offer a competitive product in the 550$ price range headphones , then they will sell , if they cant , they wont , but why so many negative posts ? its obvious the product is not meant to be a mass production product like the airpods or the iphone , it is meant to be a Halo product , that shows what Apple can do at the highend , and as any Halo product , trickle down the features to the less expensive models down the road , and of course have lower volume.
Of course they would because they would be a steal for consumers at that price. I'm not saying they are worth $550 (I'll wait for professional reviews [but not "audiophile" reviews because those tend to be, let's just say, unrealistic]) but remember Apple's hardware margins are in the 35% range at best (gross). It's possible Apple is pulling higher margins with these but that's extremely unlikely for a new product. It means these cost Apple a minimum of $350 to make (based on gross and not the lower net profit). Maybe they are over-engineered, maybe they are unnecessary but those are different matters.
Which is why I said “assuming these support lossless”.
