We all know this "magical" hardware is not up to pro headphones. The $549 price is mostly for the brand. These are not audiophile headphones. It does look good, I'll give Apple that.
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Apple Announces AirPods Max Over-Ear Headphones With Noise Cancellation, Priced at $549
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I’m seeing a few of these snarky posts from pro-Apple analysts. I guess Horace has forgotten about HomePod and before it the iPod HiFi. At a $550 price point I doubt these headphones will be flying off the shelves. And it’s entirely possible Apple’s expectations are more modest.
Wow. That price tag is abrasive and shows what they think of everyone. “Hey, let’s make something seem premium and charge a stupid amount for it.” A fool and their money are soon parted. That is definitely Apples mantra. I used to see them as providing great tools. The Performa 600 was what made me a Mac fan. I look at this now and what else they’re making and they seem so gimmicky - targeting people for paying through the nose just because it’s an Apple product rather than truly being that much better or being completely unique.
I’m done. This update and launch just really put things in perspective.
I’m done. This update and launch just really put things in perspective.
The port is also an audio input, from analog sources. How does the bi-directional Lightning-3.5mm cable work? I don’t know. Could the same have been achieved with a USB Type-C connector? No idea. But Apple’s choice of Lightning might have something to do with this.
And when the reviews come in, what part of anything I've said won't be true? It's the same H1 chip and 256 AAC, with larger drivers. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they will sound like. Apple is already doing all the same processing and adaptive EQ etc in APP's, and they sound "pretty good" at best.
So I still don't understand what magical processing you think APM's are going to deliver, or why you would even assume that, considering Apple themselves have not specified any such magic. They literally show you the drivers they're using inside, there's nothing special there. "Computational audio" is just referring to adaptive EQ, noise cancelling, and spatial audio. Again it literally says so on the website.
And if you're thinking of pointing out that there's two H1's like that means something, They need two to handle the extra mics.
Pretty much everything. None of what you mentioned is the limiting factor today in audio reproduction.
The only thing that research has repeatedly demonstrated that remains a significant one is frequency response at your eardrum. And you can't know what it will be like just by looking at how a pair of headphones is made.
I would be pleased if Apple makes these headphones sound very different (in a better way) than their current offerings. So far their entire non-Beats lineup share a lot of similarities in sound characteristics.
I wonder if users complains about the price at mercedesrumors.com also...?
"OMG, it's over $100.000 for a fully equiped new E350, I can buy 10 KIA's for that price! *buhu buhu*"
Gah.
"OMG, it's over $100.000 for a fully equiped new E350, I can buy 10 KIA's for that price! *buhu buhu*"
Gah.
The change in form factor alone will invariably and necessarily bring a change in FR curve at your eardrums because the HPs will interact in a different way with your own anatomy. And we have no way on our end of knowing what its magnitude is just by looking at a spec sheet or how it’s made.
This would be more like BMW pricing the new 535 at 2x the price of the E350. Nearly identical cars for not identical money. We'll see when the reviews hit, but I highly doubt these will sound twice as good as something like the Sony XM4's at nearly half the price.
I like that way of looking at it . . . and I think that the HomePods are pretty terrific little speakers, remarkable really.
The AirPods Max design is intriguing and does look similarly impressive, so actually hearing them, or next best being able to read & view user reviews once they are out 'in the wild', is going to be very interesting.
I have read that there was a former B&W VP working on this project. If true, the signatures may sound similar to those and maybe borrow some elements from the Beats/HomePod/AirPods line.
My point being here is that Apple does not typically stray far from their sound signatures, but yes let’s wait and see
No they’re not. When trying to buy/preorder, the add to cart button is grayed out. At least for me.Yes, they are:
Compra los AirPods Max
AirPods Max. La experiencia más avanzada en audífonos de diadema. En colores nuevos. Ahora con USB-C. Envío y grabado sin costo en apple.com.www.apple.com
And I didn’t mean the mb01 were not available, I was referring to the AirPods Max.
BTW, me encantó tu nombre de usuario 😂
Attachments
Comedy Gold, someone posted this over at The Register about these 'fones!🤣
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2020/12/08/airpods_max_apple/
"This uses oxygen-free wireless transmit technology - the Max's 0s and 1s are higher fidelity bits than what you get with other headphones. It is powered by Apple's new F-U chip.
That is why the pairing is proprietary - it is not easy to find an oxygen free wireless path. It also operates at in the GHz band - that *billions* of wireless transmits per second.
Can't wait to get mine - hope it works with the F-Me-2 chip in my Apple Hermes watch. Magical!"
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2020/12/08/airpods_max_apple/
"This uses oxygen-free wireless transmit technology - the Max's 0s and 1s are higher fidelity bits than what you get with other headphones. It is powered by Apple's new F-U chip.
That is why the pairing is proprietary - it is not easy to find an oxygen free wireless path. It also operates at in the GHz band - that *billions* of wireless transmits per second.
Can't wait to get mine - hope it works with the F-Me-2 chip in my Apple Hermes watch. Magical!"
What does 0:1's really have to do with anything? Audio is not digital. At some point during the process physics have to get involved. There is no way around this. Voltage has to get involved, diagrams has to be moving in order to create sound waves etc.. I just can't understand how applying stupid logics makes anything funny.
You should go read audio science review forums and see their reaction to the AirPods max , most of them think that if Apple can deliver on the technical claims (which you of course didnt even read after seeing the price) they will be a game changer and a bargain for the price , the fact you believe you can speak for everyone is beyond selfish.
Read up on how the homepod performs acoustic wise and why folks are excited to see what apple can do in the high end headphones , instead of all the negativity , also M1 and the entire move to their own silicon is not completely unique? or better? do you give them any props for going against the biggest duopoly in computers for the last 30+ years ?!
Yes they cost 550$ , yes you dont value Audio devices enough to warrant this price tag , which is fine (i wont buy a jeans for 200$ , but i wont berate companies or clients that sell/buy those) - you should get some perspective for sure
Honestly looking at these AirPod Pro Max's ~ it's really starting to grow on me, especially Sky Blue with Black foam.
I'm starting to think I realize the reason why Apple chose to use the digital crown vs using capacitive touch on the ear cones themselve's for control : the micro physical resistance of the fingers on the metal surface would be picked up by the microphones - in a call or inturrupting Siri output or the end user on a call. not ideal.
need to be VERY careful which audio source/relay you're going to connect a 3.5mm cable to:
this picture shows the older standard 3-ring 3.5mm jack. most laptops that have a unified 3.5mm IN/Out port uses the 4-ring 3.5mm male port ~ which the above pictured would not work.
Yeah I agree, that would have been just as effective in terms of the target market
I will give them that they've nailed ANC - but honestly id rather have budget Sennheisers and passive noise cancelling.
1. You can use your ears to listen 2. All the decent reviewers will tell you too.
It's just a terrible consumer sound signature - they do ANC well and that's about, but I don't even like ANC and turn it off on any products that have it.
If you want over-priced Bose are you folks, they sell £250 headphones that don't sound as good as £100 Sennheisers.
When you've got brands like Sennheiser, Focal, Grado, Audeze, Beyerdynamic and even Audio-Technica there's no reason to spend a penny on Bose. The NuraPhones blow anything Bose could manage out of the water with their muddy, hollow, hyped, veiled sound signature.
Not justifying their decision but I think there are a couple reasons. The first is consistency with the AirPod line that all use a Lightning connector for charging (though some models now also support wireless charging). The second is an existing AUX to Lightning cable is professed to work with the AirPods Max to allow an analog signal to be supplied to the headphones, albeit converted to digital first at the Lightning end. I don't believe Apple has a version of ADC cable that has a USB-C plug on the end, only Lightning.
EDIT: And should also work over USB-C to Lightning cable to allow listening while charging.
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