I had been waiting for the new Airpods Max and, like others here, am definitely underwhelmed. But, I am in the market for a nice pair of headphones and have heard pros and cons on the Bose QC Ultras. Are they the best alternative?
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Apple Updates AirPods Max With USB-C Port and New Colors
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Ugh. AirPods Max are truly Apple at its worst. They are a pretty neat product, but ridiculously overpriced. And for what? I don’t buy that the pricing strategy is actually the right balance of supply and demand. They could price them at $199 and still make more money because they’d sell way more. Maybe they are worried about cannibalizing Beats sales, but Apple at its best doesn’t worry about things like that.
Expect to see $100 discounts soon.
Bet you Apple’s official line is that the Maxes are good enough or comparable to the competition
Bet you Apple’s official line is that the Maxes are good enough or comparable to the competition
Check if the webbing in the headband has stretched upward, to the point where it's no longer cushioning the top of your head from making contact with the two metal headbands. If those bands are pressing down on the top of your head, it's possible that they're adding to the fatigue. I found this was the case about a week ago, and this allowed the weight of the Airpods Max to press the metal bands into my scalp so hard that they made two long indentations from side to side, cutting off bloodflow and maybe making my growing baldspot worse. I bought cheap zippered headband covers with some padding on Amazon, and problem solved.
There are so many flaws imho with 1st and 2nd gen, on/off button, weight, no passive mode, case obviously. I've sold mine for like 300EUR way back now.
are you aware that Apple does not do discounts? And if they did, I would be very worried about the economic climate, the the discount would be of no use..
Just a psa you can get the original pair off eBay for pretty cheap nowadays, open box to new for somewhere in the range of 250-300.
The rumor of them doing the bare minimum upgrade has existed for at least six months so I’m not at all surprised this happened. That being said I’ll be waiting until next year when the actual second model arrives with a new chip and audio drivers.
The rumor of them doing the bare minimum upgrade has existed for at least six months so I’m not at all surprised this happened. That being said I’ll be waiting until next year when the actual second model arrives with a new chip and audio drivers.
particularly the watch ultra
now in black!
"how about that sleep apnea feature coming to s10?"
....now. in. black!
Genuinely curious about the lack of updates with the AirPods Max. They went all-out with the base AirPods so it's not like they're entirely lazy or anything. Four years is a long time to develop new hardware and the new model isn't an upgrade but just a minor revision. The greed theory also doesn't fit because the only devices with the newer H2 chip are the lower priced AirPods/Pro so intentionally hampering a premium product to drive buyers towards cheaper products doesn't make sense here.
If I had to speculate, I'd guess that maybe they were working on a fully updated model but ran into issues during prototype testing and had to fall back to old hardware with just a new port to rush the release? At least, that's what happened with the chip scenario on the iPhone 14 Pro and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the case here.
Not defending the disappointing release or anything, just trying to find a logical explanation.
If I had to speculate, I'd guess that maybe they were working on a fully updated model but ran into issues during prototype testing and had to fall back to old hardware with just a new port to rush the release? At least, that's what happened with the chip scenario on the iPhone 14 Pro and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the case here.
Not defending the disappointing release or anything, just trying to find a logical explanation.
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You are definitely not a big person, and you probably have smaller bones, and a normal sized head. But yeah, Apple should make different sizes to fit everyone.
They must have hit a roadblock of some sort with Lossless audio, not sure what that would be exactly. At least something that AirPods Pro couldn't have gotten, something reserved for the over-ears. Who knows, they might release it during the course of next year whenever it's ready. Wouldn't count on another four year cycle. Meanwhile, I have no complaints about my first gens.
The best? Probably not. The Focal Bathys are a premium wireless noise cancelling over-the-ear headphone. Also have Masters/Dynamic M75 noise cancellers. Both are highly rated, but more expensive. The Bose QC Ultra are very good, cheaper than the premium models, and these are a secondary pair of wireless headphones for us.
We do have a premium wired version of Focal over-the-ear open-backs that we use most of the time for entertainment. Wired open-back headphones generally sound fantastic, so we're good there.
Was hoping to use Airpod Max when we need wireless or noise cancelling, but this "new" version ain't it. So the Bose QC Ultras will be good for us for a few years.
First figure out if you can use wired, or need wireless. Our experience is wired is always noticeably superior sound because no compression / signal loss. And you can achieve this for less money with wired headphones -- or get an ultrapremium set of grail wired headphones which will sound amazing. Wired has many, many excellent choices in all price ranges. If you must have wireless and/or noise cancelling, choices are more limited, but there are multiple quality products that will sound excellent.
As no update to the AirPods Max was in sight, I got a pair of XM5s when they came out. I can concur they do feel a bit wobbly and plastic in action, but once they're on your head securely you don't notice it. The cushions on the cups are nice and soft, too.
Best advice would be to try out which ever headphone you are interested in or make sure they have a return policy. Music and acoustics are very subjective, it's not like with eye sight where everyone can agree what letter one is reading. Another thing to consider is what is your budget because, headphone prices can go high depending on what you value. I have heard the Focals are really good sound wise but again expect to pay more. Ideally sound quality, active noise cancellation and battery life should be at the top of the priority list but everyone has different tastes and needs. If you can, try out Bang and Olufsen or Bower and Wilkins headphones. Or just wait for the inevitable sale of the AirPods Max with lighting ports and call it a day saving hundreds. It's all about what you want and value since at the end of the day its your money.
This has to be the most disappointing announcement of the entire event.
the good
>moves to usb-c ok good
>new colors ok cool
the bad
>uses the same 5 year old chip (no H2 chip support)
>no word on any kind of lossless support via usb-c
>same bluetooth 5.0 (8 years old btw)
>no new drivers or tweeters
>same expensive price (549)
there is absolutely nothing new to buy here, avoid buying full price at all costs. just buy beats at this point. feels kind of insulting waiting 4 years for this.
the good
>moves to usb-c ok good
>new colors ok cool
the bad
>uses the same 5 year old chip (no H2 chip support)
>no word on any kind of lossless support via usb-c
>same bluetooth 5.0 (8 years old btw)
>no new drivers or tweeters
>same expensive price (549)
there is absolutely nothing new to buy here, avoid buying full price at all costs. just buy beats at this point. feels kind of insulting waiting 4 years for this.
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How in God's name did Apple NOT upgrade to the AirPods Max to Bluetooth 5.3 and the H2 chip? Not to mention there is zero weight improvement, zero battery life improvement, and zero design improvements. I am truly shocked by Apple's thinking here. Sure, I'd love to ditch my lightning port but there is no offing way I am upgrading just for the USB-C. I am not a fool Apple. Shame on you for this one.
They used Apple Intelligence to interpret my frenetic searching for rumors to determine I was hesitating buying the old gen on sale due to FOMO. Decided to do me a solid by only updating the colors and the port. I
I'm feeling real good about my choice now thanks to Tim Apple. For the nearly $200 I saved off retail, I can deal with carrying around one of the 8,000 old lighting cables I have in my travel bag.