Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's AirPods Max Weigh 384 Grams, Heavier Than Most Competing Over-Ear Headphones
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
another thing that people need to think about is call quality and this is where I am hoping Apple shines with as they do now with the normal airpods. Call quality is **** on XM3, XM4, QC35II... the only one that was fantastic was the Bose NC 700 but as a balding guy they hurt and the NC 700 has been a software nightmare as well for a product out more than 1 year.
I have the Sony (M3) and is one of the most uncomfortable headphones that I I’ve ever had. Impossible to have them for more than 1 h. So weight is not all. I have also a pair of meze audio classics 99 (made of wood) and I can have them for hours. (and way better sound quality btw)
Please do. More than curious. I have had such a good experience with AirPods Pro that I’m considering these.
Hahaha impressed that you were trialling these internally for Apple and can break the NDA to say they are worse.
Oh, wait one minute.....
The quality of the materials. You don't have a lot of money left over to put into the drivers when you spend so much on marketing and a huge spaceship HQ in Cupertino.
"Audiophiles know they can get better audio quality for far less"
Well, we haven't heard them yet
So no one knows. Also, most audiophile heaphones don't come with all these other features like surround sound for movies, etc..If anything, the Apple ones could actually be underpriced, not overpriced. I know it sounds strange for people who are unaware of the prices of high-end and professional headphones ( who go up to 3000$ and more ), but if the quality of sound is there, the additional features justify the price.
Sitting next to me in my studio is a pair of Sennheiser HD-800. Go check the price for those. And I can tell you they are worth every penny.
Last edited:
what do you mean? I don’t understand why everyone found my comment funny. It wasn’t a joke.
I might want to take these to the gym. Is that not advised? And if so why not?
Innovation??? I missed that part of these overpriced headphones.
Last edited:
As a crazy mad audiophile, video producer and DJ I can assure you they are not targeted at me. First off the weight. One pound on my head for many hours at a time. No thanks. Audio quality. Hard to say as there are zero specs for this item anywhere. No frequency response. Nothing. More importantly...no info on playback Specs. Lossless? Hi res? If Apple want to be taken even remotely seriously by audiofools, DJ’s and other pros they need to act like it’s a pro or enthusiasts item. ok I have not tried them but from what I have seen these are more Audio fashion than HiFi function. I stand to be corrected.
Last edited:
Well, we haven't heard them yet
If anything, the Apple ones could actually be underpriced, not overpriced.
There are already THX wireless headphones out in the market for much cheaper if that's your cup of tea.
The most critical issue about these headphones IMO is that they have adaptive EQ, i.e. an opinionated EQ. Opinionated EQ is going to be an issue just like the HomePod was for many people.
This product will go down as one of the apple duds imho... up there with that digital camera they made and charging the Apple Pencil sticking out of the iPad lightning port...It’s clear the quality design people have left... this is what happens when you’ve exhausted the Steve Jobs list of ideas and your main design innovator is gone. Sorry Tim!
Okay what the!? These things were just announced hours ago with the first units not in the hands of any human consumers for at least 6 days how in the world can you even begin to assume the quality of the audio and already rank it among other competing products?
This comment really baffles me. From a single product announcement this guy has already measured up AirPods Max audio quality, ranked it among competing products, torn apart its build quality to determine how incorrectly it was priced and offered up his own product price based on his own evaluation of the parts, quality, research and development put into it! What a magician!
It all depends on how the Adaptive Eq works. And if it can be turned off. From what I understand, all it does is try to maintain the same frequency curve depending on the shape of your ears, so that everyone gets the same experience. If it works well, it's a plus. There are a lot of much more expensive headphones that are known to have real frequency issues of imbalance depending on if you're wearing glasses or not, as it breaks the seal for the bass.
At this point it's very premature to judge them without experiencing it.
I don't see how that's a plus. If I prefer more mids than you, why is it a necessity for us both to have the same experience?
There is a difference between the Adaptive EQ, and the regular EQ. The adaptive EQ is just there to make sure the shape of your head or you wearing glasses won't break the seal of the headphones ( that is a real problem for a lot of headphones). Then the regular EQ is there for you to customise the sound to your liking. Just the way there are calibrator for screens/monitors. You can calibrate the screen first, but that doesn't prevent you from changing the brightness/contrast etc,,,later on.
Hilarious. Also, extremely unlikely. I will be very pleasantly surprised if these are on par with the Sony WH-1000XM4 or the Senn MW3, but it’s very very unlikely that the sound quality matches up to cans like Focal Elears or mid-range Audeze headphones.
What is "hilarious" about this ? Elears are actually terrible. Have you heard the Airpods Max already ? How do you know they aren't as good as mid-priced Audeze ? And you have to consider that the price includes all the other features : Surround sound for Dolby Atmos, noise reduction etc..
When I say they could be UNDERPRICED, I absolutely mean it. I am a musician by trade. My recording studio is probably loaded with over 100.000$ worth of gear. I have a pair of 1000$ Senn HD-800 headphones next to me, and as I said they are worth EVERY penny.
So if the Apple ones manage to deliver a comparable audio quality to some 500$ mid-range headphones, they are actually cheap considering all the other digital features added as noise reduction, surround etc..
Nobody heard them yet. They could be great, they could be bad. I was actually surprised by how decently sounding the Airpods Pro were for such inexpensive* earbuds. So maybe Apple could pull this out in a surprising way.
*yes, the airpods pro are inexpensive. Go see the prices for some of the Shure earbuds musicians use for live.
Last edited:
I’m generally in agreement. Just comparing against other high dollar headphones, all the appropriate pieces and parts are there. When you add the kind of audio processing power Apple has (an H1 chip in each cup at 10 audio cores each), there’s the potential for these to be impressive above their cost.
I agree with you on the AirPods Pro, but I wouldn’t call them a good deal or underpriced. They’re good for what they are, extremely convenient units with okay ANC, okay sound, okay fit and isolation. Sitting at my desk, I have three other options for order-of-magnitude better sound, fit or isolation depending on what I need, but they all cost significantly more than the APP.
My expectation for the AirPods Max is that it’ll be much the same. They’ll probably have decent (but not $600 or more quality) sound, decent ANC (although again, I’ll be surprised if it’s on par with market leader Sony or even my personally-hated Bose QCs), and passable fit for the price point (although I do have some real questions about that weight and how comfortable they’ll be for long use). Given the typical Apple Tax, I expect that they’ll be on par with the Senn TW3 or Sony WH-1000XM4. In order for me to consider them to be underpriced, they’d have to have sound quality on par with cans in the $750-$1k range, which, as I said, is very very unlikely. Atmos is a nice gimmick, but it’s not a big addition to the value of the cans unless the sound is already quite good. I kind of hope that’s the case, but I’m not holding my breath.
Omg, this again? Just a higher price tag doesn't make it for audiophiles.
First of all, there's no wired connection, maybe Apple did some super-duper wireless magic, but it would unlikely to work with any other transmitter than Apple's own devices, rendering it useless for audiophiles.
It will be the same story as with Homepods. You can get it in a year for almost half off and in bundles, with a cheapo version (starting price $249-349) coming at some point as well.
Choosing Homepods over Google Homes and Alexa Echoes, or choosing these over whatever for half the price is like turning from 'High' to 'Extreme' in Spotify Audio Quality, not going over to LPs...