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The AirPods Max are looking more and more like the anomaly to me - the most expensive device in the line-up but still using the H1 chip even after Apple had the opportunity to switch to the H2 chip when it made the switch to USB-C and no attempt to address the issues than many people have with the "case" and lack of power-off button.

Does the AirPod Max have any future or does Apple think it's just not worth its while to try and compete with Sony, B&W etc for that segment of the market?

Personally I'd like an over-the-ear offering from Apple that felt like Apple was still trying to even keep up with let alone beat its competitors in that segment (price range) of the over-ears market.
On top of that, they break the easiest. The Bluetooth module is connected with a wire that gets twisted as the ear cups rotate. Eventually it snaps as you use them more. Then you can pay $250 to get it repaired if you want. Ask me how I know.
 
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Yeah me too. I picked up a pair of APP2 on discount knowing full well the APP3 were coming out. It turns out it seems a good move considering I get a USBC cable included in that discount price. The improvements on the version 3 look so minor, that they don't really look like it's worth paying a premium for them. - Eg I read that the live translation feature also works on the APP2 - and it's more a feature of Apple Intelligence on the iPhone than the AirPods themselves. I dare say the new ear tips will also fit on the last gen model (or failing that 3rd party equivalents). Getting a good seal in your ear can be paramount to how well they sound, so the ear tip itself could yield improvements even if there is technically no change to the drivers. I've learned to not fall for Apple's slick marketing spiel over the years...!
If you’re willing to wait and don’t suffer from FOMO or keeping up with the latest tech you can get great deals on brand new Apple stuff. It’s especially makes sense as products get more mature as the improvements from one generation to the next are less and less impressive. My iPhone 13 Pro Max is still a pretty great that feels as snappy as ever 4 years later.
 
This would have a lot more credibility if he had more than 2 months of account history, 71 videos and 24k subs .. and had reviewed literally anything else -- ever

Below is a photo over every single video he's released ... ever

View attachment 2545890
Yeah obviously he knows nothing about sound and audio, as evidenced by the website for his company

 
Yeah obviously he knows nothing about sound and audio, as evidenced by the website for his company


I said nothing about that ...
What I said is that he's posted reviews of zero other products in this space.

You realize we could find equally experienced sound designers who would trash all things Apple?
Are they right also?

Posting a CV or client list or "his own website" doesn't just make anyone the authority on a topic.
 
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i can assume the APM will be updated next year. In the headphone industry as premium product i don’t see much innovation from competitors as well. With APM aside from redesign, expecting for a new chip, lossless via wireless, anc and audio quality improvements with long battery life. That’s pretty much it no point of upgrading this model yearly.
 
Does anyone actually know what the difference is with the new buds? They said smaller - smaller how? The earpiece part, the stem, both? The shape of the bud looks slightly different as does the angle of the stem.
 
As a daily user of over ear cans, it's really frustrating.

I'm a small iPhone user, so I recognize this pattern.

It feels like the APM is going the way of the iPhone Mini (sadly).

Yeah, and to project the AirPod Max phenomenon onto another Apple product, I have some concerns about the full-sized HomePod. The rumours seem strong that the HomePod Mini will soon be upgraded to include an S9 or S10 chip (I guess we can rule out an S11 after the latest Apple Watch announcements!) and I would hope also incorporating some audio improvements but I have heard no rumours about a similar update to the full-sized HomePod.

I'm considering moving my smart speakers to HomePods - a bit of a leap of faith until Apple demonstrates it can significantly improve Siri so I'll only be buying a single Mini initially - but if/when I do go all-in on HomePod for my smart speakers then if the upgraded Mini with the more powerful S-series can do more on-device processing I really don't want to be in a position where I have to forsake that benefit in rooms where I want a full-sized HomePod to get the best audio quality I can from the HomePod offerings.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I find it interesting that the AirPod Max is at the top end of the range for Apple's headphone/earbud audio offerings and the full-sized HomePod is the top end of the range for Apple's fixed speaker audio offerings. While Apple seems to be trying really hard at the top end of the in-phone camera market and constantly pushing the limits in terms of what can be done there, to me it doesn't seem to be trying nearly as hard to push the limits of its audio capabilities any further than low-mid priced earbuds. (At $249 AirPod Pro are in my opinion definitely in the lower end of the mid-range price point in a market where it's perfectly possible to spend $1,000 or more for higher-end offerings from other manufacturers.)
 
I said nothing about that ...
What I said is that he's posted reviews of zero other products in this space.

You realize we could find equally experienced sound designers who would trash all things Apple?
Are they right also?

Posting a CV or client list or "his own website" doesn't just make anyone the authority on a topic.
By your logic then I should give more weight to iJustine’s review because she’s been on YouTube longer and has posted reviews of Apple products.
 
No USB-C cable in the APP3 box is super super cheap behavior, especially at $249 for earbuds that are barely changed from APP2

Also, the "2x better Active Noise Cancellation" is very likely all about the foam-infused ear tips.

Put Foam tips on APP2's and you'll see what I mean right away.
the real question will be "will the new foam tips even fit on the APP2? :0)
 
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visit apple site and you can do a comparison of the APP’s from features to dimensions
1757513415396.png

Thanks - this is the answer.

So exactly the same height buds, slightly less wide, but increased depth? Can't quite get my head round that.

The APP3 buds also weigh slightly more, while the case is bigger across all dimensions (slightly) but weighs less.

Probably all adds up to "the same but different".
 
Pre-ordered as well. The left side of my APP2 started crackling last week and stopped outputting sound so I guess it was time. Kind of annoying because the right side did the same thing and I had it replaced under AppleCare. I've also had this same issue with the APP1 (also replaced under AC), so it would seem that getting AppleCare for these earbuds are kind of a necessity as they seem to (at least in my past experiences) give up the ghost at some point. I am curious to try out the foam tips from Apple after using recently using aftermarket foam tips with my APP2.
 
i can assume the APM will be updated next year. In the headphone industry as premium product i don’t see much innovation from competitors as well. With APM aside from redesign, expecting for a new chip, lossless via wireless, anc and audio quality improvements with long battery life. That’s pretty much it no point of upgrading this model yearly.
Oh, I agree re no point updating yearly but, if we discount the change from the Lightning to the USB-C port, it's coming up to 5 years in December with no upgrade to the core capabilities.

Given that Apple isn't shy about locking people into its ecosystem I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't taken a run at wireless lossless audio already because I suspect it has had all the bits of the puzzle that it needs for a year or two now.

There are bandwidth issues with Bluetooth once all the packet overhead and error correction is taken into account and there are power consumption issues for the wearable device when considering WiFi but, while I assume Apple would also need to include a regular Bluetooth stack for compatibility for people outside of the Apple ecosystem, I suspect that it does already have all the hardware pieces it needs to come up with a higher bandwidth Apple-to-Apple connection and protocol to implement wireless lossless audio at least for a pair of over-ear headphones (more space for battery capacity in case there's some relatively compute-intensive decompression needed in the headphones).

Just my opinion but if Apple had been trying as hard in the slightly more premium segments of the audio market as it is in the mobile photography market (and I'm only saying a bit above where it is now, not into the crazy 4/5/6 figure high-end audio market) then I think it could have delivered wireless lossless by now.
 
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As a daily user of over ear cans, it's really frustrating.

I'm a small iPhone user, so I recognize this pattern.

It feels like the APM is going the way of the iPhone Mini (sadly).

It’s crazy because I see AirPods Max literally everywhere. When I commute into work on public transit I’ve honestly been shocked at how frequently I see people wearing them. For an outdated and expensive set of headphones especially. Obviously I don’t see them as often as regular AirPods but still, they’re definitely popular.
 
Everything I'm hearing about the Pro 3 so far makes me quite excited to get my pre-order delivered on the 19th. It's going to be my first ever AirPod earbuds. This is a very brief review from an audio professional who did an A/B comparison of the AirPod Pro 3s with with his Pro 2s at the launch event and said that the audio quality improvement vs the 2s is significant ...


My only disappointment is that they aren't available in black. I prefer my earbuds not to shout "Apple" when I'm wearing them and white pretty much does that in my opinion. I suppose Apple does want me to shout "Apple" though so I guess I can understand the decision but I wish they'd also consider the customer in that decision or am I in the significant minority in wishing that there was a black option?
EarPods / AirPods have always been part of apple marketing since the day of the iPod, sadly.

There was a whole series of ad campaigns that focussed on EarPods at one point.
 
Am I the only one that doesn’t want to buy another pair of AirPod pros? They’re amazing headphones, but I hate that they need to be replaced after not a lot of time due to the tiny batteries. I don’t get how Apple still gets way with it honestly

AirPod max 2 please, at least it’s possible to replace the battery in them
 
It’s crazy because I see AirPods Max literally everywhere. When I commute into work on public transit I’ve honestly been shocked at how frequently I see people wearing them. For an outdated and expensive set of headphones especially. Obviously I don’t see them as often as regular AirPods but still, they’re definitely popular.
Agreed. I barely saw them for ages and in the last year or so, I’m seeing them around way more.

Maybe an influencer wears them? Or maybe people just liked the new colour choices.
 
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That is true. Think of all the people who will be gifting the new APP3 and not realizing that it doesn't come with a charging cable. If you aren't going to include the cable, lower the price to reflect such, which Apple didn't do.
Prices are lower in Europe. The AirPods Pro 2 were €279, while the new AirPods Pro 3 are €249, a €30 reduction.
 
Only Apple can sell Airpods Max for the same price as 5 years ago.

You have to figure in inflation too.

$600 in 2020 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $748.92 today, an increase of $148.92 over 5 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.53% per year between 2020 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 24.82%.

In reality they are quite a bit cheaper now as Apple hasn't increased the price with inflation.
 
View attachment 2545922
Thanks - this is the answer.

So exactly the same height buds, slightly less wide, but increased depth? Can't quite get my head round that.

The APP3 buds also weigh slightly more, while the case is bigger across all dimensions (slightly) but weighs less.

Probably all adds up to "the same but different".
welcome! the depth on the buds might be referring to the distance from the stem to the front surface head of the buds.

Buds weighs more due the heart rate sensor and needed external components or pcb size if there is to cater this.

Charging case though slightly bigger but they removed some electronics/mechanical for the pairing button which is no longer in the APP3
 
It’s crazy because I see AirPods Max literally everywhere. When I commute into work on public transit I’ve honestly been shocked at how frequently I see people wearing them. For an outdated and expensive set of headphones especially. Obviously I don’t see them as often as regular AirPods but still, they’re definitely popular.

Same ... they were so "not popular" for so long and for some reason really became so.

I'm out of it on social influence, etc ... maybe some celebs or influencers got way into them at some point?

I see people wearing them at the gym, which I really don't get (heavy and shifty product for that usage)
 
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You have to figure in inflation too.

$600 in 2020 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $748.92 today, an increase of $148.92 over 5 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.53% per year between 2020 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 24.82%.

In reality they are quite a bit cheaper now as Apple hasn't increased the price with inflation.

In "reality", APMs should be about $299 .. maybe $349, max (no pun intended).

They are pretty overpriced for what they are in 2025, in my view.

I recently sold mine.
 
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