Even more speculation. Unless it’s scientifically tested by a lab based on the samples taken from the cups or confirmed by Apple, it’s nothing more but musings.
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Condensation in AirPods Max after long usage
- Thread starter ssong
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This is so fun to read. With butterfly keyboards it was exactly the same. Just speculations... Not scientifically tested... LOL. Like there is an independent "Apple Institute", which does these kind of tests.
I'm sure there will be some amateur tests in due time, especially if corrosion kicks in and these will start to deteriorate fast.
Apple will be more like "Small number of products are affected" or "In certain special cases."
I do wonder, however, people here seem to claim this is a normal issue with all over the ear headphones. How do they manage to waterproof the drivers and the electronic components? Because there is clearly water inside the headphones.
Your comment is a perfect example of what’s wrong with Internet forums: people not reading threads and just taking 2 sentences out of context to post their response.
Nobody here is saying that there is no condensation in the APM. The argument is whether it’s the sweat trapped in the cans or the difference in temperatures inside and outside the aluminum casing.
What does the butterfly keyboard even have to do with this? Go ahead and throw even more unrelated non-sensical examples here, because they are oh-so-original!
I've read this entire thread. Had the APM, returned them because of this.
If you understand basic physics, there is no doubt where is the water coming from and how it condenses on the metal parts inside the headphones. If you don't you can dream that this is the water from outside air.
Butterfly keyboards are a perfect example of Apple failing to design a product for everyday use and even worse - using that design for years just to avoid recall of products. I am afraid APM will go down this same road, that's why I returned them. Makes... sense?
The butterfly keyboard stopped working, the APM didn’t stop working. So that’s apples to oranges now. You can’t foresee the future, so no, that doesn’t make sense.
Butterfly keyboards never fully stopped working in the beginning of this fiasco. It was little things, letter repeating, keys got stuck for a fraction of a second...
You know... like people here reporting glitches after wearing APM for a longer time.
No, I cannot predict the future. But there is clearly an issue here. How relevant, time will tell.
Literally, there were a couple of comments based on software bugs, not hardware failure. I experienced one myself last night, which got fixed right away by rebooting them.
If you think that other closed-back headphones remain completely dry all the time, then I’d like to point out your own comment about “understanding physics”.
Yes, time will tell who’s right. Also, there are things like Apple Care + that protect customers if something goes wrong with these. I don’t see any reason to lose my sleep over such an “issue” if after a month of owning them I haven’t had any substantial problems with the product.
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So after having my AirPod Max for a week I am super impressed with the fit and performance. I have been using them for about 6 hours straight each day and with no condensation, which was surprising as my beats studio 3 make my ears really sweaty after less usage. I popped the cups off to look for moisture and found none. I think that the larger space and material covered cups are letting my ears breathe but whatever it is I love it as the humidity would cause skin irritation on my left ear with the beats (and AirPod pro). I do wear glasses so it may be that the cloth cups are venting the warm air more but there doesn’t feel like less of a seal than with the beats.
Could you please point me to which other closed ear headphones:
1. Have battery/are wireless/are meant not only for stationary listening.
2. Have a large amount of electronic parts for sound processing and not just drivers.
3. Have outside made entirely out of aluminum/metal.
4. Are this heavy.
Are AirPods Max only for stationary listening? Didn’t know that, been wearing them whilst doing normal stuff around the house, they work great, should I not be moving???
Except when you’re insisting it’s sweat, presumably.
As someone who wears BTE hearing aids (I have to remove them to listen to music with my AirPods Pro) I can confirm ear sweat is a real thing. On hot days my ear canal will sweat more than usual and sometimes ear canal sweat will enter the tube that connects the hearing aid to the ear mold. This causes the sound to be blocked (sounds like the hearing aid is turned off)
This sweat probably evaporates and condenses on the cooler part of the AirPods Max. If you are concerned about damaging $550 headphones, wear them for shorter intervals or get $69 AppleCare +. If you had no problem splurging $550 on Apple's latest toy, what's another $69 going to hurt?
![behind-the-ear-power-plus-hearing-aid-on-ear.png]( "behind-the-ear-power-plus-hearing-aid-on-ear.png")
This sweat probably evaporates and condenses on the cooler part of the AirPods Max. If you are concerned about damaging $550 headphones, wear them for shorter intervals or get $69 AppleCare +. If you had no problem splurging $550 on Apple's latest toy, what's another $69 going to hurt?
Don’t promote common sense here! LOL
It’s much more fun to waste your time on overblown issues and convince yourself you don’t need these headphones, because they are faulty; or can’t even afford them, so enjoy hating so much on those who dare to enjoy them.
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I found some condensation after about 3 hours of use. The flash shows a plastic film right under the metal grills, so I don’t think the moisture can get into the drivers or other internals.
The droplets start getting formed on the driver itself first. That’s what I noticed in my case. You would need a different source of light to see that. Yours is too bright and gets reflected instead of passing through.
Oooh can you share how you rebooted them? I’ve had to completely re-connect mine a few times using the ’press the crown + button for 15 seconds’ method. But was wondering if there were some other ways of ‘restarting’ ?
These condensation concerns do seem to be causing a lot of people to cancel orders. I had AirPods Max on order with original forecast delivery of mid-February and to my surprise they arrived earlier this week - a month early!
So far I have seen no condensation and seeing I am not likely to use more than 3-4 hours at a time anyway, this is not an issue that worries me. I am delighted with the AirPods Max.
So far I have seen no condensation and seeing I am not likely to use more than 3-4 hours at a time anyway, this is not an issue that worries me. I am delighted with the AirPods Max.
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If the ear cushions were not removable and people couldn’t see this condensation/sweat, I really wonder what they would be moaning about instead?
Just use them, enjoy them and if there is a problem in the future, then address it then. There are warranties and also Apple Care + if required, just live your life, get your head out of the echo chamber you live in and stop worrying about what may or may not happen in the future.
Jason
Just use them, enjoy them and if there is a problem in the future, then address it then. There are warranties and also Apple Care + if required, just live your life, get your head out of the echo chamber you live in and stop worrying about what may or may not happen in the future.
Jason
But...but...but...
But I don’t have enough money to justify keeping them and I’ve found this excuse to return them, so I can feel good about not owning them. I keep coming back here to convince myself that my life is meaningful with this decision of mine.
My take is people are having buyers remorse because of price, if only they new you can easily spend double on other brands, and people buying to try out with no intentions of keeping, used to buying cheap headphones.
I cancelled 2 orders worrying about this issue, then bought and got mine in 3 days with no return for change of mind.
People are still buying iPhones with the yellow screens lottery lol, luck of the draw.
Quite so! I have not heard of a single headphone failing due to condensation