Deals: AirPods Max Hit $100 Off for the First Time, Get All Colors at $449

[gbc204]

I'll just wait for second gen if they ever come up with one. These just don't seem quite right, although I bet the sound quality is impressive

I thought these were dumb and overpriced, and then I recently tried a pair, and the sound really is fantastic. I know they're a totally different beast than the Airpod Pros, but the sound quality doesn't even compare. I ended up buying them at a deep discount, which was still too expensive, but then my job ended up paying for them as home office equipment. So... i guess if the money isn't an issue, they're great!
But not worth the money, really, especially when you consider that i you want to listen to lossless music, you need to plug them into the source, and Apple doesn't include the $30 lightning to 3.5mm adapter with their $550 headphones, which is frankly absurd. It's also absurd that they charge $30 for a two foot, thin cable, but I guess that's no surprise. And the adapter that came with the iphone doesn't work either.

 

[jprmercado]

Bluetooth and even Air Play 2 will not support Apple's own ALAC format of 24 bit at 192 KHz resolution. To even be considered viable for the price, the AirPods Max must be able to support ALAC via the lighting connector or wirelessly by some version of Air Play.

Because of the Bluetooth spec’s current limitation, no headphones out there right now can play lossless audio via Bluetooth.

The AirPods Max can play anything fed to it through the headphone-to-lightning adapter, but the cable adds an additional conversion step (analog to digital).

 

[bsamcash]

Bluetooth and even Air Play 2 will not support Apple's own ALAC format of 24 bit at 192 KHz resolution. To even be considered viable for the price, the AirPods Max must be able to support ALAC via the lighting connector or wirelessly by some version of Air Play.

If Apple we able to fix this via software update somehow I would probably own more than one color.

 

[Karma*Police]

I see a lot of negative comments about Max pricing, but I’ve not heard a better pair of wireless headphones. It almost rivals my wired AKGs but with the convenience of wireless and startlingly good ANC. The design is also pure genius; I don’t get ear/head fatigue the way I do with every other headphone. So for me, it’s worth the asking price. At $449, I think it’s a great deal.

 

[threesixty360]

What I find interesting with Apple is that they would rather a product fail than mess with the premium price / margin they expect.

other companies generally move the price point and cut their margin to find the sweet spot for demand vs supply. Apple will just abandon the whole product if they can’t get the margin they wanted in the first place.

i feel the only time I’ve ever see them change the price is on the original iPhone a few months after release. Maybe they just couldn’t risk losing momentum there. But every other product. Nah.

It must be enshrined in the company somewhere that lowering price without building for that price is the pathway to hell for their branding strategy.

basically where more likely to see a new headphone designed to be cheaper than any official reduction of the existing headphones that would see these fly off the shelves.

 

[BigPotatoLobbyist]

I was keen for these before lossless/high-res came out on Apple Music.

Not even considering them now. An odd miss by Apple to not be coordinated on this sort of thing.

Ah, the lossless circus once more. 10+ likes. It's a shame nearly no-one (a few exceptions on this forum as of a past conversation on it) ever bothers to ascertain the truth about **** like this. You most certainly can't hear the lossless vs 256kbps AAC (mind you, that's MP4, which utilizes psychoacoustic modeling unlike 326kbps MP3 in the infamous ABX tests - so it's arguably superior) decrement in "fidelity", short of deliberate training and a keen ear consciously innervated to seek out cymbals.
Now, in practice with an extensive audio chain or archives, lossless has a place. But that's clearly not what's going on here, with the mass placebo.
You should thank Apple for pricing your interest out of the market. They're a bit overkill regardless and lack basic inputs/outputs. (Though the build quality is exquisite and the replacement mechanism for the pads is nothing short of It Just Works, for real).

 

[1961templar]

It would be nice to see some discounts in the UK.

 

[BigPotatoLobbyist]

I see a lot of negative comments about Max pricing, but I’ve not heard a better pair of wireless headphones. It almost rivals my wired AKGs but with the convenience of wireless and startlingly good ANC. The design is also pure genius; I don’t get ear/head fatigue the way I do with every other headphone. So for me, it’s worth the asking price. At $449, I think it’s a great deal.

What people are missing is the build quality not only justifies but likely imposes a pricing threshold. It really is built in a manner that, inside and out (modulo the Fisher Price coloring) seems worthy of the "machine" moniker. It is not a toy.


My 2 theses on the APM and the usual "what Apple should do" armchair **** below:

1's:
Pretty damn good audio quality after EQ of some sort
No ear sweating
Supreme ear pad enclosure, deep and not shallow
Solid ANC
Bluetooth connectivity (for apple users, I get it)
Spatial Audio (First time I really appreciated it for a movie. Really was awesome)

0's:
Number one thing: Heavy as ****. Man, they just shouldn't have done this with the design, while objectively remarkable it defeats the utility and drives the price up. This further decreases the value proposition.
Lightning. ****ing. Port. What the **** Apple. Just give us USB-C with proper PD support and USB-C audio.
No jack and, again, lightning port that requires the use of a special lightning adapter to input 3.5 or corded audio whatsoever. So they rub it in by rendering it useless for digital audio and requiring another conversion in the chain from analog (3.5 input cord) >> digital (lightning port on APM)
Price, which is in tandem with some of the other benefits or downsides.
Convoluted attempt at simplicity with the lack of off button reminiscent of the Third-gen iPod Shuffle debacle, or Windows 8 and the start menu. A smaller scale, but still. Just put a ****ing power button on the device, Apple.
Codec limitations. Yes, AAC is itself good enough to be reasonably transparent after repeated conversion and indistinguishable from lossless to 99.5% of the population, but the bluetooth implementation of this codec is a separate matter, and the performance is notably inferior on most non-Apple devices and even Apple's own devices display some noise floor issues.

I'm sure I missed some things but really, I'd said this before:
What Apple should have done is created an XM4 clone, plain as can be, with their stupid colors and all but importantly, their integration and custom ear pad implementation, light body at 270-300 grams, and charge a premium of $50-80, $349-429. If it had 85% of the Max's sound in a lighter plastic profile, it'd be worthwhile at that price, especially after sales. Then we'd really have something. It would''ve been a totally different conversation.

Feels like this ends up another HomePod, the difference being this had real potential.

 

[1961templar]

What I find interesting with Apple is that they would rather a product fail than mess with the premium price / margin they expect.

other companies generally move the price point and cut their margin to find the sweet spot for demand vs supply. Apple will just abandon the whole product if they can’t get the margin they wanted in the first place.

i feel the only time I’ve ever see them change the price is on the original iPhone a few months after release. Maybe they just couldn’t risk losing momentum there. But every other product. Nah.

It must be enshrined in the company somewhere that lowering price without building for that price is the pathway to hell for their branding strategy.

basically where more likely to see a new headphone designed to be cheaper than any official reduction of the existing headphones that would see these fly off the shelves.

The HomePod price dropped, admittedly too little too late but nonetheless it is an example of Apple reacting to lack of demand.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

I have a feeling these will be discontinued, but only after years of radio silence. And the silence started the moment they came out.

 

[Le0M]

I still think we are going lower.

Lots of sales.

Either there is inventory sitting around, or the retailers know something (about a refreshed model)

Or ...."both"

Or "since Apple stated that they could not take advantage of the lossless format, they lost traction".
I'm one of those who, after this announcement, decided to hold back and wait for the second generation.

 

[MacCurry]

I see a lot of negative comments about Max pricing, but I’ve not heard a better pair of wireless headphones. It almost rivals my wired AKGs but with the convenience of wireless and startlingly good ANC. The design is also pure genius; I don’t get ear/head fatigue the way I do with every other headphone. So for me, it’s worth the asking price. At $449, I think it’s a great deal.

If the APM had a 3.5mm or 1/4" input, it would then be very worth it and I would get one. At this time I will wait until the next generation APM or equivalent which can wirelessly stream ALAC using Air Play.

 

[ptklenk]

As coolbreeze 2 stated, perhaps at $349. However, I have Bose Wireless Noise-canceling Headphones and I simply would not trade them. In typical Apple fashion, the cost/benefit analysis does not make sense. You will not be disappointed with Bose.

 

[laughinglove]

If you don't trust Adorama, Best Buy and Target will match the price.

Just called Best Buy, they won't consider a price match from Adorama

 

[bsamcash]

Just called Best Buy, they won't consider a price match from Adorama

I would direct them to their own Price Match Guarantee listed on their website.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I would direct them to their own Price Match Guarantee listed on their website.

I don't see Adorama on their list.

 

[bsamcash]

I don't see Adorama on their list.

View attachment 1807579

As far as I'm aware, it doesn't have to be on that list, as I've price matched from Walmart's online store before. But if I'm wrong, then I apologize.

 

[turbineseaplane]

As far as I'm aware, it doesn't have to be on that list, as I've price matched from Walmart's online store before. But if I'm wrong, then I apologize.

No worries - was more curious than anything.

Like that other poster, I've also had Best Buy agents hold up that very minimal list of "who we price match" and not budge an inch from it. Definitely seems to be a YMMV situation.

 

[Karma*Police]

What people are missing is the build quality not only justifies but likely imposes a pricing threshold. It really is built in a manner that, inside and out (modulo the Fisher Price coloring) seems worthy of the "machine" moniker. It is not a toy.


My 2 theses on the APM and the usual "what Apple should do" armchair **** below:

1's:
Pretty damn good audio quality after EQ of some sort
No ear sweating
Supreme ear pad enclosure, deep and not shallow
Solid ANC
Bluetooth connectivity (for apple users, I get it)
Spatial Audio (First time I really appreciated it for a movie. Really was awesome)

0's:
Number one thing: Heavy as ****. Man, they just shouldn't have done this with the design, while objectively remarkable it defeats the utility and drives the price up. This further decreases the value proposition.
Lightning. ****ing. Port. What the **** Apple. Just give us USB-C with proper PD support and USB-C audio.
No jack and, again, lightning port that requires the use of a special lightning adapter to input 3.5 or corded audio whatsoever. So they rub it in by rendering it useless for digital audio and requiring another conversion in the chain from analog (3.5 input cord) >> digital (lightning port on APM)
Price, which is in tandem with some of the other benefits or downsides.
Convoluted attempt at simplicity with the lack of off button reminiscent of the Third-gen iPod Shuffle debacle, or Windows 8 and the start menu. A smaller scale, but still. Just put a ****ing power button on the device, Apple.
Codec limitations. Yes, AAC is itself good enough to be reasonably transparent after repeated conversion and indistinguishable from lossless to 99.5% of the population, but the bluetooth implementation of this codec is a separate matter, and the performance is notably inferior on most non-Apple devices and even Apple's own devices display some noise floor issues.

I'm sure I missed some things but really, I'd said this before:
What Apple should have done is created an XM4 clone, plain as can be, with their stupid colors and all but importantly, their integration and custom ear pad implementation, light body at 270-300 grams, and charge a premium of $50-80, $349-429. If it had 85% of the Max's sound in a lighter plastic profile, it'd be worthwhile at that price, especially after sales. Then we'd really have something. It would''ve been a totally different conversation.

Feels like this ends up another HomePod, the difference being this had real potential.

Definitely agree with most of your comments, especially about USB-C and not supporting lossless, even though my ears can’t detect the difference. Personally, I don’t miss the power button and I don’t mind the slight heft because the clever design masks it well when I wear it. But when it comes to fit and comfortability, it’s treading on the subjective.

 

[Karma*Police]

If the APM had a 3.5mm or 1/4" input, it would then be very worth it and I would get one. At this time I will wait until the next generation APM or equivalent which can wirelessly stream ALAC using Air Play.

Like most people, I can’t tell the difference between lossless and 256 AAC, but I still think Apple dropped the ball on this, big time. They should have built it with the intention of supporting their own lossless format which every executive probably new was coming for about a year, yet no one bothered to think to include support for that with their top of the line headphone?

Let’s hope there is a next generation and this doesn’t end up like HomePod, one of Apple’s best audio devices ever made IMO. They were idiotic for discontinuing it. They should have kept it in the market so that people who were impressed by the HP mini could upgrade to something much better.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Let’s hope there is a next generation and this doesn’t end up like HomePod, one of Apple’s best audio devices ever made IMO. They were idiotic for discontinuing it. They should have kept it in the market so that people who were impressed by the HP mini could upgrade to something much better.

I don't understand why they didn't just spec bump the HomePod.

It sounds amazing, particularly in a stereo pair. Just update the guts (and maybe sneak in a port somewhere for connecting with a wire for truly latency free macOS usage).

 

[Karma*Police]

I don't understand why they didn't just spec bump the HomePod.

It sounds amazing, particularly in a stereo pair. Just update the guts (and maybe sneak in a port somewhere for connecting with a wire for truly latency free macOS usage).

And they didn’t even have to replace all that much inside… just adding a U1 chip would’ve been enough.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Tried these in store. Nice set of headphones no question. Quality comfort and sound are great. Not worth a dime over $349.99

 

[turbineseaplane]

Best Buy has these on display these days -- in case anyone wants to go try them out while avoiding Apple Stores

 

[netdoc66]

Never buy 1st gen from Apple.