When I can buy a pair of good enough noise cancellation headphones off Amazon for 30 bucks then you know spending 550$ on an Apple equivalent pair is insane.
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Five Reasons Why You Might Want to Consider AirPods Max
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And yes I owned the Airpods Max and purchased them on launch day. See I own the H95s and did own the Airpods Max so I'm qualified to make that comment. I'm afraid you aren't. And they absolutely do make the Airpods feel cheap compared to them. Every single aspect of the H95s is built better than the AirPods Max. That is not opinion, that is fact. Thanks though, enjoyed the laugh.
Do you have an ATV4K? Watching Netflix, Youtube or other video app?
Think I read the XM3's didn't have the lag problem because of the codec they used but Sony changed it in the XM4's
I had thought about ordering some off Amazon and sending them back in they didn't work out for me.
Same goes for cars and televisions. Why spend money on anything when you can just buy something cheaper? Problem solved!.....
It’s more of a “sleeve”. Idk why they didn’t just make a full case, but the sleeve is pretty slick.
Well, I’m enjoying my AirPods Max a lot.
Since the launch of the AirPods Max last week, we've done a couple of videos sharing a brief hands-on with Apple's new over-ear headphones and a comparison of them to other popular noise-cancelling headphones from Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser.
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There's been a lot of debate about whether the AirPods Max are worth their $550 price tag, and value is always going to be something of a personal decision, so in our latest video we decided to look at five reasons why you might think about purchasing the new AirPods Max.
Build/Comfort
For people who are going to spend quite a bit of time using headphones, comfort and build quality are obviously key factors in determining whether they're going to have a good experience with a particular set. Comfort is going to vary from person to person based on head shape, head size, and other factors, but we've found the AirPods Max to be incredibly comfortable.
The mesh ear cups offer a good seal while still allowing for some breathability that helps reduce sweating sometimes experience with other materials like leather. And if your ear cups wear out, the magnetic attachment system of the AirPods Max makes them incredibly easy to swap out.
AirPods Max are made largely of metal, with aluminum ear cups and stainless steel telescoping arms, which gives them a quality feel that is pleasantly cool to the touch. Those metal part do mean, however, that the AirPods Max come in significantly heavier than many competing headphones, which may be an issue for some users. But we've found that the mesh headband does an excellent job of distributing that weight across the head for maximum comfort.
Noise Cancellation
One of the main reasons people buy over-ear headphones is for active noise cancellation (ANC), and we've found that the AirPods Max offer excellent capabilities in that regard. In our experience, it's difficult to hear anything from our surroundings while wearing the AirPods Max with ANC turned on.
You can of course turn off ANC if you want to be able to hear more around you, but there's also Transparency mode which keeps ANC on but pipes surrounding sound in, and we've found that it lets us hear just enough without being too much of a distraction.
Audio Quality
While the AirPods Max won't match high-quality wired headphones, we've been impressed with the sound the AirPods Max can deliver over Bluetooth. The sound profile of the AirPods Max is well-balanced and not overly aggressive toward either the highs or lows.
With H1 chips in each ear cup, the AirPods Max use computational audio to adjust what you're hearing in real-time, customizing it for the fit on your head and other factors. And while we don't recommend turning the volume up too high, we found that sound quality remains solid even at higher volume levels, offering a clear, distortionless sound.
H1 Chip
Speaking of those H1 chips, they deliver more than just good audio quality. They're also the key component that integrates the AirPods Max into the Apple ecosystem. Just like with AirPods and recent Beats headphones, the H1 chip supports easy pairing and seamless audio switching among devices linked to your iCloud account. If you're listening to music from your iPhone and then pick up your iPad to start watching a video, the AirPods Max can automatically switch over to begin playing the audio from your iPad.
This is all customizable, of course, so you can select which devices you want to be able to take over as audio sources automatically, and even if you turn off automatic switching for a device, it takes just a couple of taps to manually switch over.
Spatial Audio
Finally, there's Spatial Audio, a new feature Apple recently rolled out to AirPods Pro and which is also included on AirPods Max. Spatial Audio offers an immersive, 3D audio experience with compatible content, and while we initially thought it would be rather gimmicky, we were quickly proven wrong. It really has to be experienced to be believed, but it makes it feel like the audio is coming from all around you, yet anchored by the device you're watching the content on.
So if you're watching a show on Apple TV+ on your iPad, for example, you'll get a surround-sound experience which is very nice on its own, but then if you turn your head or move your iPad, the audio adjusts on the fly to match the relative orientation of your head and the iPad. It's a remarkably good experience that will make you think your headphones have stopped working and that your iPad is blasting audio out of its own speakers.
Wrap-up
Those are our top five reasons why you might want to invest in AirPods Max. Yes, their $550 price tag can be a bit hard to swallow when competitors are coming in at $350 or less, but if you're heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, the combination of comfort, build quality, and features might be enough to tip the balance in favor of the AirPods Max.
Were you able to get your hands on the AirPods Max before shipping dates slipped well into next year? Have you recently opted for a competing set of headphones after seeing what the AirPods Max had to offer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Article Link: Five Reasons Why You Might Want to Consider AirPods Max
In my view, I think 50 percent of the price can be justified by build quality, sound quality and technology quality.
The other 50 percent of the price can be justified by the AirPods Max being all in on the Apple ecosystem.
Also, yes, there might be other headphones out there that are cheaper and comparable with similar feature sets but lacks the Apple ecosystem which I like so much. I don’t mind paying the premium for the whole package and we are getting the whole package for the price.
I think these are aimed at being a fashion accessory as much as a useful item. Price, aesthetic design and the handbag case all point to this.
My takeaway is the main issues people have with these- Overall price and the case is not suitable for travelers. Your $500 headphones will get banged up if you're always shoving them in a bag and traveling. Guess we'll be seeing plenty of 3rd party case solutions over the coming months.
My takeaway on the sound quality- I have not heard them of course, but logically I doubt Apple have re-invented the audio wheel with competition such as Sennheiser, Beyer Dynamic, Sony having been on top of things for decades. I work professionally mixing audio for whatever its worth.
My takeaway on the positives- Apple ecosystem integration (all the good stuff introduced with the original AirPods). Fashion statement if you're into that. Ease of use.
In the end, I think its really about if you want to be that person in the office with the funky new Apple headphones, or if an over ear pair of AirPods with its integration is something you'd love to have.
If you're only using them at home or traveling frequently, you may likely be better served by another brand at half the price.
My takeaway is the main issues people have with these- Overall price and the case is not suitable for travelers. Your $500 headphones will get banged up if you're always shoving them in a bag and traveling. Guess we'll be seeing plenty of 3rd party case solutions over the coming months.
My takeaway on the sound quality- I have not heard them of course, but logically I doubt Apple have re-invented the audio wheel with competition such as Sennheiser, Beyer Dynamic, Sony having been on top of things for decades. I work professionally mixing audio for whatever its worth.
My takeaway on the positives- Apple ecosystem integration (all the good stuff introduced with the original AirPods). Fashion statement if you're into that. Ease of use.
In the end, I think its really about if you want to be that person in the office with the funky new Apple headphones, or if an over ear pair of AirPods with its integration is something you'd love to have.
If you're only using them at home or traveling frequently, you may likely be better served by another brand at half the price.
Its a hard pass for me. Im happy with my AirPods and AirPods Pro and my Bose.
My experience with the auto switching is pretty bad. It seems to switch just when you don’t want it or need it. In the middle of a confer call on our MacBook air? Dont pick up your iPhone or iPad to check something in your calendar because the AirPods max will think you want to switch to the iPhone or iPad. And you loose connection with your conference people. Really disturbing.
A lot of the comments about the flaws are true. But one thing that people are not correct on is the weight. The weight is heavier than most, but that does not trasnlate to discomfort. Just the opposite, my ears don't hurt or sweat after two hours.
Usually weight translates to neck and shoulder pain after prolonged use, nothing to do with your ears.
That's like saying "This pair of pants fits me perfectly so they are going to fit everyone perfectly."
In my experience this has always been a bit of an issue with the auto switching on the older AirPods models.
Things like switching to the audio on an advert on another device when you are listening to music on your phone. I've also had a similar problem to what you describe, although I must say that has only happened once or twice in quite a few months of using them for meetings.
Still better than the hassle I sometimes have getting my Sony pair to switch between devices.
There is always a potential downside to things.
While I applaud those who have the big bucks to be able to, I can’t imagine springing that kind of $$$$ for these headphones. And I know Santa won’t have these under the tree or in my stocking this Christmas. Merry Christmas 🎁 to all
Based on your comparison to the three other high-end wireless headphones, if Sony were to adopt mesh or replaceable earpieces they would give Apple a run for their money.
These are amazing headphones. I've listened to the Beats Solo Pro and Bose 700. They sound similar to each other but believe it or not, the noise-canceling in the Beats Solo Pro is slightly better than the Bose 700. So if you can buy the Beats Solo Pro for $150.00 and Bose 700 for $250.00, why should anyone buy the Airpods Max?
you can't comfortably have s#x with them on, deal breaker for me! rigged!
The best kind of chicks are obviously the ones that think you have money.
Is that because ether is a time delay between the video action and morning sounds on pronhub
The best thing I can say about the AirPods Max is that they put me on a journey which allowed me to discover the Audio-Technica ATH-M50XBT. They may not have ANC, but the clarity and separation is so good they make me want to relisten to every piece of music I’ve ever heard.
That’s nice and all. Sound is obviously INSANELY important, but great sound plus the other features of APM make them a great buy, still. IMO.