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Hands-On With the AirPods Max Shield Case From WaterField Designs
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The blue, black and red look way better. Check it outhttps://www.de24.news/en/2020/12/waterfield-designs-airpods-max-case
Jeez, so suddenly you’ve spent $650 dollars on a pair of headphones. Makes me wonder - I had put off buying some of the competition, like the Sonys, because the price seemed so high. This makes the price of those feel lower, so I’m more inclined to buy some. Not entirely logical I know, but I wonder if many other people feel as I do, and if Sony etc will see a sales spike as a result of the launch of the AirPods Max.
Jeeeez. If you really need a case, just buy a zippered semi-rigid one on Amazon and find happiness.
Around $15
Around $15
Actually that does seems logical. Check out some of the reviews. Personally I love mine and would fight someone if they tried to take them back. With that said ... Bose and Sony make great headphones too —- just not ones that work seamlessly via Apple TV , iPads , MacBooks etc ... back to back to back.
well, assume you can also buy headphones there as well..dumb response.....
My question is can I leave the headphones adjusted to my head size and just pop them in the case, or do I have to adjust them down like the stupid Bose nc700.
Why do all these purses look like something from Hello Kitty?
What's going on with that infamous "Designed in California" moniker these days? Jeez....
What's going on with that infamous "Designed in California" moniker these days? Jeez....
Big thumbs up for Gary and Waerfield designs. Their stuff rocks -- incredibly well made and premium materials. And made right in San Francisco too. I've been to their place -- it is a small company staffed with great people and they make wonderfully designed products absolutely worth the prices that they charge. This may not be your particular cup of tea but I can assure you that their products are awesome! Just ordered mine and it will match my Waterfield carryon.
It was inevitable. As soon as someone said, "Bra," there were guys who would have a really negative reaction to the original equipment case.
Is that original case quirky? You betcha. A very interesting series of design decisions, including keeping the weight and bulk down by protecting only the ear cups and turning the headband into the carry handle. It's not conventional, so naturally, there are those who want something more typical.
All headphones at that price point have to come with a case. You think Apple's getting grief over the design of the case? Just imagine the noise if there had been no case at all. About the only thing I haven't read (yet) is, "Would Jony have approved those?"
Would I pay $100 to replace the original case? No, because my lifestyle these days is very sedentary. The cans would spend 99.99% of their time in my bedroom - no case required. If I was flying regularly (as I used to), or if I was still recording concerts on location and these turned out to be suitable to the purpose? I suspect I'd stick with the original case. It doesn't offend me enough to want to spend money on an alternative and like those weird-looking original AirPods that nobody would ever be caught dead wearing... there's something seductive about using an Apple product that shouts its identity to the world.
Do I care for this particular Waterfield case? Not really. I think its aesthetic is at odds with the design of the object it encloses, but different strokes for different folks, right?
Now, what about foldability? Apple made certain decisions about the fit and design of the headphones. Might they have gone with a foldable design? Yes, but as someone who had a professional relationship with studio headphones for over 25 years... I suspect what Apple came up with will turn out to be far more durable/reliable. Getting a good, tight ear cup seal isn't as easy as it seems, and in my experience the cans that sealed best were not particularly flexible - they depended more upon a tight, springy headband and a mechanical connection to the ear cups that had a minimum of "give."
The professional cans I used did not fold like those ATs, which have a design heritage going back to the Kudelski and Beyderdynamic headphones favored by the guys with the Nagras (film sound). Before AT, Sony had popular models of similar design (hey, video guys need cans, too). They looked cool, sounded fine, but they didn't deliver the kind of isolation I preferred when mixing music in the field. Foldability isn't as important as functionality.
Is that original case quirky? You betcha. A very interesting series of design decisions, including keeping the weight and bulk down by protecting only the ear cups and turning the headband into the carry handle. It's not conventional, so naturally, there are those who want something more typical.
All headphones at that price point have to come with a case. You think Apple's getting grief over the design of the case? Just imagine the noise if there had been no case at all. About the only thing I haven't read (yet) is, "Would Jony have approved those?"
Would I pay $100 to replace the original case? No, because my lifestyle these days is very sedentary. The cans would spend 99.99% of their time in my bedroom - no case required. If I was flying regularly (as I used to), or if I was still recording concerts on location and these turned out to be suitable to the purpose? I suspect I'd stick with the original case. It doesn't offend me enough to want to spend money on an alternative and like those weird-looking original AirPods that nobody would ever be caught dead wearing... there's something seductive about using an Apple product that shouts its identity to the world.
Do I care for this particular Waterfield case? Not really. I think its aesthetic is at odds with the design of the object it encloses, but different strokes for different folks, right?
Now, what about foldability? Apple made certain decisions about the fit and design of the headphones. Might they have gone with a foldable design? Yes, but as someone who had a professional relationship with studio headphones for over 25 years... I suspect what Apple came up with will turn out to be far more durable/reliable. Getting a good, tight ear cup seal isn't as easy as it seems, and in my experience the cans that sealed best were not particularly flexible - they depended more upon a tight, springy headband and a mechanical connection to the ear cups that had a minimum of "give."
The professional cans I used did not fold like those ATs, which have a design heritage going back to the Kudelski and Beyderdynamic headphones favored by the guys with the Nagras (film sound). Before AT, Sony had popular models of similar design (hey, video guys need cans, too). They looked cool, sounded fine, but they didn't deliver the kind of isolation I preferred when mixing music in the field. Foldability isn't as important as functionality.
Thats the analogy you’re going with? Yeeeeeeesh. And the reason I need my headphones to turn off is to preserve battery life. Headphones are not an always on device by any means like a phone is.
I agree. It looks like it’s something designed from the 80s. Some other member made a good point, it looks like it’s almost like designed after a bowling ball case. Functional, just not very stylish.
I hope I am not the only one who only found out about these headphones like 2 weeks ago and thinks they are utterly overpriced!
Not that I am defending these grossly overpriced cans, but The headphones do that as soon as you take them off your head. Your TV even in stand by drains power.
If I were a case maker I'd forget about the go-to-sleep magnets that limit freedom of design and build a relatively inexpensive general use case. Even Apple as well as people who already own AirPods Max have said that not putting the headphones in Apple's 'case' doesn't really cost all that much in battery life.
A bit pricey? Just imagine what apple would charge for a product like this case.
You’ve clearly never owned any kind of AirPods then, whether they be original, version 2, Pro, or Max. They all work exactly the same way with the only difference being that the Max has only one battery and the others two. But combined, all of them have similar battery life of 20’ish hours. None of them have an off switch and all of them deplete battery slowly, even when the AirPods read 100% charge when in their case. But that 100% reading fools people into forgetting the case for those older AirPods is depleting its charge roughly at the same rate the Max does. I’ve never heard a single complaint from anyone that the AirPods or AirPods Pro have no off switch. If no one complains for those, why complain about the Max?
The benefit of having AirPods being always on is that they connect instantly (or don’t actually disconnect) and also allow Find My to work. Find My saved my wife’s pair of AirPods Pro. One fell out of her ear in my car and we couldn’t find it. Find My’s alert sound showed us it had fallen into a small hole under the driver’s seat where the power seat plug connected to the car’s power supply. Without Find My, we’d have never found it. As it was, it still took an hour and many scraped away skin layers to extract that AirPod from the tiny hole. That feature saved us a lot of money. The same could happen with the Max if you happen to accidentally leave it behind somewhere or can‘t figure out where you left them in your house. Have you ever forgotten where your phone is? I’ll bet you were happy you could ping it with Find My.