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I don't believe this is specific to the "Max". I've been experiencing the same thing with my AirPods Pro. I think it's related to the auto connect setting and connecting to other devices when it shouldn't be (like when placed in case).
 
I see that every AirPods Max article is met by the same 3 Pages of comments from people that, in my estimation, have never even used them. It has nothing to do with being "First Gen bugs," all products have bugs that need addressing, these headphones are no exception. I am not sure what the outrage is, Apple has a stellar track-record on software updates and I have confidence that any bugs will be addressed soon. I am glad there isn't a power button, I hate having a bunch of buttons on anything, particularly headphones, doing finger-gymnastics to change settings is horrible.
Except in the meantime I have $550 headphones that have become an inconvenience to use.

And they don’t need to add another button—a long press of the noise canceling button is not being utilized at the moment and could easily have been used for the ‘power off/sleep’ functionality. In fact, I’ve my fingers crossed that the next firmware update adds that very thing.
 
I’ve been experiencing this as well, but I don’t put them on the case. Still, the drain is excessive. Hopefully it’s software & not hardware.
 
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"Some". LOL. I Doubt that only some are experiencing that. I can't get more than 4-6 hours of play time with the damn things.

They sound good. Not $550 good, but close to it. My Bang and Olufsen H9's and H9i's are more versatile, have a configurable EQ independent of any source and have better battery life but I would say the sound quality edge goes to the Apple AirPod Max's.

That said, they don't measure up to either my Beyer Dynamic 1900s or 1700s.

It's oddly frustrating because they appear to be sonically capable as far as the hardware is concerned, but the software appears to seriously color the sound via bluetooth in ways that the B&W H9's do not and as such "out of the box" the H9's do sound miles better. After applying the "Classical" EQ setting in the Apple Music App then the AirPod Max's appear to reproduce audio in similar fashion to the B&Ws.

I won't say they are bad at all, they aren't. They're very comfortable and of apparently excellent quality. I just think they can and should improve the core software to address lack of manual EQ to enable the sound profile to match the application being used.
 
I don't believe this is specific to the "Max". I've been experiencing the same thing with my AirPods Pro. I think it's related to the auto connect setting and connecting to other devices when it shouldn't be (like when placed in case).

It may be the cause for some people but I’ve disabled that feature and I’m still suffering from constant battery drain.
 
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I haven't had any issues with excessive battery drain. I haven't been obsessing over the battery levels, but so far I just top them off once a week or so and they're still well over 25% when I do. My usage is probably about 1-3 hours a day, depending, and a mix of ANC and Transparency mode. I think my first move if I started seeing severe drain like this would be to reset the headphones.

As far as the omission of a power button, based on what I'm experiencing, I wouldn't have any particular need for it myself. My phone is WAY more likely to die before the headphones, and if I'm away from power that long and expecting to use my headphones I'm probably gonna be bringing a cable and external battery anyway -- and I suppose packing them into that stupid-looking AirPods Pro case, to make them go into deep sleep faster.
 
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I'll upgrade my APP with APPv2. Maybe I'll get APMv2 too. First gen troubles.
 
Except in the meantime I have $550 headphones that have become an inconvenience to use.

And they don’t need to add another button—a long press of the noise canceling button is not being utilized at the moment and could easily have been used for the ‘power off/sleep’ functionality. In fact, I’ve my fingers crossed that the next firmware update adds that very thing.
They aren't going to release a firmware patch to implement an on/off button. As much as I wish they would, it will never happen.
 
You’re going to LOVE the XM4s!!
Thanks! So far so good!! With just a bit of mids tweaking on the EQ and especially after pairing 360 audio with Tidal they're pretty damn good! Haven't charged them in about a week and they're still at 60% too. Wow.

One caveat: the call quality with transparency is certainly not on par with the AirPods Pro (and I read that's a stand-out feature of the Max too)
 
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To be clear, I do not believe this is a product fault. Like, there isn't some bug doing this. The fact is, Apple just missed the boat on the execution and design in some ways. They should have had it that if you put the headphones down with the cups rotated (parallel to each other), they turn off. No one is listening to their headphones that way.
 
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No offense, I can't help but laugh when I think of people paying $700+ for this as a "fashion statement" or to show how "succesful" they are in life 😂
Calm down. Nobody sees mine but me and my wife so spare me that nonsense. I'm "succesful" [sic] enough to blow a few hundred $ over and above the price of some Bose or whatever to get headphones I like with good sound, great ANC, great integration with the Apple devices I already own, and a good transparency mode. It's a splurge, but it makes my life quite a bit better because I'm using them almost constantly while trying to work in close quarters during the pandemic.

Also "$700+" is a number you pulled directly out of your ass. The actual price is $550 -- which is a lot but again, read what I wrote above (or don't, I could give a crap).

And it isn't just you, this is directed at everyone here who feels compelled to clutter up every thread about these just to bitch about the existence of headphones that cost more than they care to spend. Do you also go around complaining that there are cars on the market you feel are overpriced? Shoes? Applicances? Houses? Give it a ****ing rest. If you don't want to buy AirPods Max, then you are under no obligation whatsoever to do so.
 
My Sony over the ear headphones have been in my draw since last winter. I just took them out and they still have battery life, and cost $250 less.
I am still waiting for the message "Battery level - low" on my Sony WH1000 XM2, having charged them about 6 months ago and actually not using them extensively.
They still insist being "high" - not smoking anything as far as I know.
 
I’m not sure if they could have an on off facility as they weren’t designed that way. Surely there would have to be some sort of bootup up routine if they were powered up from cold . Aren’t they live as they come off the factory production line? I think the only solution is a is a firmware upgrade
 
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