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Ten Things AirPods Pro 2 Tell Us About AirPods Max 2
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Wouldn't the oldest AirPods product still in the lineup be the 2nd gen AirPods? They were announced on March 20, 2019 while the AirPods Max were announced on Dec. 8, 2020
I'm not who you replied to (nor do I entirely agree with them) but I bet brand recognition is very, very high on Apple's list of priorities. There's a reason why Beats still exists. There's a reason why Apple is probably the most marketable brand in the world. Apple could create a product and not put it's logo on it - I guarantee 9/10 people (maybe a slight exaggeration) would be able to guess who made it.
The OP you replied to also mentions brand recognition in the audio space. I can assure you when Apple users think of buying an audio product they think AirPods first. Apple isn't trying to sell (because it knows it's a different market) headphones to the android space. Nobody drives brand recognition like Apple does; their marketing department probably has the most power compared to in any other company.
One of the best Apple products I've ever owned and used. It rarely leaves my head. Very good sound quality, great ANC, and very comfortable for long sessions. They are even more comfortable than Powerbeats Pro.
Have you compared them to the comfort of the Bose QC 35? I have some Sennheisers that I love but my ears hurt so bad after 30min. Recently I used the Bose on a flight and my ears felt fine for several hours. I’ve heard the Max are heavier than the others, but I think my main issue is just making sure the ear cups are big enough to not touch my ears like the Bose.
Do you find them more comfortable than the Bose QC 35/45? Want something for 5+ hour flights
USB C is some sort of weird obsession. I have 50 devices charged and powered by weird custom connectors but some how Lightning is scary. You charge your headphones once a week. What possible difference does it make other than satisfying OCD tendencies?
Of course. They are awesome! 3 pairs in the house over here.
Just sold my Max... I really liked their sound signature, buuut the form factor is best for home listening where I prefer to use a separate DAC/Amp but then again they don't even support Lossless and also need to be charged regularly even when using wired... 
Couldn't tell you as I've never worn the Bose QC's...but these are very comfortable headphones. Five hour flight, no problem. I would take them off maybe twice in that time for a 2-3 min break. The only downside to these cans for extended use is that sometimes they can build up a little humidity inside the cups, which I've read may be a slight design flaw. I like to just take them off periodically to let them breathe. But comfortability alone...you could wear these for well beyond 5 hrs and have no problem IMO. Super comfy.
"Upon the release of the second-generation AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max became the oldest current-generation AirPods product still in Apple's lineup."
AirPods 2 were released over a year and a half before the Max, and I don't care that they're not "current", they're still being sold and that's whats important.
"
"Skin-Detect Sensors"
Unless you're suggesting they somehow put these in the foam cups, which would be absolutely ridiculous, a skin detection censor would be absolutely pointless since the metal and plastic of the actual Max's never touch your ear, unlike the AirPods Pro.
AirPods 2 were released over a year and a half before the Max, and I don't care that they're not "current", they're still being sold and that's whats important.
"
"Skin-Detect Sensors"
Unless you're suggesting they somehow put these in the foam cups, which would be absolutely ridiculous, a skin detection censor would be absolutely pointless since the metal and plastic of the actual Max's never touch your ear, unlike the AirPods Pro.
Yeah, no.
First of all, in what world has the Apple Watch replaced Rolex?
Rolex is a collector‘s item, people buy them as jewelry not as actual time pieces. And guess what? They still sell. For a lot of money.
Lossless over AirPlay is still not truly lossless, and also has tons of latency issues.
Bluetooth might be limited, but the amount of Latency has been reduced to almost nothing with the current AirPods and AirPods Max lineup..
With airplay, the latency (for me at least) with only audio is still anywhere from 2-4seconds.
Sure, for streaming one track or a playlist, it’s fine. For actually fluidly using a device, jumping from one piece of audio to another, it’s awful.
If you’re a low-vision Voiceover user like me, it’s downright unusable.
The current AirPods Max can play 24 bit 48 kHz files over the wire, with very minimal loss. Certainly much less loss than you would get over Wi-Fi or airplay.
And finally, studios will absolutely never use AirPods.
No matter how good they are, AirPods have things like dynamic equalization and already are set to Apple’s custom sound profile.
Absolutely fantastic for just listening to music, but for actual music production, most studios require completely flat headphones. No equalization, no special machine learning technology, no active noise cancellation, nothing that can get in the way of the pure audio.
And sorry, Apple‘s not gonna make a headphone like that, a headphone that most customers would find to be lackluster because they don’t like flat sound.
And certainly none of this would come with a price reduction
I wouldn’t say this, we just saw the AirPods Pro go three years without an update, and the max aren’t even a full two years old yet.
It could be another year plus before we see these updated.
There are some great deals out there, recently saw these for something like $380.
If you want them, get them. No reason to wait for something that might be years away.
They are priced way above their competitors, not a matter of “affordability” but rather value.
It still baffles me how many people here care so much about USB-C. I prefer Lightning, but whether they use one connector or another is down there in my list of priorities.