Get Them Here=
So after much hype and anticipation, the AirPods Max are finally here. Now I will admit the AirPods Max really do deliver when it comes to sound and active noise cancelation. But unfortunately for me, it is very hard to recommend or justify the AirPods Max cause these headphones just have a lot of quirks to them that are very hard to over look especially when you consider their $550 price tag and the rest of the competition.
Since the AirPods Max retail for $550 thats definitely going to open them up to more scrutiny from me… and its also very hard to not compare these headphones to other popular options out there like the Sony 1000XM4’s which retail for $350 or the Bose NC 700’s and Sennheiser Momentum 3’s which both retail for $400. And all of these aforementioned headphones can typically be found on sale these days. And im just putting it out there… even if the AirPods Max were more competitively priced… I would still find it hard to go with these headphones… rather than these other headphones. But regardless if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below.
Alright, so first off lets address the AirPods Max smart case which I think we can all agree is universally hated. Now from a build quality standpoint this thing is awesome. Its got a soft touch outside and velour inside. But from a practicality standpoint this thing is not going to protect your $550 headphones all that well. Now this smart case is going to keep your aluminum ear cups from getting scratched up… but unfortunately the headband is completely exposed… now this frame is very stiff and it does take a considerable amount of effort flex… but this mesh canopy is completely exposed. And I genuinely worry what if this thing were to get ripped? So obviously one of my first gripes about the AirPods Max is that you don’t get an actual hard shell case with you $550 headphones like you do with most other premium ANC headphones. And personally I do find it very funny that Amazon is starting to get flooded with $25 dollar cases aimed specifically at the AirPods Max.
Now for those wondering why this thing is called a smart case… its cuase when you place the AirPods Max inside they’ll immediately going into low power mode and after being in their case for 18 hours they’ll go into ultra low power mode. Where as if you were to just leave these headphones out on a table… after 5 minutes they’ll going into a low power mode and after 72 hours they’ll go into ultra low power mode. Apple just give us a simple power button.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves… the AirPods Max are very well built. Like I mentioned earlier we’ve got aluminum ear cups that swivel flat, this stainless steel headband glides in and out, up top the headband is covered in silicon giving us a soft touch feel, then we’ve got the mesh canopy which has a surprising amount of spring to it and finally there are fabric earpads. Now from a build quality stand point these headphones are in a league of their own, these things are exquisite. And personally I think apple took all of that hate about beats feeling cheap and decided to give us this.
But unfortunately the material choice on the AirPods Max really does hinder them when it comes to over all comfort. Now first off I am going to have to say that these headphones are not big head approved cause they do have a considerable amount of clamping force. For me these headphones just clamp down a little too firm so after a half hour or so of wearing them I do feel like I want to take a break. Now ive tried stretching these headphones out and let them scratched out over night… but these headphones still fit a little too firm for my taste. So again these are not big head approved.
But clamping force aside, another major issue for me when it comes to comfort on these headphones is their weight. The AirPods max weigh in at a staggering 385 grams… which is way above average. Cause your typical pair of ANC headphones weigh in around 270 grams and for comparison sake the Beats Studio 3 weigh in at 264 grams. Now this 385 gram weight on the AirPods Max means a few things. First off these are a pair of headphones that you never forget that you’re wearing just cause they’re so heavy. These are also a pair of headphones that you really notice when they’re on your head when you’re walking around with them on. But also even if you’re just sitting still and working at your desk… you will start to develop some strain on the back of your neck after wearing these headphones for like an hour or so. So even though the AirPods Max have exceptional build quality… they’re just way too heavy. And again for comparison sake if we were to look at the Bose NC 700’s which weigh in at 264 grams or the Sony 1000XM4’s which weigh in at 254 grams… these are both headphones that you forget that you’re wearing after awhile and you barley notice them when you’re walking around with them on. And then there are also ultra light weight options like the Sennheiser PXC 550-II’s which weigh in at 227 grams which are even less noticeable. And personally for me I don’t think headphones should go past the 310 grams mark which is were the Momentum 3’s land weigh in at 305 grams. Now with these headphones they’re easy enough to ignore when you’re just sitting still, but you do notice them when you’re walking around with them on. But unlike the AirPods Max, the momentum 3’s don’t cause any neck strain. So personally for me the AirPods Max 385 gram weight really is a deal breaker.
But finally there are the earpads… now these things are super spacious and should have no problem accommodating most types. But personally I don’t like that they’re fabric. Now these fabric ear pads do a great job of not over heating but my problem with this martial choice is that this fabric is very course. So for me these ear pads can get itchy at times. Now I wouldn’t be surprised that since these ear pads are magnetically attached that we’ll start to see after market replacement leather ear pads… But yeah, for me im not a fan of this these super course fabric ear pads. So over all even though the AirPods Max have exceptional build quality… I find them to be very uncomfortable for multiple reasons. They have a lot of clamping force making them not big head approved, their weight is cumbersome and can lead to neck strain, and their fabric ear pads are much too course and can get itchy at times.
But now lets talk about tech specs… the AirPods Max charge via a lighting cable which is good cause you can charge your iPhone and headphones with the same cable… but if you bought into the whole mag safe thing like I did with my iPhone 12 Pro Max… then you’re back to having to use one cable to charge your phone and another to charge your headphones cause the AirPods Max don’t work with mag safe. But personally I would not be surprised if the AirPods Max 2 do.
Now when it comes to battery life… its okay but it could be better. The AirPods max have an advertised battery life of 20 hours with their Active Noise Cancelation turned on… but if you were to use them with their ANC turned off you should be able to stretch out their battery life a little bit. But these days most headphones are trying to hit that 25 to 35 hour mark with their ANC turned on.
But now lets talk about Bluetooth connectivity… the AirPods Max are using Apple’s H1 chip which means a few things for Apple power users. Now besides making pairing these headphones to your phone super easy… its also going to allow you to hot swap between any of your apple devices associated to your iCloud account. But you can still pair these headphones to any other device and still be able to hot swap between lets say your android device along side all of your other apple devices.
So definitely the AirPods Max aren’t just great for apple power user’s they’re great for power users in general. Cause for comparison most other headphones these days can only be simultaneously connected to 2 devices at same time any ways. So even if you have a hybrid set up like me… you have a few apple devices, and you have a few android devices… the AirPods max will be able to keep up.
And thanks to the H1 chip found in these headphones, the AirPods Max have hey Siri support so you can just be like hey Siri calls so and so or send so a so a text and boom its done.
And from a performance standpoint these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether youre using and iPhone or an android device. But when it comes to audio codecs the headphones only have support for SBC and AAC. Now if you're an iPhone user this doesn’t really matter cause iPhones top out at AAC anyways… but a lot of these other headphones have support for even higher quality audio codecs like lets say APTX, APTX HD, or APTX Low Latency on Sennheiser’s offerings… There are other headphones out there like the Bowers And Wilkins PX7 which have support for APTX Adaptive… And then there’s Sony with their in house LDAC.
Now if you’re going to be streaming your music over Spotify, YouTube music, or whatever AAC is going to be perfectly fine. And personally I am the type that if you’re going to stream hi res audio either from tidal or if you’ve got your own Flac files I try to use a wired connection and a DAC. But unfortunately the AirPods Max don’t have an Audio Jack. No personally im not upset at the fact that the AirPods Max don’t have an audio… personally I expected it cause the Beats Solo Pro also don’t have an audio jack.
But what really makes me upset is that apple didn’t include their Lighting to Audio jack cable with their $550 headphones. Instead they’re going to up charge you an additional $35. So if you want to use your $550 headphones to monitor your audio either on your microphone, plug them into a DAC, or plug them into lets say an airplane’s entertainment system… you’re not going to be able to do that right out of the box.
Now even though latency isn’t a problem for the AirPods Max… youre still going to want to use a wired connection if youre working on a project in final cut pro cause there is like a quarter second delay. I think your average user isn’t going to notice, but if you’re a content creator you will. And unfortunately if you were to plug in the AirPods Max into your Mac’s USB C port… you’re still not going to get a wired connection. So yeah I feel apple should have included their lighting to Audio jack cable or at the very least included a USB C to audio Jack adapter.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones. For starters these are a pair of very loud headphones. But besides that I actually really like how these headphones sound. Without a doubt the AirPods Max sound better than both the Sony 1000XM4’s and Bose NC 700. The AirPods Max sound much more open than both the Sony and Bose, they sound balanced enough with strong vocals and a decent amount of physical bass. Now their bass doesn’t hit as hard as the Sony’s… but the bass on the AirPods Max does hit harder than the bass on the Bose and it does resonate a good amount. Now even though the AirPods Max sound great… personally I still maintain that the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s sound better. Now in a lot of ways the AirPods Max sound very similar to the Momentum 3’s… but the treble on the AirPods Max is turned up a little more than on the Momentum 3’s so the AirPods max can get a little ear piercing at times. The bass on the AirPods Max doesn’t resonate as deep or hit as hard has the bass on the Momentum 3’s and the AirPods Max don’t sound as open as the Momentum 3’s. Nonetheless the AirPods Max sound good and they offer a very dynamic listening experience with strong vocals and deep resonating bass… But are they the best sounding headphones ever like apple claims… no.
But now I want to quickly address the digital crown on these headphones. Now personally I do think this thing is an eye and it looks like a mole… but other than that im rather indifferent about its placement and the most important thing is that this crown does make controlling your music super easy. You simply turn the crown to adjust the volume and you can press on it to skip through your music. Now a lot of headphones these days are starting to come with touch pads instead and the AirPods Max’s large smooth ear cups are prime real estate for touch pads. But every pair of premium ANC headphones don’t have to have a touch pad.
However something these headphones do have are wear sensors, so when you take these headphones off they’ll automatically pause your music and when you put them back on they’ll start playing your music again. Now personally im not the biggest fan of wear sensors on my headphones and ill usually just turn them off… but from a performance stand point these wear sensors a really good. They’re very fast to react when you put these headphones on or take them off and they all don’t randomly start playing and pausing your music when you’re walking around with these headphones on.
Now another thing these headphones have is spatial audio… now personally I am indifferent about spatial audio cause I never move my head around when im watching movies or videos either on my phone, tablet or computer. However I am excited about the implications spatial audio could have on future Augmented and Virtual reality apps.
Now bose already tried this with their Bose AR program but has now stopped mainly cause developer support just wasn’t there. But now that apple is taking a crack at it then maybe well might start to see some interesting stuff. And since the Bose NC 700 and newer Bose QC 35’s already have built in accelerometers and gyroscopes just like the AirPods Max… they could piggy back off of the AirPods Max and AirPods Pro success.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones… The Active noise cancelation on the AirPods Max doesn’t change how your music sounds which is great and its microphone array does a really good job of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors. And the Active noise cancelation on the AirPods Max does manage to block out more noise than the ANC on both the Sony 1000XM4’s and Bose NC 700’s. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into and ANC test.
So like you may have just seen, the active noise cancelation on the AirPods Max brutally goes after the low frequency sounds. Now even though more higher frequency sounds in the chatter portion of this test managed to get in… since the AirPods Max just utterly annihilate does low frequency sounds they give the perception of blocking out more noise than both the Sony’s and Bose. But the ANC on the AirPods Max does have one major draw back, and thats cabin pressure. Even though the AirPods Max do manage to block out more noise than both the Sony’s and Bose… they do so with more cabin pressure. Now you don’t feel too much cabin pressure when you’re playing music with these headphones… but you’ll might feel like you gotta pop your ears. And if you’re watching a movie with these headphones then you are going to notice that cabin pressure even more. And you’re definitely going to feel the cabin pressure on these headphones if you just not playing anything. Where as both the Sony’s and Bose have significantly less cabin pressure. Which ultimately contributes to comfort. Now cabin pressure might not be an issue for everyone… but it is for me. Personally I think that if the Bose QC 35’s cabin pressure bothered you then you’ll might have the same issue with the AirPods Max.
But now lets talk about the transparency mode on these headphones. It is no surprise to me that the AirPods Max have a great, very natural sounding transparency mode that also does a great job of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors… Cause the AirPods Pro and Beats Solo pro also have great sounding transparency modes. And technically the AirPods Max also have an active Transparency mode where they’ll actively block out loud noises. But unfortunately the active transparency mode on the AirPods Max is just too lenient. Now we’re going to take the Sony 1000XM4’s into consideration which also have inactive ambient mode. The second these headphones detect a sudden spike in loud noise they turn off their ambient mode and save you from sudden jump scares or just save your hearing in general. But let me just show you what im talking about.
So like you may have just seen… the second the Sony’s detected that sudden spike in loud noise they turned off their ambient mode. Where as with the AirPods Max, they’re not as fast to react. Fair warning if you’re wearing headphones take them off.
So like you may have just seen, the AirPods Max are much slower to react which is not a good thing. Now having an active ambient mode might not be a huge deal for some people… but trust me it really does come in handy. Whether you’re commuting to work in the city and a police car drives by with the siren blaring, or if you’re just at your desk working and your dog starts barking cause there someone at the door… you’ll be glad that your headphones are smart enough to actively react if you’ve got your ambient mode turned on. So I really hope apple pushes out a software updated that will make the active transparency mode on these headphones more active.
But finally here’s the microphone test, now the microphone on the AirPods Max actually sound pretty good. And it also sounds noticeably better than the microphone found on either AirPods or AirPods Pro.
The microphone on the AirPods Max also does a great job of blocking out constant low frequency sounds like road noise all while keeping your voice front and center.
And when it comes to blocking out random higher frequency sounds, the AirPods max also do a good job of blocking out chatter. Cuase if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the AirPods Max it is reduced but more importantly my voice is front and center.
But with all that being said, here’s my final verdict. The AirPods Max really do deliver when it comes to sound and active noise cancelation. I really enjoy how these headphones sound. They sound very open, they have strong vocals, and they have dynamic bass that lets you feel your music. They sound better than both the Sony’s and Bose but to me they’re still trailing behind the Momentum 3’s. Now the AirPods max block out more noise than both the Sony’s and Bose cause they brutally go after those constant low frequency sounds… but the trade off here is that they do have a considerable amount of cabin pressure which is going to affect they’re over all comfort. And in general the biggest reason why I don’t like the Airpods Max and why I never see myself daily driving these headphones is their comfort, period. These headphones have too much clamping force, they weigh way above average, and their very course fabric ear pads can get itchy at times. Now ive said this in the past, you can have a pair of headphones that sound amazing and block out a ton of noise… but the most important thing to consider is comfort. If your headphones don’t fit right youre not going to want to wear them. But comfort aside, the AirPods Max just have some draw backs that are very hard to look past when you’re dropping $550 on your headphones. First of which is their joke of a case. You can’t travel with this. Then there’s also the fact if you want to or have to use a wired connection with these headphones that’ll be an extra $35 up charge. And like I said, even if these things were more competitively priced… it would still be a tough sell merely on the basis of comfort.