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When Apple fist announced the AirPods Max, the question in everyone’s mind was,
“Why is Apple making wireless noise cancelling headphones with a price that’s almost $600?”
They better, either, sound like heaven’s orchestra, or have some kind of unreal, Marvel Universe-style, feature to have that price compared to all other headphones in the market.
2 Types of Luxury / High-End Headphones
Studio Headphones – These are studio grade, professional, actual production headphones. They are lightweight with a very flat sound signature. People wear them for multiple hours. They work with extra hardware to drive them. They were made for production. Check out the Best Studio Headphones here.
High-End Headphones – These are for luxury listening. They are very nice headphones that sound great for music, podcast, movies, and all types of consumer oriented features. These are usually the top of the line headphones in their companies, just great headphones with a high price. Many of them are wireless and have active noise cancelling. They are geared for consumption. Check out some of the best here.
So What is the Category of the AirPods Max?
The AirPods Max is in the second category, high-end or luxury, consumer-centered headphones. These headphones check a set of boxes that are very unique compared to any other headphones in the market. They have some odd combination of features which somehow all work very well together.
The Design (It’s Metal!)
Yup, it’s metal. They have aluminum earcups. It’s pretty cold when you touch it outside on a winter day. They have stainless steel headband frames. This is Apple differentiating themselves. Every other pair of high-end headphones, or heck, any headphones out there were made of plastic. This metal build is great. They have very tight tolerances. The earcups have this satin finish, they would look awesome in matte black.
The headbands do not have notches. They are very smooth and takes a lot of pull to move, they feel very high quality. The button and digital crown on top are very nice. Once again, very high quality.
But then you ask me, “If metal headbands were so great, why do most headphones use plastic?” Well, all these companies do research. They found out that one of the factors that affect your comfort in headphones is its weight. Metal is much heavier than plastic. I’m sure Apple also did research, that’s why they have a work around. They did their best with this very thin, flexible, mesh top band. It works to distribute weight on top of your head. But still, these are heavy headphones.
It’s like driving an electric car. In a straight line, you forget that it’s heavy. But when you hit a corner, you realize that it’s a heavy car. With the AirPods Max, if you sit still, you forget the weight. But when you nod your head, look up, or stand up to look for something, you will remember they are heavy. Let’s see the weight compared to its close competitors.
AirPods Max – 385 g.
Sony XM4 – 254 g.
Bose 700 – 254 g.
The mesh band do a pretty good job to make the metal weight tolerable…compared to what could have been. I’ll take you to the darkest timeline. Do you remember the Beats Pro all metal headphones? The “all metal” was part of their marketing. That was 400 grams. They were very uncomfortable. They pinch right underneath your ear. They were harsh and brutal, because they squeeze your head, and I don’t mean in a cute way. The AirPods Max could have been waaaaay worst. Also, there is no Apple Logo in these headphones, which makes them look even more minimalist, something I love.
For Working Out
Take note there is no sweat or water resistance here. If you are an athlete, or you want to make these your gym headphones, or maybe you want to use it outside on a rainy, snowy day, please reconsider. Here are the Best Workout Headphones.
More on Comfort
The mesh earcups with memory foam were nice, soft, and very comfortable. I definitely prefer these compared to other materials. Memory foam is used for beds and mattresses, of course they are comfortable. They are better than leather earcups for long listening sessions. I wore them for 2-3 hours straight before my ears got hot and needed a break.
Removable Earcups?
Yes, they are easily removable with the AirPods Max, using magnets. You don’t see this in a lot of consumer headphone, even high-end once. These are metal headphones that you hopefully use for a very long time. Were talking years. Because the truth is, we should be replacing the earcups of our headphones after quite some time. They get dirty, cracked, and ugly. You get new earcups and your headphones stay the same.
They Lack Touch Controls, but That’s a Good Thing!
Instead of touch controls, they added a button and a larger version of that digital crown from the Apple Watch. You rotate it for volume and press for media controls. It works very well and it has satisfying clicks. You can also reverse the direction of the spin using the iOS software.
Does The Sound Justify the Price?
As I said earlier, with this price range, they better sound like heaven’s orchestra, available with a hip hop remix by Tupac. Well, there are no headphones like that in our world yet. So how does the AirPods Max sound? They sound excellent. They sound like luxury listening. They have these large 40mm drivers behind those earcups. They sound very clear in all volumes. They have very low distortion in high volumes. Its really great with high quality music streaming like Spotify. It has a solid punchy bass, and sometimes, even a deep sub bass. The instrument separation is great. The clarity through mids and highs in many genres is great.
Noise Cancellation
The noise cancellation is also fantastic. These have 9 microphones that do a great job with white noise. Despite that, they have a very natural sound. Noise cancelling headphones tend to sound unnatural sometimes. This doesn’t have that problem.
I haven’t flown or travelled with these yet. But I’ll tell you a quick story. My cousin is very passionate about sewing, and she has a pretty loud sewing machine, which I don’t mind because it’s a way for her to express her art, while also earning some extra money. The sewing machine is almost as loud as a vacuum cleaner. She was sewing around 1 meter away from me, and the AirPods Max cancelled the sound of her machine. With that, I’ll put this in the same category as The King of Noise Cancelling, the Sony XM4, which by the way, works really great on a plane.
Transparency Mode
“What is transparency mode in headphones?,” you may ask. This feature allows you to hear sound from outside, from your environment. A lot of other headphones have transparency mode, but nothing like this. The AirPods Max might have the best transparency mode. I don’t just hear things, I hear wear they are coming from, like when somebody talks on my right, my left, or behind me.
How Good is the Connection?
The connection is very good. There are no latency, lag, or range issues with the Bluetooth. I walked around my office, leaving my phone on the desk, I walked up and down a flight of stairs, no drop issues at all.
How About the Mic?
These have 9 microphones that pick up your voice and cancel the background noise. The mic is fine. It’s clear enough. It’s good enough for Zoom or Face Time. I don’t think we have consume headphones yet with a mic that are as clear as a Joe Rogan podcast. That day will come one day, but it’s not yet here.
The Case
This seems to be the most hated feature of the AirPods Max. A lot of articles and reviews online, and my friends hated it. They think it’s a stupid case. One of my friends thought it looks like a purse. Personally I don’t hate it, I don’t love it either, it just looks funny to me. It looks like one of those takeout handles they give you on Starbucks.
It does take a few more seconds to take the headphones out of the case, and to put them back in, which is a hassle. The magnet in the lid is also kinda small, and you miss it sometimes. It also does not protect the mesh headband, which is the most delicate part of the headphones. The thing that I don’t like most about it is, the AirPods Max does not have an off button, and you have to put them inside this case to trigger the low power mode and not burn off your battery. The battery usage of the AirPods Max is the same whether you are playing music or not. If it detects that you are not using it for 2 hours, that’s only the time that it will automatically go into low power mode. Unfortunately, we gotta use that case. Check out some alternative AirPods Max Cases here. But don’t worry much about the battery because…
Battery Life
The AirPods Max have great battery life. They advertised 16 to 20 hours, and they do reach that, even with noise cancelling turned on. You can plug it for 5 minutes and it will give you 1 and a half hours of listening.
Smart Features
They have plenty of this. The sensors can detect if they are on you head, and they will auto play / pause when you take them off or put them back on. You can hold the digital crown, talk to Siri, read out your text messages and all that great stuff. And just like all other AirPods, it will instantly pair with all your Apple devices; you can switch between your iPhone, Macbook, and your iPad, which is always great.
Q & A:
Can you use it with Android? YES. But of course, you wont be able to use Apple exclusive smart features.
Do they Bleed? Batman texted me this question 😁 Yes they bleed. I’d say if you turned up your volume 75-100%, the people around you can hear them.
When the battery is dead, and you plug them in, can you use them? Yes
Verdict
The AirPods Max was made to give us a fantastic listening experience. It has great sound quality and noise cancellation. For iPhone and iPad users, it gives you great spatial audio experience. It’s the same as AirPods Pro and can pick up 5.1, 7.1, and Dolby Atmos sound sources, which responds to your head placement when you look around. It’s pretty awesome for movies.
But since no product is perfect, it does have 3 downsides, namely: 1) the case 2) the heavy build, and the 3) price. But if you are ok with that, and if you are deep inside the Apple Ecosystem, then these are pretty great headphones, maybe even perfect for you.
JG Perspective 