Apple's first high-end headphones

[Frank Dernie]

speculating about corporation(s) illegally avoiding taxes leans toward conspiracy thinking

There are enough countries with tax loopholes aimed at attracting big corporations' offices for them not to need illegality anyway.

 

[Michael YYZ]

Must buy!

To owners of the AirPod Max: would you categorize these as a must buy or would you suggest waiting for the next revision?

 

[Michael YYZ]

I’ve got both. Different uses for each.

Would you suggest getting the AirPod Pro over the Max?

 

[Michael YYZ]

Those who cannot afford buying Apple products will always hate.

I have to admit I don’t understand the polarizing views on Apple products. Their mobile devices are best in class, their computers are excellent if you can afford them and can live with their many compromises.

The rest of their products are luxury products. For what it’s worth, the APM does exceed its competition on features, build quality, and sound quality. That much everyone here seems to agree on. The price however is abhorrent, but a result of Apple’s luxury angle and a regional profit-maximizing choice.

 

[Emlin]

Those who cannot afford buying Apple products will always hate.

That's an extremely childish comment.

 

[Robin L]

Those who cannot afford buying Apple products will always hate.

I've afforded Apple products. I'm not going back. These headphones look interesting, but having owned a lot of Apple products that stopped working, couldn't update and so on, I'm disinclined to send any more money in their direction. In any case, I'm listening to wired, open back headphones these days, they're working out quite well.

 

[A Surfer]

Those who cannot afford buying Apple products will always hate.

Seriously, why would you say something like that? It may be hard to accept, but not everyone loves Apple products. I for one would never pay extra for them.

 

[knutknoppersson]

Seriously, why would you say something like that? It may be hard to accept, but not everyone loves Apple products. I for one would never pay extra for them.

I am a long time Apple user. Currently using a Mac Book Pro, Mac Mini and an iPhone. Used an iMac for years as well. I am loving Apple for Mac OS and iOS simple as that. If you are not into gaming these products work very well but I would never ever buy Apple headphones or watches. There are simply better products available....

 

[FrantzM]

Those who cannot afford buying Apple products will always hate.

Had to reply to that ...

You realize that one of the best way to qualify your post is "BS"?

 

[wgb113]

So I've been using my pair since Christmas as-needed. Here are my super-subjective thoughts so far:

Build:

• These are a premium product and feel like it. They lack the leather earpads which some like and some question the durability of the headband mesh but from a fit-and-finish standpoint I'd give them 8/10. They're typical Apple quality when it comes to feel so anyone's who's bought any of their products over the past 5 years it's what you'd expect. The headband mesh would be my biggest concern but whether it will go before I want to upgrade to a newer version is TBD.

Looks:

• I like the low-ish profile of them when wearing them. There's no headband frame/halo above my hair like my AKGs and the earcups look less dorky than my Sony 1000x. That said they seem a bit plain when viewed from the side - just a big blob of aluminum in the color of your choosing. I'd give them a 7/10.

Comfort:

• The headphones are surprisingly comfortable for their size, even after extended use. My ears do get a little warm after about an hour but there’s zero pain both from the earcups or the headband. That was my biggest complaint about the Sonys, after about an album I’d have to take a break as there’d be pain at the bottom of the earcup.

Use:

• I've only used them wirelessly - with an old Mac Mini, my iPad Pro, iPhone 12 Pro and my work PC. I've used them most while working or cleaning records and sparingly for "serious" listening. Their ability to switch effortlessly between Apple device is a welcome convenience. Going from the iPad to the iPhone to the Mac without having to constantly go into Bluetooth is awesome. The PC does require that extra 1st World Effort but it works well. Using them for work Zoom calls everyone is crystal clear and I've not had any complaints regarding their microphone performance.

Noise Cancelling:

• Lots of people rave about the noise-cancelling and I wonder if it's because most of us aren't travelling in noisy environments as much. My admittedly only real test is when I'm cleaning vinyl using a vacuum-based record cleaning machine. It doesn't have the low-hum of say an airplane but there is quite a bit of noise and, compared to my Sony 1000x they're about the same, although slightly different in regards to the frequencies of sound they let in. They seem to let more of the upper octaves in than the Sonys.
• From a "transparant-mode" standpoint they're worlds better than the Sonys. It's like I'm wearing open-back headphones but no-one around me can hear my music. Like a win-win when I'm listening to tunes while I work in the room next to my son who is still schooling from home. I can keep an ear out without missing a beat. That is a big plus for me.

Sound:

• My points of reference are my AKG K872 Pro, Sennheiser HD58x, and my Sony MDR-1000x (that's also my preference in sound order). If I had to place the AirPod Max somewhere it'd be between the AKGs and the Sennheisers.
• They have a very nice sound signature in my opinion. They're more resolving than the Sonys - I can hear bigger differences between albums. Compared to the AKGs and Sennheisers they do some things better and some things worse than both. They sound a little more scooped with an emphasis in the mid-highs that seem to unnaturally sharpen some things but bass seems tastefully boosted with good extension. I'm not going to comment on imaging because, honestly, I've never heard a headphone come close to what even a modest set of speakers can convey. That said, that's not why I listen via headphones. I do so to not disturb others, to hear details that the room might smear, to enjoy music while traveling, etc. For those use-cases the AirPod Max fit right into my headphone lineup. They're replacing the Sony 1000X as my wireless/noise-cancelling option but they're being used more often for much more than that. To me that's the sign of a good headphone.

 

[spanayotov]

So I've been using my pair since Christmas as-needed. Here are my super-subjective thoughts so far:

....

Do you have any condensation issues? There are some reports of water droplets
forming inside the cups.

 

[wgb113]

Do you have any condensation issues? There are some reports of water droplets
forming inside the cups.

Zero. Not even after a 3 hour Zoom call in a 72F temp room.

 

[yossarian]

Over at iFixit there is a teardown of AirPods Max: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Max+Teardown/139369

 

[3125b]

Those are some anemic looking drivers in there, interestingly they have grey plastic membranes, where most headphones have clear ones (why is that, anyway?).
However the overall construction just screams Apple, it looks very much like their other products.

 

[MayaTlab]

Those are some anemic looking drivers in there

I'm not sure what the hell an "anemic" driver means, but what I know is that the APP's THD measurements so far are very good.
https://www.0db.co.kr/REVIEW_0DB/1682002
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/apple-airpods-max-measurements-brüel-kjær-5128.951184/

 

[3125b]

Apple specifies 40mm driver diameter, but from my digital measurements (wich may not be 100% accurate) it seems more like 37.5mm.
Distortion performance is very good, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were noticable non-linearities with increased volume - if they could actually play all that loud, wich might not be the case given that these have their own electronics.
Crinacle didn't seem too impressed with the technical abilities of these headphones, though he did rate them higher than the ohter wireless over-ears on tonality - wich very understandable, I have heard the Sony XM4 before and found them fairly terrible.

 

[MayaTlab]

Distortion performance is very good, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were noticable non-linearities with increased volume - if they could actually play all that loud, wich might not be the case given that these have their own electronics.

That information is available in Jude's measurements.

Crinacle didn't seem too impressed with the technical abilities of these headphones

I am not too impressed by reviewers who separate frequency response from whatever the hell they call "technicalities" - and then go on to give the APM a good grade as far as tuning goes and a lower one as far as "technicalities" go, even though their own FR curve measurements show a number of potential deficiencies, which could possibly explain what they noted in the "technicalities" part of their review.

 

[wgb113]

I don’t get the loudness thing. The most I’ve cranked them is into the 75-80% range and it was nearing hearing-imparting levels. How loud do people want to listen - rock concert loud?

 

[Dj7675]

Second update: after messing around with the Headphone Acomodation settings and creating a custom setting, they are really similar to the HD 600 I own, maybe with a tad less realism, but they are way better than stock. Pretty much all the problems with the treble and upper midrange energy disappear. This is something every single owner of these headphones have to try.

What settings did you use to get them to sound really similar to the HD600 to you?

 

[spanayotov]

Happy to see the batteries are relatively easy to replace. IMO the biggest drawback of AirPods and AirPods Pro is the non-replaceable batteries. And this applies to all other wireless earbuds. I watched someone on youtube replacing the batteries in 1st gen AirPods but the process is extremely difficult for the average user and 3rd party repair shops.

AirPods and other bluetooth earbuds/IEMs are disposable items which makes them costly to own and environmentally unfriendly. If Apple wants to affirm their image as an environmentally conscious company, they need to make the AirPods' battery replaceable. And I am aware that this must be a massive engineering challenge while keeping form factor, features and price.