So after years of rumors and speculation the Apple AirPods Max are finally here. And you
best believe I rushed to get my order in as fast as possible without even knowing exactly
what I was buying. But after sitting down and taking a close look at the Airpods Max
and looking at their spec sheet. I am more skeptical about these headphones rather than
excited.
Now first off there’s price… the AirPods Max retail for $550 which I find to be insane.
And quite frankly we know people want to know how the AirPods Max stack up to the Sony 1000XM4’s
which retail for $350 and can be found on sale for $280… the Bose NC 700 which retail
for $400 but can be found on sale for $350. And the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s which also
retail for $400 but can also be found on sale for $350. Now obviously there are a lot of
other great headphones out there but what im trying to get at here is that the AirPods
Max really do have their work cut out for them to justify their $550 price tag.
Next up lets talk about the design of these headphones. Now looks are completely subjective
but I do feel the AirPods Max are rather funny looking and I feel they play off of the Bose
NC 700’s design. But I do feel theBose look sharper where as the AirPods Max look rather
cartoony.
But looks aside I do want to talk about their materials. The AirPods Max are using mesh
lined ear cups which personally I do like cause it could mean that their ear cups won’t
over heat after long use sessions. But I do worry that these mesh ear pads could affect
their active noise cancelation cause maybe they’ll let in a lot ambient noise. We’re
going to have to wait and see when we actually get the headphones in house but I am cautiously
optimistic about these ear pads.
However one major problem that I do have to point out about these headphones is their
weight. The AirPods Max weigh in at a staggering 385 grams. Now for comparison sake, the Sennheiser
Momentum 3’s weigh in at 305 grams, the Bose NC 700 weigh in at 264, the Sony 1000XM4’s
weigh in at 254 grams, the Bose QC 35’s weigh in at 240 grams and the Sennheiser PXC
550-II weigh in at 227 grams.
Any way you look at it the AirPods Max are a pair of very heavy headphones that you aren’t
going to forget that you’re wearing, you’re really going to notice them when you’re
walking around with them on… and usually anything past the 350 gram mark chances are
you are going to get a little fatigued on the back of your neck after wearing these
headphone for over an hour.
Cause for comparison sake your typical pair of ANC headphones weigh in at around 270 grams…
but the lighter the better. And the Bose NC 700, Sony 1000XM4, Bose QC 35’s and Sennehsier
PXC 550 II are all headphones that you do forget that you're wearing after awhile. Where
as with the Momentum 3’s not so much. You always know that they’re there. But over
all the AirPods Max are a pair of very heavy headphones and their weight is really going
to cost them them it comes to prolonged comfort.
But next up I want to talk about two things that really have me bothered about these headphones.
First of which is their “Smart Case”. That fact that apple say’s “A Case with
staying power”… “When stored in their soft, slim Smart Case, AirPods Max enter
an ultra‑low‑power state that preserves charge”… you mean turning them off??
Now ive never seen a case as ridicules as this one. Its going to do absolutely nothing
to keep these headphones safe when you're traveling or commuting with them. Apple didn’t
even throw in a carrying much for these headphones. Whenever your paying over $300 for any pair
of headphones you can’t a nice hardshell case. Actually we’re even starting to get
hardshell cases with mid tier ANC headphones like the Surface 2’s. And quite frankly
im really starting to feel bad cause I really criticized Sennheiser for their soft shell
cases.
And then there’s all the fact that these headphones don’t have an audio jack. Now
im not surprised that these headphones don’t have an audio jack cause the Beats Solo Pro
also don’t have an audio jack. But what really makes me angry is that apple doesn’t
include their 3.5 millimeter audio jack to lighting cable with their $550 headphones.
Instead apple wants to upsell you on this cable by charging you an additional $35. Now
just going off of the H1 chip found on the AirPods Pro and its also found in the AirPods
Max… latency doesn’t seem to an issue on iPhones or Mac’s these days so you’ll
might not need to use a wired connection. But lets say you want to
plug your headphones into a DAC, to an airplane’s entertainment system or anything else you’re
going to have to shell out extra money to do that.
Now while we’re on the topic of audio… apple claims that the AirPods Max have high
fidelity audio. Now this is something that we’re going to have to wait and see cause
their AirPods and Beats Solo Pro just sound good enough… but maybe these are different.
But if you’re claming high fidelity audio you’re going to have to go up against the
Sennheiser Momentum 3’s and Bowers and Wilkins PX7’s just to name a few but more importantly
they retail for $400 versus your $550.
Now apple also claims industry leading active noise cancelation which I do feel is a very
bold claim cause thats a direct jab at Sony and Bose which have been refining their active
noise cancelation for years now. However something that I am looking forward to on the headphones
is the ambient mode. Cause the ambient mode on the AirPods Pro sounds very natural and
they almost never pick up wind noise which is awesome.
And from the looks of it it also looks like these headphones are going to pick up zero
wind noise thanks to their microphone positioning and recessed design with mesh covering but
I really do hope these headphones have an active ambient mode where they will automatically
turn off their ambient mode when they hear a sudden loud noise to save you from jump
scares jut like the Sony 1000XM3, 1000XM4, and Surface Headphones do.
But over all, these have been my first impressions of the AirPods Max. Personally I am very skeptical
about these headphones and I really feel they have a steep up hill battle to justify their
$550 price tag. From my first impressions of these headphones im worried that they’ll
be more of a status symbol rather than a pair of great headphones. But obviously get subscribed
cause you can expect a lot of content on these headphones in the future.