- That's a boss ass move, just getting a pair of AirPods Max
and engraving it with a single emoji.
What is that emoji?
(suspenseful music)
So AirPods max or PS5, but like for real though.
(bullet sounds)
- Mother are you out of your damn mind?
- Yo, Jonathan here, Apple did a thing today.
They definitely did a thing.
AirPods Max are official.
We've heard the rumors.
We've seen the concepts, the renders
some thought we'd see them this year,
some thought they'd be delayed until March of 2021.
Tim Cook was like, "Nah, let's drop them today."
So there's a ton to break down here.
And there actually is quite a bit of cool tech packed
inside the AirPods Max,
that name just isn't rolling off the tongue yet.
I want to say AirPods pro max, that feels and sounds better.
Definitely make sure to subscribe if haven't,
and if you want to get these in
and drop any comments you guys want to see
in the full review.
But first we got to talk about that price
because Twitter was not having it.
(somber music)
Bro was like F you take, leaf blower.
Is it a leaf blower or a vacuum?
Damn he's got the dice and out.
Obviously we can't truly assess something until we get it in
and try it out.
But I think most of us were expecting a price tag of 399
even 499 would have hurt a lot less,
but I think for 549 bucks those Sony XM4's
are looking real good right now.
There's a couple of things going on
but I think one, we kind of got to look at this
as a completely new product line for Apple.
Yes, they've done Homepods, yes, they've done AirPods.
But in terms of an over ear noise canceling headphones
this is brand new.
With that said, I wouldn't say that it's a first gen product
because Apple is really good at developing tech,
putting RND into one product,
and then implementing that into another.
I think a really good example of that
was the original HomePod, right?
When that came out,
the general consensus was, this sounds incredible
for what it is,
but it's overpriced and it's a mediocre voice assistant.
But because of that, the end result
was a dedicated audio team
and RND that would eventually trickle its way down to things
like AirPods, AirPods pro, now the HomePod mini,
even things like spatial audio in the iPhone.
And now it's kind of coming full circle where
we're not only seeing HomePod tech,
but even things like the digital crown,
which comes from the Apple watch.
So these are a pair of Beyer dynamic DT 990 Pros.
You need a decent deck or interface
to get the most out of them.
And there's going to be an argument,
"Well, why would you pay 549 bucks
when you can get something like this?"
I don't think in terms of audio quality or fidelity
it's not going to outclass a pair of headphones like this
but again, this is something completely different.
Apple's goal here is not to compete with Sony or Bose
clearly it's with that price.
But I think there's two things going on here.
One, Apple probably knew they weren't going to manufacture
a ton of these.
So they figure as a business, whose goal is to make money,
What they're going to miss out on quantity.
they'll make up on margin.
Second, you can almost guarantee a huge chunk
of this price is because of the RND
that went into these headphones.
Things like the magnetic ear cuffs or the design
or the material or things like the accelerometer
which plays a huge role in spatial audio.
So the reality is most people won't and shouldn't buy these
and the people who are they already pre-ordered them
before this video went live.
The closest thing I could relate these to
is what Dolby tried to do with their dimension headphones,
which really didn't take off.
But I think in terms of what Apple has done with audio
there's a much better chance here.
The other thing to think about is there's more than likely
going to be at some point next year,
a pair of AirPods pro max,
which will hopefully drive the price down on these
and lead to a mid range product
somewhere hopefully between the AirPods pro
in that 399 price tag, or hopefully even less.
What is cool with these though
is unlike regular AirPods or AirPods pro,
which have come in one in one color only,
we actually get five different options here.
So we have silver,
space gray which I think might look the best,
blue, pink and then finally green.
I actually pre-ordered a pair of sky blue to be exact
because something about blue just always calls me.
But I'm curious to hear if you are interested in these,
what is your favorite color?
So now that we kind of got that out of the way
again there is a lot of cool tech packed inside these
starting with the H1 chips.
So we're going to get that quick instant pairing
like we're used to...
Pew news update, Peuds is coming out of retirement
for this stuff...
It's actually two H1 chips, one in each ear cups.
So I'm curious to see what that translates to
as far as performance and audio quality.
Everything that we've seen on AirPods pro,
so active noise cancellation, transparency mode, adaptive IQ
but on a bigger scale.
What is new though and something we don't scan AirPods pro
is spatial audio with head tracking.
So again, a lot of the costs here is from tech like this
and the RND.
So the end result is a handful of sensors
that effectively react and adapt to your head movement.
And if you tried spatial audio, it is no joke.
Sounds are not only coming from left or right,
but from the front, from behind and as you move your head
it's almost like you're immersed in that space.
How I assume it would work,
especially if there is spatial audio tech
in iPhones and iPads is pretend you're watching a movie
and the dialogue is directly in front of you.
If you were to move your head
the sound of that dialogue would then shift over.
So that's where I think there's some next level stuff
going on on here.
There's a total of nine, nine microphones inside these.
So that's going to help with things like
the noise cancellation or transparency mode
or even the adaptive EEQ.
So again, there's a lot going on here.
Couple other things to consider,
is the actual headphones themselves as the main body
that houses the ear cups are made at a brushed aluminum,
so you have going over something that's plastic.
The actual ear cups themselves attach magnetically
which is neat.
And then there's some smaller intricacies
like the left
and right texts being woven into the enters of the ear cups.
What I'm especially curious about is
how comfortable these are going to be.
They seem adjustable, they seem flexible, but that top part
which has this mesh lining,
that's going to be the make or break
thing here as far as comfort.
Also, there is a corresponding case
that comes with the AirPods max,
which is definitely a choice as far as how they look,
that's definitely up for debate.
But the good part is, is it comes with a case
as far as the overall design on these,
I'm not sure if I'm on board or off board.
I will definitely kind of withhold my final opinion
until I get them in,
but they are polarizing no doubt.
It's almost very cyber truck or pro display XDR
where it's futuristic
and it's either going to age well or awful
but it's interesting that they don't look like any other
pair of headphones, maybe a little Bowers and Wilkins,
but at the very least, there's no Apple logo.
So Apple wants you to know these are AirPods
without that Apple logo.
That aside though, AirPods Max's are a thing.
Again, definitely stay tuned for my full video review
on those coming very soon
and quick update all the M1 coverage and goodness
and madness is coming up next.
Spent too much time with the M1 MacBook,
air MacBook pro and Mac mini
got everything you could possibly need to know
on those coming soon.
And if you want a sneak peek, got some impressions over
on Jonathan and friends, which I will link to down below.
Thank you guys so much