The previous top-end for Apple's headphones was the ~$350 Beats Studio Wireless 3, which I've had a pair of the past three years. I often forget I'm wearing the

The previous top-end for Apple's headphones was the ~$350 Beats Studio Wireless 3, which I've had a pair of the past three years. I often forget I'm wearing them when I've put them on just for noise canceling (without any music) until I bonk them with something, and their Bluetooth has been fine in use with a variety of Apple and non-Apple devices. Their biggest defect in my use has been that their folding mechanism leaves a slight indent on one point on the earcup foam. They're fine, but my desktop headphones have better quality (as they should, given the 5-10x increase in investment in them). I expect that the $550 AirPods Max will be exceptional, and comparable in quality to my desktop headphones, which will be an achievement for anything portable and wireless. The flatpack case solves the non-portability of the Beats (which have a case the size of a watermelon), and they've removed the logo and reconstructed the earcups to not get tangled in long hair. That's the kind of improvements I expected from Apple, and they appear to have delivered, at a price point that's about what I would expect for something that delivers impeccable audio (and sets them up for $150/$350/$550 market segments). The Studio beats are great, but these will be better. My biggest fear is that they'll be better than my desktop headphones. Works for me.