16 ms·
AirPods Max 2
- mhitza 7mo agoTo me they look like shit. I'm sure gen Z and Alpha will love it. I'll be interested in seeing a review on specialized sites. The 20 hours of battery life is impressive.
- simonklitj 7mo agoI don’t know that it should be a generation specific thing. I’m a millennial, and I like their look.
- mhitza 7mo agoFor me its the first product that caused a sensation of instant repulsion. Which made me think I'm falling outside the target audience. Strongly assume most tech marketing is focusing on the newer generations of impresionables.
- zamadatix 7mo agoIt looks to have near identical design to the initial iteration from 5-6 years ago ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
- fcarraldo 7mo ago20 hours is low in this category. The Sony XM6s are 30h, the Bose QCs are ~24h. Sennheisers can do 40-50h. All with ANC on, the numbers are slightly higher with ANC off.
- saltcured 7mo agoAll colors? As a Gen X graybeard I think they simultaneously look like Completely Generic Cans and Macaroons On Your Head.
- firecall 7mo agoAt AU$999 here in Australia, I'm not so sure they will. Wired headphones and earbuds seem to be having a moment as well.
- wincy 7mo agoThere’s been a lot of grumbling about RTO at my work, and if it happens, these will be a day one purchase. I used to have some Bowers and Wilkins PX headphones that I liked, and my wife really loves her Bose QuietComfort, but the weird thing I detested about both of those is how seemingly every headphone manufacturer except Apple feels the needs to add voice feedback to your device? “Headphones connected” and whatnot. It just really messes with my vibes, man. Also quite frankly I’d rather just not have to buy them and keep working from home. Listening to music using good speakers is an objectively superior experience.
- 9Mfhf34U 7mo agoI have a couple of versions of the sony equivalent, and am very happy with them. You can turn off the voice feedback in the app.
- zamadatix 7mo agoAs a note for others looking at the Bose side: On the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra 2 I've found you can disable voice prompts for "Connections & Calls" and "Battery Level on Startup" but not for everything e.g. "USB Audio" and "Bluetooth Audio" will play each time you switch the source.
- goblin89 7mo agoMy number two complaint about AirPods Pro is that decreasing the volume of system sounds doesn’t seem to do much. Every time the low battery message makes me jolt and is a bit deafening. It is nice that it’s has no vocal component, but it’s still quite annoying. Curious if anyone compared them to Max in this regard.
- smallmancontrov 7mo agoWe are in the hell dimension. Headphone manufacturers are sent to punish us. It's the only explanation that makes sense: these are not the headphones we need, but they are the headphones we deserve. After removing buttons and switches with physical semantics, extending response latency, and decreasing reliability, they were running out of ways to torment us. The slow, obnoxious voices gave them a bit more runway. They even deal bonus combo damage when the headphones try and fail to connect to devices you told them to forget with their app (which made you sign up for an account, of course) and the slow, obnoxious voices agonizingly narrate the saga of failure before you are allowed to listen to your music. I am currently on Bose QC Ultra 1 specifically because it allowed disabling the voice whereas WH-1000XM5 didn't (it had a setting, but it only applied to a subset). Did they get rid of that on QCU 2?
- goblin89 7mo agoNew AirPods Max finally have lossless wired audio, which is pretty nice and makes them finally catch up with the Pros. Does anyone have experience with obtaining a flatter frequency response from any AirPods, though? While maintaining the full power of noise cancellation. My experience with Pros has always been that they exaggerate the bass. EQ settings available in Music are coarse, and I don’t know of any other way to control frequency response independently of the app that plays the sound. I know they are not really best for critical audio work, but they are damn convenient.
- smith7018 7mo agoApple added wired lossless audio last year when they moved to USB-C iirc
- goblin89 7mo agoI see, I remember checking that they didn’t support high definition wireless codec but missed the part where they could do lossless over the wire last year. Why can’t they squeeze in that codec, considering Pros have it for years and are a lot smaller? Edit: apparently I was confusing AirPods Pros with Sony WH models, which have LDAC. I guess there is no chance Apple adopts LDAC, even in their large heavy cans.
- embedding-shape 7mo ago> My experience with Pros has always been that they exaggerate the bass Based on my experience, almost all consumer-grade headphones (in ear and headphones) seem to suffer from this, I'm guessing people tend to prefer bass-heavy over "not enough bass". Not until you start looking at headphones meant for studio-use does it seem to get closer to expected when it comes to the bass.
- askew 7mo agoMy first question: are they lighter than the first iteration? Answer: nope - still 386.2g. Which doesn't read like a lot, but I certainly notice it after an amount of time.
- Gys 7mo agoI think the weight is by design. I once read a story consumers associate more heavy headphones with quality and therefore will pay a higher price. For example see https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/beats-by-dre-headphones-teardown-finds-metal-parts-included-just-to-add-weight/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/beats-by-dre-head...
- mikestew 7mo agoHad you linked to the original source, you’d know that the headphones were counterfeits. https://beneinstein.com/how-it-s-made-series-beats-by-dre-154aae384b36 https://beneinstein.com/how-it-s-made-series-beats-by-dre-15...
- alstonite 7mo agoMy AirPods Max 1 left a headband dent in my skull from how poor the quality of the headband was after more than a year of daily use. They also are super heavy and don't travel well at all. Apple deciding that, on their 2nd refresh of these (after usb-c), they still aren't going to fix those fundamental issues is very frustrating for what feels like a very disproportionately expensive product (even by Apple standards). I'm now a very happy QC Ultra 2 user. Can't recommend enough.
- gottagocode 7mo agoA literal dent in your skull?
- the-golden-one 7mo agoIt’s not in the skull, it’s in the soft tissue on top of it. I’ve had the same dent after wearing them for a while, it comes out after a while.
- secalex 7mo agoPhew, that's a relief. Guess that's a reasonable compromise for a $550 product for which there are no other quality competitors.
- pointlessone 7mo agoIt literally gives me a headache after more than an hour of wearing it. This never happens with may AKG that has a very utilitarian and simple headband—a flat piece of plastic. It’s not pretty but I can wear AKG for a whole day and enjoy every minute of it while I’m phisically sick after an hour of AirPods Pro.
- mrcwinn 7mo agoYou're joking, right? There are many high quality competitors in that price range. I'm holding a pair (Sennheiser HDB 630). They are significantly lighter weight, better comfort and sound quality.
- mococa 7mo agoI was about to buy the first one. Is it really worth the price? (I have AirPods Pro 2)
- 4dm1r4lg3n3r4l 7mo agoNo
- asimovDev 7mo agotry them out , there should be display models in your nearest tech store / apple store
- chaosmikey 7mo agoDepends on your use case, I need exceptional noise cancellation. These and Sony XM6's are top tier in that department. I would wait until they're $100 or more off on Amazon. I had the Sony's but returned them after 3 days. I had this issue: https://corychu.medium.com/sony-wh-1000xm6-sound-terrible-with-a-mac-or-iphone-during-calls-heres-why-eda3f8df376b https://corychu.medium.com/sony-wh-1000xm6-sound-terrible-wi... I went back to Apple.
- owlbynight 7mo agohttps://github.com/jstilwell/MacAudioInputLocker https://github.com/jstilwell/MacAudioInputLocker I maintain a fork of this app, which allows you to quickly set and lock your audio input device, so that they don't switch your audio input device to bluetooth as soon as you turn them on. Mostly because of the first gen of these headphones. They LOVED to keep the mic on at all times with no way to disable that behavior. I assume it's the same with the second gen.
- fbcpck 7mo agoIt is such an annoying behavior; I came up with my own solution too for those interested: https://github.com/FabulousCupcake/disable-airpods-mic https://github.com/FabulousCupcake/disable-airpods-mic
- mattas 7mo agoI was _just_ looking for a utility that did this! Thanks for sharing.
- 7839284023 7mo agoSo is this like https://apps.kopiro.me/soundanchor/ https://apps.kopiro.me/soundanchor/ ?
- dawnerd 7mo agoOh I wish I knew about this before buying SoundSource. SoundSource is a decent app when it works but it causes my mic audio goes in an out with it and people complain.
- post_break 7mo agoOh my god, where has this been. Is there any way you can make it work for 14.4? I desperately need this.
- steinvakt2 7mo agoStill the weird case??
- HumblyTossed 7mo agoI really don't understand how these are $549. As others have pointed out, some people say the head band is not great. Others say the sound is solid but not exceptional. What makes these worth that much when there are so many options?
- loloquwowndueo 7mo agoThis is Apple, my dude - the company that sells a glorified sock to carry your phone in for US $230. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-pocket-a-beautiful-way-to-wear-and-carry-iphone/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-po... That’s all you have to understand.
- valzam 7mo agoI think people are mainly confused because the AirPod Pros are quite competitively priced compared to other higher end offerings. The Max are so far off the market that it doesn't seem to make any sense and it seems unlikely that apple couldn't make up for lost margins with higher volume. Maybe they just literally can't/don't want to produce many of the Max and price them accordingly.
- amenhotep 7mo agoI'm delighted to see somebody else who refuses to use the pompous syntax Apple promote for these things. Entire thread full of people uncritically accepting that they should be referred to in actual conversation as AirPods Max as if it's a term that deserves more grammatical respect than most of them would give to attorneys general.
- atonse 7mo agoI say this as someone who uses many Apple products, but still can't justify buying this. (I do have AirPods but have wanted headphones so I don't have to stick something into my ears) If you try to understand this stuff outside the context of fashion, you'll go around in circles (as I did). If you see this through the lens of "people will pay anything to signal various things to others" and "you can charge whatever the market will bear" then it all adds up.
- hrmtst93837 7mo ago[flagged]
- kotaKat 7mo agoMore than, considering Apple is willing to openly advertise Neo at $499 for education. The minimum-advertised-price on these won't ever drop below ~$529 for a hot minute.
- celltalk 7mo agoGet ready for Apple introducing the first Macbook with a headphone chip.
- mingus88 7mo agoSony HH-1000XM6 are $500 Bose QC Ultra are $450 That is the market for premium BT headphones. There are way more expensive headphones out there. But yeah it is notable that the Neo is cutting the legs out of the lower end laptop market to that degree.
- yomismoaqui 7mo agoNope, right now the price for both of them is around €389.
- rsynnott 7mo agoDoes anyone ever actually pay that for them, tho? I've got the QC Ultras; looks like they cost me 331 euro _with VAT_. Apple's RRP is usually the actual sale price, but IME the RRP for Bose stuff at least is generally pure fantasy, with actual prices being significantly lower. EDIT: Currently they seem to be 350EUR inc VAT on Irish Amazon; Amazon is making it difficult for me to see the US price and I'm not interested enough to fight with it, but I'm guessing that there's a similar level of discount.
- mingus88 7mo agoAmazon US has list price for QC Ultra 2 at $449 and selling for 5% off at $425 https://a.co/d/0jlMl9RC https://a.co/d/0jlMl9RC I see the QC Ultra (first edition) for $299 USD
- dewey 7mo agoThe first thing I checked was if there's a better case. At this point I'm assuming it's a marketing move to have people just carry them openly on their neck at all times.
- etothet 7mo agoIt's quite telling how dumb even Apple thinks the case is when you have to scroll pretty far down on the page and then pretty far to the right to see the so-called "Smart Case". It remains a pretty horrendous "case".
- 46493168 7mo agoWaterfield makes a better case, it even has magnets that do what the smart case does
- dude250711 7mo agoI like my wired headphones. Just like tube amps, they will never be outdated.
- alsetmusic 7mo agoMy AirPods Max headphones are incredible. They sound amazing. They also squeeze my head so much that they hurt so I don't use them. Kinda sad, really. I'd use them at my desk every day if they were comfortable to wear.
- Marsymars 7mo agoI've had some headphones in the past where I stuck them over a slightly-bigger-than-my-head object when not wearing them to stretch them out over some time to alleviate this problem.
- gabeio 7mo agoDo they brick less? I bought a pair for my husband and after a year they were bricked, apple support basically told him to buy a new one. I will never waste my money on the max line ever again.
- akmarinov 7mo agoDid you try putting them in the freezer for 20 minutes?
- unreal6 7mo agocurious: why would this help?
- 46493168 7mo ago"...the thin wires carrying power can crack over time, specifically after hundreds or thousands of swivels of the earcups (since they turn 90 degrees to fit flat into their case). That microscopic crack can cause issues with the connection. By freezing the AirPods, the cold can cause the lining around the wires to contract, temporarily bringing the cracked sections together." https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/airpods-max-freezer-fix/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/airpods-max-freezer-fix/
- comrade1234 7mo agoThe platters come unstuck and can spin again.
- stego-tech 7mo agoNo wireless lossless audio means these are a hard pass for me. I really expected Apple of all folks to figure that out since they engineer their entire stack, hardware to software, but they’re still just pushing the same bluetooth audio that my Airpods Pro 2’s consume (which are half the price and incredibly excellent). Sony’s LDAC is niche, but sounds objectively better to my ears than the AAC used on Apple’s kit when I opt to use my Walkman+XM4s. As for wired listening? My XM4s sound okay wired in, and at home I’ve got critical-listening kit already. Adding a USB-C cable to the Max is not appealing given that 3.5mm already exists, USB-C cables are heavier than analog audio wires, and more corps block USB ports in general or mess with them in ways that corrupts the audio stack. Give me wireless CD-quality audio and I’ll be a happy dinosaur. Until then, I have zero reason to upgrade what I currently have.
- F7F7F7 7mo agoThe H2 enables lossless audio over wireless. So this reads like a temporary limitation that software might solve down the road. But knowing Apple's track record for enabling features in partially dormant hardware ... I wouldn't buy these expecting that.
- stego-tech 7mo agoGiven Apple's very recent track record on promising things and then watching them vanish into the ether - not to mention a lifetime being burned buying into future promises that never materialize ("MCE is the future of the entertainment experience!" (RIP in Win7), "CableCARD will free you from the tyranny of locked down hardware!" (RIP from the get-go), "Unfolded Circle 3 will finally support serial from the dock!") - means I don't buy on what it could do tomorrow, but what's on offer out of the box from day one. Tired of accumulating scar tissue and burn marks in the name of shareholder value.
- steve1977 7mo ago> The H2 enables lossless audio over wireless But that's only with the Vision Pro, no? I.e. very short and more or less consistent distance between transmitter and receiver.
- vishnugupta 7mo agoCurious to know how popular they are in rest of the world, especially in the West. Anecdotally, I have seen literally zero people using them in India. So I'm really curious.
- stephc_int13 7mo agoMy experience with headphones: Passive noise cancellation beats active hands down. (no weird air pressure, reliable, no need for batteries, less expensive) Analog and wired beats bluetooth if you care for sound quality, portable DACs are very good in 2026. Professionals are using BeyerDynamics and Sony headphones made for studios and almost unchanged since the 90s for good reasons. The only good reason to opt for wireless is for practical reasons when you are running, and you want smaller models. Also, this design is kind of ugly and dated.
- GaggiX 7mo agoI have used Soundcore q20i for more than a year, and I'm sure the AirPods have a better sound and have a better noise cancelling, but the difference in price $549 and 30€ (as I bought them) is pretty insane, also my Soundcore q20i last much longer than 20h and the noise cancelling is already quite good. Edit: also has a proper cushion on the headband.
- jrjeksjd8d 7mo agoI've been wearing the Soundcore Space Q45 for 6 months. Good noise cancelling, comfortable headband, not too heavy and they cost...$99. I can't imagine these being worth 5x as much, even with the Apple tax.
- nielsole 7mo agoIssues with my AirPods Max 1: * occasional deafening screatch when there's too much moisture. I'm surprised they didn't need to recall them over that * occasional reboots when you move it a bit on your head. Unfortunately in apple-manner they don't mention if such issues were resolved with this v2
- neom 7mo agoThe screech is produced by feedback in the noise canceling I think, happens if you lay on a pillow at the wrong angle also, never had it due to moisture myself.
- zamadatix 7mo agoFrom the wording it sounds like there will still be the annoyance of not having a mic if you're using lossless wired audio.
- oidar 7mo agoWhat's the latency on these like for music production?
- BoneShard 7mo agoThey're one year old at this point, why is this news?
- windows_hater_7 7mo agoWhat was released last year was the same AirPods Max just with a USB-C port. This is a new generation.
- BoneShard 7mo agoah, indeed, thank you.
- paxys 7mo agoCrazy to think that they are now selling an entire Macbook for the price of these headphones.
- embedding-shape 7mo agoCrazy to think Apple is now pricing their consumer headphones in the same segment as serious professional gear, they seems to cost more or less the same I paid for my "studio-grade" DT 1770 Pro.
- goblin89 7mo agoTypical studio grade cans need studio grade equipment to drive them. No surprise if decently sounding headphones that already ship with tailored DAC, amplifier, ANC cost more than decent headphones for which you need to buy all that (and lug around if you travel). Yet, with that taken into account, today the latest DT 1770 Pro still cost over 20% more than the latest AirPods Max. Considering Apple markets Max for audio work, they compete on the same turf. This makes Apple’s offer unusually cost effective, not the other way around. I think this can be attributed to their fragility and inferior sound quality relative to DT 1770 Pro (at the end of a decent signal chain).
- embedding-shape 7mo ago> Yet, with that taken into account, today the latest DT 1770 Pro still cost over 20% more than the latest AirPods Max. Not sure where you're looking, but seems I paid 535 EUR for my beyerdynamics (and that's what Amazon sells them for right now too), meanwhile these Apple headphones cost 579 EUR, so seems it's opposite really, studio-grade headphones being cheaper than the consumer-grade hardware Apple sells. > Considering Apple markets Max for audio work They might be marketed like that, because it influences what wealthy consumers chose to buy, but AFAIK, no one is sitting with AirPods Max in their studios for work, at least from what I've been able to tell.
- goblin89 7mo ago
- dc_ist 7mo agoI owned a pair of the first gen AirPods Max. After a couple of months of usage, I began noticing a rattling inside the right earcup. I had never dropped them or exposed them to any sort of physical damage that could knock something loose. The rattling would happen every time I tilted my head in any direction. I had taken them to Apple Genius support in store 3 different times and 2 of those times the onsite tech agreed that there was a rattling sound. All 3 times they were sent to an Apple repair facility and they always came back with "cannot reproduce". I sold them on FB Marketplace for a deep discount, having alerted the potential buyer to the issue before I sold them to him. Never again will I purchase a set of AirPods.
- darknavi 7mo agoAll three pairs of AirPod Pros I've owned have had rattling issues that would reproduce when I physically moved/tilted my head. It's really annoying.
- olelele 7mo agoFor the price that is insane.
- tchalla 7mo agoThis is exactly why I will never buy them at all again.
- sqnfxn 7mo agoSame here. Three pairs and all had this issue after some time. One of the pairs was a used one with the same problem.
- Schiendelman 7mo agoI had this problem! Then I cleaned the earwax out of the mics and it went away.
- Dangeranger 7mo agoYes, my AirPod Pros do this too, and I've found that the issue is due to a problem with the external microphones which are involved in active noise cancelling. In order to fix the problem I had to disable ANC, and use them like a pair of basic wireless headphones, which has been quite disappointing. I've found that basically any instance of dropping the headphones on a solid floor, even while in the case, will result in this rattling sound occurring.
- proee 7mo agoI bought the AirPods Max 1 but had to return them because they felt like a vice and were too heavy. I ended up going with the Sony wh-1000xm5, which are much lighter. My only complaint on the Sony is the earcups are not deep enough for my big ears.
- rkomorn 7mo agoIt's amusing to me how personal all this stuff is. The XM5s were super uncomfortable to me (to the point I was relieved when they got stolen) and I ended up going back to Bose even though I liked the sound quality on the Sonys better.
- lurkingllama 7mo agoSame experience. Everyone raved about the Sonys and so when my Bose died, I tried them out. I can't stand them! They're way less comfortable and have worse noise cancellation. The lack of buttons drives me crazy. And worst of all - when on flights, the noise cancellation will randomly stop working. Despite flights being one of the main reasons I purchase noise cancelling headphones.
- yokoprime 7mo agoI had the xm6 but the combination of worse sound (for me at least) and shallow earcups which hurt my ears drove me back to airpods max
- _cenw 7mo agoI have the same issue with the shape of my ears not fitting any ANC headphones (and many larger over-ear ones). The only alternative to the APM I found that doesn't hurt after a few hours was the Sonos Ace. Which also have a price that hurts but at least they haven't broken yet while my APM kept breaking (and they're one of the few products where you can't infinitely renew Apple Care).
- PaulHoule 7mo ago... and a $25 pair of junk earbuds will do better in terms of "pairing and staying paired" if you are using iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Steam Deck, whatever.
- ChrisArchitect 7mo agoSome more on announcement post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47398462 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47398462
- bdcravens 7mo agoI have a pair (gen 1). Sound good with my MBP, but with my phone (16 Pro Max), I've had intermittent skipping of the audio signal, which just shouldn't happen at that premium level.
- altairprime 7mo agoWhat did Support say when you opened a case? The Bluetooth chip & version in these won’t be the same one you have today, so there’s no guarantee that present experience will inform future experience (better or worse).
- bdcravens 7mo agoI haven't contacted support about it. It's a minor annoyance, and my Airpods Pro (both gen 2 and 3) have worked perfect with my phone.
- BowBun 7mo agoTruly the Beats of our generation. Buy headphones from audio specialists, not Apple.
- piskov 7mo agoApple hardware sound is the best on the market (macbooks, ipad, etc.). It is unwise to dismiss their prowess
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- porphyra 7mo agoHonestly Apple's Airpods Pro and Airpods Max sound pretty great though, and I own several pairs of "audiophile" IEMs and headphones.
- paxys 7mo agoWill agree about Airpods Pro, but Max are a notch below the competition (Bose, Sony, Sennheiser).
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- bayindirh 7mo agoApple knows its cookies when it comes to sound. I can say that as someone who uses proper HiFi systems and has played in orchestras.
- Angostura 7mo agoStill pretty happy with my Homepods in Stereo
- 7mo ago
- thorncorona 7mo ago20 hours of listening is surprisingly low -- sony xm6 -- 30h bose qc ultra -- 24h would recommend the sony anc headphones, they're quite good.
- 46493168 7mo agoXM6 does not support audio over USB-C (The USB-C port on the XM6 is only for charging) QC Ultra 2 does, but the headphones turn off when plugged in and have to be turned back on while charging AirPods Max with USB-C and AirPods Max 2 appear to be the only headphones among this group (XM6, QCUltra2, AirPods Max with USB-C, AirPods Max 2) that support both Audio over USB-C and automatic charging while in use.
- derencius 7mo agoI have a B&W Px7 S2 supports, and it supports charging and audio via USB-C.
- neuroelectron 7mo agoThey couldn't use a bigger battery because they needed that extra space for their profit margins.
- dijit 7mo agoThe Max 2 finally arrived and I felt nothing. That surprised me... I buy every in-ear AirPods Pro without much deliberation, even the Pro 3 which measurably regressed on sound. The heart rate sensor and ANC bump were enough. I say that to clarify: I wanted to want these. But it's death by a thousand cuts. The weight alone I'd live with. The case I'd accept. No IP rating on something I'd like to wear outside.. fuck.. fine, annoying, moving on. But all of it together, at that price, with that much time to fix any of it? Hard pass. I've gone for the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 instead. More expensive, noticeably worse ANC. But you can hear where the money went. The drivers, the feel, the fact that four hours in you've stopped thinking about them. It sounds like it was made by people who find audio interesting. Apple used to feel like that. Embarrassingly, it also has no IP rating: somewhat hilarious from a company in West Sussex, where "unexpected sunshine" makes the local news. And the ANC versus Sony is less a gap than a... uh "chasm". The question I'd put to anyone in this thread still weighing it up: are you buying the best headphone, or the most convenient one? For in-ears those are the same answer. For over-ears, I'm not sure they are.
- piskov 7mo ago> even with the Pro 3's having inferior sound quality Then > I decided to buy the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 Have you seen its frequency response?
- dijit 7mo agoYeah, but isn't that a deliberate tuning thing? Much further away from Apples marketing as "best airpods yet" for an all-rounder product.
- throwaway290 7mo agocan you use them in wired mode?
- dijit 7mo agoI feel like a salesman now, but yeah you can... they come with a straight through USB-C:USB-C cable (though it's super thick and seems rated to carry 60w and USB2.0 speeds according to my Treedix.. weird choice) and a USB-C to 3.5MM jack cable.
- ex-aws-dude 7mo agoI don't understand how a pair of headphones can be $549 meanwhile the Macbook Neo is $599 The pricing on these always seemed a bit crazy to me, like the value is way off compared to other Apple products
- throwaway290 7mo agoa lot of non apple headphones cost more... and many don't even sound better...
- steve1977 7mo agoWell, in the market segment of Bluetooth ANC headphones, there's not that much. Bowers & Wilkins and Focal come to mind, both audiophile luxury brands and similarily overpriced. On the other hand, the flagship Sony is quite a bit less than AirPods Max.
- ruszki 7mo agoDoesn’t Sony have the best codec on Bluetooth? It definitely has worse noise cancellation than my AirPod, but afaik it should have better audio quality on paper.
- barchar 7mo agoThere are many. QCY makes a pair for ~$50, I think there are some other Chinese brands too. You really are paying for the brand.
- dav43 7mo agoThe mesh in version one lasted just over 12 months. Repair bill at Apple was 90% of the cost of a new pair. Truly the worst built product I’ve bought from Apple. Never again.
- abtinf 7mo agoThe worst built apple product is the HomePod. It just sits there, with no one touching it. Suddenly, music randomly starts and stops playing. Take it into the Apple Store, they acknowledge it’s a known hardware defect to start registering non-existent touches, and they refuse to fix it. Offer to replace it with a refurb unit for like ~$20 less than a brand new unit. Edit to add: the unit is less than 2 years old.
- bombcar 7mo agoI got sick of it, unplugged it, and left it for a few months, and ... apparently it fixed itself? Now it's working fine, as fine as any HomePod does.
- thoughtpalette 7mo agoFWIW we use the minis all over our place and love'em. But we pretty much only ask basic questions or use them for airplay. Sounds quality is impressive imo.
- forthwall 7mo agoI can't believe they finally refreshed this after I just churned (after owning the v1 since launch), always happens! The old Airpods Max had an issue of these giant booms when it was going low power that just wrecked my eardrums - I feel like the apple ecosystem pull is pretty compelling, but I think torturing your users for enough time will get even the most loyal customers churn. I've been enjoying the nothing headphones, I enjoy having an off button and ability to connect via wire to the device.
- gnarlouse 7mo agoi'm sort of done with apple products for awhile. aside from apple silicon, the quality of hardware and software decisions seems to have been consistently dropping for quite some time. i regret buying the new iphone. i regret buying the new air pods. i don't regret buying a mac mini recently, but only because it's got an apple silicon processor.
- roughly 7mo agoGuess I'll be the contrarian on this one - I've got a pair of the Max's and love them. I use them primarily for watching movies and TV (I live in an apartment and am not a sociopath), and the "spatial audio" is incredibly good. Apple's got a "Sound" to their products that isn't neutral, but is very detailed and tends to disappear pretty quickly. Both the noise cancellation and the "transparent" mode are phenomenal. They're a bit buggy, yes, but not tangibly worse than any other bluetooth headphones I've owned. They're heavy, but I don't wear them outside - they're solely for home use. I'm personally excited to see these get a refresh.
- StefanKarpinski 7mo agoWild. I have been eagerly awaiting this refresh, but this doesn't address either of the main issues with the original AirPods Max: 1. Still just as heavy. The AirPods Max sound quite good, but they are very heavy, to the point of being fairly uncomfortable after listening for any longer amount of time. This release as the exact same weight as the originals (13.6 oz). 2. Still no off button/position. They stay partially on unless you put them in the awkward and useless "case", which means they're constantly out of power when you want to use them. There's even an obvious fix: the ear cups swivel flat, they could just make this the "power off" position. Solved. But they didn't, so presumably these still have the same problem. There's also no mention of magnetic charging via stand, which would be another way to help alleviate this problem. If these were even a few ounces lighter and powered off properly, I would buy them for sure. Given this announcement, I guess I will look for something else to replace the old AirPods Max.
- infocollector 7mo agoI’ve been using AirPods Max since they first launched, and over the years I’ve tried several times to switch to Bose. However, the Bose headphones just haven’t worked as smoothly for me from a software and integration standpoint. I tend to run into more glitches and small issues compared to the AirPods Max. I’m not sure whether that’s primarily a Bose issue or something related to Apple’s ecosystem, but my guess is that other high-end headphones probably face similar integration challenges when paired with an iPhone. On the bright side, Max is very reliable.
- microtonal 7mo agoI also have the AirPods Max and had the Bose QuietComfort Ultra, and it is hard to convey how effortless the Max are in comparison. The switching between devices is so seamless (if you are in the Apple ecosystem). The controls are also much easier to find and use. The weight hasn't been an issue for me.
- 46493168 7mo agoAre you sure your AirPods Max have the latest firmware? This issue was addressed in an update right after the first version came out and people reported the issue you're describing: If you set your AirPods Max down and leave them stationary for 5 minutes, they go into a low power mode to preserve battery charge. After 72 stationary hours out of the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into a lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My to preserve battery charge further [Archive link, as the latest Support doc doesn't have this wording any longer] [0]https://web.archive.org/web/20210315052229/https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211886 https://web.archive.org/web/20210315052229/https://support.a...
- vinay_ys 7mo agoI'm not buying another expensive AirPods from Apple until they have their story straight w.r.t battery health and battery repair that is cost-effective. I'm done wasting money on these only to have battery issues, clicking noises etc in less than 2 years of continuous use. Irritating thing is how Apple hides bluetooth headphones pairing 2-3 clicks deeper than AirPods pairing – on iPhones and Apple TV.
- _ks3e 7mo agoReplacing the batteries on the Maxes is actually a fairly straightforward process (no adhesive melting required, just a screwdriver and a pry bar), and spare batteries can be purchased on Amazon or Ebay for around 50 USD. It's one of the better Apple products in that regard, very unlike the in-ear models.
- tempaccount420 7mo agoCan you get replacement batteries from Apple? I would not want some no-name brand batteries so close to my ears.
- hnburnsy 7mo agoDid that change with the Air Pod Max USB-C, because iFixit says you have to get past adhesive to get to the batteries, after you turn the specialized screws only a quarter turn, and then use a dental pick to separate the pieces after you heat the adhesive being careful not to melt other parts? https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Max+Teardown/139369 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Max+Teardown/139369 >The next round of frustration: adhesive. That's right, releasing the locks and/or removing the screws isn't enough. Out comes the heat gun, which must be wielded very carefully to avoid melting all this plastic.
- _ks3e 7mo agoYou don't have to melt through that adhesive - it's incredibly weak and you can just pop it out with a sufficiently thin pry bar. This guide [1] does it with an iSesamo, but I just used a utility knife since I had one on hand and wasn't particularly concerned with scratches (the entire seam is covered by the headphone pads, so scratches around it are invisible). [1]: https://docs.kenp.io/airpods-max/usb-c-kit/v1dot1_assembly/ https://docs.kenp.io/airpods-max/usb-c-kit/v1dot1_assembly/
- next_xibalba 7mo agoNever buying these again. Bought the 1st generation and they died just after the warranty expired.
- theonemind 7mo agoThat happened to me twice. So I went one more round than you and got the same result again. It seems more like an unreliable product than a fluke.
- seizethecheese 7mo agoI'll briefly join the chorus: AirPods Max were the worst value for money I've ever spent on a tech product. But more interestingly: what happens at a company like Apple that leads them to not cancel this product and come up with something totally new? Is it that the success of their other products pulls this along so well that they are numb to this product being a dog? AirPods Pro (the earbuds) are a great product, so perhaps the headphones org just doesn't have to face the music?
- sonar_un 7mo agoI wish someone would find a way to take the wireless chips and battery out of thrown-away headphones and put them into a decent pair of headphones.
- nomel 7mo ago> so perhaps the headphones org just doesn't have to face the music? Some people don't like anything in their ears. Some people have ear canals that don't work/aren't comfortable with "standard" tips. This is why headphones will always exist.
- rswail 7mo agoI got airpods (Pro v2) and got the squishy memory foam tips from a 3rd party that are a) comfortable, and b) actually stay in my ears. I hate normal headphones because they make my ears get sweaty and are heavy and uncomfortable.
- stringfood 7mo agoI have hearing aids and literally only wear over the ear headphones for this reason - I also feel that in the ear buds can cause worse hearing loss due to that very tight fit
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- Gigachad 7mo agoI agree it seems terrible value, but I see plenty of people wearing them on the street so it’s probably a commercial success just as a luxury product for people to flex with. While everyone else gets the AirPod pros.
- ModernMech 7mo agoI see they didn't fix the annoying design flaw where the ear cups click together and deface one another when you take them out of the case.
- flakiness 7mo agoA tangential question: What are the best bang per buck headphones these days (preferably wireless)? Not earbuds, but over-the-head headphones. Tell me your favorites. (The internet is so polluted that I cannot find any reliable recommendation today so I'm doing a mini "ask HN" here.)
- ohmahjong 7mo agoI don't know exactly how to measure bang for buck, but my Sony XM4s have been holding up well, sound good, are decently comfortable for a day's work, the battery life is good, etc. They do have some annoyances like not always sleeping correctly when left connected to my laptop, but overall they are easy to recommend
- vorpalhex 7mo agoWhat is your main use case? Conference calls? Get soundcores. Actual music? Buy proper open backs and a DAC.
- adolph 7mo agoAny thoughts on the Ploopy? https://ploopy.co/headphones/ https://ploopy.co/headphones/
- drcongo 7mo agoThose are definitely not what you want for anything other than actual music production - they're designed for a flat frequency response which is really useful when mixing music, but awful for anything else.
- bloggie 7mo agoI found this forum last year https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php which opens the door up to a high number of lower cost manufacturers making very high quality products. although the forum audience (audiophiles) generally eschew wireless products and prefer open backed (loud for everyone else and no noise cancelling) headphones, there are all kinds of products discussed.
- panda888888 7mo agoThe problem I have with these headphones (at least V1) is that the ear cups don't tilt horizontally. Maybe my ears are more angled backwards that most people's ears, but with theses headphones, the headband part sits really far back on my head. This creates a lot of pressure on only the back edge of headband. Until they make the ear cups tilt horizontally, these will be a no-go for me. My ancient 10+ year old Bose QCs 35s can pivot and are a million times more comfortable.
- interludead 7mo ago[dead]
- drnick1 7mo ago$549 for consumer grade headphones, really?
- theYipster 7mo agoI'm looking to replace my worn-out Sony XM-3s and am wondering if the AirPods Max 2 could be a better option than the XM-6s. I've always liked Sony's audio quality and ANC, but felt the headphones were not as comfortable to wear while sleeping on airplanes than older Bose models I had prior (like the QC-2s and QC-3s.) Can anyone with experience with either the AirPods Max 1s or XM-6s tell me what they feel like to sleep with on an airplane (business class with a lie flat bed?) Plane travel is my primary use-case for these type of headphones.
- Dangeranger 7mo agoI've been using the AirPods Max 1s for the last five years and you should get the Sony XM-6s. The Apple AirPod Max sound great, bur are heavy and fairly uncomfortable on the head when worn for more than an hour or two. Furthermore, I experienced persistent wireless connectivity problems and eventually sent them back to Apple under warranty. They were replaced successfully, but with a different pair of the same model which had a worn out headband. Overall it's been a bad experience and I wish that I purchased the Sony XM-6s insead.
- sashank_1509 7mo agoI absolutely hate noise. And so I loved AirPods Max. It was, I think the best noise cancelling money could buy and I’ve tried several of the Sony and Bose Headphones. Then funnily enough my AirPods Pro 3 completely smokes my AirPods Max. There are times when I literally can’t notice someone calling out my name, when I wear my pro 3 with ambient sounds, this never happened even with over the ear noise cancelling phones in the past. I have no idea what magic Apple used to pull this off and so my usage of AirPods Max has fallen to nil. Now I wonder if AirPods Max 2 is even better than AirPods Pro 3 but we are soon reaching the point of diminishing returns. So to all kindred souls who hate noise, Pro 3 is probably good enough for your use cases!
- mrcwinn 7mo agoBetween this and the Apple Vision Pro, does Apple just have one dude in their testing labs with a really really powerful neck? What is Neck Guy’s name and when did he join? Does Neck Guy work in Cupertino or is he contracted?
- nebula8804 7mo agoDoes anyone have experience with the Fairbuds and Fairbuds XL? I am DESPERATE to get off this Apple headphone bandwagon but need something reliable that will work with Apple devices. I'm generally extremely happy with Apple products but the headphones have been a money sink. I’m someone who bought three generations of AirPods Pro, as well as an AirPods Max. All four devices have been absolute headaches. The first AirPods Pro had the rattle‑gate issue. I was able to get it replaced under warranty, but it was a pain to deal with until the recall program came out. Ok I chalked it up to a first gen product and I generally liked it when it worked so I decided to upgrade to the second generation because it offered more features and I hoped that it improved reliability. I upgraded, and I immediately got the rattle‑gate problem again, this time right past the warranty period. There was no recall program for second gens, and when I went to the store they told me the headphones were damaged and I was out of luck. I try to maintain these devices extremely carefully, but I guess my use of isopropyl alcohol to disinfect and clean them damaged the ANC microphone. I’ve never dropped the AirPods, yet they still failed. While being super frustrated with the Pro 2 I ended up buying the pro 3 but reconsidered after what I was told about the status of the Pro 2 but I missed the return window by a few days. After these Pro 3 fail, I just don't want to give them any more money for headphones. I saw the Airpods Max on sale for Black friday a while back so I gave them a try as I was getting ear issues wearing in ear devices for so long each day. While they are very comfortable, the ear caps are a pain to clean. They absorb sweat and oils over time and do not make it easy for them to get released when cleaning with detergent and water. it’s a massive effort. Im scrubbing with a toothbrush to clean, disinfect and then extensively drying them with a heater. All of this is taking 1+ hour each 1-2 weeks. I am someone who is trying to maintain all my equipment as much as possible and this "woven texture" feels great but is not great for maintenance lifestyle. Luckily ive accepted that the cheapo 20$ ear caps on Amazon are good enough and I just toss old ear caps after they become too hard to clean and buy another replacement set. I also have to disassemble the headband and use a special cleaning solution I found on Amazon, which smells like its just laundry detergent to prevent the headband from darkening from regular skin oils. Now I’m starting to get very occasional "tinny" type of rattling with ANC enabled, as other people have indicated here as well. These damn things are too expensive to have all these stupid issues. I’m really desperate for something more repairable and maintainable than this junk. I had a sennheiser wired unit before this and those things lasted years with the only replacement being the ear caps like once a year. As it stands, I may have spent close to $1,000 on this over the years, and I am just sick and tired of it. They’re not bad products when they work, they’re absolutely GREAT when they work. But man, all this headache when they dont work is just ridiculous at this point.
- wahnfrieden 7mo agoSurprised to not see others comment on the terrible durability of these. Condensation (from normal use, not outdoor or gym) easily breaks these after a year or two. If not that, the twisting ribbon cable eventually breaks. Repairs are difficult and expensive and uncertain.
- theonemind 7mo agoI bought two pairs that each lasted one year. I think this explains it.
- wahnfrieden 7mo agoNew one will suffer the same exact issues.
- unknown2342 7mo agoI agree I had the same issue. I did send them in, but the issue still remains. I can’t connect to my devices. Maybe they did fix it.
- iwontberude 7mo agoHopefully they have fixed the issue with the silicone/elastic breaking down in the head band fabric.
- shell0x 7mo agoNoise canceling headphones are absolutely a game changer. I work from home in a very noisy downtown apartment with poor soundproofing and I’d never get anything done without ANC. I haven’t had the chance to try the AirPods Max yet, but I do wonder how it compares to the Sony headphones.
- astrange 7mo agoUnfortunately ANC only works on some sounds. In the suburbs you have leafblowers and cars driving past you on the sidewalk, and ANC removes everything /else/ which makes them stand out even more.
- theonemind 7mo agoLeaf blowers and cars driving past are exactly the kind of thing that ANC works well on, a fairly constant noise. It doesn’t block out other kinds of things well. At least it always seems to go that way for me, so I can’t relate to your comment at all. My experience seems exactly the opposite and I have trouble imagining it differently for anyone else, because it works well against a constant noise kind of in the bass range.
- unselect5917 7mo ago>Leaf blowers and cars driving past are exactly the kind of thing that ANC works well on, a fairly constant noise. I can tell you haven't heard a leaf blower in a while, if ever. The revving the operators inevitably do causes it to bounce up and down over the spectrum at completely random-seeming intervals. Punches right through ANC, windows, doors, walls. As if that's not bad enough they pollute more than a gigantic SUV because of how much oil they burn being a two-stroke.
- jaybyrd 7mo agoexcited to buy the first gen second hand
- Gigachad 7mo agoIs there any info on what codecs these support? They mention “lossless audio” without any extra detail, is this the new Bluetooth LE audio or something proprietary?
- tempaccount420 7mo agoWhat I'd like to know is if there's still a bandwidth issue, where if you use the microphone, the audio quality downgrades severely.
- Gigachad 7mo agoThat's because old bluetooth has two main modes A2DP which supports one direction high quality audio and HFP which supports microphones but sounds like shit. Bluetooth LE Audio is fairly new and supports high quality audio and mic at the same time. But as far as I'm aware, no Apple product supports it yet.
- amelius 7mo agoLooking at this design, I'm getting strong vibes of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Multipla#/media/File:Fiat_Multipla_front_20080825.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Multipla#/media/File:Fiat...
- mlmonkey 7mo agoNot to threadjack, but this is a question that I've had for a while and I've been looking for the right forum to ask: are there any "open source" earbuds? I would like to take a pair of earbuds and invert the noise-cancellation curve: basically, amplify any ambient noise (with filtering of course). My grandma (not in the US or EU) is hard of hearing, and the only options available to her are random Chinese junk. I would like to try this experiment, where I just invert the noise cancellation curve and make the ambient noise louder.
- KeplerBoy 7mo agoPixel buds have this feature, it's called transparency mode. I use it for cycling so I'm still aware of my surroundings in traffic.
- smusamashah 7mo agoLots of earbuds have transparency mode. I have Earfun Air Pro 4+ (which were big too big for my ears). They sound very good and have really good transparency mode. The company keeps releasing firmware updates every now and then. Also got a nothing Ear. They are very comfy, and have very good sound. But transparency mode in those is awful. Other things are bad too.
- omnimus 7mo agoThe later versions of Nothing headphones/buds got pretty good. I actually have their budget brand CMF Buds 2 plus and they are straight up great even before you consider the price. Pretty good headphones are commodity now, everybody makes them. Apple is just winning the branding game.
- mlmonkey 7mo agoThank you! I was unaware of that mode. Does it amplify the sound a bit?
- nout 7mo ago
- pokstad 7mo agoYou know what would be ground breaking from a company that prides itself on environmental sustainability? A replaceable battery. These headphones are all garbage once the lithium battery reaches end of life.
- 65 7mo agoYup, my Airpods Max don't hold a charge anymore. Right on time for me to buy the shiny new one!
- auggierose 7mo agoBattery on Airpods Max is replaceable.
- pokstad 7mo agoFrom Google AI search result: > AirPods Max battery replacement is available through Apple Support for $79, which often results in receiving a refurbished unit rather than a direct repair. Not the same as a replaceable battery.
- auggierose 7mo ago> AirPods Max battery replacement is available through Apple Support for $79 So it definitely is replaceable.
- aucisson_masque 7mo agoStill no headphone jack ? Can't believe people are selling headset without that.
- dzhiurgis 7mo agoIt's been a decade. Forget about it.
- hsbauauvhabzb 7mo ago> Up to 1.5x more Active Noise Cancellation than the previous generation Does that mean 50% better, or 150% better? Sure does look like weasel words.
- hnburnsy 7mo agoYeah, wouldn't this be measured in decibels (dB) of attenuation, not percentages. Percentages of what?
- hsbauauvhabzb 7mo agoIn fairness, I struggle to understand dB as it’s an exponential measurement and I would be on the extreme end of IT technical. Sound engineers might understand dB but a percentage or multiplier is better for most people. It doesn’t change how iffy the wording is though.
- 2muchcoffeeman 7mo agoComfort issues aside, these are still stupid expensive. I can buy a laptop for that money. It’s strange to me that they haven’t introduced a more budget friendly line to serve different segments, like most of their product categories. Headphones aren’t an experimental hobby product. Where are my $200 budget pair?
- kemayo 7mo agoYou want Beats, which is owned by Apple. Your $200 budget pair is the Beats Solo 4: https://www.beatsbydre.com/headphones/solo4-wireless/MUW43/solo4-slateblue https://www.beatsbydre.com/headphones/solo4-wireless/MUW43/s...
- awad 7mo agoForgetting all technical benefits: people will always have opinions on headphones and it's rather fascinating that Apple owns the entire market for fashionable ones, despite there being nothing stopping outside players. They specifically acquired Beats for this reason to shore up that base, and so far no one has been able to make a dent in the celebrity or influencer space.
- FinnKuhn 7mo agoI think the Sony XM series is also competing there. At least based on what I see fashion influences wear.
- ainch 7mo agoThe only other pair I've seen treated that way is Nothing's Headphones - although the (maybe niche) musicians I've seen wearing them lean into y2k aesthetics, where Apple's products are more broadly appealing.
- 65 7mo agoEven though my Focal Bathys headphones are more expensive and have worse noise cancellation, I'm still sticking with them because the Airpods Max are so damn uncomfortable.
- cm11 7mo agoInteresting: "Why Apple is the best place to buy AirPods." I've never seen them have a section for that. It's slowly made less sense to buy directly from Apple in recent years. Not a criticism just an observation. I assumed Apple was simply okay with that and decided it was net better for them. Seems reasonable. There was a period not that long ago where you could only buy directly. And there still are some products that are seemingly only on sale at specific retailers—Homepods have for whatever reason never (rarely?) been sold on Amazon, but are at Best Buy. Often you'll see like the latest Airpods for sale cheaper on Amazon/Costco/Target/etc. immediately even before launch day. The whole Apple experience is nice in its own way and sometimes I suppose you get small but nice little dopamine hits buying directly or going to the nice stores and having someone walk you through stuff (if you need/like it) so there's reasons some people go direct. Simply saying there's less reason than before and so I'm surprised and curious as to how this little section of the website came to be. Do they want that margin back? Do they want to fight a little bit to keep you in more parts of the chain (but I guess not to the point of restricting sales/inventory to themselves)? Is this just like one PM (measured on one KPI) fighting for a little web real estate (presumably against the PMs involved in the retail partner channels)?
- catgirlinspace 7mo agoi just bought airpods max a few months ago and i wear them constantly (autism), basically only taking them off for sleeping (sometimes i do end up laying in bed with them on). i initially found them uncomfortable after several hours due to my glasses, but it went away after a week. really love these, and my only complaint really has been the lack of adaptive mode (and the ANC was also a bit weak but less of an issue) so am glad to see both of these issues solved. am definitely going to get these and probably give this pair to my girlfriend.
- neuroelectron 7mo agoWhy is Hacker News posting about fashion trends?
- testbjjl 7mo agoSorry, Apple audio stuff, while really impressive audio quality has made me deaf. I’ll take bad to no engineered audio quality and keep what I have left of my hearing for conversations and nature. Rapid degradation in my sense of hearing.
- mvkel 7mo agoI don't understand. Are you blaming Apple for turning your volume up too high?
- testbjjl 7mo agoFor me, I think it has more to do with length of exposure. Certainly my fault. Perhaps analogous to social media use and smart phones. To avoid temptation I try to limit then restrict my usage. It seems that some people “blame” side effects of social media usage on social media companies? Is that different for you? Sometimes, it can take some time to realize you’re dealing with a more potent form of a similar experience.
- mvkel 7mo agoThis is simply supply chain updates marketed as an upgrade, similar to how Apple's Vision Pro "2" was just their current chip line shoved into the same form factor. It represents the company effectively forgetting about it as as a product line, but leveraging the latest chips to keep them selling, even in small quantities. If they truly invested any amount into updating these things, they would reflect the many lessons learned from the 1.0 product. To have a 2.0's form be 1:1 with the 1.0 is lazy at best.
- mr-pink 7mo agowho's max?
- stingraycharles 7mo ago“Lossless Audio and ultra‑low latency audio preserve every detail of the original recording when connecting AirPods Max 2 to your device via USB‑C” Since the AirPods Pro 2 that were released last year got wireless lossless, this surprises me: I would have expected lossless without cable in the AirPods Max 2, to the point that I was waiting to buy them. That’s a shame, as that would be a real differentiator compared to all other headphone manufacturers, wireless lossless audio.
- anArbitraryOne 7mo agostill can't play doom on them
- jhogendorn 7mo agoI wonder if you can buy a replacement headband yet, since they have a lifespan of about a year before the mesh collapses. Which probably happens because they are so god-damn heavy. I really wish the audio technica headband style was more common, even they use it less now. The two winglets as the head contact are just so much more comfortable than literally any other configuration. Has anyone done a teardown and figured out where all the gravity in these things comes from?
- linux_devil 7mo agoOnly thing which bothers me about over-the-ear headphones is the hot climate. How are they in the hot climate of Singapore, where it's very humid?
- keyle 7mo agoThe price gouging against Australians is sick on this one. should be 777 AUD. No other product in the lineup is gouging this hard. Seriously Tim.
- hnburnsy 7mo ago>Ultra-low latency audio and Lossless Audio listening requires a wired USB‑C connection and compatible content from supported apps and services. (5) >(5) Ultra-low latency audio and Lossless Audio listening requires a wired USB‑C connection and compatible content from supported apps and services. Soooooooo Apple, you gonna tell us which content, apps, and services are compatible? On another note, it seems excessive that your marketing page for this product needs 22 footnotes, disclaimers, and legalese consisting of 1,252 words.
- stingraycharles 7mo agoMost offerings (eg Apple Music) already has lossless audio for a while, as does Spotify, as it has been supported for the previous generation of AirPods Max already (ie this is not a new feature) and wirelessly on the AirPods Pro 2. Why they don’t support it wirelessly on the AirPods Max 2, which should be a superior product to the AirPods Pro 2, is beyond me.
- nlitened 7mo agoIf I had to guess, I think it’s marketing — just like adding weights to the insides to make them feel more “premium”. I’d guess that the target audience would argue that real lossless music experience requires high-bandwidth wires, and is not possible over the air without degradation.
- stingraycharles 7mo agoBut that’s the thing, apparently it’s not using Bluetooth but actually uses their new wireless chips to transmit the data over radio (maybe it uses WiFi, maybe something else). So it’s not using Bluetooth, which doesn’t have enough bandwidth for lossless. I don’t think “it’s just marketing” is the reason, Apple always positioned themselves as the premium option with these things. Being the only wireless lossless headphone would be right on Apple’s expected feature list.
- dijit 7mo ago
- throwaway27448 7mo agoWhy do they refuse to add an auto power-off? Like is there any upside to keeping the headphones draining battery when they can tell it's not being used?
- tartoran 7mo agoThe upside is for Apple: the headsets last less and you will have to pay for a new pair. They could add a power button for the next version and mark that up a few hundred dollars dressing it as a revolutionary feature.
- drsalt 7mo agoif you buy a headphone same price as a laptop, that says something about you.
- tptacek 7mo agoThat you're not price sensitive about headphones, or that you're way too price sensitive about laptops.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- ttul 7mo agoI bought the original AirPods Max when they came out a few years ago. They hurt my ears if I wear them for more than an hour or so and the software is garbage - constantly losing one channel or just failing to connect at all - to Apple devices. Apple has not done enough to fix glitchy software problems, which continue to occur even on the latest AirPods Pro devices. I won’t touch the Max headphones until I start hearing that the software has been fixed.
- JSR_FDED 7mo agoAm I the only one who just loves that we’re getting more color back into Apple products?
- sulam 7mo agoSo much hate for these, but they do one thing really really well, which is handle a full 14 hour flight with no charge and great noise cancellation. That the noise cancellation on the new model is even better will probably make them a buy for me.
- trymas 7mo agoWhat? Aren't all over-ear ANC wireless headphones capable of that? Sony WH-1000XM and Bose QuietComfort can do 24h on bluetooth + ANC if not more.
- rpozarickij 7mo agoI'm curious whether Apple has addressed the tinnitus issue of its ANC technology (or some part of it). I couldn't use neither AirPods Max nor AirPods Pro (1st generation) because they were making my tinnitus noticeably worse. I have no such issues whatsoever with my Sony WH-1000XM4 and a few other ANC headphones I've used.
- faizan199 7mo agoNot worth spending so much its better you go for sony or bose headphones.
- tianshuo 7mo agoThe Original Airpods Max had terrible connectivity. The bluetooth would break down for days, and all instructions on the internet would tell you needed to remove the device and re-add it. This was not just a single incident, but kept on happening to LOTS of users. Frustrated, I went to Apple service to learn that they could not fix it and could only replace it for like 70% of a new one. So, if Apple keeps on building new features while not fixing major problems, I'm not considering buying these unreliable, expensive products at all ...
- 46493168 7mo agoThis version (finally!) has an updated version of Bluetooth (5.3 vs 5.0). BLE was finalized in 5.2. So fingers crossed that it’s fixed.
- steveBK123 7mo agoUnrelated but I really enjoy AIAIAI (poorly named in age of AI) headphones lately.
- ulfw 7mo agoIs anyone at Apple still actively working? The last couple of years everything seems incredibly minimal-update incremental. Putting a 2022 chip into the most overpriced headphones and that's the only update is... wild in 2026
- nerdjon 7mo agoI have been waiting to for the next version of the Max for a while and I am disappointed that we still don't have some sort of wireless charging solution for it. My biggest issue with the Max I have now (and why they just don't get a ton of use) is keeping them charged. I would love for a dock or something. I know there are third party solutions but they require putting a little plug into the plug in the headphones, and it is not hard to find issues that people have had with those so I have not done it. An official solution from Apple would be amazing, something as simple as what the Astro A50 does.
- t1234s 7mo agoWhen the max 1 came out I tried them out in a busy apple store back to back with airpod pro 1 and didn't notice that much of a difference with the active noise cancellation to justify double the price.. Is that something that has improved over time with firmware updates?
- Normal_gaussian 7mo ago"AirPod" to mean both tiny buds that go in your ear and full on over-ear headphones is a ridiculous collision of naming.
- nsbk 7mo agoI've been waiting for this release for a long time. I lost my first gen Maxes and was expecting for a significant upgrade to get a new pair. This feels like a very minor update to the originals and not really a new product. Considering the modest update and the fact that they lose many of the quality of life features if outside of the Apple ecosystem, which I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with, I will be looking elsewhere.
- mgrandl 7mo agoSennheiser HDB630 is about the same price range and superior in basically every way.
- samgranieri 7mo agoI really enjoy my AirPods Max. nice and seamless and good audio and good noise cancellation. Now, I also have a Schiit stack with HD6xx or the AKG k371s when I want to some serious listening. But these Apple cans work just fine and sound great. If the current pair I have gets destroyed then I’ll think about getting a new pair.
- calmkeepai 7mo agoIt’s crazy how if these came out 16 years ago they would be dominant in ad campaigns and marketing but today , while the remain aspirationally pervasive, Apple just doesn’t saturate their marketing. This speaks to some larger changes in the marketing ecosystem that would be redundant to address , but it still remains interesting how they’re such an establishment that they don’t necessarily need multilevel marketing in the way they thrived with in the 2000s
- iammattmurphy 7mo agoI wore my original beloved AirPods Max for a walk one Edmonton winter day and they became a brick. I found out quickly that it’s a well known design flaw with internal moisture build up, exacerbated by fluctuations in temperature. Did they fix this known flaw that has ruined hundreds of people’s very expensive headphones? Nope. Should have gotten AppleCare, but I didn’t know walking with them in the cold for 15 minutes would destroy them so easily.
- xyzsparetimexyz 7mo ago$550?? Does it even come with a gold plated cable for smoother electrons?