5 ms·

I 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 ex

I 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 ago
This 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 ago
  I 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 ago
    I'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 ago
  I 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.
- aczerepinski 7mo ago
  I believe that one day they will return to an ergonomic phone that is comfortable for one hand use and fits in pants pockets. Until then you need some other way to carry giant phones.
  - loloquwowndueo 7mo ago
    These phones they make today don’t hold a candle to the iPhone 5 : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw (Watch it, it’s fun)
- p_ing 7mo ago
  You can buy three socks for the price of one set of casters. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mx572zm/a/apple-mac-pro-wheels-kit https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mx572zm/a/apple-mac-pro-w...
  - PaulHoule 7mo ago
    Reminds me of the casters on the PDP-8 that my high school had back when I was in elementary school.
frantathefranta 7mo ago
I assume Apple ecosystem integration and also they give off that "I bought an expensive Apple product" vibe that an iPhone or Macbook no longer do IMO. As someone with an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and a Macbook, I never got into Apple's headphones. My Sony WH-something-4 that I bought refurbished 4 years ago are more than enough for me.
- quietsegfault 7mo ago
  The AirPods Pro are the best earpods I've ever had for everyday use, and I've had a lot. I like some of the old beats headphones, but I also haven't had to replace the ones I bought ~5 or 10 years ago. The Sony WH-whatever I have are probably my favorite and most comfortable.
mcs5280 7mo ago
Because Apple
mbb70 7mo ago
They are a luxury item, you are paying for the privilege of signaling you can afford $550 headphones. Generic black over-ear headphones could be $800, could be $80, useless for signaling. Doubly true in the context of a gift.
- joncrane 7mo ago
  >They are a luxury item, you are paying for the privilege of signaling you can afford $550 headphones. Plus they give juuuust enough features to cover for the true purpose and give you plausible deniability. Same as most luxury items. None truly give the value of the cost (Is a Ferrari 10x as fast as a GR86? Carry 10x as much stuff? Go 10x as far on the same gas load? Etc etc etc) "Oh but there's nothing like the experience of driving a Ferrari!"
  - dylan604 7mo ago
    Is the GR86 hand made?
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - Spivak 7mo ago
    I don't think this is the right analysis, pretty much all products follow an ever steepening curve of price to get to the highest quality. The general sentiment on HN, of which I count myself among, is that you stop before the curve gets too steep. You can stop at Oreos you don't have to pay Stella Parks to make you hers. You get the highest quality thing that isn't commanding crazy premium prices. But the market for that last 10% 1% 0.1% does exist. Like yes it's funny to make fun of middle aged guys who buy extremely expensive cars and who if actually tested couldn't tell the difference between a $60k sports car and a $160k sports car and there are plenty of businesses that prey on that lack of discerning taste to take advantage but it doesn't mean the difference isn't there at all.
- ryanjshaw 7mo ago
  Maybe for some people. For me, they work perfectly and integrate with all my other Apple stuff (MBP, iphone, TV, iPad), everything just works. My stress levels demand it.
fsloth 7mo ago
Well, if you buy only one pair it does work really nicely with all Apple kit. So you get really nice cinematic sound from Apple TV (for my non-prosumer ears), and effortlessly can switch between phone, laptop etc. The sound is really good for video calls. They just work. I mean there are other pieces of kit that probably just work as well but with these you don't need to do market research. It's surprising how non-trivial even _adequate_ sound is still in 2026 and that's what these are guaranteed to give in any situation IMHO. If you have only one Apple device probably no selling point as such.
- genthree 7mo ago
  Yeah I basically don’t trust anyone but Apple for wireless audio because every time I’ve tried allegedly-good non-Apple Bluetooth audio devices, they’ve been a ton worse, so bad I ended up barely using them. In this case these are more expensive than I’d pay for headphones, but that just means I won’t have any Bluetooth headphones in this form factor. Been down that road before, non-Apple was a frustrating waste of money. I mean FFS my AirPods are worse on Windows and Linux than in the Apple ecosystem, but are still better than the non-Apple ones I’ve tried, even there. It’s not even just the home-field advantage.
  - fsloth 7mo ago
    FWIW Sony's wh-1000xm3 and later are suberb. Windows and bluetooth is a really difficult combination. The problem is that for some reason if Windows detects a microphone on the Bluetooth headphone, it switches to a transport mode that a) allows the mic through b) makes the sound sound horrible. So disabling mics sometimes helps there.
- zamadatix 7mo ago
  The Apple Beats Studio Pro should meet this reasoning for $170 (on Amazon, $350 on apple.com - guess that explains the AirPods Max pricing) & the battery lasts twice as long. I have 2 near my Apple TV just so everything plays nice together.
  - 7mo ago
F7F7F7 7mo ago
I've been wearing Quiet Comforts for almost 15 years now during travel. I've flirted with the Sony XM line (music sound, call mic, UX are superior IMO) but always come back to Bose. I see both of those lines as utilities for travel. Not sure why I can't shake that. The Max's don't do anything particularly well. I work within the Apple ecosystem and the Airpod Max's plug seamlessly into it. So because of that they are my daily drivers.
46493168 7mo ago
>I really don't understand how these are $549. H2 chip enables smart audio switching when paired with Apple account + other Apple products. This is a feature that many people find valuable.
- dawnerd 7mo ago
  But not 549 valuable. You get that on their much cheaper airpods. Also doesn't need h2 for that, even their older ones did it.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - squidsoup 7mo ago
    Not everyone likes in-ear headphones, so if you want something that works seamlessly across multiple devices, its the only option.
- AzN1337c0d3r 7mo ago
  What's new about this with the H2 chip? My H1-chipped USB-C Airpods Max (OG) seem to switch seamlessly between my iphone, ipad, and macbook pro already.
  - altairprime 7mo ago
    If your gen 1 are already excellent for you, there’s no reason to upgrade, same as there’s no reason to get a new phone or laptop every year. My wired headphones are ten plus years old and will be fine for a couple more decades; my gen1 Max, at a fifth the price, are also fine and will be fine until their Bluetooth becomes too old (which may be ten or twenty years these days). Both benefit from earcup swaps occasionally (but gen1 lightning needs them more often than usb-c.) If you’re unsatisfied with Transparency mode on your gen1 then the gen2 will give you Adaptive which is a big improvement (especially so if you wear them outdoors or around other people). Same improvement that the AirPods had, if you’re familiar with that. If you use them for videoconferencing, the lower latency and higher quality headset codec may be worth upgrading. They retain value on the used market so long as you unpair them from Find My an hour before you sell them and have a purchase receipt. I suspect there might be some slight power savings for your transmitting devices if both sides support Bluetooth 5.3, but I would not expect that to be significant or advertised.
thefz 7mo ago
> What makes these worth that much when there are so many options? You want to be seen in public wearing this object
paxys 7mo ago
There are two kinds of Apple products - those they make for the mass market and those that are for Apple "enthusiasts". Mass market Apple products may be expensive but they are still great value. Look at the $499/$599 Macbook Neo for a recent example, but this generally covers iPhones and other Macs, as well as Airpods, Apple Watch etc. Then there are the $550 Airpods Max, $3500 Vision Pro, $600 storage upgrades, $700 CPU wheels, $230 "iPhone Pocket", $20 polishing cloth... In the latter category there is no effort to actually compete on price or value, because it is made for people who will blindly buy anything with an Apple logo on it.
- 1970-01-01 7mo ago
  Apple should just sell them at Tiffany's at this price. Bundle them with diamond earrings.
symlinkk 7mo ago
They just work. The integrated mic is clear and easy to use for daily standups. They connect to my work and personal laptop in a few seconds every time - I’m never left panicking right before a big meeting. Of course the audio quality, noise canceling, and battery life are world class, but that’s the case for their competitors too - the reason I coughed up the extra $150 for Apple headphones is because I know they’re going to fucking work exactly as advertised, no glitches or gimmicks.
energy123 7mo ago
I've tried basically all the noise cancelling headphones. This one has the best noise cancelling. If that's what you care about, you'd buy this.
nunez 7mo ago
They sound incredible (with Apple products), feel super premium, excel at noise cancelling and have really good mics. I've tried Bose and Sony; in fact, I have two pairs of QC Ultras sitting in their boxes waiting to be sold. Neither sound as good, even after EQing them as close to the Harman curve as their software allows (with Apple products; I haven't tried them with AptX streaming) and both were slower at cancelling noise. The Bose headphones I tried got decent mics after an update, but they are still unreliable at times. The Maxes are also heavy, but you don't feel it due to its being very nicely distributed across the head. I've seen scores of people run, walk, and work out in these. I even saw a child using them! I can't stress how premium the Maxes feel. The cups, for example, don't deform even after hours and hours of wear (and sweat). Replacing them is trivial and they attach with magnets instead of adhesive and/or clips. The headphone band is also extremely strong; much stronger than it looks. They feel like $549. Meanwhile, Bose charges $499 for their QuietComfort Ultras with their slow noise cancelling processors (AirPods use Apple Silicon, which is unbeatable atm) and cheap, plastic body (though part of the headphone band has a chrome finish --- premium!) All this said, Bose and Sony headphones are significantly easier to travel with, and they have power buttons. This was why I sold my AirPods Maxes the first go around (though I went back to them a year later for the reasons stated previously).
- argee 7mo ago
  I’m always surprised at how people seem to assign zero value to seamless switching of headphones between iPhones, MacBooks, Vision Pros etc. Only those who haven’t been spoiled by the luxury of not having to even think before just starting to play music from a laptop when music on your phone was already playing into your headphones could think this way…
  - roryirvine 7mo ago
    Is that not a standard feature? My ~6 year old Jabra headphones connect to two devices simultaneously, and can easily switch between a total of five at the touch of a button. My Pixel Buds do the same (called 'multipoint' and 'audio switch'). Yeah, things were more awkward in the mid 2010s, but I'd expect everything from the current decade to be able to do it without issue.

loloquwowndueo 7mo ago

This 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 ago
I 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 ago
  I'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 ago
I 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.
aczerepinski 7mo ago
I believe that one day they will return to an ergonomic phone that is comfortable for one hand use and fits in pants pockets. Until then you need some other way to carry giant phones.
- loloquwowndueo 7mo ago
  These phones they make today don’t hold a candle to the iPhone 5 : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw (Watch it, it’s fun)
p_ing 7mo ago
You can buy three socks for the price of one set of casters. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mx572zm/a/apple-mac-pro-wheels-kit https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mx572zm/a/apple-mac-pro-w...
- PaulHoule 7mo ago
  Reminds me of the casters on the PDP-8 that my high school had back when I was in elementary school.

frantathefranta 7mo ago

I assume Apple ecosystem integration and also they give off that "I bought an expensive Apple product" vibe that an iPhone or Macbook no longer do IMO. As someone with an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and a Macbook, I never got into Apple's headphones. My Sony WH-something-4 that I bought refurbished 4 years ago are more than enough for me.

quietsegfault 7mo ago
The AirPods Pro are the best earpods I've ever had for everyday use, and I've had a lot. I like some of the old beats headphones, but I also haven't had to replace the ones I bought ~5 or 10 years ago. The Sony WH-whatever I have are probably my favorite and most comfortable.

mcs5280 7mo ago

Because Apple

mbb70 7mo ago

They are a luxury item, you are paying for the privilege of signaling you can afford $550 headphones. Generic black over-ear headphones could be $800, could be $80, useless for signaling. Doubly true in the context of a gift.

joncrane 7mo ago
>They are a luxury item, you are paying for the privilege of signaling you can afford $550 headphones. Plus they give juuuust enough features to cover for the true purpose and give you plausible deniability. Same as most luxury items. None truly give the value of the cost (Is a Ferrari 10x as fast as a GR86? Carry 10x as much stuff? Go 10x as far on the same gas load? Etc etc etc) "Oh but there's nothing like the experience of driving a Ferrari!"
- dylan604 7mo ago
  Is the GR86 hand made?
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- Spivak 7mo ago
  I don't think this is the right analysis, pretty much all products follow an ever steepening curve of price to get to the highest quality. The general sentiment on HN, of which I count myself among, is that you stop before the curve gets too steep. You can stop at Oreos you don't have to pay Stella Parks to make you hers. You get the highest quality thing that isn't commanding crazy premium prices. But the market for that last 10% 1% 0.1% does exist. Like yes it's funny to make fun of middle aged guys who buy extremely expensive cars and who if actually tested couldn't tell the difference between a $60k sports car and a $160k sports car and there are plenty of businesses that prey on that lack of discerning taste to take advantage but it doesn't mean the difference isn't there at all.
ryanjshaw 7mo ago
Maybe for some people. For me, they work perfectly and integrate with all my other Apple stuff (MBP, iphone, TV, iPad), everything just works. My stress levels demand it.

fsloth 7mo ago

Well, if you buy only one pair it does work really nicely with all Apple kit. So you get really nice cinematic sound from Apple TV (for my non-prosumer ears), and effortlessly can switch between phone, laptop etc. The sound is really good for video calls. They just work. I mean there are other pieces of kit that probably just work as well but with these you don't need to do market research. It's surprising how non-trivial even _adequate_ sound is still in 2026 and that's what these are guaranteed to give in any situation IMHO. If you have only one Apple device probably no selling point as such.

genthree 7mo ago
Yeah I basically don’t trust anyone but Apple for wireless audio because every time I’ve tried allegedly-good non-Apple Bluetooth audio devices, they’ve been a ton worse, so bad I ended up barely using them. In this case these are more expensive than I’d pay for headphones, but that just means I won’t have any Bluetooth headphones in this form factor. Been down that road before, non-Apple was a frustrating waste of money. I mean FFS my AirPods are worse on Windows and Linux than in the Apple ecosystem, but are still better than the non-Apple ones I’ve tried, even there. It’s not even just the home-field advantage.
- fsloth 7mo ago
  FWIW Sony's wh-1000xm3 and later are suberb. Windows and bluetooth is a really difficult combination. The problem is that for some reason if Windows detects a microphone on the Bluetooth headphone, it switches to a transport mode that a) allows the mic through b) makes the sound sound horrible. So disabling mics sometimes helps there.
zamadatix 7mo ago
The Apple Beats Studio Pro should meet this reasoning for $170 (on Amazon, $350 on apple.com - guess that explains the AirPods Max pricing) & the battery lasts twice as long. I have 2 near my Apple TV just so everything plays nice together.
- 7mo ago

F7F7F7 7mo ago

I've been wearing Quiet Comforts for almost 15 years now during travel. I've flirted with the Sony XM line (music sound, call mic, UX are superior IMO) but always come back to Bose. I see both of those lines as utilities for travel. Not sure why I can't shake that. The Max's don't do anything particularly well. I work within the Apple ecosystem and the Airpod Max's plug seamlessly into it. So because of that they are my daily drivers.

46493168 7mo ago

>I really don't understand how these are $549. H2 chip enables smart audio switching when paired with Apple account + other Apple products. This is a feature that many people find valuable.

dawnerd 7mo ago
But not 549 valuable. You get that on their much cheaper airpods. Also doesn't need h2 for that, even their older ones did it.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- squidsoup 7mo ago
  Not everyone likes in-ear headphones, so if you want something that works seamlessly across multiple devices, its the only option.
AzN1337c0d3r 7mo ago
What's new about this with the H2 chip? My H1-chipped USB-C Airpods Max (OG) seem to switch seamlessly between my iphone, ipad, and macbook pro already.
- altairprime 7mo ago
  If your gen 1 are already excellent for you, there’s no reason to upgrade, same as there’s no reason to get a new phone or laptop every year. My wired headphones are ten plus years old and will be fine for a couple more decades; my gen1 Max, at a fifth the price, are also fine and will be fine until their Bluetooth becomes too old (which may be ten or twenty years these days). Both benefit from earcup swaps occasionally (but gen1 lightning needs them more often than usb-c.) If you’re unsatisfied with Transparency mode on your gen1 then the gen2 will give you Adaptive which is a big improvement (especially so if you wear them outdoors or around other people). Same improvement that the AirPods had, if you’re familiar with that. If you use them for videoconferencing, the lower latency and higher quality headset codec may be worth upgrading. They retain value on the used market so long as you unpair them from Find My an hour before you sell them and have a purchase receipt. I suspect there might be some slight power savings for your transmitting devices if both sides support Bluetooth 5.3, but I would not expect that to be significant or advertised.

thefz 7mo ago

> What makes these worth that much when there are so many options? You want to be seen in public wearing this object

paxys 7mo ago

There are two kinds of Apple products - those they make for the mass market and those that are for Apple "enthusiasts". Mass market Apple products may be expensive but they are still great value. Look at the $499/$599 Macbook Neo for a recent example, but this generally covers iPhones and other Macs, as well as Airpods, Apple Watch etc. Then there are the $550 Airpods Max, $3500 Vision Pro, $600 storage upgrades, $700 CPU wheels, $230 "iPhone Pocket", $20 polishing cloth... In the latter category there is no effort to actually compete on price or value, because it is made for people who will blindly buy anything with an Apple logo on it.

1970-01-01 7mo ago
Apple should just sell them at Tiffany's at this price. Bundle them with diamond earrings.

symlinkk 7mo ago

They just work. The integrated mic is clear and easy to use for daily standups. They connect to my work and personal laptop in a few seconds every time - I’m never left panicking right before a big meeting. Of course the audio quality, noise canceling, and battery life are world class, but that’s the case for their competitors too - the reason I coughed up the extra $150 for Apple headphones is because I know they’re going to fucking work exactly as advertised, no glitches or gimmicks.

energy123 7mo ago

I've tried basically all the noise cancelling headphones. This one has the best noise cancelling. If that's what you care about, you'd buy this.

nunez 7mo ago

They sound incredible (with Apple products), feel super premium, excel at noise cancelling and have really good mics. I've tried Bose and Sony; in fact, I have two pairs of QC Ultras sitting in their boxes waiting to be sold. Neither sound as good, even after EQing them as close to the Harman curve as their software allows (with Apple products; I haven't tried them with AptX streaming) and both were slower at cancelling noise. The Bose headphones I tried got decent mics after an update, but they are still unreliable at times. The Maxes are also heavy, but you don't feel it due to its being very nicely distributed across the head. I've seen scores of people run, walk, and work out in these. I even saw a child using them! I can't stress how premium the Maxes feel. The cups, for example, don't deform even after hours and hours of wear (and sweat). Replacing them is trivial and they attach with magnets instead of adhesive and/or clips. The headphone band is also extremely strong; much stronger than it looks. They feel like $549. Meanwhile, Bose charges $499 for their QuietComfort Ultras with their slow noise cancelling processors (AirPods use Apple Silicon, which is unbeatable atm) and cheap, plastic body (though part of the headphone band has a chrome finish --- premium!) All this said, Bose and Sony headphones are significantly easier to travel with, and they have power buttons. This was why I sold my AirPods Maxes the first go around (though I went back to them a year later for the reasons stated previously).

argee 7mo ago
I’m always surprised at how people seem to assign zero value to seamless switching of headphones between iPhones, MacBooks, Vision Pros etc. Only those who haven’t been spoiled by the luxury of not having to even think before just starting to play music from a laptop when music on your phone was already playing into your headphones could think this way…
- roryirvine 7mo ago
  Is that not a standard feature? My ~6 year old Jabra headphones connect to two devices simultaneously, and can easily switch between a total of five at the touch of a button. My Pixel Buds do the same (called 'multipoint' and 'audio switch'). Yeah, things were more awkward in the mid 2010s, but I'd expect everything from the current decade to be able to do it without issue.