When they were first announced, I scoffed at the AirPods Max (APM). They were an overpriced pair of Bluetooth headphones that didn't offer a "true" (analog) wired mode. But after a few months and a wealth of praise, I decided to invest my lazily-earned money and give them a try.
It's worth mentioning that I am not an audiophile. I do not own an external DAC/amp and the most critical cans I own are my Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, which do still impress me. Furthermore, I personally do have trouble hearing the difference between AAC and lossless in most cases. And those rare cases in which I can--classical, romantic, jazz--it's hardly a deal breaker for me. In fact, I still convert a lot of my music over to ATRAC for my minidisc player.
All this being said, the APM were a disappointment and I returned them after about two weeks of use. They sounded muffled and considerably worse than my M50x to the point that I could not justify using them.
Well, come this past Amazon Prime Day, I was shopping around to waste money on a new pair of headphones because I'm fiscally irresponsible. I came very close to picking up some Sennheiser HD 599 while they were only 99USD. However, due to my environment, I couldn't reason using open-backs. So there I was, sitting at my computer, itching to spend a few bucks, and I saw (thanks to this very site) that the APM were on sale for only 489USD. Being a few months since I had last tried them, I figured it was worth the second chance.
So I bought them. I tried them. And I was again disappointed. But less so this time. They did sound more like my baseline M50x, but with more soundstage. Maybe a firmware update had fixed the muffled, almost hollow sound? But I still was disappointed. The M50x are 150USD, can play lossless, and work natively with my minidisc player! Yet, still my obsessive, neurotic mind would not soften. And, after a very quick Google search, I found others had similar complaints which were resolved through the Accessibility settings in iOS.
I paged through the frustratingly hidden menu and toiled through several variations of settings until I settled upon Balanced Tone at Moderate. With these presets the headphones came alive! My AirPods Max now easily surpass any other headphones I have tried before.
Now I do understand that these settings come with the downside of only working with an iOS or iPadOS device, and therefore will not work with my minidisc player. Moreover, it is still only AAC (and there is speculation that it is further processing the AAC for tuning). But I can accept these trade offs for the wonderful, bright, open sound these produce that make my M50x cans sound like bass-heavy Beats.
Moral of the story: if you are unhappy with the sound your AirPods Max provide, dip into the Accessibility settings on your device and check out Headphone Accommodations.
It's worth mentioning that I am not an audiophile. I do not own an external DAC/amp and the most critical cans I own are my Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, which do still impress me. Furthermore, I personally do have trouble hearing the difference between AAC and lossless in most cases. And those rare cases in which I can--classical, romantic, jazz--it's hardly a deal breaker for me. In fact, I still convert a lot of my music over to ATRAC for my minidisc player.
All this being said, the APM were a disappointment and I returned them after about two weeks of use. They sounded muffled and considerably worse than my M50x to the point that I could not justify using them.
Well, come this past Amazon Prime Day, I was shopping around to waste money on a new pair of headphones because I'm fiscally irresponsible. I came very close to picking up some Sennheiser HD 599 while they were only 99USD. However, due to my environment, I couldn't reason using open-backs. So there I was, sitting at my computer, itching to spend a few bucks, and I saw (thanks to this very site) that the APM were on sale for only 489USD. Being a few months since I had last tried them, I figured it was worth the second chance.
So I bought them. I tried them. And I was again disappointed. But less so this time. They did sound more like my baseline M50x, but with more soundstage. Maybe a firmware update had fixed the muffled, almost hollow sound? But I still was disappointed. The M50x are 150USD, can play lossless, and work natively with my minidisc player! Yet, still my obsessive, neurotic mind would not soften. And, after a very quick Google search, I found others had similar complaints which were resolved through the Accessibility settings in iOS.
I paged through the frustratingly hidden menu and toiled through several variations of settings until I settled upon Balanced Tone at Moderate. With these presets the headphones came alive! My AirPods Max now easily surpass any other headphones I have tried before.
Now I do understand that these settings come with the downside of only working with an iOS or iPadOS device, and therefore will not work with my minidisc player. Moreover, it is still only AAC (and there is speculation that it is further processing the AAC for tuning). But I can accept these trade offs for the wonderful, bright, open sound these produce that make my M50x cans sound like bass-heavy Beats.
Moral of the story: if you are unhappy with the sound your AirPods Max provide, dip into the Accessibility settings on your device and check out Headphone Accommodations.
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