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AirPod Max buy or not?
- Thread starter ToasterZapper
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Many people are happy with the APM.
Some people are not.
There's plenty of information if you look.
Some people are not.
There's plenty of information if you look.
I'm a music lover. I own a lot of external DACs and some of the highest quality analog headphones out there.
If you are listening to streamed music, there's nothing better than AirPodsMax. It sounds amazing. As equal as the highest quality analog ones.
And its build quality is fantastic. The posts about condensation and other issues are a pretty frequent phenomenon that happens when you deliver such a complex product to ordinary people.
Condensation inside the cans isn't an AirPodsMax issue, but an issue common to all around the ear headphones with closed back. It's simple to understand that something that keeps the air in a closed shell in contact to human body (that produces heat) will lead to some level of condensation, isn't it?
Regular users doesn't know the need of maintenance in such headphones, because they never have access to it before. I love Apple for this effort to deliver regular people high tech and complex products.
If you are listening to streamed music, there's nothing better than AirPodsMax. It sounds amazing. As equal as the highest quality analog ones.
And its build quality is fantastic. The posts about condensation and other issues are a pretty frequent phenomenon that happens when you deliver such a complex product to ordinary people.
Condensation inside the cans isn't an AirPodsMax issue, but an issue common to all around the ear headphones with closed back. It's simple to understand that something that keeps the air in a closed shell in contact to human body (that produces heat) will lead to some level of condensation, isn't it?
Regular users doesn't know the need of maintenance in such headphones, because they never have access to it before. I love Apple for this effort to deliver regular people high tech and complex products.
Thank you for such a long and detailed reply.
I’m a music lover (streaming quality) and love the ease of my AirPods for listening to music, film, and tutorial videos.
Can I ask how long you’ve had your AirPods Max? Have they been problem free for you? Also, what maintenance/precautions do you recommend?
I’m a music lover (streaming quality) and love the ease of my AirPods for listening to music, film, and tutorial videos.
Can I ask how long you’ve had your AirPods Max? Have they been problem free for you? Also, what maintenance/precautions do you recommend?
I have the Airpods Pro, Beats Solo 3, and Beats Studio 3. Music is by far my first choice for entertainment and the listening experience is very important to me. The Airpods Pro are my favorite in ear buds and easily deliver the listening experience I like. My Beats on ear and over the ear(Apple Products) are great headphones also. The best of the two is the Beats Studio 3 and to me they sound just as good as the Airpods Max for $200.00 less and have the same Apple technolgy in them as the Airpods Max. I tried the Airpods Max for a couple weeks and sent them back because I couldn't justify keeping $549.00 headphones when I already had something that I liked just as well. I would suggest trying them both and seeing what you like best.
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With every around the ear headphones you should expect condensation (just mind how hot the leather covered ones comes), so after a longe session of listen you should pay some attention on cleaning inside the cans with a cloth. Just a cotton one is fine.
If you don't want to to clean it after every session, clean it weekly. The AirPods Max pads are easily removable, just pull it off.
It's been almost an year that I have it. Loving it so much!
If you don't want to to clean it after every session, clean it weekly. The AirPods Max pads are easily removable, just pull it off.
It's been almost an year that I have it. Loving it so much!
I have it too. And it sounds like no other Beats products. It's funny, powerful and punchy. With a well balanced sound.The best of the two is the Beats Studio 3 and to me they sound just as good as the Airpods Max for $200.00 less and have the same Apple technolgy in them as the Airpods Max. I tried the Airpods Max for a couple weeks and sent them back because I couldn't justify keeping $549.00 headphones when I already had something that I liked just as well. I would suggest trying them both and seeing what you think.
But, over time, the drivers inside AirPods Max cans gets loose (as all of drivers of this kind, actually) and the sound turns much more rich and deep. I love how warm it sounds. And I don't have to deal with my DACs or cable of my analog headphones.
Since I bought it I have been wondering about how useless my analog gear is. Think I will sell them all.
They were worth it to me, though I got them for $430. Before buying them, AirPods Pro (APP) and my Sennheiser HD 650s + Schiit Stack (External amp and DAC) were my main headphones. I love the APP for their convenience and portability, and I love my HD 650s for the sound quality. I bought the AirPods Max (APM) to hoping to combine the sound quality of the HD 650s with the convenience of the AirPods Pro.
I’d say the sound quality is 85%-90% there of the HD 650s, which is good enough for me. I just really appreciate higher quality sound and I was tired of sacrificing sound quality for convenience. For example, I wanted to be able to listen to music in high quality in my bed or at my work office. The HD 650s + Schiit Stack aren’t portable enough to just casually enjoy HQ music in bed or walking around the house, or anywhere in your house other than a designated location due to the external DAC, amp, multiple cables, and limited mobility. Since the HD 650s are open-back headphones, they also play music too loudly to bring them to work. So the APM provide that in-between use case for me of high quality sound with the convenience and portability of AirPods.
As far as common complaints go:
I’d say the sound quality is 85%-90% there of the HD 650s, which is good enough for me. I just really appreciate higher quality sound and I was tired of sacrificing sound quality for convenience. For example, I wanted to be able to listen to music in high quality in my bed or at my work office. The HD 650s + Schiit Stack aren’t portable enough to just casually enjoy HQ music in bed or walking around the house, or anywhere in your house other than a designated location due to the external DAC, amp, multiple cables, and limited mobility. Since the HD 650s are open-back headphones, they also play music too loudly to bring them to work. So the APM provide that in-between use case for me of high quality sound with the convenience and portability of AirPods.
As far as common complaints go:
- I don’t see a need of lossless sound for the APM. Humans mostly can’t tell the difference (try looking up blind tests and see for yourself), and bluetooth makes it lossy anyways.
- People online LOVE to complain about how there isn’t an on/off button, but I personally don’t want the button. Regular AirPods and AirPods Pro don’t have on/off buttons, why should the Max? Why would I want to have to worry about turning off the headphones when I can just put them in their case and never think about it? It’s part of the convenience.
- The case isn’t the prettiest, but it doesn’t bother me either. It protects the headphones enough for me, and I like that it isn’t too bulky. I already fill my backpack to the brim everyday, and a larger case likely wouldn’t fit in my bag.
- I do get condensation sometimes, but I don’t know how much of an issue it is. i.e. Does it happen with other headphones, but we just can’t see it because those headphone pads aren’t easily removable like the APM? Knock on wood, but it hasn’t caused any issues for me yet.
I have $1200 wired headphones and a lot of home audio equipment. I love my AirPods Max. I use them more than my wired cans because they sound good and are much more convenient. They have a touch too much bass, but that can be fixed with EQ. Better too much than too little.
Great comments from people who does listen to FiFi audio (now named lossless) lol
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks to the OP for posting this!
Being a typical music lover I do like to have as best quality in headphones / earbuds that my budget will allow.
Currently using Airpods Pro / Beats Studio Buds and a paid of in ear buds Bose as well. Music wise, i have always felt that Apple has struggled with giving music its "oomph" for lack of a better word. I feel they fixed that mostly with the Airpods Pro but I feel the Studio Beats in ear buds are pretty freakin great honestly. With the Airpods Max being on sale i have been doing a lot of research and watching reviewers on youtube so i am now seriously considering a pair and with $100 currently it seems the best time to grab a pair.
Reading through the comments on here has also helped!
Being a typical music lover I do like to have as best quality in headphones / earbuds that my budget will allow.
Currently using Airpods Pro / Beats Studio Buds and a paid of in ear buds Bose as well. Music wise, i have always felt that Apple has struggled with giving music its "oomph" for lack of a better word. I feel they fixed that mostly with the Airpods Pro but I feel the Studio Beats in ear buds are pretty freakin great honestly. With the Airpods Max being on sale i have been doing a lot of research and watching reviewers on youtube so i am now seriously considering a pair and with $100 currently it seems the best time to grab a pair.
Reading through the comments on here has also helped!
Wow, thank you all for your responses. I’ve decided to bite the bullet and order a pair - currently £449 in the uk down from £549.
I might pull the trigger too ... eek! haha congrats!
That is a great point to bring to the table. During many years Apple has been fighting to prove that her audio files (initially from iTunes Store and then Apple Music) were among the best ones in the world. For some time people has believed and the digital audio experience for all Apple users have been limited by the subpar quality of AAC files in that time.
Apple has limited the audio files to MP3 codec, using 44Hz sample rates at 16 bits or bringing them up to 88Hz while transforming as AAC. The Digital Audiophiles around the world were listening to 192Hz sample rates at 24 bits. SoudGirls has a good graph that shows whats the difference between these standarts:
The magenta curve shows a sound wave as it is, generated by an analog source. In black you can see how the squares from digital world struggles to replicate it in the bit matrix. Can you see the difference between each one? As higher the sample rate, the smoother the digital curve will be. So the digital audio can get closer to analog audio wave form.
Recently Apple has publicly accept the true and stated that all of her catalog in Apple Music would be in lossless format.
Lossless format means that the digital audio files were converted from analog source (recording tapes for instance) to digital audio using a high quality ACD (Analog to Digital Converter) that applies a high sample rate in the process. The industry standard is 196Hz at 24 bits for lossless audio.
The actual confusion is that Apple doesn't have planned to play such high quality files through the existing products.
All AirPods and all Beats can't handle more than 48Hz at 24 bits. iPhones and iPads can send the digital files out trough USB adapters to be decoded using external DACs (Digital to Analog Converter). The recent Macs (from 14" MBP) can decode higher sample rates but it needs an analog headphone to output that.So the fact is that no Apple audio product can handle lossless audio. But this does not means that you are getting half of the joy!
As Apple has pushed her engineers to design the best audio experience possible using such subpar quality files, Apple's products are highly optimized to them. So the experience is incredible rich. Even the toughest Audiophiles would at some point that Apple's AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are a pleasing experience.
Apple has its own tricks. And they sound good enough.
I'm wondering what Apple might do in the future with her headphones suporting lossless audio.
Did you get yours from Amazon? I also but the bullet a few weeks ago as they were on sale at Amazon U.K. I love mine. I think they are absolutely worth the money. They sound very rich and clear and they are comfortable to wear. I’m glad my AirPods Pro are 2 years old as they haven’t been used at all since I got the pro maxes.
I got the 100 off on them as well, I am not sure I would pay full price but I love the sound on these cans better than my Sony XM3’s. The only thing I found is the standby battery life isn’t terrific or as good as my other headphones even in the stupid case. It isn’t discharging right away but it does discharge even when in the case faster than my other headphones likely due to the one feature I don’t like, no on/off button.
They are pretty good at what they do as long as you have realistic expectations or do not have a terribly discerning ear. I had the APM for several months and ended up selling them because I wanted something more portable. I got a pair of IEMs and it reminded that IEMs and me just don't get along. So last weekend I rebought the APM and am very happy I did.
The sound is good enough. They are a more fun headphone. They do not do great with detail and the mids are meh, but I use them at work, not for critical listening. They are intended to be a decent, fun sounding headphone that works well within the Apple ecosystem. They are excellent at that. If you want true audiophile-like performance, you need to go wired. There is no Bluetooth headphone that can do that.
I do not agree with this at all. Nearly all music you are streaming is lossless and whatever isn't is generally a high enough quality to be able to notice the difference. I have owned a few wired headphones and currently have HIFIMAN Arya's with a Schiit Modius/Asgard stack and they totally blow away the AirPods Max. I love my AirPods Max and they are very good for what they are, but they are not even close to a wired headphone of quality.
The sound is good enough. They are a more fun headphone. They do not do great with detail and the mids are meh, but I use them at work, not for critical listening. They are intended to be a decent, fun sounding headphone that works well within the Apple ecosystem. They are excellent at that. If you want true audiophile-like performance, you need to go wired. There is no Bluetooth headphone that can do that.
I do not agree with this at all. Nearly all music you are streaming is lossless and whatever isn't is generally a high enough quality to be able to notice the difference. I have owned a few wired headphones and currently have HIFIMAN Arya's with a Schiit Modius/Asgard stack and they totally blow away the AirPods Max. I love my AirPods Max and they are very good for what they are, but they are not even close to a wired headphone of quality.
Hi all,
Just to close the loop on this -
I placed the order for a pair in Space Grey and I've been using them for the last couple of days, and so far I'm blown away.
Build quality, sound quality (including noise cancellation), ease of use, and comfort all far surpass my Sony WH-1000XM3's. Very pleased I decided to bite the bullet.
Just to close the loop on this -
I placed the order for a pair in Space Grey and I've been using them for the last couple of days, and so far I'm blown away.
Build quality, sound quality (including noise cancellation), ease of use, and comfort all far surpass my Sony WH-1000XM3's. Very pleased I decided to bite the bullet.
lol
Aluminium and Stainless Steel always beats plastic!
I'm glad you are enjoying it.