AirPods Max - First impressions, First problem.

[rogueGT]

Hi all,

finally received my space grey AirPods Max.

Agree with all the comments on this board, they sound amazing - nice and open.

Listening on Tidal - the sound quality cannot be beaten.

However, half way through a listen, i got slammed with a massive crackling (at full volume) in my left ear cup - i quickly pulled the headphones off, and i hope there isn’t any damage to my ears.

Has this happened to anyone else ?

 

[Jordan921]

Nope. I’ve had them on pretty much all day today With no issues of crackling.

 

[AppleRobert]

Did that happen listening to Tidal? That service is finicky, dropouts and what not especially with Android. I dropped it, went to Qobuz and couldn’t be happier.

 

[rogueGT]

Yes you are right - i was using Tidal , and the crackling sound did suggest that it was trying to connect / pair with the iPad Pro when doing so.

However, this is clearly a hardware failure of the APM , as there shouldn’t be such a loud crackling / static sound .

Seems like a faulty sensor which got triggered when i put the headphones on and it tried to pair / resume Tidal .

I’ve sent this back to Apple and getting a replacement sent over the next few days.

 

[JasonHB]

Did that happen listening to Tidal? That service is finicky, dropouts and what not especially with Android. I dropped it, went to Qobuz and couldn’t be happier.

This for sure, Qobuz sounds fantastic, definitely has the edge on Tidal for sound quality

Jason

 

[rogueGT]

thanks for recommending Qobuz.

I have never heard of it before. how does it compare with Tidal with regards to music collection, mixes, their algorithm, their UI ?

 

[AppleRobert]

Yes you are right - i was using Tidal , and the crackling sound did suggest that it was trying to connect / pair with the iPad Pro when doing so.

However, this is clearly a hardware failure of the APM , as there shouldn’t be such a loud crackling / static sound .

Seems like a faulty sensor which got triggered when i put the headphones on and it tried to pair / resume Tidal .

I’ve sent this back to Apple and getting a replacement sent over the next few days.

I hope it works out for you, what you described has happened to me with Tidal with various headphones so I wish you luck.

 

[AppleRobert]

thanks for recommending Qobuz.

I have never heard of it before. how does it compare with Tidal with regards to music collection, mixes, their algorithm, their UI ?

I listen strictly to jazz and classical music, Qobuz has plenty.

The UI is fine, no issues on my end with that. The sound quality is superb, I cannot get enough honestly. I spend lots of time listening, all I watch on TV is sports of which I am a fanatic. No sound, just watch the action and listen to music with Qobuz.

 

[rogueGT]

I hope it works out for you, what you described has happened to me with Tidal with various headphones so I wish you luck.

Are you saying that with various headphones you get crackling sounds from Tidal ?

or just that you have connection issues ?

I’m thinking that crackling ‘ static sounds coming from the headphones are a defective hardware issue

 

[jterp7]

Precovid youd easily walk into an apple store for them to take a look. My local stores basically require a week wait at this point which is pretty unacceptable imo...were yours from apple direct?

 

[mmomega]

Hi all,

finally received my space grey AirPods Max.

Agree with all the comments on this board, they sound amazing - nice and open.

Listening on Tidal - the sound quality cannot be beaten.

However, half way through a listen, i got slammed with a massive crackling (at full volume) in my left ear cup - i quickly pulled the headphones off, and i hope there isn’t any damage to my ears.

Has this happened to anyone else ?

I had the crackling thing, one ear only when I intially put them on. The crackling was with just switching between Transparency and Noise cancelling.
I held down the 2 buttons until they force restarted and I've never heard it since and I use them almost daily.

 

[UBS28]

Hi all,

finally received my space grey AirPods Max.

Agree with all the comments on this board, they sound amazing - nice and open.

Listening on Tidal - the sound quality cannot be beaten.

However, half way through a listen, i got slammed with a massive crackling (at full volume) in my left ear cup - i quickly pulled the headphones off, and i hope there isn’t any damage to my ears.

Has this happened to anyone else ?

Try to do a factory reset and see if the problem appears again.

I had some early bugs too but after a few factory resets, it has been working solid.

 

[rogueGT]

Precovid youd easily walk into an apple store for them to take a look. My local stores basically require a week wait at this point which is pretty unacceptable imo...were yours from apple direct?

I’m in Melbourne Australia. No i didnt’ go direct to Apple, i just got a refund on the APM, and then immediately ordered another APM Space grey. - should be arriving in 3 days.