Airpods Max for Movies TV watching. What is your experience?

[Mhotep]

Question for everyone. I've downsized and moved into a townhouse. I used to have a full surround system for watching movies and TV. I'm afraid the volume I'm used to would significantly disturb the neighbors. How is everyone's experience with Airpods Max for movie watching and TV. I have a Samsung LSP9t UST projector, and I use it. Would I need to get the newer Apple TV for the Dolby Atmos signals to go through. I'm currently using a pair of Samsung Level On Pro which do a good job, but don't do the surround effects well.

 

[bigshot]

Spatial audio sounds nothing like a 5.1 system with speakers. Not even close.

 

[turbineseaplane]

"Too much bass" was my experience with APM for Movies & TV

 

[bigshot]

The boost in the bass is all in the sub bass below 80Hz. If you pull back the far left pot in the iTunes equalizer by about -3dB, it balances the bass well.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The boost in the bass is all in the sub bass below 80Hz. If you pull back the far left pot in the iTunes equalizer by about -3dB, it balances the bass well.

How do you EQ them when using them for movies and TV content?
(on Apple TV, per the OP's description)

 

[bigshot]

Not sure about Apple TV, but there are apps for global EQ for iPhones and Macs. You could cast to the Apple TV couldn't you?

 

[Mhotep]

So I figured only way to find out was to try it. I have a non 4k Apple TV I hooked upa nd connected to a pair of Airpods Max. Overall I will say I am very impressed.. I know that this is without the Dolby Atmos and Spatial surround, I'll need a 4k Apple Tv for that. But the level of details in the stereo surround was excellent. I read mention of the bass being too much, but not to my ears. It got those low freq bass perfectly. Even had that bass rumble. I watched A Quiet Place 2 on it, and wow. The audio when the aliens attack is perfect. Will pick up a 4k ATV this weekend and try it. This just might work until I get a new place with no neighbors.

 

[Julien]

.....Will pick up a 4k ATV this weekend and try it....

Also you will need to download Beta tvOS 15. Atmos is not available in tvOS 14.x (other than the Music app).

 

[spencecb]

So I figured only way to find out was to try it. I have a non 4k Apple TV I hooked upa nd connected to a pair of Airpods Max. Overall I will say I am very impressed.. I know that this is without the Dolby Atmos and Spatial surround, I'll need a 4k Apple Tv for that. But the level of details in the stereo surround was excellent. I read mention of the bass being too much, but not to my ears. It got those low freq bass perfectly. Even had that bass rumble. I watched A Quiet Place 2 on it, and wow. The audio when the aliens attack is perfect. Will pick up a 4k ATV this weekend and try it. This just might work until I get a new place with no neighbors.

I have an Onkyo receiver which has 7.1 speakers connected to it and is Atmos compatible. I have 100% stopped listening to tv/movies through it since I bought my APM earlier this year. Is the sound the same? Definitely not, but it is very impressive, and I like the more intimate feeling of having the audio literally around my ears instead of around the room.

I do have to say that part of this is because of my media room: it has tile floor, which is common where I live, and the echos that is created makes talking hard to hear for me sometimes. So, I greatly prefer listening via headphones. Even when my husband and I are watching movies together, we usually use headphones using the "share audio" feature, which I love!

 

[JSteele]

It's not going to be as good. I have both a 5.1 and APM. The main difference is in the Bass. I lived in a townhome and had my sub-woofer off most of the time because it travels and volume levels were fairly low (so I had compression high to avoid lots of high and low volume spikes). Because of that the home theatre experience was a bit limited but still, the surrounding effects were better. The APM is ok, but it is nice to be able to have more range in the volume levels and more bass when listening to a movie. So it's more about trade-offs.

I still pick the home theatre when possible (I'm in a house now) but I use the APM when my GF goes to sleep and I honestly don't miss it or feel I'm not getting good enough sound.

 

[hellosil]

I absolutely love it! ??
I'm more engaged in movies / series this way.
Head tracking is great, I wish I bought this sooner.

I installed the tvOS 15 Beta on my Apple TV 4K (the old one) and I sometimes can't believe the audio is not playing loud in the entire room. The first few times I had to take the headphones off to check if I didn't accidentally wake up people sleeping. ?

Also I love the sound, fit and noise cancelling of the AirPods Max better than the Beats Studio 3 I had for 3+ years.