Anyone using AirPods Max as a work headset?

[TJ82]

Would love something more interesting than my Plantronics one ear bluetooth headset, but it would have to have really clear for voice. The mic would have to be great too.

Had anyone used it as a headset for work, ie. Zooms and Teams etc, or maybe some streamers have used it enough to have an opinion on it as a workhorse. Being able to have some headset that's great for work and listening to music and audiobooks would be amazing, especially if it's stylish too.

 

[wlossw]

The biggest issue for me with the max is just how sweaty it makes me ears after more than 20 minutes. Im talking swamp like.

 

[jazz1]

Would love something more interesting than my Plantronics one ear bluetooth headset, but it would have to have really clear for voice. The mic would have to be great too.

Had anyone used it as a headset for work, ie. Zooms and Teams etc, or maybe some streamers have used it enough to have an opinion on it as a workhorse. Being able to have some headset that's great for work and listening to music and audiobooks would be amazing, especially if it's stylish too.

I use my for telephone conversations all of the time, and for FaceTime. I ask, and people tell me it sounds great. I also love the different modes that also me to isolate outside noise, or let it in. I have yet to use it with Zoom or Teams.

 

[TJ82]

The biggest issue for me with the max is just how sweaty it makes me ears after more than 20 minutes. Im talking swamp like.

Well that sounds great!

I use my for telephone conversations all of the time, and for FaceTime. I ask, and people tell me it sounds great. I also love the different modes that also me to isolate outside noise, or let it in. I have yet to use it with Zoom or Teams.

Since posting Q originally I read something saying that sound gets converted to 16bit on Zoom and Teams or any computer app and it sounds crap! So being extremely cautious about this one - could be great for music but just as pitiful as a cheap Amazon brand headset for Zoom.

 

[johntw]

I use it with my MacBook Air and iPad Pro to take Zoom/Google Meet calls. I also occasionally use them for phone calls. Mainly if I am already wearing them to listen to music/tv shows. Otherwise, I prefer AirPods (gen 2) for most calls. But APM work very well.

 

[jazz1]

Interesting you should say this. Today while using the AirPods Max with FaceTime on my M1 MacMini, my friend said I didn't sound good. In the past he and other friends said it sounded good. I wonder if my HomePod Minis stereo pair are messing with my M1 MacMini connection?

 

[NastyMatt]

I don't own APM so do not use them for work, but I do use headphones a LOT for work. I average 45-55 meetings a week so have my headphones on all day most days. I am not recommending my headphones (Steel Series Arctis 7) but several of the features they have that I could not live without:

• Mic mute button. I love to pace up and down while talking (helps me think) so need to be able to mute the mic when not near the pc
• Side tone. Being able to hear my own voice when talking, over ear headphones can sometimes mean I am loud if I can not hear my own voice
• Power button. Subjective I know but I need to turn them fully off.
• Super comfortable, again subjective - some say APM are super comfortable but they really need to be if you wear them for 8-10 hours straight.
• Decent range - I would imagine the APM have a decent range - I can walk around most of my house with the 2.4ghz connectivity.

 

[johntw]

Interesting you should say this. Today while using the AirPods Max with FaceTime on my M1 MacMini, my friend said I didn't sound good. In the past he and other friends said it sounded good. I wonder if my HomePod Minis stereo pair are messing with my M1 MacMini connection?

M1 MacBook’s can have wonky Bluetooth. I recommend turning off Handoff. It seems to drastically improve the quality of all my Bluetooth connections, especially for using AirPods during calls. Link to article about it.

 

[jazz1]

M1 MacBook’s can have wonky Bluetooth. I recommend turning off Handoff. It seems to drastically improve the quality of all my Bluetooth connections, especially for using AirPods during calls. Link to article about it.

Many thanks! I also have my iPhone nearby. So maybe that is the problem with the sound quality via my M1 MacMini.

 

[Analog Kid]

Would love something more interesting than my Plantronics one ear bluetooth headset, but it would have to have really clear for voice. The mic would have to be great too.

Had anyone used it as a headset for work, ie. Zooms and Teams etc, or maybe some streamers have used it enough to have an opinion on it as a workhorse. Being able to have some headset that's great for work and listening to music and audiobooks would be amazing, especially if it's stylish too.

I've used them for calls in a pinch, but nothing beats the original AirPods as a headset for me. The APMs sound good, and I'm told my audio is clear, but they cover my ears and affect how my own voice sounds back to me. The APPs go in my ears and affect how I sound to myself. The original AirPods are light, clear, have good mics and let me hear enough of myself that I sound normal to me.

 

[TJ82]

I've used them for calls in a pinch, but nothing beats the original AirPods as a headset for me. The APMs sound good, and I'm told my audio is clear, but they cover my ears and affect how my own voice sounds back to me. The APPs go in my ears and affect how I sound to myself. The original AirPods are light, clear, have good mics and let me hear enough of myself that I sound normal to me.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense, except I wonder how much of a difference it makes to other listeners. We have two people who use gaming headsets and they're both by far the best sounding on Teams. They have deep, rich voices and super clear. I'd love to get their sound somehow, but without the full on 'streamer' look.

I know how I sound on my AirPods - slightly distant and a bit thin, but still much preferable to the robotic sound of Plantronics. Was thinking to get the AirPods Pro funnily enough, but don't know if there is any kind of mic upgrade on them.

 

[NastyMatt]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense, except I wonder how much of a difference it makes to other listeners. We have two people who use gaming headsets and they're both by far the best sounding on Teams. They have deep, rich voices and super clear. I'd love to get their sound somehow, but without the full on 'streamer' look.

I know how I sound on my AirPods - slightly distant and a bit thin, but still much preferable to the robotic sound of Plantronics. Was thinking to get the AirPods Pro funnily enough, but don't know if there is any kind of mic upgrade on them.

This is why I have 'sidetone' as a requirement for my headsets - it allows me to hear my own voice as those on the call/meeting hear it.

 

[Taco1933]

Yeah, but I guess I don't really pay much attention to how other people sound (other than the guy that uses his podcast rig when working from home, he sounds great). I've had no complaints.

If you're used to over ear headphones, I don't think these have anything weird about them for longterm wear. They aren't unusually hot and I don't find them unusually uncomfortable. I've never found a pair of over ears where I didn't need a break every couple hours. These are no different. YMMV. The one thing that is different from my other ones is that these leak sound at non-earsplitting levels. How much that matters depends on your listening volume and office layout.

 

[makingmark]

Sadly I think Airpods Max are *terrible* as a work headset. Why? It's what others have mentioned: they have no sidetone. Yes, you can turn on transparency mode, but then you let in noise as well as your voice. With noise cancelling on, your own voice is blocked from getting back to your ears - and so you sound completely muffled to yourself. Yes, you can make a call that way, but personally I find it very unpleasant. Everyone else sounds normal, but I sound like I'm in a coffin. Sounds unnatural and makes it difficult to modulate your voice (know how loud you are).

I was very disappointed by this. Apple makes phones. Why they wouldn't have sidetone for conversations regardless of noise cancelling makes no sense. Bose does it - I know this from the QC35ii I own as well as the NC700 I tried. The Max has notably, keep-worth better sound than either of those for music and media. But sadly I still need a Bose for work.

I don't know why no reviewers seem to have noticed or mentioned this. I'm mystified that so few people seem to know what sidetone is. I've even read that some people hate it! I'm really not that old, but my hypothesis is that younger people who never used a landline phone are used to not being able to hear themselves.

 

[makingmark]

Sadly I think Airpods Max are *terrible* as a work headset.

This was a bit of a hot take. I will correct myself and say they aren’t the best because of lack of sidetone. However, I have been researching this issue and have turned up people saying you can get used to it. So I've tried more work calls on the Max.

While I can't say yet that I'd get so used to it that I'd give up my Bose headphones with sidetone, it doesn't feel as bad as it first did.

Incidentally, the Airpods Pro have Custom Transparency settings in Headphone Accomodations (Accessability > Audio/Visual) that let you suppress ambient noise, change the tone and amplification of pass-through sound, and turn on a setting intended to focus the mikes on conversation in front of you. I would think Apple will add these settings to the Max at some point. That said, playing with them on the Pro, I didn't find them to suppress enough ambient noise in the same frequency range as voices. But maybe the Max would do it better with its greater mike count.

 

[Htsi]

Don’t think they are too good for extended wear times. They get sweaty / condensation quick. They are comfy though, and if you can set them down in regular intervals should be fine.

 

[robotica]

I’ve been using my Sennheiser 599 and a boom pro style mic that cost £10 from Amazon for the last 2 years and it’s been working great. Much better than the crap work provided. They are open back headphones and are very comfortable for long wear and I’ve not had any complaints about the mic, some calls I am on for several hours a day. This is a wired solution but has a mute switch and physical volume controls.
Have APM as well and wouldn’t use them for work. Great for my personal listing though!

 

[DrFunkelstein]

I like using my APM for work as I'm frequently switching between my MacBook Air and my iPhone for calls during the workday. The ability to seamlessly move between devices is nice. I used to use AirPod Pros but even with transparency mode I found them uncomfortable to leave in and taking them out/putting them in over and over became kind of a chore. The APM are more comfy for extended use and easier to remove and put on than the Pros for me.

Microphone sucks when using zoom/teams though, so I have to switch to using the laptop mic when using those apps.

 

[Nebrie]

I tried the APM but the mic quality was not up to my expectations. At the moment, I'm using a Corsair Virtuoso XT with the lighting effects turned off. It has the best headset mic of all gaming headsets but doesn't look like one (once you turn the lighting off). The Mac software is hot garbage tho.

 

[sportykid2332]

Having some issues so thought I'd ask on this thread. I use my M1 MBA in clamshell mode and plugged into my monitor/webcam setup. I like using the APM for meetings (Zoom/Google Hangout) but I'm getting feedback that my mic audio quality is very poor. I've tried resetting the bluetooth module and messing with settings but no luck. Since I'm in clamshell mode, using the Mac mic isn't ideal. Any solutions other than using another external mic?

 

[ignatius345]

Sadly I think Airpods Max are *terrible* as a work headset. Why? It's what others have mentioned: they have no sidetone. Yes, you can turn on transparency mode, but then you let in noise as well as your voice. With noise cancelling on, your own voice is blocked from getting back to your ears - and so you sound completely muffled to yourself. Yes, you can make a call that way, but personally I find it very unpleasant.

Yeah, sidetone is incredibly important! For a long time I didn't know why isolated headsets were so ghastly to talk on, but it's very noticible. I make do on my AirPods Max by using transparency mode and it's fine -- but making a phone call with noise cancellation without that horrible "dead voice" feeling (no side tone) would be incredible.

 

[ignatius345]

I would love to use my AirPods Max for work calls, but the work account on my Mac is a different Apple ID than my own and I cannot, no matter how hard I try, get that account to "see" the APM at all. I can connect to the machine on my main user account (the one the APM are attached to) but the moment I switch accounts they just disconnect immediately and don't show up in Bluetooth or anywhere else.

I've tried resetting them a million times, deleting them from Bluetooth on my Mac, etc, but no matter what they just don't appear.

 

[makingmark]

Having some issues so thought I'd ask on this thread. I use my M1 MBA in clamshell mode and plugged into my monitor/webcam setup. I like using the APM for meetings (Zoom/Google Hangout) but I'm getting feedback that my mic audio quality is very poor. I've tried resetting the bluetooth module and messing with settings but no luck. Since I'm in clamshell mode, using the Mac mic isn't ideal. Any solutions other than using another external mic?

My company uses WebEx Teams and I haven't heard complaints when using APM. It could be that WT is better than Zoom/Hangout and that's just that. But my idea for you is: can you start a meeting just with you, record it, and fiddle with those programs' audio settings, then review the recording? I think this should help you hear what others are hearing and I did this myself with WT comparing APM and Bose QC35.

 

[makingmark]

I would love to use my AirPods Max for work calls, but the work account on my Mac is a different Apple ID than my own and I cannot, no matter how hard I try, get that account to "see" the APM at all. I can connect to the machine on my main user account (the one the APM are attached to) but the moment I switch accounts they just disconnect immediately and don't show up in Bluetooth or anywhere else.

I've tried resetting them a million times, deleting them from Bluetooth on my Mac, etc, but no matter what they just don't appear.

My company really locks down iCloud stuff, I don't see any benefit to logging in with any Apple ID (even a work-specific one). I just connect from my work Mac bluetooth menu.

Personally I find Connectivity (switching bluetooth connections automatically) buggy. Possibly because I connect to work in this way. But I think frankly I'd prefer multi-point (2 devices at once). As I alluded to earlier, for now I am keeping my QC35ii to use with work. They just have better features for calls. Specifically: mute from headset, sidetone (adjustable too!), and sidetone with ANC enabled. In Apple AirPod speak, that last would be something like Active Noice Cancellation with Conversation Transparency. Which duh c'mon Apple! If Bose can do it you can.

That said, my idea for you is, perhaps what you want would work if you log in with your personal account. Now, I know there's a lot of stuff on the web about how that's a bad idea. Here's the thing - if you want to avoid mixing work and personal, just make sure all boxes are unchecked (Messages, iCloud Drive, FindMy, etc.) in System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud. The reason what you want doesn't work with work Apple ID is your APM can only associate to one ID, which right now is your personal account.

 

[makingmark]

I like using my APM for work as I'm frequently switching between my MacBook Air and my iPhone for calls during the workday. The ability to seamlessly move between devices is nice. I used to use AirPod Pros but even with transparency mode I found them uncomfortable to leave in and taking them out/putting them in over and over became kind of a chore. The APM are more comfy for extended use and easier to remove and put on than the Pros for me.

Microphone sucks when using zoom/teams though, so I have to switch to using the laptop mic when using those apps.

DrF, does your muffled self voice not bother you? Or do you just use them in Transparency mode only?

I'd actually be really curious to know someone who isn't bothered by hearing others clearly, but hearing yourself muffled. After multiple work and personal conversations using my APM in ANC mode, my sentiment is:

• For group calls where I'm only speaking occasionally, mostly listening - APM in ANC mode are acceptable. The muffled self-voice is tolerable because in this situation, it's not frequent.
• For 1:1 calls where I'm speaking roughly 50% of time - APM in ANC mode are unbearable. I will only use them in Transparency mode - which means, I don't use them because I might as well just use speakerphone if I don't need to block out ambient noise.