Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Sonos Ace Headphones vs. AirPods Max

cjamescook said:
"Sound quality is similar". That's it? The key feature of any pair of headphones is the sound quality. This review details ever other feature except the sound. Where's the sound test? What instruments did you evaluate? At least publish sound curves.
Click to expand...
The key feature is sound quality, I agree. But before you can even get to sound quality, they have to be comfortable. Apple failed badly and that respect with AirPods Max. There are a small percentage of people that find them comfortable, but for most people peoples heads, they are too heavy, Clamped down too tightly on the head, and the earcups are too small and poorly positioned.

So while I agree it would be nice to know more about the sound quality, the fact that they perform similarly and are more comfortable is enough for most people.
 
Kottu said:
I bought a B&W Px7 s2 recently. It sounds better and comfortable than AirPods Max I have had for a year. To be true, I sold it because it wasn't comfortable even for two hours of use. So, in a year, I used it only 10-15 times.
Click to expand...
I also bought a pair of AirPods Max and absolutely hated the way they felt on my head. Too heavy, clamped too hard on the side of my head, earcups too small and oriented in an awkward way that rubbed my ears.

It’s shocking how Apple sometimes is so focused on the silhouette of a product, or the “quality” of the materials that they completely ignore the human ergonomics and comfort. I am a dyed in the wool Apple fanboy, but they’d need a serious redesign before I’d even consider trying AirPods Max again.

I’ve had a pair of B&W speakers for years that I really love. What do you like about those headphones?
 
torontotim said:
"Sonos' headphones are several years newer than the ‌AirPods Max‌ at this point, and battery technology has improved. The ‌AirPods Max‌ only offer 20 hours of battery life with ANC and spatial audio turned on, while the Sonos Ace offer 30 hours of battery."

This is the lamest bit of writing I've seen in a while (at least since this morning). The changes in battery technology over the last handful of years in general, likely has absolutely nothing to do with a 50% longer battery life in the Sonos vs. AirPods Max. Do you really think the Sonos is rocking some cutting edge battery that allows it a 50% improvement?

You know what other headphones have a 30 hour battery life? Sony XM3 launched 6 years ago (1200 mah)

Did Apple sponsor this comparison?

The 50% longer battery life is more likely attributable to the (golly gee!) 50% larger battery. Absolutely software, battery tech, power management blah blah blah all play into it, but fundamentally:
  • Sonos has a 1060 mah battery based on multiple sources easily found
  • AirPods Max has a 664 mah battery - also easily researched
Crappy comparison, lazy writing and making excuses for Apple's overpriced, underperforming headphones doesn't win you any points.
Click to expand...
Why do the Apple AirPods max have such a small battery? Because the rest of the headphones are so stupidly heavy, they really couldn’t afford to put a bigger battery in for fear of making them as much as a football helmet.

So yeah, I agree it’s bad writing, but you are burying the lead on why Apple had to make unnecessary design compromises.
 
sidewinder3000 said:
I also bought a pair of AirPods Max and absolutely hated the way they felt on my head. Too heavy, clamped too hard on the side of my head, earcups too small and oriented in an awkward way that rubbed my ears.

It’s shocking how Apple sometimes is so focused on the silhouette of a product, or the “quality” of the materials that they completely ignore the human ergonomics and comfort. I am a dyed in the wool Apple fanboy, but they’d need a serious redesign before I’d even consider trying AirPods Max again.

I’ve had a pair of B&W speakers for years that I really love. What do you like about those headphones?
Click to expand...
I like their sound quality (Better than APM but no Spatial Audio though)design, ability to connect two devices simultaneously (even between android and iPhone), price (PX7 S2e is better but price difference isn’t worth). When you connect with a compatible Android phone, it supports Aptx lossless audio. Airpods Max doesn’t support high res audio.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: sidewinder3000
Do they have an on/off switch? Apple's "it just works" doesn't always, and my headphones frequently get into a confused state which causes something to not work.

What I want from the next Airpods Max:

- weather resistant. It can start raining while you're outdoors.
- lossless audio
- USB C
- on/off button
- better case

And of course, better sound and noise cancelation.
 
I just got a pair of Aces. After about 30 minutes of playing with them on my iPad and iPhone, I have my conclusions vs. AirPods Max.

I'm a Sonos fan. I have an Arc, a Beam, and multiple sets of other speakers in different rooms.

I've had AirPods Max for years. I like that they automatically pair and work across my Apple devices. I like the audio sharing with other AirPods. This was something I was willing to give up if the Ace were better for me in enough other areas.

I hate the Max's weight. They're just tiring to wear for too long. I mostly use them on long flights, and they are quite possibly the least comfortable headphones I've tried in this price range. Also, my ears get hot and steamy inside the headphones, which is not fun.

On to the Ace. The white looks great—not cheap-looking at all, unlike the black, which looked cheap to me. I love the lighter weight and softer feel on my ears and head compared to APM. They're not too loose, not too tight. The Ace are comfy, and I could immediately imagine happily wearing these for hours and on long flights.

The Ace ANC is amazing; I believe it's better than the Max, although I never had complaints about Max's noise canceling. The buttons are thoughtfully placed and easy to use to change volume and or skip forward or backward. The button presses are a bit soft and muddy, and especially the multi-function volume/playback button sounds very loose and plasticky when I let it go.

But here's where it falls apart. I thought the Max's audio quality was fine but never outstanding. Now, stacked up against the Ace, the APM is head and shoulders above the Ace for me.

For music, spoken voice, and movies, I find the Max much better. The Max is just much brighter. The most telling test was playing Dune 2 on my iPad. The dialogue and small audio details come out cleanly with the APM, even in action sequences in Dune 2, despite lots of deep booms and background noise. By comparison, the Ace sounds muddy, and the audio lacks definition and clean separation between sounds. It left me wondering if somehow the Sonos are not using the right codec or Bluetooth spec or something because they're just significantly worse and extremely noticeable when swapping them back to back on the same audio source.

And back to connectivity. The Ace can multi-connect to two devices only. My APM already seamlessly swaps between my iPhone, iPad, multiple Macs, and even my Apple TV. Having only two devices paired to quick-switch is just not good enough if there's nothing outstanding for me with the Ace, especially with audio.

My testing was done via Bluetooth, as I know I won't realistically plug in anything in real-world usage. I did the Day 1 update on the Ace before I did any testing.

I wanted to love the Ace, given my comfort complaints about the APM, but in the end, I find that ONLY the comfort (and maybe ANC) is better on the Ace, and they're simply worse in multiple other areas. I'll be returning the Ace.
 
basicuser said:
I just sold my AirPods Max for these. I’d had the AirPods Max since 2021, but I just didn’t wear them much because the headband wasn’t comfortable for me. I tried third party accessories to soften the headband to varying degrees of success. In the end I was frequently just grabbing my Beats Fit Pro for the comfort and portability.

I do have a Sonos Arc. I’m happy that I will be able to replicate the quick connecting of AirPods Max with my Apple TV. The only thing I know will not be as good is the device switching, but there is Bluetooth multipoint which supports two devices as once. That won’t be as good as the H1 chip probably but in the end if I’m not wearing them they were not working for me. I also was getting tired of the lightening cable and the battery draining sleep mechanism.

I will say my AirPods Max did hold up well and had great construction. They looked just like when I bought them. But again I did not wear them as much as they deserved.
Click to expand...

I ended up returning them due to terrible sound quality. The difference in sound quality between them and APM is significant. The What Hifi review got it right. Most of the reviews are from techies and not audio pros.
 
  • Like
Reactions: joshmcx
basicuser said:
I ended up returning them due to terrible sound quality. The difference in sound quality between them and APM is significant. The What Hifi review got it right. Most of the reviews are from techies and not audio pros.
Click to expand...
100% my experience. I'm a bit shocked by the positive reviews given the poor sound quality I experienced.
 
  • Love
Reactions: turbineseaplane
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back