I have many sets of headphones, some very nice ones, and these stand alone in terms of being something different - there is so much tech jammed into these, it makes them very different than anything else on the market.
Sound - Sound quality on these is very good, very clean. Personally I'd like a lot more bass, but even someone who isn't a basshead would still probably like more bass. They're not weak or anything on the low end side, and booming bass is there, it's just too much in the background for my tastes. If stupid iOS just gave you an EQ, you could probably easily fix this, and some of the sound profiles you do get can hep, but for the love of everything, just give me a stupid EQ so I can choose the sound I want. In any case, again, the sound is very good, very clean. I'd say it's pretty easily better than my Bose QC25 but not on-par with my Beyerdynamic DT 990 open backed headphones (which I still think are the best headphones I've heard and I've compared them against sets costing well over $1k). But these headphones are about a lot more than sound, and that's why they go up to 5-stars...
Sound Field/Stage - The sound stage on these, the openness of the sound, is amazing for closed back headphones. When you're playing music that supports Apples spatial sound (everything in Apple Music for example) it's incredible, it really feels/sounds natural a lot of the time. I've used other 'virtual surround' garbage, and it's terrible, but whatever Apple is doing, it works. My favorite thing is that you can set your phone in front of you, then walk around, and it sounds like the sound is coming from the direction of the iPhone, so it gives you this incredible sense of space (and it does not hurt the sound quality - for most music it sounds better in my opinion). This is something you really have to experience to understand as I don't know of anyone else that does this - and it's really impressive in person.
Noise Cancelling - Absolutely top notch. Between the good fit of the headphones and the actual tech, you can block out a ton of stuff, they work better than my Bose QC25's, that still were best in class as of a year ago. Also, for the cry babies, I do not notice the pressure effect - it might be there still, but it's not nearly as noticeable as the Bose.
Battery Life - Seems to be excellent. Only downside is it uses an iPhone plug, not USB C. I still have and need an iPhone plug so it's not a huge deal at the moment, but for the future, when it's all USB C, this is going to become a pain.
Comfort - It's pretty comfortable. I heard lots of people say these are big and heavy and uncomfortable, and while they are big and heavy, for me at least they're pretty comfortable. Those Beyerdynamic DT 990 are amazingly comfortable, can wear them for hours, that's not the case here. But compared to my Bose QC25, I can wear the AirPods Max for longer without any issues. Still, it's not like the comfort of earbuds, which I can wear all day, but for big over the ear headphones, the Max's are pretty good.
Build Quality - Top notch in my opinion, make everything else I've ever used, anything else I've ever even tried, feel plasticky and cheap.
Wireless - No lag, no drops, works great. I wish they had upped the bandwidth so you could carry stuff like fully uncompressed audio, like blu-ray audio, but probably have to wait for V2 for that. With that said, I've never really noticed anything, everything sounds full with no compression. Obviously that isn't the case, but just saying, I do not notice any negatives as far as wireless goes.
Overall, 5-stars. The sound, with less bass than I'd like and with no EQ in iOS, only gets 4-stars, but the other features make these unique and quite amazing. The spatial sound is what makes these special, and you can't get that with any other over the ear headphones, and it works remarkably well. I think it uses actual head movement for tracking, so it's not just a software gimmick they can do on any other headphones (I think that's the case), but it' something you need to hear in person to appreciate.
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Compare Apple AirPods
| Price | From: $499.00 | From: $69.99 | From: $129.99 | From: $179.99 |
| Ratings | (3,079) | (622,810) | (1,119) | (2,867) |
| Fit | Customizable | Universal | Universal | Customizable |
| Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode |
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| Chip | Apple H1 headphone chip (each ear cup) | Apple H1 headphone chip | Apple H1 headphone chip | Apple H2 headphone chip, U1 chip in charging case for Precision Finding |
| Hey Siri | Always on | Always on | Always on | Always on |
| Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking |
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| Battery life (listening time on one charge) | Up to 20 hours of listening time | Up to 5 hours of listening time | Up to 6 hours of listening time | Up to 6 hours of listening time |
| Battery life (listening time with charging case) | - | More than 24-hours | Up to 30-hours | Up to 30-hours |
| Bluetooth |
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| LED Charging Light Location | - | Top of Case | Front of case | Front of case |
| Qi Compatible | - | - | - |
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| Adaptive EQ |
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| Case | Smart Case | Lightning Charging Case | Lightning Charging Case | MagSafe Charging Case (USB-C) with speaker and lanyard loop |
Reviews with images
I love them sooooooo much
The sound on here are like sumthing I’ve never heard before the noise canceling on these are incredible And the transparency is amazing. Don’t let anyone else tell you different get these now and they can so fast they are worth the $522 dollars I spent they charge fast and u can listen to stuff with them literally all day without changing them super easy to connect to your phone or iPad without have to do extra stuff they are kinda heavy but wen u put them on it doesn’t make my head hurt or even feel heavy they super comfortable the ear cuffs are super soft. I slept in these forgot I was still wearing them. That’s how comfortable they are. and they are small head, friendly, and big head friendly
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2021
Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024
Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
The sound on here are like sumthing I’ve never heard before the noise canceling on these are incredible And the transparency is amazing. Don’t let anyone else tell you different get these now and they can so fast they are worth the $522 dollars I spent they charge fast and u can listen to stuff with them literally all day without changing them super easy to connect to your phone or iPad without have to do extra stuff they are kinda heavy but wen u put them on it doesn’t make my head hurt or even feel heavy they super comfortable the ear cuffs are super soft. I slept in these forgot I was still wearing them. That’s how comfortable they are. and they are small head, friendly, and big head friendly
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2023
Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Max
Excelente calidad y condicion
Reviewed in Mexico on March 26, 2024Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Max
Reviewed in Mexico on March 26, 2024
Images in this review
Gloria
Hermosos
Reviewed in Mexico on June 14, 2024Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Gonzalo Tong
Not a single regret
Reviewed in Canada on January 22, 2024Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Denisse
Están hermosos pero no son indispensables
Reviewed in Mexico on April 2, 2024Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Miguel Maldonado Silva
Unos audífonos para fans
Reviewed in Mexico on May 14, 2021Color: GreenSet: Without AppleCare+Verified Purchase
Miguel Maldonado Silva
Reviewed in Mexico on May 14, 2021
Lo que no me gustó fue el peso, tardarás en acostumbrarte si vienes de unos audífonos mas ligeros, Y con el uso de lentes 🤓 al principio no molesta, pero después de un tiempo incomoda y necesitarás quitártelos por momentos.
Escucho música desde apple 🍎 music y puedo decir que la calidad de audio es buena, si tienes unos Sony o Bose no encontraras nada extraordinario, el valor agregado de los AirPod Max es el audio espacial. Lo que he podido apreciar es que puedes identificar con mayor claridad los instrumentos musicales y no se distorsiona el sonido cuando subes a tope el volumen.
Cada quien decide si comprarlos o no, si te gusta la marca y tienes el ecosistema, adelante. A mi gusto, mis audífonos favoritos seguirán siendo los Bose QC35 II
Images in this review
