AirPods Max: Unboxing and Thoughts

I'm just a couple of minutes in and wow! You have to spend money on the brick/plug and if you want a wire to plug into your laptop/computer, you've got to pay for that too, what a gready company.

I still want to check them out, I'm willing to pay a lot for these things, when I can. Expect to pay a lot in the apple ecosystem.

Great podcast! It left me wishing I could check them out, but they're way beyond my means and I can see how they wouldn't be right for me. I love my wired ear pods, but I'm beginning to accept that the time will come when I'll have to go wireless, and I hope I won't lose them!

Nice podcast, but as the title says, I'd never pay for something that expensive which doesn't even come with a p2 cable.

I would, maybe. it is the future, and you have to go with the future, or get left behind. I'm saving up for a new watch 6 next year as my 3, even though it's good, I'm missing out on features such as the new voices, the hearing health app, the bluetooth in the control center, and so much more. I want to one day get a pair of airpods pro and max, not at the same time of corse.

After reading and listening to several articles and reviews, I believe I will get a pare of these. Not any time really soon, as $550 isn't in the budget at the moment, but eventually. I know that some say that these are not worth $550. To many people, I'm sure they truly aren't. Concerning something like this, worth is a very subjective concept and varies a lot from person to person. I remember that when the original AirPods came out, I said that they were the same as the wired EarPods, except without the wires, and, while the EarPods were my favorite earbuds, I felt it wasn't worth paying roughly 9 times the price just to get rid of the wires. After a couple years, I did try them and I promptly changed my mind. Concerning the AirPods Max, depending on what someone is using them for and how important various features are to them, I can see where some, with very good reason, would not be willing to pay $550 when they can get something similar from Sony for half the price. I am totally immersed in the Apple ecosystem. I use over ear headphones with my Mac, all day every day. I tend to hang on to tech for many many years. For me, I think the price tag will be worth it.

I also try and hang on to my tech for years. My MBAir is 6 years old and finally dying a very not so violent death. My 4 was 4 years old when I switched to my 6S. I got a 10 r 3 yeaas after my 6. lol! I just hope these are rugged.

Thank you so much for making this recording for all of us... finally a recording from a blind users point of view on these headphones. :-)

Hi Tom.

It is always a pleasure to listen to your . . ., well, everything! In this AirPods Max podcast, You really caught my attention every time you mentioned hearing aids. I wear hearing aids, and in my recording studio I use a pair of Bose Comfort 35's, which very closely cover my ears and cause a lot of hearing aid feedback, despite noise cancellation. From what you said in your podcast, it sounds like these new Max headphones from Apple do not cause hearing aid feedback. Is this true?

So, if so, would you attribute this fact to the AirPods Max noise cancellation, to how open and wide the ear cuffs are covering the ears, or to both? And in your opinion (or experience), would professional model headphones with noise cancellation and wide spaced ear cuffs also not cause feedback? Believe me, I'm very mindful of the Apple ecosystem points you made, and since my hearing isn't all that great anyway, I might go for the AirPods Max for that reason alone, assuming they really don't cause hearing aid feedback. My hearing aids are MFI Resound Cala's that are now more than 4 years old.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Thanks again for your podcasts!

Bruce Harrell

Hello everybody. I understand some people's situation but Airpod max is not for everyone. are totally suitable for me and it will satisfy my needs for sure. have a great day and thank you for the fabulous podcast!

I believe there will come a time when the price is reduced. look at the home pod for an example of this. there once was a time when I said I would not own a home pod. I have one now Time will tail if I own these or not. we will wait-and-see. They sound rather amazing.

Three reasons why I won't buy these. Well, okay, other than the crazy ridiculous price.

1. From my understanding, the case doesn't even offer any protection to anything but the earcups.

2. Even when they are in the case, there is no way to power off the AirPods Max. Really? What rocket scientist thought that was a good idea?

3. I find the fact that you have to pay extra to the tune of $35.00 if you want to use these wired insulting. When you're spending $550 for a pair of headphones, the fact a company makes you pay extra to enjoy them wired is ... well, you read my thoughts already.

All that being said, I've heard some sound samples from these and I will say that they sound extremely pleasing. While I could afford them, I will not for the reasons listed above. I went with a pair for half the price with active noise cancelling to match this pair.

The great thing is we have choices.

Peace to all.

Hi Bruce,

Yes, I do wear hearing aids in both ears. My set of aids are currently the Phonak which are about 3 years old. Nothing fancy about them as they don't have an app like the newer models do. The Bose in general is tight fitting and leave absolutely zero room the aids to work as efficiently. The Apple AirPods Max are roomier. I have a bit more space around the ear itself and the cup are deeper. I have absolutely no feedback whatsoever, but I worked hard with my audiologist to make that happen. In short, I was able to take my headphones to the audiologist. I wore them and she was able to run some sort of feedback software on her end to cancel out the feedback that I was having. So, you may need to do the same. Just depends if your audiologist and the type of hearing aids that you have can do the similar test that I was able to do. The amazing part of these headphones is the fact how much clearer the audio was. As mentioned in the podcast I was able to make out things I have never heard before. That alone was huge for me. The transparent mode was just a bonus to hear things on top of what I can hear with my aids. The question do I think it’s the noise cancellation plus the roomier cups that made the difference? The larger cup does for sure, but I think it was also the fact it was the feedback tests that I had that nailed the final nail for my experience. Do the more expensive studio headphones offer a bigger cup? That just depends on the brand and models. Some are and some aren't. These are bigger than the Bose and Sony that I own. They are also much clearer for sure.

Also, thank you and all for the kind words on the podcast. I am just happy to hear those have enjoyed it and found it useful to listen.

HTH,
Thomas

This is an excellent podcast. I will definitely be buying these wonderful Apple AirPods Max. your podcast is very enjoyable and quite informative. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.
Stay safe and have a wonderful day.

It sounds as though the audio latency when connecting via bluetooth is very low, as it is with regular AirPods. What about when connecting via wire? I know that, generally, when connecting headphones via wire, there is no latency. However, in the review, Thomas said that they do not work with a wired connection when the battery is dead. This could be indicative of several things but it could mean that there is some digital processing, even when using a wire, and this could introduce some latency. Also concerning this subject, could Thomas or someone else who has a set of AirPods Max confirm that they in fact do not work via wire when the battery is dead? A YouTube review that I listened to said that they do work via wire when the battery is dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzstD1Z4avM