Only Apple would make headphones without a headphone jack, without a power switch, with cloth that will get dirty, worn out, and hard to clean, and cripple the control of your music when you use their $35 wired cable for better audio.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
You nailed it with this review. Mediocre sound quality (typical of all Apple sound products) and not good enough to justify the $549 price. Apple could have had something if they were $349 or less to compete with Bose and Sony, but no audiophile will buy these headphones if that was the market they were hoping for. Audiophiles or recording artists do not listen to Bluetooth audio.
From what I understand they don't auto switch to your Mac without a confirmation dialog though they will transparently switch between iOS/iPadOS devices automagically (unless disabled in the configuration).
Glad you're happy with your MX3s ... and glad you're happy with your confirmation bias.
I've tried neither MX3s or the AirPods Max - though I'm sure we share that trait for the latter (despite your evaluation).
Unfortunately, I can't try my AirPods Max until March because of the all other poor deluded fools who overcame their hesitation over the price more quickly than I.
FWIW, most reviews I've read (or heard) place these bluetooth headphones at the top of the stack, as you'd expect from the price tag.
I think Apple has lost their way here. While the integration into the Apple ecosystem is great, the price is simply a money grab and an insult to the Apple faithful.
Been hearing this same tired old line since Apple decided to remove the floppy disc from the Mac, then after they removed the CD-ROM, then after they removed mic jacks, yada, yada, yada .....
Totally different. This is more like the Cube than those forward-looking decisions.
“ AirPods Max are available to purchase at leading Apple resellers like Amazon, Adorama...” LOL. “Adorama”. If you order from this company (co-signed by AI), expect your headphones by maybe summer 2021. Maybe. Still waiting on my HomePod mini that AI convinced me to buy from them because of the $10 discount. Adorama went AWOL so who knows if it’ll ever come.
I agree this is a balanced review. I just don't know who this product is for, exactly. They aren't good enough for audiophiles. They are too expensive for most consumers. It would seem to be for people like those who run AI---tech professionals, but not necessarily A/V professionals. I know that as a trained musician, my original AirPods and even my $100 Raycon buds are fine for me. If I want something better, I'd go with AirPods Pro. Why do I need over the ear headphones? And as the review states, if you're in that price range, there are better options.
This isn't an Apple Doom™ post, because I tend not to do those. But I do think we're seeing a pattern here. They eliminated the charging block from the Phones and introduced the separate MagSafe charger, which doesn't include the USB-C brick. They introduced the overpriced and questionable-durability MagSafe Duo charger. Then the AirPods Max. Not only are there some odd design caveats, but Apple seems to be charging a premium for niche products that aren't necessarily top of the line. I've got to question the wisdom of that during a pandemic, or really any time. This is in contrast with most of their products, which are typically premium, even if not chock full of the latest features and/or gimmicks. The iPhone is the best smartphone for my money. Ditto on the iPad for tablets. My MBP is 5 years old and going strong in all aspects. AirPods Pro are some of the best wireless buds you can buy. But this pattern of products seems....different.
Best non-biased review I’ve read here in a long time. For a couple hundred more you could get a pair of B&W P9. I think Apple has lost their way here. While the integration into the Apple ecosystem is great, the price is simply a money grab and an insult to the Apple faithful.
lol. You can mad-lib this and see the same comment over decades of Apple releases. So much for losing its way.
Spent a half hour in an Apple Store picking out a watch (the preferred band OOS, so no sale in the end). Anyway, the whole time nobody ventured to the airpods max table at the front of the store. I asked the young geek serving me if the are selling any, and he looked over his face mask at me and said “Apple Airpods Max is selling well I understand”. I smirked beneath my mask.
Best non-biased review I’ve read here in a long time. For a couple hundred more you could get a ________________. I think Apple has lost their way here. While the integration into the Apple ecosystem is great, the price is simply a money grab and an insult to the Apple faithful.
I feel as if I’ve read this exact sentence 1976 times.
Apple. Losing their way since 1976™
Hyperbole much? He / She is obviously talking about the AirPods Max and not Apple as a company. Apple is not infallible. They have had product failures in their 40+ years as a company.
Quite so.
Newton, Pippin, Mac Cube, 2013 Mac Pro, HomePod and now these Airpods Max.
The key features in these products’ downfall are a hubristic mix of excessive design engineering forgetting about intersecting with function; and an excessive price for what it is.
Only Apple would make headphones without a headphone jack, without a power switch, with cloth that will get dirty, worn out, and hard to clean, and cripple the control of your music when you use their $35 wired cable for better audio.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
You nailed it with this review. Mediocre sound quality (typical of all Apple sound products) and not good enough to justify the $549 price. Apple could have had something if they were $349 or less to compete with Bose and Sony, but no audiophile will buy these headphones if that was the market they were hoping for. Audiophiles or recording artists do not listen to Bluetooth audio.
Correct.. Audiphiles and recording artists use more expensive wired headphones. This headphone is not remotely geared toward an Audiophile or professional sound engineer. I don't care what the sticker shock is over the 549 price tag, they simply aren't made for those critical or professional listening use cases. They also couldn't price them at $299.00-$349.00 as that directly competes with Beats. So I can understand the price bump in that regard.
Apple is trying to compete with MontBlanc MB-01's or Master and Dynamic MW65's at this price point.. Not Sony or Bose.. Unfortunately they don't sound good enough for the comparison they are going for with the price.
Here is a great review .. Audiophile honest analysis and breakdown.
I was really looking forward to these.. I was open to the price if the
sound quality justified it. I love how my Airpods pro sound and work with my
devices ( auto switching, call quality and spatial audio ) and I wanted
the option going with over ears when I wanted to give my ear canals a break.. or wanted bigger better sound. With reviews like these it makes it harder and harder to justify spending this amount of money for these.
More indication that Jonny I’ve isn’t at the helm anymore.
You seem to forget some of the massive Embarrassments coming from Johnny times... ( mac pro, Pencil/iPad charging solution, magic mouse charging solution, Apple TV remote, the whole ios low contrast ui initiative, 4g cube, hockey puck mouse...... )
Forget the case.. look at the headphones... they are by far the nicest headphone design i have come across .. ever.!
Sounds to me like the reviewer owns a pair of headphones which boost bass, is used to and likes the sound, and that's just not what the AirPods Pro do.
If you browse the net and read the reviews, a lot of folks are having serious trouble divorcing the price from the performance - which is understandable. Most are pleased with the instrument and vocal separation, soundstage, and quality though. Spacial audio sounds especially intriguing - I hope they come out with a new Apple TV capable of delivering that feature as well for the living room.
Fortunately, in 2014 I recognized that I was spending waaayyy too much coin on my Apple habit, and threw a few bucks into Apple stock to help defray my relatively expensive habit. Dropping out of Apple at $310 until it fell to $250 near the start of the pandemic helped too as well as the 4:1 split.
Anyway, since that time I've retired and get a lot less flack from my wife over my Apple purchases, and I can (at least in my own mind) rationalize characterize some of my purchases as research - though when they arrive around Febrary/March I'm sure I'll be deliberately vague as to their true cost 😇.
Only Apple would make headphones without a headphone jack, without a power switch, with cloth that will get dirty, worn out, and hard to clean, and cripple the control of your music when you use their $35 wired cable for better audio.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
You nailed it with this review. Mediocre sound quality (typical of all Apple sound products) and not good enough to justify the $549 price. Apple could have had something if they were $349 or less to compete with Bose and Sony, but no audiophile will buy these headphones if that was the market they were hoping for. Audiophiles or recording artists do not listen to Bluetooth audio.
Correct.. Audiphiles and recording artists use more expensive wired headphones. This headphone is not remotely geared toward an Audiophile or professional sound engineer. I don't care what the sticker shock is over the 549 price tag, they simply aren't made for those critical or professional listening use cases. They also couldn't price them at $299.00-$349.00 as that directly competes with Beats. So I can understand the price bump in that regard.
Apple is trying to compete with MontBlanc MB-01's or Master and Dynamic MW65's at this price point.. Not Sony or Bose.. Unfortunately they don't sound good enough for the comparison they are going for with the price.
Here is a great review .. Audiophile honest analysis and breakdown.
I was really looking forward to these.. I was open to the price if the
sound quality justified it. I love how my Airpods pro sound and work with my
devices ( auto switching, call quality and spatial audio ) and I wanted
the option going with over ears when I wanted to give my ear canals a break.. or wanted bigger better sound. With reviews like these it makes it harder and harder to justify spending this amount of money for these.
The problem with his review is that he seems to have forgotten that the Max headphones can also be used as wired headphones..( his is repeatedly and only referencing the comparisons to wireless, noise canceling headphones. The MAX can also be used as a wired headphone! How do they perform as wired headphones.?
Only Apple would make headphones without a headphone jack, without a power switch, with cloth that will get dirty, worn out, and hard to clean, and cripple the control of your music when you use their $35 wired cable for better audio.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
You nailed it with this review. Mediocre sound quality (typical of all Apple sound products) and not good enough to justify the $549 price. Apple could have had something if they were $349 or less to compete with Bose and Sony, but no audiophile will buy these headphones if that was the market they were hoping for. Audiophiles or recording artists do not listen to Bluetooth audio.
Correct.. Audiphiles and recording artists use more expensive wired headphones. This headphone is not remotely geared toward an Audiophile or professional sound engineer. I don't care what the sticker shock is over the 549 price tag, they simply aren't made for those critical or professional listening use cases. They also couldn't price them at $299.00-$349.00 as that directly competes with Beats. So I can understand the price bump in that regard.
Apple is trying to compete with MontBlanc MB-01's or Master and Dynamic MW65's at this price point.. Not Sony or Bose.. Unfortunately they don't sound good enough for the comparison they are going for with the price.
Here is a great review .. Audiophile honest analysis and breakdown.
I was really looking forward to these.. I was open to the price if the
sound quality justified it. I love how my Airpods pro sound and work with my
devices ( auto switching, call quality and spatial audio ) and I wanted
the option going with over ears when I wanted to give my ear canals a break.. or wanted bigger better sound. With reviews like these it makes it harder and harder to justify spending this amount of money for these.
The problem with his review is that he seems to have forgotten that the Max headphones can also be used as wired headphones..( his is repeatedly and only referencing the comparisons to wireless, noise canceling headphones. The MAX can also be used as a wired headphone! How do they perform as wired headphones.?
I don't think that's unfair - these are intended to be wireless BT ANC headphones and he spent most of his time evaluating them as such and comparing them to other similar options. Also, note that Apple doesn't even include the cable with them to use as wired headphones. The only comparison I've seen between wired and wireless modes was from AI where they talked about the lack of lag in wired mode. I haven't seen anything comparing the sound. I have no reason to suspect the sound would be better - note that the wired option requires the sound go from digital to analog (for the 3.5mm analog connector,) back to digital (at the lightning connector) then back to analog.
The comparisons he made to wired headphones were relevant in that many people want to know how the sound compares (and many people here have claimed these to be 'professional' or 'near professional.' as justification to the price.) In the end, he said that if all you're concerned about is sound quality, go with cheaper, better wired headphones but then evaluated them as wireless BT headphones, which is exactly what they are.
I don't know why ANC is as hyped as it is outside of a narrow set of use cases that benefit from it.
You know, if you look around you you'll find that people have been using portable music players to block out the world since pretty much the Walkman (1979).
We just didn't know that we wanted ANC because it hasn't been available to most of us in a format that made sense; or we never got around to trying it, because it wasn't part of the products we felt were for us.
ANC is simply nothing more than earphones using computational magic to compensate for not being a complete soundproof studio environment; and then at the other end there's transparency modes, which goes the other way and compensates for the earphones physically being in the way for sound to naturally reach you.
Honestly, ANC, transparency mode and automatic equalisers simply completes a product we didn't even realise wasn't complete; and it isn't really until now that it's become possible to cram the needed computing power (and batteries) into such tiny products.
Holy crap! You're telling me that there are people out there wearing headphones to block out the world? I wish those kind of people were a lot more plentiful than the ones who believe that they are somehow "gifting you" with their music selection by cranking up the audio systems in their apartment, car, or better yet on a motorcycle, somewhere in the vicinity of the threshold of pain for everyone else to hear - and feel. But you are right, using ANC to block out the world can be as self-isolating as having your music turned up so loud that you are oblivious to the world around you - which can be a problem.
I'm very familiar with ANC and the digital signal processing behind it. I love ANC and use it extensively when & where it makes sense for me and don't use it when & where it doesn't make sense for me. I would never buy a set of ANC-Always-ON headphones unless I also owned a pair of ANC-Always-OFF headphones. Newer headphones that have tunable ANC are a great compromise as long as the sound quality doesn't suffer with the ANC turned off, which I've encountered with older ANC headphones.
I'm sure there are people who need or prefer ANC most of the time, but for me I only use it when I'm in situations when & where I need to block an intrusive sound source and when & where I feel 100% comfortable losing some the situational & environmental awareness that ANC can lead to, which can be unnerving for some folks. You know, when Timmy falls down the well and you can't hear Lassie barking because you have ANC turned on. Sorry Timmy, you're a goner, but Dad sure is digging these tunes! If transparency mode can allow dog barks, cries for help, doorbells, alarms, sirens, speaking flight attendants, spouse voices, etc., to pass through the ANC unbeaten, I'd probably use it more.
Why do I have the sneaky suspicion that the ANC on my AirPods Pro was knee-capped by Apple via firmware in order to pitch the AirPods Max as having better ANC?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
Here you go: Brian Tong on a YouTube video with a binaural microphone setup comparing Sony MX4s to the AirPods Max.
Get yourself a good pair of wired cans - though they really don't have to be that good - and compare the soundstage of the two devices.
To my ear, the MX4s appear quite a bit muddier on the low end running into the mid. YMMV.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
That's not how it works. "When you turn to your Mac, a pop-up banner helps you seamlessly switch the audio over."
I appreciate the time taken to write such a comprehensive review. It's unfortunate that you found it necessary to go the straw man route in arguing against the value proposition of the AirPods Max. Time and again, you make mention of "$500 headphones," brand unnamed, that better the AMP or, conversely, that the AMP "don't sound like $500 headphones." Of course, the headphones you're talking about are properly driven wired analog headphones playing back full resolution audio. And yes, if wireless audio is of no interest to you, then you can absolutely get better sound for $500 with wired headphones from any one of a number of top manufacturers. But this isn't news, and it's a silly comparison to make for potential AMP buyers who clearly have wireless capability at or near the top of their priority list.
Here's the thing: the audio quality of even the best wireless headphones is inherently limited by the quality of Bluetooth audio. Try this test: hook-up a bluetooth adapter to your audio system, stream music to it from our phone, and then listen through those $500 wired headphones. Do they still sound as good? I didn't think so. Hardware can only compensate so much for a crappy source and we see signs that we're at that limit with wireless 'phones. Look at Sony: a year after the groundbreaking XM3, the latest XM4 are not notably better in sound quality. I happen to prefer the sound of the AMP over both the XM4 and the Bose 700. I find the AMP to be more natural sounding, musical, detailed and better at defining instruments in a sound space, but that's highly subjective, and even if we agreed that those differences exist, whether or not they're "worth" the AMP premium price would be an equally subjective decision.
What isn't subjective is that the AMP leaves its wireless competitors in the dust when it comes to the top quality of materials used, stunning industrial design, bespoke level of construction and ease of integration with the Apple ecosystem. Are we really surprised that plastic headphones with meh design cost less? AMP has the classic hallmarks of Apple products, which some have always claimed are ripoffs... so to read those claims trotted out yet again for AMP in the posted comments, well, La plus ca change... and meanwhile, AMP is sold out except for ebay, where it sells for way over list price, and Apple just keeps setting new records for its value as a company.
Only Apple would make headphones without a headphone jack, without a power switch, with cloth that will get dirty, worn out, and hard to clean, and cripple the control of your music when you use their $35 wired cable for better audio.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
You nailed it with this review. Mediocre sound quality (typical of all Apple sound products) and not good enough to justify the $549 price. Apple could have had something if they were $349 or less to compete with Bose and Sony, but no audiophile will buy these headphones if that was the market they were hoping for. Audiophiles or recording artists do not listen to Bluetooth audio.
Correct.. Audiphiles and recording artists use more expensive wired headphones. This headphone is not remotely geared toward an Audiophile or professional sound engineer. I don't care what the sticker shock is over the 549 price tag, they simply aren't made for those critical or professional listening use cases. They also couldn't price them at $299.00-$349.00 as that directly competes with Beats. So I can understand the price bump in that regard.
Apple is trying to compete with MontBlanc MB-01's or Master and Dynamic MW65's at this price point.. Not Sony or Bose.. Unfortunately they don't sound good enough for the comparison they are going for with the price.
Here is a great review .. Audiophile honest analysis and breakdown.
I was really looking forward to these.. I was open to the price if the
sound quality justified it. I love how my Airpods pro sound and work with my
devices ( auto switching, call quality and spatial audio ) and I wanted
the option going with over ears when I wanted to give my ear canals a break.. or wanted bigger better sound. With reviews like these it makes it harder and harder to justify spending this amount of money for these.
Well, this audiophile reviewer's perspective is to be expected. Watching this on YT led me to other audiophile reviews of the APM by the likes of Joshua Valour and a few others as well as some "mainstream" reviews (i.e. millions of views) by the likes of Marques Brownlee. The audiophiles aren't impressed at all while Marques describes the sound quality as "awesome". These are two totally different worlds - virtually night and day. I'm an audiophile with a collection of boutique headphones that add up to the price of a nice midrange car but I don't think I'm an elitist audiophile snob. I like different headphones and earbuds for usage different environments and occasions.
I really like the Sony XM3 for what it does: excellent ANC with sound quality that's fine for what it is at that price point. I'm also quite happy with the Sennheiser Momentum TW first-generation ear buds for working out at the gym. Currently, with the pandemic situation still being what it is, I don't see the need to upgrade from these but I'm always interested in what may be better in their respective classes and that's why I'm looking into the AirPods Max.
While watching some of these reviews, I also ended up looking into the MontBlanc MB-01 and the Master & Dynamic MW65s that you mention but I didn't find them intriguing enough to spend that kind of money. I'm thinking about business travel usage (which I can't do right now) and occasional home usage in the hot tub. I'm trying to compare apples to apples but so many reviews are comparing an apple to a cantaloupe or something else totally different. Or they are comparing different kinds of apples and I'm only getting their personal opinions on what they like more.
After spending a little too much time on these reviews, I've decided that I'll wait until things return to somewhat normal and I can make my periodic business trips to Asia for 2~3 weeks at a time. The way things are looking, that may not happen until late-2021 or 2022. I was also hoping that the APM would "blow away" or be significantly better than the Sony XM3/4 or the Bose 700 sound quality wise but that doesn't seem to be the consensus at all. The APM does seem to be at least a little better but not by much. The Apple ecosystem features and the spatial audio are nice but, for me, these are fluffy things that aren't useful to me even though I have the latest MBP and iOS devices. For me, it'd be about the ANC for the long trans-Pacific flights and the overall sound quality first.
Like you, I was also really looking forward to these. I was hoping that these were the truly great ANC-Bluetooth headphones but they seem to be maybe a little better while being priced almost twice as much as the likes of the Sony XM4 and the Bose 700. I may yet end up getting the APM when I know I can fly over the Pacific again but I certainly don't see the need to shell out $600 now (including the CA sales tax) for the occasional hot tub usage. It's intriguing for sure but, as the review states, it's hard to justify the price. As an audiophile, I'd rather use that money to save up towards getting another ridiculously expensive but worthy (like the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC) headphone.
Only Apple would make headphones without a headphone jack, without a power switch, with cloth that will get dirty, worn out, and hard to clean, and cripple the control of your music when you use their $35 wired cable for better audio.
Didn't AI recently have an article on how to disable the automatic device switching because it is annoying when the AirPods switch to another device without your control? Like when they automatically switch to your Mac when you wanted to keep listening on your iPhone?
I have the Sony MX3s and they are amazing. Excellent sound quality, excellent ANC, fold into a compact hard case, wired connection included, USB-C, excellent controls by swiping on the right ear (or covering the right ear to turn off ANC temporarily), customizable software in the Sony app, and zero issues with Bluetooth connection or wired (preferred for better audio), and all for over $200 less.
You nailed it with this review. Mediocre sound quality (typical of all Apple sound products) and not good enough to justify the $549 price. Apple could have had something if they were $349 or less to compete with Bose and Sony, but no audiophile will buy these headphones if that was the market they were hoping for. Audiophiles or recording artists do not listen to Bluetooth audio.
Correct.. Audiphiles and recording artists use more expensive wired headphones. This headphone is not remotely geared toward an Audiophile or professional sound engineer. I don't care what the sticker shock is over the 549 price tag, they simply aren't made for those critical or professional listening use cases. They also couldn't price them at $299.00-$349.00 as that directly competes with Beats. So I can understand the price bump in that regard.
Apple is trying to compete with MontBlanc MB-01's or Master and Dynamic MW65's at this price point.. Not Sony or Bose.. Unfortunately they don't sound good enough for the comparison they are going for with the price.
Here is a great review .. Audiophile honest analysis and breakdown.
I was really looking forward to these.. I was open to the price if the
sound quality justified it. I love how my Airpods pro sound and work with my
devices ( auto switching, call quality and spatial audio ) and I wanted
the option going with over ears when I wanted to give my ear canals a break.. or wanted bigger better sound. With reviews like these it makes it harder and harder to justify spending this amount of money for these.
Well, this audiophile reviewer's perspective is to be expected. Watching this on YT led me to other audiophile reviews of the APM by the likes of Joshua Valour and a few others as well as some "mainstream" reviews (i.e. millions of views) by the likes of Marques Brownlee. The audiophiles aren't impressed at all while Marques describes the sound quality as "awesome". These are two totally different worlds - virtually night and day. I'm an audiophile with a collection of boutique headphones that add up to the price of a nice midrange car but I don't think I'm an elitist audiophile snob. I like different headphones and earbuds for usage different environments and occasions.
I really like the Sony XM3 for what it does: excellent ANC with sound quality that's fine for what it is at that price point. I'm also quite happy with the Sennheiser Momentum TW first-generation ear buds for working out at the gym. Currently, with the pandemic situation still being what it is, I don't see the need to upgrade from these but I'm always interested in what may be better in their respective classes and that's why I'm looking into the AirPods Max.
While watching some of these reviews, I also ended up looking into the MontBlanc MB-01 and the Master & Dynamic MW65s that you mention but I didn't find them intriguing enough to spend that kind of money. I'm thinking about business travel usage (which I can't do right now) and occasional home usage in the hot tub. I'm trying to compare apples to apples but so many reviews are comparing an apple to a cantaloupe or something else totally different. Or they are comparing different kinds of apples and I'm only getting their personal opinions on what they like more.
After spending a little too much time on these reviews, I've decided that I'll wait until things return to somewhat normal and I can make my periodic business trips to Asia for 2~3 weeks at a time. The way things are looking, that may not happen until late-2021 or 2022. I was also hoping that the APM would "blow away" or be significantly better than the Sony XM3/4 or the Bose 700 sound quality wise but that doesn't seem to be the consensus at all. The APM does seem to be at least a little better but not by much. The Apple ecosystem features and the spatial audio are nice but, for me, these are fluffy things that aren't useful to me even though I have the latest MBP and iOS devices. For me, it'd be about the ANC for the long trans-Pacific flights and the overall sound quality first.
Like you, I was also really looking forward to these. I was hoping that these were the truly great ANC-Bluetooth headphones but they seem to be maybe a little better while being priced almost twice as much as the likes of the Sony XM4 and the Bose 700. I may yet end up getting the APM when I know I can fly over the Pacific again but I certainly don't see the need to shell out $600 now (including the CA sales tax) for the occasional hot tub usage. It's intriguing for sure but, as the review states, it's hard to justify the price. As an audiophile, I'd rather use that money to save up towards getting another ridiculously expensive but worthy (like the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC) headphone.
I was working with sound a bit (clubs, pubs, and café environments), and spent time training myself to be more sensitive to the nuances of what we actually got out of the (very limited) equipment that we had access to.
And people were surprised that in the middle of that I got myself some crappy OE Beats as my everyday headphones.
Sure, before buying them I naively thought I'd be able to create a better/more neutral sound with the EQ; but in the end they were still good enough to cover my ears, and deliver background sound blocking out the world a bit.
Not worth replacing when they broke.
So I've been carrying silicon earplugs to block stuff out, and been using the regular AirPods for music; with an upgrade to the AirPods Pro in early 2020.
Doing that whole mobile entrepreneur thing the AirPods Pro (combined with a "noise app") really is a must when working in a busy environment; and I love how they combined with my cellular Apple Watch allow me to take the odd important call even without being a slave to my iPhone (with all the very distracting apps/internet).
But…
I do find myself fiddling with the AirPods Pro a bit too often to get (or check for) that perfect seal, and me having long hair and a beard those tiny things don't always signal "leave me alone" as much as I would like them to; so I find myself having these ridiculously long casual social interactions where a simple "all good?" in the passing end up with the person waving their hands in my face, and a 30 seconds added for me to remove an AirPod and sit through a song and dance routine about how they didn't see and hope they aren't disturbing and how's it going… Aaaaaargh.
Like, social is good, and with the current social isolation there's not a single day without me having a minor breakdown about not having enough social interactions; but for the love of my atheist god, I want the option of a more heavy-duty solution for keeping both living and non-living sound making things out of my ears.
So…
The only upgrade available to me here is the AirPods Max; because I want to easily use them in the Apple ecosystem, and I don't want to give up spatial audio.
But at the same time it feels like for that price it'll feel like a repeat of the Beats situation.
The difference being that the Beats felt cheap enough that I easily could accept the extra money to be for things not specifically related to sound quality; but how the heck do you justify a similar premium when the AirPods Max (with local taxes etc) comes in north of 800 USD?
I'll probably end up getting them; but oh how I constantly will be hunting for and getting annoyed by every single "defect" in the 800 USD sound.
Comments
A friend sent me a picture she found on the internetz. Airpods Max connected to a first gen iPod… playing U2…
Glad you're happy with your MX3s ... and glad you're happy with your confirmation bias.
I've tried neither MX3s or the AirPods Max - though I'm sure we share that trait for the latter (despite your evaluation).
Unfortunately, I can't try my AirPods Max until March because of the all other poor deluded fools who overcame their hesitation over the price more quickly than I.
FWIW, most reviews I've read (or heard) place these bluetooth headphones at the top of the stack, as you'd expect from the price tag.
This isn't an Apple Doom™ post, because I tend not to do those. But I do think we're seeing a pattern here. They eliminated the charging block from the Phones and introduced the separate MagSafe charger, which doesn't include the USB-C brick. They introduced the overpriced and questionable-durability MagSafe Duo charger. Then the AirPods Max. Not only are there some odd design caveats, but Apple seems to be charging a premium for niche products that aren't necessarily top of the line. I've got to question the wisdom of that during a pandemic, or really any time. This is in contrast with most of their products, which are typically premium, even if not chock full of the latest features and/or gimmicks. The iPhone is the best smartphone for my money. Ditto on the iPad for tablets. My MBP is 5 years old and going strong in all aspects. AirPods Pro are some of the best wireless buds you can buy. But this pattern of products seems....different.
I smirked beneath my mask.
The key features in these products’ downfall are a hubristic mix of excessive design engineering forgetting about intersecting with function; and an excessive price for what it is.
Forget the case.. look at the headphones... they are by far the nicest headphone design i have come across .. ever.!
If you browse the net and read the reviews, a lot of folks are having serious trouble divorcing the price from the performance - which is understandable. Most are pleased with the instrument and vocal separation, soundstage, and quality though. Spacial audio sounds especially intriguing - I hope they come out with a new Apple TV capable of delivering that feature as well for the living room.
Fortunately, in 2014 I recognized that I was spending waaayyy too much coin on my Apple habit, and threw a few bucks into Apple stock to help defray my relatively expensive habit. Dropping out of Apple at $310 until it fell to $250 near the start of the pandemic helped too as well as the 4:1 split.
Anyway, since that time I've retired and get a lot less flack from my wife over my Apple purchases, and I can (at least in my own mind) rationalize characterize some of my purchases as research - though when they arrive around Febrary/March I'm sure I'll be deliberately vague as to their true cost 😇.
The comparisons he made to wired headphones were relevant in that many people want to know how the sound compares (and many people here have claimed these to be 'professional' or 'near professional.' as justification to the price.) In the end, he said that if all you're concerned about is sound quality, go with cheaper, better wired headphones but then evaluated them as wireless BT headphones, which is exactly what they are.
I'm very familiar with ANC and the digital signal processing behind it. I love ANC and use it extensively when & where it makes sense for me and don't use it when & where it doesn't make sense for me. I would never buy a set of ANC-Always-ON headphones unless I also owned a pair of ANC-Always-OFF headphones. Newer headphones that have tunable ANC are a great compromise as long as the sound quality doesn't suffer with the ANC turned off, which I've encountered with older ANC headphones.
I'm sure there are people who need or prefer ANC most of the time, but for me I only use it when I'm in situations when & where I need to block an intrusive sound source and when & where I feel 100% comfortable losing some the situational & environmental awareness that ANC can lead to, which can be unnerving for some folks. You know, when Timmy falls down the well and you can't hear Lassie barking because you have ANC turned on. Sorry Timmy, you're a goner, but Dad sure is digging these tunes! If transparency mode can allow dog barks, cries for help, doorbells, alarms, sirens, speaking flight attendants, spouse voices, etc., to pass through the ANC unbeaten, I'd probably use it more.
Get yourself a good pair of wired cans - though they really don't have to be that good - and compare the soundstage of the two devices.
To my ear, the MX4s appear quite a bit muddier on the low end running into the mid. YMMV.
Here's the thing: the audio quality of even the best wireless headphones is inherently limited by the quality of Bluetooth audio. Try this test: hook-up a bluetooth adapter to your audio system, stream music to it from our phone, and then listen through those $500 wired headphones. Do they still sound as good? I didn't think so. Hardware can only compensate so much for a crappy source and we see signs that we're at that limit with wireless 'phones. Look at Sony: a year after the groundbreaking XM3, the latest XM4 are not notably better in sound quality. I happen to prefer the sound of the AMP over both the XM4 and the Bose 700. I find the AMP to be more natural sounding, musical, detailed and better at defining instruments in a sound space, but that's highly subjective, and even if we agreed that those differences exist, whether or not they're "worth" the AMP premium price would be an equally subjective decision.
What isn't subjective is that the AMP leaves its wireless competitors in the dust when it comes to the top quality of materials used, stunning industrial design, bespoke level of construction and ease of integration with the Apple ecosystem. Are we really surprised that plastic headphones with meh design cost less? AMP has the classic hallmarks of Apple products, which some have always claimed are ripoffs... so to read those claims trotted out yet again for AMP in the posted comments, well, La plus ca change... and meanwhile, AMP is sold out except for ebay, where it sells for way over list price, and Apple just keeps setting new records for its value as a company.
I really like the Sony XM3 for what it does: excellent ANC with sound quality that's fine for what it is at that price point. I'm also quite happy with the Sennheiser Momentum TW first-generation ear buds for working out at the gym. Currently, with the pandemic situation still being what it is, I don't see the need to upgrade from these but I'm always interested in what may be better in their respective classes and that's why I'm looking into the AirPods Max.
While watching some of these reviews, I also ended up looking into the MontBlanc MB-01 and the Master & Dynamic MW65s that you mention but I didn't find them intriguing enough to spend that kind of money. I'm thinking about business travel usage (which I can't do right now) and occasional home usage in the hot tub. I'm trying to compare apples to apples but so many reviews are comparing an apple to a cantaloupe or something else totally different. Or they are comparing different kinds of apples and I'm only getting their personal opinions on what they like more.
After spending a little too much time on these reviews, I've decided that I'll wait until things return to somewhat normal and I can make my periodic business trips to Asia for 2~3 weeks at a time. The way things are looking, that may not happen until late-2021 or 2022. I was also hoping that the APM would "blow away" or be significantly better than the Sony XM3/4 or the Bose 700 sound quality wise but that doesn't seem to be the consensus at all. The APM does seem to be at least a little better but not by much. The Apple ecosystem features and the spatial audio are nice but, for me, these are fluffy things that aren't useful to me even though I have the latest MBP and iOS devices. For me, it'd be about the ANC for the long trans-Pacific flights and the overall sound quality first.
Like you, I was also really looking forward to these. I was hoping that these were the truly great ANC-Bluetooth headphones but they seem to be maybe a little better while being priced almost twice as much as the likes of the Sony XM4 and the Bose 700. I may yet end up getting the APM when I know I can fly over the Pacific again but I certainly don't see the need to shell out $600 now (including the CA sales tax) for the occasional hot tub usage. It's intriguing for sure but, as the review states, it's hard to justify the price. As an audiophile, I'd rather use that money to save up towards getting another ridiculously expensive but worthy (like the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC) headphone.
And people were surprised that in the middle of that I got myself some crappy OE Beats as my everyday headphones.
Sure, before buying them I naively thought I'd be able to create a better/more neutral sound with the EQ; but in the end they were still good enough to cover my ears, and deliver background sound blocking out the world a bit.
Not worth replacing when they broke.
So I've been carrying silicon earplugs to block stuff out, and been using the regular AirPods for music; with an upgrade to the AirPods Pro in early 2020.
Doing that whole mobile entrepreneur thing the AirPods Pro (combined with a "noise app") really is a must when working in a busy environment; and I love how they combined with my cellular Apple Watch allow me to take the odd important call even without being a slave to my iPhone (with all the very distracting apps/internet).
But…
I do find myself fiddling with the AirPods Pro a bit too often to get (or check for) that perfect seal, and me having long hair and a beard those tiny things don't always signal "leave me alone" as much as I would like them to; so I find myself having these ridiculously long casual social interactions where a simple "all good?" in the passing end up with the person waving their hands in my face, and a 30 seconds added for me to remove an AirPod and sit through a song and dance routine about how they didn't see and hope they aren't disturbing and how's it going… Aaaaaargh.
Like, social is good, and with the current social isolation there's not a single day without me having a minor breakdown about not having enough social interactions; but for the love of my atheist god, I want the option of a more heavy-duty solution for keeping both living and non-living sound making things out of my ears.
So…
The only upgrade available to me here is the AirPods Max; because I want to easily use them in the Apple ecosystem, and I don't want to give up spatial audio.
But at the same time it feels like for that price it'll feel like a repeat of the Beats situation.
The difference being that the Beats felt cheap enough that I easily could accept the extra money to be for things not specifically related to sound quality; but how the heck do you justify a similar premium when the AirPods Max (with local taxes etc) comes in north of 800 USD?
I'll probably end up getting them; but oh how I constantly will be hunting for and getting annoyed by every single "defect" in the 800 USD sound.