Repair experts weigh in on AirPods Max condensation complaints

AppleInsider

Far more AirPods Max owners are complaining about condensation problems than repair store owners are being asked to fix -- and experts only have guesses about why.

AirPods Max

In AppleInsider's long term review of AirPods Max, conducted two years after they were released, did mention a possible condensation problem.

"We're not sure what to make of the hard-to-pin-down and scattered reports of condensation," said the piece, "but we haven't experienced it."

That appears to fit the experience of most AirPods Max users, yet there are sufficient numbers of people experiencing this issue that it has even gone to court. Now 404media has talked with repair experts about why some people could be getting this, and why repairers are not being asked to fix it.

"AirPods Max condensation won't damage the drivers!!"

The condensation in question: pic.twitter.com/rUKwBOWYjk

-- Michael (@NTFTWT)

July 5, 2022

"But few repair pros I contacted had even heard of the condensation problem," writes 404media. It's not clear how many experts were consulted or over what period, but the publication interviewed one in detail.

Repair industry consultant and repair YouTuber Justin Ashford says that condensation issues are "inherent to over-the-ear headphones," not just AirPods Max.

"I've been putting my ear to the ground trying to figure out what's happening here," he told 404media. Just based on the volume of complaints in forums, videos, and Reddit, Ashford says it should be what the trade describes as a "scaleable repair."

That's the term for the kind of widespread defect or problem that keeps independent repair shops profitable. For instance, the iPhone 6 Plus "Touch Disease" where screens failed to respond to touch, was such a scaleable repair.

Similarly, so was the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus "Loop Disease," where the devices' microphones would break.

"Repair shops were making hundreds of thousands of dollars on that one [Loop Disease] repair," said Ashford. "If there's a really big issue, you're going to find there's a market for that scalable repair, something that will keep your shop going."

"When it comes to these scalable repairs, the moment we start to see the problems we start to see the components for sale," he continued. But since there is no indication of this, "all the industry signs that this is a big problem are pointing to no... it's not an issue."

Yet Ashford doesn't question that people are experiencing the problem, nor that there is a condensation issue.

"I have absolutely, 100 percent seen liquid [from condensation] inside the driver [speaker] area," he said. "There's water inside of a f****** electronic [device] that should not have it in there."

Possible answers to AirPods Max condensation reports

We have collated service data on Apple-serviced products. There doesn't appear to be a spike in service events, nor are most of the service events related to water exposure. Unlike the iPhone that has similar sales volumes when compared to the year before, we don't know how many have been sold, nor how many competitive products from Beats are in the wild, so there's no real conclusion to draw from the data.

"My opinion is people are sending these back to Apple," said Ashford. "How many of these are being sent back to Apple and people are being told 'Go F*** Yourself?' We've seen it with other issues [like Touch Disease]."

Ashford does not claim to have figures to back up this theory. His reasoning is that new AirPods Max owners who find condensation, may be within a warranty period and will return the headphones rather than look for independent repairers.

"What we're missing, right now, is solid-ass proof," he says.

AirPods Max were first released in December 2020, and have not been updated since. More recently, Apple has released the similar but lower cost Beats Studio Pro, and there do not appear to have been any complaints of condensation with those.

Read on AppleInsider

dope_ahmine

Got mine in the first batch in December 2020. Already in January filed a customer complaint about this condensation issue, with pictures and everything.

The areas behind the magnetic ear pads were soaking wet on both left and right sides. How did I find out? They started to stink. They stank of old foul water more than a meter away. I used to be a DJ for many years, and I’ve never had headphones stinking before. And you wouldn’t like to know where those headphones had been. The only difference these days is that I now have a shaved head, as opposed to before when I had long hair.

After much complaining to Apple about this, the headphones suddenly started to behave erratically. Pairing wouldn’t work and I had to factory reset the phones several times each day. After that, Apple agreed to take them in. What did they do? They returned the same headphones together with a pair of new magnetic pads. That’s it (!!!)

Do I still use the headphones? Not a chance 🙊

aankopen

Two weeks ago my then 25 month old Airpod Max died. At the Mac Store they could not revive it. Send to Apple but no more quarantee of course, could not be repaird, only replaced. For the price of a new one! 

Never again, went with Sony and had to take 600 euro loss on the Airpod Max. 😡

prokip

I bought the headphones as soon as they were released. I am in Australia.  They are the best headphones I have ever used and I have had a number of high end headphones, some in excess of $4K

The ear cups accumulated condensation after extended period of use.  Eventually they failed to connect or alternatively connected and the produced crackling noises. 

Well anyway, we have quite progressive and reasonable Consumer Law here in Australia.  After over two years and outside Apple's warranty period, because of the higher cost (part of the consumer law) Apple tested the cans, confirmed that they weren't working and replaced them without further trouble.  My warranty period starts again under the law.

So I am more than happy with the phones and Apple's response.

mayfly

No one is a bigger Apple fan than me. I worked for an Apple VAR, then for Apple, Inc. My wife and I have at least two of everything Apple makes (except a Mac Pro and only one iMac), and subscribe to AppleOne. We both have AirPod Pros.

But when it came time for over the ear headphones, we both found the AirPods Max hot and uncomfortable. Didn't like the fit and finish of the Beats, either. Then we tried the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. And bought two of them on the spot. They're lighter, more comfortable, and never have condensation, even when I wear them during my morning LifeCycle workout. Their audio fidelity is comparable to Apple's. But then, there's the ANC (noise cancelling tech). It's the BEST, bar none. We wear them when we travel by air or rail, and I've used them in noisy restaurants (they also have good voice priority settings) and at the movies and the symphony. Did I mention they're $200 less than the Max, and sometimes can be found on sale for $250? And that they fold flat to fit in a supplied case? They also have an audio jack, with an airplane adapter. They only come in two colors, and the app is an Android port (but I almost never use it). Other than that, they're superior to AirPods Max.

mikethemartian

prokip said:

I bought the headphones as soon as they were released. I am in Australia.  They are the best headphones I have ever used and I have had a number of high end headphones, some in excess of $4K

The ear cups accumulated condensation after extended period of use.  Eventually they failed to connect or alternatively connected and the produced crackling noises. 

Well anyway, we have quite progressive and reasonable Consumer Law here in Australia.  After over two years and outside Apple's warranty period, because of the higher cost (part of the consumer law) Apple tested the cans, confirmed that they weren't working and replaced them without further trouble.  My warranty period starts again under the law.

So I am more than happy with the phones and Apple's response.

It sounds like Apple was just abiding by the consumer law in Australia you mentioned.

foregoneconclusion

Hey, guess what? Apple products aren't immune from physical realities. Condensation occurs when the air can't hold any more moisture. That doesn't just happen inside the cups of AirPods Max. It can happen anywhere. That's reality. 

igorsky

aankopen said:

Two weeks ago my then 25 month old Airpod Max died. At the Mac Store they could not revive it. Send to Apple but no more quarantee of course, could not be repaird, only replaced. For the price of a new one! 

Never again, went with Sony and had to take 600 euro loss on the Airpod Max. ߘ᦬t;/div>

Are you saying that you think Sony will replace your headphones for free after their warranty is up?  Or that you’re expecting your Sonys to last forever?

foregoneconclusion

mayfly said:

They're lighter, more comfortable, and never have condensation, even when I wear them during my morning LifeCycle workout. 

That might be true for your use case but no over-ear headphone is immune from condensation. Headphones are well known to cause sweat. Sweat adds moisture to the air inside the headphones. That additional moisture could contribute to condensation in certain conditions.

https://gymhugz.com/blogs/fitness-and-tech-news/why-is-my-gaming-headset-causing-sweaty-ears

mikethemartian

Do they know if it is actually condensation of water or sweat? They aren’t the same.

danox

mikethemartian said:

Do they know if it is actually condensation of water or sweat? They aren’t the same.

It is known by anyone over time who has worn eye glasses, or sunglasses, used microphones or played wind instruments over a period of time (the front inside of a car windshield is included too). Condensation is impossible to avoid and therefore in time if you don’t clean, and wipe those items thoroughly at least every other day after use, you will get condensation sweat and eventually mildew on your glasses, microphone or wind instrument, and the same will happen to headphones or anything else used by humans that sit next to the ear, mouth, nose or skin will develop a moisture problem, in short, you have to clean yourself and anything else that you use regularly. (Includes earwax).

avon b7

danox said:

mikethemartian said:

Do they know if it is actually condensation of water or sweat? They aren’t the same.

It is known by anyone over time who has worn eye glasses, or sunglasses, used microphones or played wind instruments over a period of time (the front inside of a car windshield is included too). Condensation is impossible to avoid and therefore in time if you don’t clean, and wipe those items thoroughly at least every other day after use, you will get condensation sweat and eventually mildew on your glasses, microphone or wind instrument, and the same will happen to headphones or anything else used by humans that sit next to the ear, mouth, nose or skin will develop a moisture problem, in short, you have to clean yourself and anything else that you use regularly. (Includes earwax).

If that were the case, the device should come with explicit warnings on the risk and how to deal with it. 

The design itself should mitigate the root problem (wicking and evaporation measures) while leaving hygiene in the hands of the user.

In over 40 years of over ear headphone use (things like Sennheiser HD650s and up) I have never seen this problem and I live in a hot and humid climate. They are not wireless. For wireless I use Huawei Studio headphones. 

Maybe because I don't work out while wearing them or use them in the street.

It would be interesting to see if the manual references the issue. 

chasm

While I hope that the problem is properly identified and corrected if a genuine design flaw is found, here’s a couple of thoughts:

1. Just *looking* at the AirPods Max you can clearly see they are not designed for workouts or other activities where a lot of sweat might occur.. I would have thought this was obvious, but I consistently overestimate people’s intelligence on stuff like this.

2, The fellow above who complained about a smell coming from them clearly didn’t clean them after any use where normal perspiration might have occurred, and achieved a mildew state as a result. These are pricey headphones and like any other pricey headphone, they need cleaning if they got moisture in them regardless of the cause of the moisture. This goes for ANY BRAND, not just the Max.

3. I prefer on-ear to over-ear so the Max aren’t for me, but they only last a few years even with some care because (with cheaper headphones) the leatherette material often used is prone to damage if sweat isn’t cleaned promptly.

I hope this helps someone else prevent a problem before it becomes a problem.

dope_ahmine

chasm said:

While I hope that the problem is properly identified and corrected if a genuine design flaw is found, here’s a couple of thoughts:

1. Just *looking* at the AirPods Max you can clearly see they are not designed for workouts or other activities where a lot of sweat might occur.. I would have thought this was obvious, but I consistently overestimate people’s intelligence on stuff like this.

2, The fellow above who complained about a smell coming from them clearly didn’t clean them after any use where normal perspiration might have occurred, and achieved a mildew state as a result. These are pricey headphones and like any other pricey headphone, they need cleaning if they got moisture in them regardless of the cause of the moisture. This goes for ANY BRAND, not just the Max.

3. I prefer on-ear to over-ear so the Max aren’t for me, but they only last a few years even with some care because (with cheaper headphones) the leatherette material often used is prone to damage if sweat isn’t cleaned promptly.

I hope this helps someone else prevent a problem before it becomes a problem.

I’m the guy you refer to in bullet (2) above. I can add that I regularly do clean all my headphones, both inside and outside. As a former DJ you treat your tools well. However(!!!), I don’t disassemble any of my headphones in order to wipe up moisture that accumulates behind the earpads and close to the electronics. That, I expect the product designer to have figured out how to avoid on beforehand. I mean, they have tested their stuff before starting to sell them …right?

dope_ahmine

foregoneconclusion said:

Hey, guess what? Apple products aren't immune from physical realities. Condensation occurs when the air can't hold any more moisture. That doesn't just happen inside the cups of AirPods Max. It can happen anywhere. That's reality. 

We all clearly see what you are trying to implicate here. But next time I suggest you study some more physics before opening that moist hole in your face. Condensation happens at other conditions than just vapor saturation, Mr Smartypants. And at least one of them is highly dependent on surface materials. Something every good product designer should know. Obviously, our dear Apple didn’t. But Sony did.