No mic? I can't use it to talk with my iPhone? The fact that it has active noise cancellation proves it has some sort of mic in it, but not one I can speak into?
It's labelled with L and R for the Left and Right sides. How are they going to market that in countries where English isn't known or spoken widely?
Dude, please try reading the article. It has multiple mics. And I'm pretty sure people can figure out what L and R mean. 🙄
Dude, it's illegal to sell products in some countries that are English Only, regardless of whether they can figure it out.
Er, in which countries exactly are the AirPods and AirPods Pro "illegal", please? They're only marked with little "L" and "R" tags (which, BTW, work in multiple languages).
Looking over the description page at Apple.com, I looked closer at the volume knob and must wonder out loud what in the world were they thinking when they decided to put that closer to the BACK than the FRONT on top of the headphones?
The volume knob will be THE MOST USED function of these headphones. And if a person is lying down on a pillow, as shown in their video/ad, the odds that the volume knob will be accidentally moved or triggered have increased hugely. And the physically awkward placement will also make it more difficult to reach in those cases when something very loud suddenly blasts over the headphones.
This is one of those slap yourself on the forehead moments. Form should never override function on something like headphones.
Here's another head-slapping problem with these, outside of the price as the competition (Bose, Sony) are $200 cheaper.....NO HEADPHONE JACK.
Now I know that Apple has moved away from headphone jacks in most of their products. But one of the key applications for this device is going to be airplanes (when we can all fly again safely). While you may have your iPhone, iPad or Mac with you for entertainment, most airlines have infotainment system screens in the seat back and how do you interface with all of them? A headphone jack.
This had to have been discussed with the design team. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this was deleted and would be an instant deal killer to get me to abandon my Bose QuietComfort headphones, regardless of whatever cool tech Apple has included with this, or how well they might sound. Also, audiophiles would want a headphone jack to connect to sound systems and bypass the limitations of Bluetooth for an analog experience.
My Freebuds Studio have no headphone jack either and apparently the USB-C port cannot be used with an adapter.
I agree with you though that a headphone jack would have been a very useful option (more power going into the headphones, future proofing BT etc).
At this price it would have been nice but perhaps an adapter will work with these.
It's the lightening connector. Apple sells an optional cable with Lightening on one end, and 1/8" stereo male on the other end: Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable (1.2m) - White
I can't purchase them because the CONTINUE button on the purchase screen is greyed out.
Select a colour and whether you want engraving or not.
Oh. I did select a colour but I didn't know I had to click on anything else. Thanks. I wonder how many other people are going to fail to purchase them because of this "feature" of the website.
I was about to order the AirPods Max when I realized I have to figure out first how I would charge them. Does Apple include a charging adapter? It says "Simply charge via Lightning connector." Down in the details of the BUY page it says "In the Box... Lightning to USB-C Cable". But I thought I read that Apple has stopped providing USB adapters with their iPhones, so does that mean I will have to buy a USB-C power brick? I don't already have one. All I have is USB-A power bricks, one from my iPhone 11 and one from my iPad.
If these were priced more competitively against the likes of the excellent Sony WH-1000XM4, I would have already placed an order but I think Apple has missed the mark on the retail price. They should have been $349-$399 at most. Sure, some Apple products seem to cost a lot more than competition, but once you really look at the specs and compare hardware/software, the cost is more than justified. This does not seem to be the case here.
I see a lot of you attacking me over my comments about the giant L/R labels. I realize now that the requirement for local language labelling usually applies to health and safety labelling only, (like car speedometers, for example) while AirPods Max's are not particularly health or safety related, even though you can use them to call emergency services. A lot of you are attacking me over asking if there is a Mic in them. I didn't see mention of a Mic on the web page at first glance, but deep down in the advertising it said there were Mics. I should have dug deeper before asking.
Not at all. There's a huge difference between headphones designed tto be used for sound mixing music. Headphones like the ATH-50X are popular in professional studios because they can reveal small flaws in music. And because of their narrow focus, they're cheap.
You don't need ANC in a music studio and it wouldn't give the most accurate rendition of music being mixed. You don't need spatial awareness in 99% of music studios. Maybe in a movie studio doing some kind of AR thing... But not in a studio. And studio monitors, be they speakers or headphones, make a poor choice for actually enjoying music and not engineering it.
Apple is aiming these at people who really like listening to music and and can appreciate superior sound. The ANC is for less 'critical' listening probably when walking around the mean streets.
The digital crown is terrific. I think the location on the top is the best for a more natural hand movement/positioning to control its function(s). A better position might be on the back edge of a cup but that might be bumped by head movement. Let actual reviews begin.
No mic? I can't use it to talk with my iPhone? The fact that it has active noise cancellation proves it has some sort of mic in it, but not one I can speak into?
It's labelled with L and R for the Left and Right sides. How are they going to market that in countries where English isn't known or spoken widely?
You're almost right. Apple should have simply removed the L/R entirely and made the right ear cup Green and the left ear cup Red, thereby conforming the internationally unambiguous nautical Rules of the Road for Starboard and Port ship lighting and navigation channel markers. This would prevent rules compliant users around the world from donning the headphones incorrectly, and all disputes could be settled by the local Coast Guard in the affected countries. Wa la - no more language related ambiguity! How does that sound, matey?
Wait, I thought red means stop and green means go. Are you telling me it means something different on the water? Would the L/R orientation then be the same if I was in plane or on a train. Or is it just on a boat. I'm so confused. LOL
If fact, aircraft do follow the same marker light color standards as ships (green on starboard side and red on port side). I don't know about trains, so proceed with caution!
I would argue that a person who would buy such headphones would more likely to have a MacBook Air/Pro and/or iPad with USB-C than not to have such devices (thus have the charger and cable for it). And the use case would be to use this headphones primarily at home or while traveling. And more likely to use AirPods (Pro) just outside their house on the streets or for jogging.
I was waiting for Apple to release this headphones. But because of the lightning connector and price difference I would go with Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.
I think the lightning cable is of little significance ultimately, most people will be more cautious of the price, but as an aside, I would strongly urge you not to go anywhere near the Bose. If you’re primarily interested in ANC then arguably the best option is the SONY WH1000XM4. They also have pretty good sonic characteristics too - far superior to Bose, and are likely the most comfortable headphones I’ve worn in a long time. Whereas if you care more about sound quality I would strongly suggest the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 which have the best overall sound of any wireless (audiophile) headphones in the region of £250-£500+ , and are even better if plugged in via USB C or mini jack. They’re my current favourites. They also have very very good ANC. And they were on sale for £219 over the last couple of weeks down from £349 so it’s worth keeping an eye out.
No mic? I can't use it to talk with my iPhone? The fact that it has active noise cancellation proves it has some sort of mic in it, but not one I can speak into?
It's labelled with L and R for the Left and Right sides. How are they going to market that in countries where English isn't known or spoken widely?
You're almost right. Apple should have simply removed the L/R entirely and made the right ear cup Green and the left ear cup Red, thereby conforming the internationally unambiguous nautical Rules of the Road for Starboard and Port ship lighting and navigation channel markers. This would prevent rules compliant users around the world from donning the headphones incorrectly, and all disputes could be settled by the local Coast Guard in the affected countries. Wa la - no more language related ambiguity! How does that sound, matey?
Except that the buoy colors are inverted between North America & Europe. I learned "Red to Right Returning" in the US. It's inverted in France.
Here have a xkcd on adding a new standard to federate 34 existing standards... Creating 35 standards.
I guess we'll have to stick with the marker lights. We wouldn't want somebody putting their headphones on incorrectly, although a few people may still get it wrong, possibly even getting the front-to-rear mixed up with left to right. I think railroads specify green forward and red rearward. This could get ugly.
Looking over the description page at Apple.com, I looked closer at the volume knob and must wonder out loud what in the world were they thinking when they decided to put that closer to the BACK than the FRONT on top of the headphones?
The volume knob will be THE MOST USED function of these headphones. And if a person is lying down on a pillow, as shown in their video/ad, the odds that the volume knob will be accidentally moved or triggered have increased hugely. And the physically awkward placement will also make it more difficult to reach in those cases when something very loud suddenly blasts over the headphones.
This is one of those slap yourself on the forehead moments. Form should never override function on something like headphones.
Here's another head-slapping problem with these, outside of the price as the competition (Bose, Sony) are $200 cheaper.....NO HEADPHONE JACK.
Now I know that Apple has moved away from headphone jacks in most of their products. But one of the key applications for this device is going to be airplanes (when we can all fly again safely). While you may have your iPhone, iPad or Mac with you for entertainment, most airlines have infotainment system screens in the seat back and how do you interface with all of them? A headphone jack.
This had to have been discussed with the design team. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this was deleted and would be an instant deal killer to get me to abandon my Bose QuietComfort headphones, regardless of whatever cool tech Apple has included with this, or how well they might sound. Also, audiophiles would want a headphone jack to connect to sound systems and bypass the limitations of Bluetooth for an analog experience.
I agree with your observation about the absence of a headphone jack. The fact is (and I think we both know this), these will still sell out. People who are first-movers won’t even think twice about buying these. For their next iteration, they need to make a model which can be used by audiophiles, not just be a dazzling pair of headphones for walking around in public. Oh, and by the way, I see these being very popular in China.
I see a lot of you attacking me over my comments about the giant L/R labels. I realize now that the requirement for local language labelling usually applies to health and safety labelling only, (like car speedometers, for example) while AirPods Max's are not particularly health or safety related, even though you can use them to call emergency services. A lot of you are attacking me over asking if there is a Mic in them. I didn't see mention of a Mic on the web page at first glance, but deep down in the advertising it said there were Mics. I should have dug deeper before asking.
I wouldn't sweat it or view the responses as "attacking." I've found that written comments often seem terse and somewhat colder than spoken responses. It's usually a side effect of the medium. Things that you'd interpret as "no big deal" in spoken interactions can appear to be "in your face" in a written forum comment. There is very little here in the AI forums that should be taken too seriously.
sevenfeet said: Also, audiophiles would want a headphone jack to connect to sound systems and bypass the limitations of Bluetooth for an analog experience.
What 'analog experience" do you imagine exists with modern headphones? What limitation to the audio quality do you believe exists with BT 5.0?
No mic? I can't use it to talk with my iPhone? The fact that it has active noise cancellation proves it has some sort of mic in it, but not one I can speak into?
It's labelled with L and R for the Left and Right sides. How are they going to market that in countries where English isn't known or spoken widely?
Do you really spend your life worrying about nonsense? Or is that reserved for your online persona?
Comments
I can't wait them for them to complain that they can't take it to Honest Bob's Computer Shop to get the processor upgraded.
Looking down at one of the product pics, I thought it was a pink Apple Watch.
You don't need ANC in a music studio and it wouldn't give the most accurate rendition of music being mixed. You don't need spatial awareness in 99% of music studios. Maybe in a movie studio doing some kind of AR thing... But not in a studio. And studio monitors, be they speakers or headphones, make a poor choice for actually enjoying music and not engineering it.
Apple is aiming these at people who really like listening to music and and can appreciate superior sound. The ANC is for less 'critical' listening probably when walking around the mean streets.
The digital crown is terrific. I think the location on the top is the best for a more natural hand movement/positioning to control its function(s). A better position might be on the back edge of a cup but that might be bumped by head movement. Let actual reviews begin.