MacQuadra840av

The 'Hazardous Material' of these headphones is the ridiculous price and ugly appearance.

Apparently it seems people here don't understand the very strict requirements to ship products with Lithium Ion batteries, especially by Air:

Shipping lithium batteries by air is the most complicated of all forms of transit, due to the increased risk (i.e. and aircraft accidents caused by fire are likely to be fatal). With damaged batteries being blamed for aircraft crashes in the past, the shipping of damaged or defective batteries is strictly forbidden.

When transporting lithium-ion batteries via air, the Dangerous Good Regulations (DGR) must be reviewed and met. These regulations are governed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

If the item is being returned to Apple, then they clearly failed in the proper labeling of the packaging to be safe for shipping by Air.

bluefire1 said:

I wonder how these compare to Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones.

The $200 price premium of the Apple headphones are not enough to justify the purchase.  Plus you have so much more control of the Bose and Sony headphones.  Remember, Apple does not allow you to even adjust the tone quality of their products.  At least you can turn off the Bose and Sony headphones to save the battery.  Can't do that with the Apple headphones.  All you can do is put them in the bra or purse case and go to a low power mode, still draining the battery.  And that mesh headband will fall apart soon since Apple designed them for you to carry them by the headband.  

So people claim the best feature of all the AirPod series is the automatic switching, and here is the article stating the obvious...it is annoying because it will switch devices when you don't want them to...so here is how to disable the feature.  So people are going to blow $549 to turn off that feature.

Here is how to get the most out of them...don't buy them and keep your wallet happy.  Buy the Sony or Bose, both the highest rated in the industry, and save $200 (or more since the Sonys are on sale for $279).

Apple has lost their minds with their current pricing.

macgui said:

Clearly most of you aren't familiar with high-end headphones. They can range from 2-10x the cost of these Apple headphones, easy.

It's comical the way some idiots pick one feature of these headphones then compare their little POS headsets and claim some kind of victory.

And suggesting that these have to be binned when the battery dies? Idiocy. Replacing batteries in AirPods isn't really very practical, and comparing that to replacing the batteries in the Max is again another exercise in stupidity.

These are pricey for the casual listener. Not all that pricey when compared to a litany of high-end headphones, if these live up to the claims. 

Clearly you are not familiar with Apple's marketing.  These are a far cry from being high-end headphones.  They are just excessively overpriced cans.  You don't have to be so insulting to people in your comment.  No professional recording studio or person would buy these.  They will buy the high-end headphones from reputable companies in the industry that know audio very well.  Apple is not that company.  Apple is known for mediocre audio quality in their products.  Apple does not even allow you to adjust tone quality in any of their speaker products.  These are heavily marketed as BLUETOOTH headphones to use with your iPhone for playing back heavily compressed audio files.  Something a professional audio person would never listen to.  Yes, Apple charges an extra $35 for an audio cable, but again, that is not what Apple wants you to do.  These are just overpriced ugly headphones that no one will be buying, except for a few fools that think anything with an Apple logo is somehow magical.