dope_ahmine

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There is only so much light available in total from the screen, since the display elements still produce the same amount of light. The only thing a lens does is redirecting the wide spread light into a more narrow forward-directed cone. Hence, the “stray” light that used to escape from the display into the wide angles is now collected and pointed into the user’s eyes.

So, there isn’t really any “problem” with these displays to solve at wide angles. The lenses do exactly what you put them there to do. From a usecase perspective there might be a problem but not from a technical. The only way I see to solve the usecase problem is by removing the lenses — completely or partially.

One such solution is to make the lenses imperfect in the sense that they leak light to the sides. This can be achieved by tuning the reflectance of the lens materials, or by micro/nano structuring the lens. If somebody comes up with a “switchable” function for lenses such as MLAs that would also work (as suggested above). But in either of these usecase solutions, the perceived brightness would of course decrease in the forward viewing direction.

Lastly, there is an entirely different usecase solution — tracking the user’s eyes and dynamically redirecting the focal point of the lenses towards the viewer. This would be the winning design that would change the world of displays. Eye tracking is already in place, but MLAs that can be dynamically pointed in different directions are not (esp. fast enough and demanding little energy). In my view, this is where I would direct all my research if I was heading this project.

But who am I to know? I only designed a nanofilm you can put on an ordinary 2D display and turn it into 3D …some 20 years ago …and that didn’t take off.

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.

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?

Imagine if Apple integrated a pair of these with the Vision Pro.