My husband is an audiophile, and I’ve always felt vaguely envious of his elaborate sound setups with cushioned over-ear headphones that pipe perfectly balanced music into his ears while blocking out the rest of the world. I’m more of a laptop-and-a-pair-of-earbuds girl and have so far been delighted with my AirPods Pro 2. But when Apple announced a new line of colors for the AirPods Max last fall, I was tempted enough to give these over-ear headphones a try.
The Apple Price Tag
My first concern was the cost. Why spend $549 on over-ear headphones when competitors offer similar products for $200 less? The answer for me was both the design (I’m willing to pay more for something that makes me happy to look at) and the seamless experience AirPods are known for.
Check Out That Body
There’s no other way to put it: my AirPods Max are gorgeous. The purple color I selected is exactly what I hoped it would be, and the mesh top is a far cry from the bulky black padding I’m used to seeing. The carrying case is so stylish, it almost looks like a designer purse instead of a pair of headphones. In the looks department, I have no complaints.
But boy, is this guy heavy. Being largely inexperienced with over-ear headphones, I wasn’t sure if it was normal for them to weigh so much, but they did feel heavier than others I remembered trying. A quick search told me I was right; the AirPods Max weigh in at 13.6 ounces. For comparison, Sony’s WH1000XM5 weigh 8.82 ounces, while the Beats Studio Pro weigh 9.17 ounces. This, so far, has proven a challenge for long-term listening. However, my AirPods Pro make my ears sore after too much listening, so it may just be a tradeoff.
“For premium sound with AirPods functionality, this is absolutely worth the purchase.”
The fit itself is comfortable, with easy adjustments you can make via sliding bars. Some searching revealed elegantly understated L and R on the insides of the earpieces for the left and right ears.
Superior Control
I love, love, love the control buttons. I never came close to mastering the stem controls on my AirPods Pro (how many times do I tap? Where on the stem do I slide?), so I’d always have to pull out my iPhone if I wanted to change modes, pause music, or answer a call. On the Max, you can control the volume by turning the Digital Crown (although you turn counterclockwise to turn volume up and clockwise to turn it down, which is a little unintuitive for me), and you can press the Digital Crown to start or stop whatever is playing. Double and triple clicks will move you forward and back in your playlist. The noise control button easily switches between regular, transparency, and noise cancellation modes. All of this is much easier to remember and implement than the stem controls on my AirPods Pro 2. You also have your standard pause/resume functions if you take the headset off and put it back on, great if someone suddenly starts talking to you.
Putting AirPods Max to the Test
Setting up the AirPods was even easier than with most Apple devices. The pop-up to pair the AirPods to my iPhone came and went so fast I hardly noticed it, and then I was connected. I appreciated that I didn’t have to long-press any buttons to get into pairing mode; just opening the case and removing the AirPods was enough.
The sound is wonderful. I’m a big fan of spatial audio, and the AirPods Max brought out new elements to songs I hadn’t gotten before on either my AirPods Pro or the speakers I’ve played them on. The noise cancellation is almost too good; I can barely tell my husband is talking when I have them on, even if I’m not playing anything. The one thing I miss is Adaptive Transparency, an AirPods Pro-exclusive that lets you hear the world around you in a natural way while filtering out loud noises it deems unnecessary. Transparency mode in general on my AirPods Max is a little tinny and doesn’t match up to my AirPods Pro, but it’s the adaptive part that hurts to lose. I love using Adaptive Transparency to talk to my kids while the robovac is running, as I can be sensitive to background noise. With my AirPods Max, I have to commit to full noise cancellation if I want to use them.
While I’m happy with the default settings, my husband wondered if there was a way to crank up the bass. Apple does let you adjust your iPhone’s EQ if you know where to look in Settings on your iPhone, but having no dedicated app for AirPods remains frustrating.
Fast Charging but a Picky Battery
The AirPods Max promise a battery life of up to 20 hours when you have Noise Cancellation mode on. Seeing this stat, I wondered why my AirPods Max drained so quickly, especially compared to my AirPods Pro, which I rarely have to charge. The reason is twofold: first, my AirPods Pro are charged by their case, which offers up to 30 hours of listening time. Second, the AirPods Max need to be in their case to fully power down. That means all the times I took my AirPods Max off and left them lying on the table, the battery was slowly wearing down.
Charging is incredibly fast. According to Apple, just five minutes gives you an hour and a half of listening time. I love that its charging port is USB-C (instead of Lightning like its previous iteration). Now one cord in my house can charge my iPhone, MacBook, iPad, and both sets of AirPods. No more complicated cable drawer for me! Just one cord for all my devices to fight over.
Pros:
- Gorgeous design
- Excellent sound
- Apple AirPods functionality
- Easy setup
- Digital Crown and noise control button are much easier to use than AirPods Pro stems
- Top-quality noise cancellation
- Fast charging and uses USB-C
Cons:
- Heavy
- Costs more than most competitors
- No Adaptive Transparency
- Doesn’t power down unless put away
- No designated app means it’s hard to adjust EQ without knowing where to look
Conclusion
For the seasoned audiophile or the price-conscious user, the AirPods Max might not be the way to go. For premium sound with AirPods functionality, this is absolutely worth the purchase. However, the weight is something to be considered. For anyone thinking of buying, I’d recommend going to a store and trying on a pair to see if it’s a comfortable fit.
