Apple introduced a brand new set of AirPods Max throughout its occasion final week, updating them with USB-C and in a brand new set of colours. The change to USB-C is a welcome one, to make sure, however Apple modified nothing else about them. And that feels bizarre, proper? What offers?
Apple’s high-end luxurious headphones had been spectacular after they launched in 2020. That they had all of the options of the AirPods Professional and made intelligent use of the Apple Watch’s digital crown for quantity management. Additionally they sounded improbable — nonetheless do, in truth! However the remainder of the market didn’t sit nonetheless; alternate options from Sony, Bose, and extra not too long ago, Sonos, all provide comparable options and sound — most notably, they every compete with the AirPods Max in terms of noise cancellation (Bose does this the most effective) and transparency modes (AirPods Max nonetheless reign, however the Sonos Ace are shut).
Regardless of being among the many costliest headphones you should buy with out going into ultra-high-end audiophile territory, the AirPods Max appear to have caught on in recent times. Apple doesn’t break the headphones’ numbers out when it experiences its earnings, however they’re in all places in New York Metropolis, and I even see them on a variety of heads in my residence metropolis of Milwaukee too. You’ll see them in airports and planes, metropolis transit, or simply strolling across the block. There was a complete development at one level of individuals sharing AirPods Max equipment on TikTok. I’m keen on the crocheted ones:
There’s additionally a really seen marketplace for “dupes,” or knockoffs. They’ve a hefty presence in Reptronics, a 115,000-member-strong subreddit the place folks share offers on cheaper faux variations of standard merchandise. (TikTok, once more, has tons of movies about dupes.)
27 minutes into episode 6 of the splashy Netflix drama The Accident, a young person is carrying AirPods Max knockoffs that I’m sure are the precise pair I purchased a few years in the past. I gave mine to my little one, who rapidly broke them.
So why didn’t Apple replace the AirPods Max? Is it as a result of it’s targeted on Beats and doesn’t have time for the AirPods Max? Did it simply have to get one thing out the door so the EU doesn’t come down on it for not switching over to USB-C earlier than the area’s December deadline requiring it to? Does Apple suppose that it did an ideal, no-notes job for its first over-ear headphones proper out of the gate, even with its several-years-old H1 chip?
They’re so, so costly, however they’re additionally a stellar pair of headphones that I really like listening to music via. The ecosystem advantages like having the ability to pair them to my Apple TV to look at a film at night time or rapidly change them from my laptop to my telephone to my iPad are nice. And so they nonetheless really feel as strong now, two years after I purchased mine, as ever.
However of their authentic iteration, they’re extraordinarily Apple — you want a particular cable that solely Apple sells for wired listening as a result of they don’t have a 3.5mm audio jack. They don’t have an influence button, so it’s important to belief that they’ll go into low-power mode and will likely be prepared for you subsequent time you set them on. (This has been very inconsistent for me.)
Apple didn’t change any of that, and now it’s onerous to really feel like they’re essentially the most premium headphones of Apple’s lineup, because of the obtrusive omission of the AirPods Professional H2 chip that was launched two years in the past. With out it, they gained’t get options like Adaptive Audio or Conversational Consciousness — or these coming to the AirPods Professional later, like doubling as listening to aids.
I wouldn’t improve for these options, and I don’t essentially suppose anybody else ought to both. However the AirPods Professional being extra “superior” positive takes the premium shine off of the AirPods Max, doesn’t it? It doesn’t assist that the market has roughly caught up, both. All of that basically makes their $549 pricetag a tough capsule to swallow in 2024.
