AirPods Max reviews round-up: Amazing design and sound for an expensive price

AirPods Max reviews are out and unanimously, all the reviews agree that it has an amazing sound quality, luxury design, and comfortable earbuds. However, the accompanying case and the price were irksome.

Recently, Apple launched its own over-the-ear wireless headphones ‘AirPods Max’ which features high-fidelity audio, active noise cancellation, transparency mode, spatial audio, and adaptive EQ. The new headset is powered by H1 chips, has an acoustic design, and advanced software to power computational audio for an elevated listening experience. Various tech reviewers tested AirPods Max and here is their reviews round-up.

AirPods Max Smart Case

AirPods Max reviews round-up: Does the audio justify the price?

Unlike all over-the-ear headphones, AirPods Max is the first headset available in an all-metal design and surprisingly the little extra weight is not an issue. Sold in gorgeous metallic tones of pink, green, space gray, silver, and sky blue, the only issue with headphones is their high price tag of $549. So is the high-quality sound worth the price?

TechCrunch 

Written more as a first impression instead of an AirPods review, Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch gave full marks to the overall design of AirPods Max.

First, they’re gorgeous. The earcups are beautiful. The band is incredibly sturdy. The netting feels like a high-end piece of furniture. The stems are very well done, with a precision pull out mechanism that acts like a precision milled car piston.

How high quality is the build here? Like, this shouldn’t ship for $550 high. Judging from materials execution alone, the AirPods Max feels like it should be more expensive if anything.

With a 386g weight, Panzarino points out that the new headset is heavy and isn’t suitable for activewear like walking, cleaning, jogging. Moving on, the digital crown and Siri work smoothly, and precision detection intuitively pauses, plays, and turns off the headphones. Most important of all the audio, he says that

“the sound is impressive. Don’t worry about this being in the Beats region of a bass-heavy crowd pleaser. Though there is plenty of low end, this is a more nuanced affair, with crisp delivery across the spectrum. I’ve watched movies, listened to music, and had phone conversations, all sounded great.’

Pink AirPods Max

CNET 

Testing the new headphones’ sound, audio features and weight, David Carnoy at CNET is thoroughly impressed with the AirPods Max. He concluded his AirPods Max review with;

If you equate weight with value, which was once the case for audio products (speakers in particular), the AirPods Max certainly feel like they’re worth more than the Sony or Bose. The AirPods Max’s weight, however, may also be viewed as their biggest weakness, even if, as I said, they may be the most comfortable heavy headphones you’ll try.

But if you are looking for a high-end experience, the AirPods Max deliver one. Say what you will about the price, at least they’re different, and stand out in a very crowded field of wireless headphones.

AirPods Max dynamic driver

TechRadar 

Not convinced by the design of the new AirPods Max, Olivia Tambini at TechRadar likes the sound quality and listening experience of the headphones. However, she is cautiously not commenting on the price for she needs more time to give a through AirPods Max review. So far, her verdict is,

So far the audio quality has impressed us, with a wide, well-balanced soundstage, rich bass, and detailed trebles. We’ve also found the noise cancellation to be very effective, and the inclusion of a Transparency mode is certainly useful.

Is that enough to convince people to part with $550 / £550 / AU$899? Like we say, we’ll have to spend more time with the AirPods Max to find out, but our gut instinct tells us that these headphones will probably only appeal to hardcore Apple fans, while brand-agnostic audiophiles will likely spend their money on cans that come with all the fixings, cables and all.

AirPods Max internals

MKBH- Marques Brownlee 

Famous YouTuber Marques Brownlee calls listening experience on the new Apple over-the-ear headphones “luxury listening” and AirPods Max “check a set of boxes which no other headphone set I have ever tested can claim to check.” The soft mesh earcups fit surprisingly well and can be worn for a longer time than the leather ones which heat up after a few hours. The earcups are detachable, so users can replace them once they wear out.

Brownlee loved the sound quality music streaming on Spotify; the bass, instrumental separation, and highs and lows were all great. The active noise cancellation does not affect the sound quality and listening experience. His AirPods Max review verdict is that,

They deliver a great listening experience; with their awesome sound quality they do, with their sweet noise cancellation they do, with their pretty cool spatial audio experience (which only works with iPhones and iPad) they do. It is awesome for movies and gives a great listening experience with all the built-in stuff and few giant quirks like the metal body, case, and price tag. But if you are okay with that then these are pretty dope headphones.

Max Tech

Impressed by the high-quality sound with intuitive adjustment of high and low, transparency mode, active noise cancellation, and basically, everything else reviewers at MaxTech were blown by the AirPods Max, especially the sound stage and instrumental separation. Their final verdict of AirPods Max review is definitely worth the price but if you have the budget for it like HomePod.

“I knew they were going to sound great at this price, what I didn’t know is how wide the sound stage would be and how dang good instrumental separation would be with single drivers. That is what I was not expecting. If you are an iPhone user and you care about sound quality and you want over-the-ear headphones, Yes absolutely it (AirPods Max) is worth the price; not only the sound quality is fantastic, you get these extra features with it that wont get with other headphones.”

About the Author

Addicted to social media and in love with iPhone, started blogging as a hobby. And now it's my passion for every day is a new learning experience. Hopefully, manufacturers will continue to use innovative solutions and we will keep on letting you know about them.

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