AirPods Max 2(apple.com) |
AirPods Max 2(apple.com) |
I had the Sony's but returned them after 3 days. I had this issue: https://corychu.medium.com/sony-wh-1000xm6-sound-terrible-wi... I went back to Apple.
Putting a 2022 chip into the most overpriced headphones and that's the only update is... wild in 2026
Does that mean 50% better, or 150% better? Sure does look like weasel words.
It doesn’t change how iffy the wording is though.
Now I wonder if AirPods Max 2 is even better than AirPods Pro 3 but we are soon reaching the point of diminishing returns. So to all kindred souls who hate noise, Pro 3 is probably good enough for your use cases!
My biggest issue with the Max I have now (and why they just don't get a ton of use) is keeping them charged. I would love for a dock or something. I know there are third party solutions but they require putting a little plug into the plug in the headphones, and it is not hard to find issues that people have had with those so I have not done it.
An official solution from Apple would be amazing, something as simple as what the Astro A50 does.
sony xm6 -- 30h
bose qc ultra -- 24h
would recommend the sony anc headphones, they're quite good.
AirPods Max with USB-C and AirPods Max 2 appear to be the only headphones among this group (XM6, QCUltra2, AirPods Max with USB-C, AirPods Max 2) that support both Audio over USB-C and automatic charging while in use.
As for wired listening? My XM4s sound okay wired in, and at home I’ve got critical-listening kit already. Adding a USB-C cable to the Max is not appealing given that 3.5mm already exists, USB-C cables are heavier than analog audio wires, and more corps block USB ports in general or mess with them in ways that corrupts the audio stack.
Give me wireless CD-quality audio and I’ll be a happy dinosaur. Until then, I have zero reason to upgrade what I currently have.
Am I some golden-eared savant? Heck nah. I still listen to electronic mixes in shitty YouTube audio, because a lot of it isn't mastered in CD quality anyhow; I also enjoy leaning back with a good CD rip of classic rock or orchestral jams on my HD800s or my B&W 684s. I like the different experiences these setups offer, but my preference is always for lossless just as a matter of preservation regardless of whether I can hear it or not.
Let folks enjoy what they like, how they like it.
Tired of accumulating scar tissue and burn marks in the name of shareholder value.
“Ultra-low latency audio and Lossless Audio listening requires a wired USB‑C connection and compatible content from supported apps and services.”
So it doesn’t appear that lossless wireless is supported at all, even with Vision Pro.
But that's only with the Vision Pro, no?
I.e. very short and more or less consistent distance between transmitter and receiver.
Subjectively. Objectively, there's no audible difference between lossy and lossless (at usual bitrates).
Which excludes 90% of the populace by default, and thus I never bought into the whole audiophile hype anyway. Let folks enjoy what they like, on the equipment they like. I ain't here to judge, just share.
https://beneinstein.com/how-it-s-made-series-beats-by-dre-15...
Did they fix this known flaw that has ruined hundreds of people’s very expensive headphones? Nope.
Should have gotten AppleCare, but I didn’t know walking with them in the cold for 15 minutes would destroy them so easily.
That surprised me... I buy every in-ear AirPods Pro without much deliberation, even the Pro 3 which measurably regressed on sound. The heart rate sensor and ANC bump were enough.
I say that to clarify: I wanted to want these.
But it's death by a thousand cuts. The weight alone I'd live with. The case I'd accept. No IP rating on something I'd like to wear outside.. fuck.. fine, annoying, moving on. But all of it together, at that price, with that much time to fix any of it? Hard pass.
I've gone for the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 instead. More expensive, noticeably worse ANC. But you can hear where the money went. The drivers, the feel, the fact that four hours in you've stopped thinking about them. It sounds like it was made by people who find audio interesting.
Apple used to feel like that.
Embarrassingly, it also has no IP rating: somewhat hilarious from a company in West Sussex, where "unexpected sunshine" makes the local news. And the ANC versus Sony is less a gap than a... uh "chasm".
The question I'd put to anyone in this thread still weighing it up: are you buying the best headphone, or the most convenient one? For in-ears those are the same answer. For over-ears, I'm not sure they are.
Then
> I decided to buy the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2
Have you seen its frequency response?
Much further away from Apples marketing as "best airpods yet" for an all-rounder product.
Yet, with that taken into account, today the latest DT 1770 Pro still cost over 20% more than the latest AirPods Max.
Considering Apple markets Max for audio work, they compete on the same turf. This makes Apple’s offer unusually cost effective, not the other way around. I think this can be attributed to their fragility and inferior sound quality relative to DT 1770 Pro (at the end of a decent signal chain).
I’m someone who bought three generations of AirPods Pro, as well as an AirPods Max. All four devices have been absolute headaches.
The first AirPods Pro had the rattle‑gate issue. I was able to get it replaced under warranty, but it was a pain to deal with until the recall program came out.
Ok I chalked it up to a first gen product and I generally liked it when it worked so I decided to upgrade to the second generation because it offered more features and I hoped that it improved reliability.
I upgraded, and I immediately got the rattle‑gate problem again, this time right past the warranty period. There was no recall program for second gens, and when I went to the store they told me the headphones were damaged and I was out of luck.
I try to maintain these devices extremely carefully, but I guess my use of isopropyl alcohol to disinfect and clean them damaged the ANC microphone. I’ve never dropped the AirPods, yet they still failed.
While being super frustrated with the Pro 2 I ended up buying the pro 3 but reconsidered after what I was told about the status of the Pro 2 but I missed the return window by a few days. After these Pro 3 fail, I just don't want to give them any more money for headphones.
I saw the Airpods Max on sale for Black friday a while back so I gave them a try as I was getting ear issues wearing in ear devices for so long each day. While they are very comfortable, the ear caps are a pain to clean.
They absorb sweat and oils over time and do not make it easy for them to get released when cleaning with detergent and water. it’s a massive effort. Im scrubbing with a toothbrush to clean, disinfect and then extensively drying them with a heater. All of this is taking 1+ hour each 1-2 weeks.
I am someone who is trying to maintain all my equipment as much as possible and this "woven texture" feels great but is not great for maintenance lifestyle.
Luckily ive accepted that the cheapo 20$ ear caps on Amazon are good enough and I just toss old ear caps after they become too hard to clean and buy another replacement set. I also have to disassemble the headband and use a special cleaning solution I found on Amazon, which smells like its just laundry detergent to prevent the headband from darkening from regular skin oils.
Now I’m starting to get very occasional "tinny" type of rattling with ANC enabled, as other people have indicated here as well.
These damn things are too expensive to have all these stupid issues. I’m really desperate for something more repairable and maintainable than this junk.
I had a sennheiser wired unit before this and those things lasted years with the only replacement being the ear caps like once a year.
As it stands, I may have spent close to $1,000 on this over the years, and I am just sick and tired of it. They’re not bad products when they work, they’re absolutely GREAT when they work. But man, all this headache when they dont work is just ridiculous at this point.
Also quite frankly I’d rather just not have to buy them and keep working from home. Listening to music using good speakers is an objectively superior experience.
On the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra 2 I've found you can disable voice prompts for "Connections & Calls" and "Battery Level on Startup" but not for everything e.g. "USB Audio" and "Bluetooth Audio" will play each time you switch the source.
After removing buttons and switches with physical semantics, extending response latency, and decreasing reliability, they were running out of ways to torment us. The slow, obnoxious voices gave them a bit more runway. They even deal bonus combo damage when the headphones try and fail to connect to devices you told them to forget with their app (which made you sign up for an account, of course) and the slow, obnoxious voices agonizingly narrate the saga of failure before you are allowed to listen to your music.
I am currently on Bose QC Ultra 1 specifically because it allowed disabling the voice whereas WH-1000XM5 didn't (it had a setting, but it only applied to a subset). Did they get rid of that on QCU 2?
Happy to be corrected, I bet you can via the app. Thanks for the tip, I’ll look into it! My wife’s QCU 2s are absolutely luxurious and live up to the “comfort” name 100%.
I'll be interested in seeing a review on specialized sites. The 20 hours of battery life is impressive.
Strongly assume most tech marketing is focusing on the newer generations of impresionables.
Wired headphones and earbuds seem to be having a moment as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Multipla#/media/File:Fiat...
The built-in Apple audio DSP, amps, etc have surprisingly good fidelity. Much higher quality than you would expect from consumer hardware. They even provide high-impedance headphone jacks on their recent computers.
It is unwise to dismiss their prowess
So, if Apple keeps on building new features while not fixing major problems, I'm not considering buying these unreliable, expensive products at all ...
Can anyone with experience with either the AirPods Max 1s or XM-6s tell me what they feel like to sleep with on an airplane (business class with a lie flat bed?) Plane travel is my primary use-case for these type of headphones.
The Bluetooth chip & version in these won’t be the same one you have today, so there’s no guarantee that present experience will inform future experience (better or worse).
Passive noise cancellation beats active hands down. (no weird air pressure, reliable, no need for batteries, less expensive) Analog and wired beats bluetooth if you care for sound quality, portable DACs are very good in 2026. Professionals are using BeyerDynamics and Sony headphones made for studios and almost unchanged since the 90s for good reasons.
The only good reason to opt for wireless is for practical reasons when you are running, and you want smaller models.
Also, this design is kind of ugly and dated.
Until they make the ear cups tilt horizontally, these will be a no-go for me. My ancient 10+ year old Bose QCs 35s can pivot and are a million times more comfortable.
Since the AirPods Pro 2 that were released last year got wireless lossless, this surprises me: I would have expected lossless without cable in the AirPods Max 2, to the point that I was waiting to buy them.
That’s a shame, as that would be a real differentiator compared to all other headphone manufacturers, wireless lossless audio.
Apple has not done enough to fix glitchy software problems, which continue to occur even on the latest AirPods Pro devices. I won’t touch the Max headphones until I start hearing that the software has been fixed.
I really wish the audio technica headband style was more common, even they use it less now. The two winglets as the head contact are just so much more comfortable than literally any other configuration.
Has anyone done a teardown and figured out where all the gravity in these things comes from?
Considering the modest update and the fact that they lose many of the quality of life features if outside of the Apple ecosystem, which I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with, I will be looking elsewhere.
I couldn't use neither AirPods Max nor AirPods Pro (1st generation) because they were making my tinnitus noticeably worse.
I have no such issues whatsoever with my Sony WH-1000XM4 and a few other ANC headphones I've used.
I can buy a laptop for that money.
It’s strange to me that they haven’t introduced a more budget friendly line to serve different segments, like most of their product categories. Headphones aren’t an experimental hobby product.
Where are my $200 budget pair?
Sony WH-1000XM and Bose QuietComfort can do 24h on bluetooth + ANC if not more.
If you compare a CD on a proper system with an MP3 on an iPod, you're really comparing Apples to oranges. Also depending on with which encoded the MP3 was created. The iTunes encoder for example was infamous for rather bad quality.
The original test that got me into the scene way back in the 00s was toggling between a CD player and my iPod on the same Hi-Fi setup, with different kinds of material to cover my tastes at the time. First it was done blindly by the store owner (so I couldn't see which was which), and then he let me take over to see for myself for a while.
I get the skepticism, really, and I'm not making claims that I'm some golden-eared savant (because I have medical confirmation I'm very much not, at least when it comes to audible speech). I am saying that for me specifically, I find the differences in the files on my equipment to generally be noticeable enough to warrant the increase in stored quality.
Would I recommend the HD800s to folks? Hell no, I bought those because I wanted them, Colorware paint job and all. That's the secret to most audiophile kit in my experience: we're all just paying for stuff we think looks and sounds cool, and that comes with a premium over function alone.
Not sure where you're looking, but seems I paid 535 EUR for my beyerdynamics (and that's what Amazon sells them for right now too), meanwhile these Apple headphones cost 579 EUR, so seems it's opposite really, studio-grade headphones being cheaper than the consumer-grade hardware Apple sells.
> Considering Apple markets Max for audio work
They might be marketed like that, because it influences what wealthy consumers chose to buy, but AFAIK, no one is sitting with AirPods Max in their studios for work, at least from what I've been able to tell.
Both products in US on the site of respective manufacturer. Maybe you bought the older model (which by the way has higher impedance, so dedicated amplifier is a must, take it into account when you calculate the price).
> no one is sitting with AirPods Max in their studios for work
People absolutely use them for serious work. They are much more of a personal product though, and there are other factors that would make an average studio disinclined to invest in them, like fragility and cost of repair and a whole bunch of unnecessary for a studio features.
Of course, when the studio already has all the rest of the hardware, soundproofed room, etc., it could actually be cheaper to buy cans that do not in fact include ANC, DAC, Dolby, amplifier, etc., and maybe even enjoy a bump in audio quality while at that. For someone who does not have that, it is often simply not a practical choice.
I wouldn't be surprised if Beyerdynamic has similar, if not more, margin.
I can tell you haven't heard a leaf blower in a while, if ever. The revving the operators inevitably do causes it to bounce up and down over the spectrum at completely random-seeming intervals. Punches right through ANC, windows, doors, walls.
As if that's not bad enough they pollute more than a gigantic SUV because of how much oil they burn being a two-stroke.
1. Still just as heavy. The AirPods Max sound quite good, but they are very heavy, to the point of being fairly uncomfortable after listening for any longer amount of time. This release as the exact same weight as the originals (13.6 oz).
2. Still no off button/position. They stay partially on unless you put them in the awkward and useless "case", which means they're constantly out of power when you want to use them. There's even an obvious fix: the ear cups swivel flat, they could just make this the "power off" position. Solved. But they didn't, so presumably these still have the same problem. There's also no mention of magnetic charging via stand, which would be another way to help alleviate this problem.
If these were even a few ounces lighter and powered off properly, I would buy them for sure. Given this announcement, I guess I will look for something else to replace the old AirPods Max.
People compliment my Jabra’s voice quality otherwise I would’ve switched already.
Much prefer lighter Sony or Bose top of line
Still though, I think this is just a case of Apple making them heavier purely for a premium feel.
If you set your AirPods Max down and leave them stationary for 5 minutes, they go into a low power mode to preserve battery charge. After 72 stationary hours out of the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into a lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My to preserve battery charge further
[Archive link, as the latest Support doc doesn't have this wording any longer]
[0]https://web.archive.org/web/20210315052229/https://support.a...
> When stored in the soft, slim Smart Case, AirPods Max enter an ultra‑low‑power state.
I have latest firmware and if I forget to place my Max's in their case they are at half power or less within a few days.
As such they get used a lot less than I would otherwise. One of my more wasteful purchases in the past few years.
That and the super annoying behavior where two floors away they decide to randomly pair with my Mac Studio when someone Slack Huddles me or whatever, then I need to fiddle with settings to get my airpods pro to connect instead.
This is coming from someone who thinks the Airpods Pro are downright magical in how well they work.
Could be because I also pair them with regular old Bluetooth from a PC in addition to the Apple ecosystem. The earbuds likely don't have the same issue because they inside a case and are fully turned off when not in use.
Sound quality honestly isn't that great either, but I suppose that's more inherent in headphones in general vs. speakers than anything to do with them specifically.
Using 3 digits of precision also avoids being temped to use the rather niche ,2 convention when claiming to embrace a region as large as the rest of the world.
However, the Bose headphones just haven’t worked as smoothly for me from a software and integration standpoint. I tend to run into more glitches and small issues compared to the AirPods Max. I’m not sure whether that’s primarily a Bose issue or something related to Apple’s ecosystem, but my guess is that other high-end headphones probably face similar integration challenges when paired with an iPhone.
On the bright side, Max is very reliable.
The weight hasn't been an issue for me.
Caveat: after a while the mesh at the top starts to stretch, and then you get the two metal bands going straight into the head, and that hurts. And the worst part is: this mesh is not replaceable :( There are silicone band-aids that can be bought, but I would have very much preferred for a possibility of repair to exist…
It's kind of like standing desks; some people are able to go all day with it with the right setup and feel better than if they had sat. Others feel miserable after a few hours. Neither is wrong but they may not understand the other's experience, or what they might be doing differently that affects their results.
The noise cancellation was intentionally downgraded at a certain point. Because one pair worked until it also got an update.
Second issue is both stopped working. No idea why and both shortly after AppleCare ran out.
They are very expensive and it’s just not worth the risk.
The killer feature for me is the deep ear cups. All the Sony headphones touch my Dumbo-sized ears and get crazy warm, the APMs don’t.
The one major downside to the Airpods Max is that they do not have an off button and the case is useless for throwing them in a duffel / backpack, as it doesn't protect the headband mesh at all. I have a 3rd party hardshell case for them but it is very unreliable in actually putting them in "ultralow power mode", so the battery drains.
And then they just won't connect. Requiring searching how to reset them, then doing it, then they still might not connect.
It sucks because they noise cancelling is amazing and they sound fantastic... when they work.
The work-around I use is to plug them in to the charging cable for a couple of seconds. They wake up, the green light comes on and everything is fine.
It's a strange problem, but it's not the specific problem you think it is.
I've worn these for multiple cross-country and transatlantic flights, and have not noticed them being too heavy for comfort, but that's definitely gonna be a personal thing.
>which means they're constantly out of power when you want to use them.
I have not found this to be a serious problem, assuming you put them in the case. Even out of the case, though, they keep a charge a while -- which I unfortunately know b/c I lost my case on a plane a while back.
I have the original model. I haven't seen a huge need to upgrade so far -- mine still work great, have excellent battery life, and so replacing them isn't on my radar. Honestly there's a real chance mine will hang on long enough be the last remaining Lightning-connector thing in our house.
My noise cancelling started to go flaky until I stumbled upon that - after I've dried it off after every use and stopped using the "case" /store pads separately from headphone things improved a lot again.
It feels like a serious design issue, I'm really confused why so few people talk about it, but I guess it's because most are just casual users of the headphones with people only wearing it a few minutes a day... And the water only really build up when you're wearing it several hours without taking it off
The noise cancellation went flakey, the auto-switching went flakey, they would crash [1] if lifted one cup from the side of my head. Apple ended up replacing them completely, but then the new pair eventually developed all the same faults.
I hope some of these are addressed in the new models, because despite all this I really enjoy them as headphones.
But there aren't even new colors - the colors were released in a AirPods Max 1.1 release that changed to a USB-C port.
Even still, they are calling these "2". Which means the next update could be a few years out given this update was basically 6 years after the initial launch.
These Airpods appear to have ear-cups made entirely of aluminum, which is an odd choice. Plastic cups are typically more than strong enough and aluminum is actually a fair bit denser than magnesium. That's a lot of weight for no good reason. Aluminum is a great material for some things, but Apple seems to be using it for everything even when its not appropriate.
#1 reason I use the Sony XM4/XM6. Sometimes I wonder if they intentionally do this to appeal to a younger crowd cause as an older person with neck issues it’s just not a very good product.
The audio quality of the Sonys is just as good but the comfort is a much better. I think I like the mic on the AirPods Max better but the mic on the MacBook I use in meetings works as well for meetings.
expected way more from a refresh tbh
The pricing on these always seemed a bit crazy to me, like the value is way off compared to other Apple products
Apple deciding that, on their 2nd refresh of these (after usb-c), they still aren't going to fix those fundamental issues is very frustrating for what feels like a very disproportionately expensive product (even by Apple standards).
I'm now a very happy QC Ultra 2 user. Can't recommend enough.
But more interestingly: what happens at a company like Apple that leads them to not cancel this product and come up with something totally new? Is it that the success of their other products pulls this along so well that they are numb to this product being a dog? AirPods Pro (the earbuds) are a great product, so perhaps the headphones org just doesn't have to face the music?
I'm in the suburbs of a middling Australian city, nothing special and not in particularly high socioeconomic areas
There is at least two people per bus wearing them (or at least very good comps), they're as common as Sony XM5 or XM6's and while they're not Airpods penetration, they're wildly popular for their pricepoint
Some people don't like anything in their ears. Some people have ear canals that don't work/aren't comfortable with "standard" tips. This is why headphones will always exist.
I hate normal headphones because they make my ears get sweaty and are heavy and uncomfortable.
>(5) Ultra-low latency audio and Lossless Audio listening requires a wired USB‑C connection and compatible content from supported apps and services.
Soooooooo Apple, you gonna tell us which content, apps, and services are compatible?
On another note, it seems excessive that your marketing page for this product needs 22 footnotes, disclaimers, and legalese consisting of 1,252 words.
Why they don’t support it wirelessly on the AirPods Max 2, which should be a superior product to the AirPods Pro 2, is beyond me.
I’d guess that the target audience would argue that real lossless music experience requires high-bandwidth wires, and is not possible over the air without degradation.
Only 1 codec is capable of that — aptX Lossless. Then, your transmitting device, phone / laptop / etc., needs to be compatible with it, and that's often not the case. Samsung and Apple don't support it.
I bought USB-C Bluetooth dongle that I use with my iPhone for that exact reason. It looks janky, but I think it's worth it.
It's slowly made less sense to buy directly from Apple in recent years. Not a criticism just an observation. I assumed Apple was simply okay with that and decided it was net better for them. Seems reasonable. There was a period not that long ago where you could only buy directly. And there still are some products that are seemingly only on sale at specific retailers—Homepods have for whatever reason never (rarely?) been sold on Amazon, but are at Best Buy. Often you'll see like the latest Airpods for sale cheaper on Amazon/Costco/Target/etc. immediately even before launch day. The whole Apple experience is nice in its own way and sometimes I suppose you get small but nice little dopamine hits buying directly or going to the nice stores and having someone walk you through stuff (if you need/like it) so there's reasons some people go direct. Simply saying there's less reason than before and so I'm surprised and curious as to how this little section of the website came to be.
Do they want that margin back? Do they want to fight a little bit to keep you in more parts of the chain (but I guess not to the point of restricting sales/inventory to themselves)? Is this just like one PM (measured on one KPI) fighting for a little web real estate (presumably against the PMs involved in the retail partner channels)?
I maintain a fork of this app, which allows you to quickly set and lock your audio input device, so that they don't switch your audio input device to bluetooth as soon as you turn them on. Mostly because of the first gen of these headphones. They LOVED to keep the mic on at all times with no way to disable that behavior.
I assume it's the same with the second gen.
Irritating thing is how Apple hides bluetooth headphones pairing 2-3 clicks deeper than AirPods pairing – on iPhones and Apple TV.
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Max+Teardown/139369
>The next round of frustration: adhesive. That's right, releasing the locks and/or removing the screws isn't enough. Out comes the heat gun, which must be wielded very carefully to avoid melting all this plastic.
Can't you just create a Shortcut on the iPhone to pair with whatever you want via bluetooth in a single tap? Or just edit the control center menu itself and add the Bluetooth button directly to the control center?
My (non apple) Bluetooth devices almost always need a manual connect step
As for ATV, yeah that thing is deep
The XM5s were super uncomfortable to me (to the point I was relieved when they got stolen) and I ended up going back to Bose even though I liked the sound quality on the Sonys better.
Does anyone have experience with obtaining a flatter frequency response from any AirPods, though? While maintaining the full power of noise cancellation.
My experience with Pros has always been that they exaggerate the bass. EQ settings available in Music are coarse, and I don’t know of any other way to control frequency response independently of the app that plays the sound.
I know they are not really best for critical audio work, but they are damn convenient.
Why can’t they squeeze in that codec, considering Pros have it for years and are a lot smaller?
Edit: apparently I was confusing AirPods Pros with Sony WH models, which have LDAC. I guess there is no chance Apple adopts LDAC, even in their large heavy cans.
Really quite annoying from the "damn convenient" aspect as well.
Based on my experience, almost all consumer-grade headphones (in ear and headphones) seem to suffer from this, I'm guessing people tend to prefer bass-heavy over "not enough bass". Not until you start looking at headphones meant for studio-use does it seem to get closer to expected when it comes to the bass.
iPhone users are kinda out of luck, but the autoeq database can show you how to set Music's equalizer to approximate a flat response
And there is certainly a way for you to set system wide eq, see what AutoEq recommends.
(The internet is so polluted that I cannot find any reliable recommendation today so I'm doing a mini "ask HN" here.)
I've been enjoying the nothing headphones, I enjoy having an off button and ability to connect via wire to the device.
> AirPods Max battery replacement is available through Apple Support for $79, which often results in receiving a refurbished unit rather than a direct repair.
Not the same as a replaceable battery.
Edit: also has a proper cushion on the headband.
* occasional deafening screatch when there's too much moisture. I'm surprised they didn't need to recall them over that
* occasional reboots when you move it a bit on your head.
Unfortunately in apple-manner they don't mention if such issues were resolved with this v2
Repair bill at Apple was 90% of the cost of a new pair.
Truly the worst built product I’ve bought from Apple.
Never again.
It just sits there, with no one touching it. Suddenly, music randomly starts and stops playing. Take it into the Apple Store, they acknowledge it’s a known hardware defect to start registering non-existent touches, and they refuse to fix it. Offer to replace it with a refurb unit for like ~$20 less than a brand new unit.
Edit to add: the unit is less than 2 years old.
Also got a nothing Ear. They are very comfy, and have very good sound. But transparency mode in those is awful. Other things are bad too.
It represents the company effectively forgetting about it as as a product line, but leveraging the latest chips to keep them selling, even in small quantities.
If they truly invested any amount into updating these things, they would reflect the many lessons learned from the 1.0 product. To have a 2.0's form be 1:1 with the 1.0 is lazy at best.
That is literally the sole moat of these companies: minimum orders from china and the fact we can't spend the ad money they can to move that volume quickly. Not tech or offering a good deal. Just being there already with money and doing the inevitable. Being the more productive drug dealer quicker to move the kilo to the captured audience and bankrolled to get the next several and scale.
Picked up a spider-based power meter for around £290 and a big computer for £150. Both are great, and work just as well as their western counterparts costing significantly more.
e.g. Bowers & Wilkins PX8 ($699), Focal Bathys ($849), Sony WH-1000XM6 ($399), Kef Mu7 ($399), Bose QC Ultra ($449)
Yeah. We know. It's just hard to understand how anyone can value headphones at this price. It's lunacy.
The difference is also Apple neither has the audio legacy of those companies nor the quality of those products to warrant that kind of premium. To Apple, it is just another market they can go after, but a lot of those companies built their entire foundations on audio. You are not going to convince me Apple is in the same category as the company that invented the Walkman and CDs.
Also, if you look into the teardown videos, it's really a cheap driver from China - all plastic, not even using aluminium for the basket, just literally hard-glued onto the body. It's not repairable nor eco-friendly. It's anti-consumer. Sony uses Aluminium housing for their drivers and they are the cheapest in the lot.
Don't pay the novelty price shortly after release, these go down quite a bit after introduction, ie last year Sony are basically the same device.
Anyway, I own a Meze 109 pro, and cheap iems with 3M hearing protection that I use when my commute is too noisy. Replace nicely my old ANC headphones.
$549 is pretty reasonable if the headphone has the sound detail it's advertising. Given how AirPods Gen 3 sounds, I'm sure that thing sounds pretty amazing.
Premium products usually have higher margins.
If you want Apple-quality headphones to go with your MacBook Neo, the USB-C Earpods are $19:
On the other hand, the flagship Sony is quite a bit less than AirPods Max.
As long as a pair exists on the demand curve, Apple can charge that price.
I say this because I was able to compare them to my own $400 Sennheisers (which are somewhat awkward because they're wired, and really require a headphone amp to shine), and found the Max to be just as good.
There are also a number of online reviewers who've said the same thing, among them developer, Tumblr millionaire, and headphone addict Marco Arment. He famously described the Max as his favorite closed-back headphone.
To give 3 examples:
1. The marginal value of these products is in the mind of the individual buyer. No individual is buying both the AirPods Max 2 AND the MacBook Neo for personal use. You can’t compare marginal value across two different individuals.
2. The MacBook Neo has a different set of substitutable goods vs the AirPods Max 2. This affects margin. AirPods Max 2 buyers are likely heavily bought into the Apple ecosystem already.
3. With the Neo, Apple are in some sense subsidising entry into the Apple Ecosystem and ‘getting them young’. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s zero or negative margin. With the AirPods Max 2 they are exploiting people who are already bought into the ecosystem. Margins will be high.
Every single one of their products is overpriced to appear premium.
You should get checked out. No adult should have a dent put in their skull by headphones.
It's a horrendous headband design. All the pressure is on two thin bands. The middle fabric doesn't actually do anything.
It isn't perfect, but it makes them wearable.
Pretty incredible oversight by a company that focuses so much on "design."
The bands sell pretty well on Amazon from what I can see so this isn't an isolated issue.
The QC2 are about half the weight of the AirPods Max, and apparently the mesh in the AirPods Max band sags, and allows the metal bars to "dig in" to your scalp. Enough to cause irritation, but 400 or 500 grams resting on your head can't mess with an adult, developed skull.
One day I felt my head and decided that I was switching as soon as a competitor refreshed.
I only really wear them at home or when traveling though, so they’re not a fashion accessory for me.
Still wish they would have improved the headband, but if anyone else is struggling with discomfort, I’d recommend wrapping it in yarn XD
I could go 30 minutes before the discomfort made me have to take it off.
No such issue with the WH-1000XM6, I can wear it the entire day.
I sent them to support with a very good description of the problem, came back the same, “cannot reproduce”.
It seems support workers for both companies just connect them to an audio source and check if sound comes out relatively alright.
Mass market Apple products may be expensive but they are still great value. Look at the $499/$599 Macbook Neo for a recent example, but this generally covers iPhones and other Macs, as well as Airpods, Apple Watch etc.
Then there are the $550 Airpods Max, $3500 Vision Pro, $600 storage upgrades, $700 CPU wheels, $230 "iPhone Pocket", $20 polishing cloth...
In the latter category there is no effort to actually compete on price or value, because it is made for people who will blindly buy anything with an Apple logo on it.
Plus they give juuuust enough features to cover for the true purpose and give you plausible deniability. Same as most luxury items. None truly give the value of the cost (Is a Ferrari 10x as fast as a GR86? Carry 10x as much stuff? Go 10x as far on the same gas load? Etc etc etc)
"Oh but there's nothing like the experience of driving a Ferrari!"
I've tried Bose and Sony; in fact, I have two pairs of QC Ultras sitting in their boxes waiting to be sold. Neither sound as good, even after EQing them as close to the Harman curve as their software allows (with Apple products; I haven't tried them with AptX streaming) and both were slower at cancelling noise. The Bose headphones I tried got decent mics after an update, but they are still unreliable at times.
The Maxes are also heavy, but you don't feel it due to its being very nicely distributed across the head. I've seen scores of people run, walk, and work out in these. I even saw a child using them!
I can't stress how premium the Maxes feel. The cups, for example, don't deform even after hours and hours of wear (and sweat). Replacing them is trivial and they attach with magnets instead of adhesive and/or clips. The headphone band is also extremely strong; much stronger than it looks. They feel like $549. Meanwhile, Bose charges $499 for their QuietComfort Ultras with their slow noise cancelling processors (AirPods use Apple Silicon, which is unbeatable atm) and cheap, plastic body (though part of the headphone band has a chrome finish --- premium!)
All this said, Bose and Sony headphones are significantly easier to travel with, and they have power buttons. This was why I sold my AirPods Maxes the first go around (though I went back to them a year later for the reasons stated previously).
H2 chip enables smart audio switching when paired with Apple account + other Apple products. This is a feature that many people find valuable.
My H1-chipped USB-C Airpods Max (OG) seem to switch seamlessly between my iphone, ipad, and macbook pro already.
I see both of those lines as utilities for travel. Not sure why I can't shake that.
The Max's don't do anything particularly well. I work within the Apple ecosystem and the Airpod Max's plug seamlessly into it. So because of that they are my daily drivers.
As someone with an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and a Macbook, I never got into Apple's headphones. My Sony WH-something-4 that I bought refurbished 4 years ago are more than enough for me.
You want to be seen in public wearing this object
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-po...
That’s all you have to understand.
If you try to understand this stuff outside the context of fashion, you'll go around in circles (as I did).
If you see this through the lens of "people will pay anything to signal various things to others" and "you can charge whatever the market will bear" then it all adds up.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mx572zm/a/apple-mac-pro-w...
They just work.
I mean there are other pieces of kit that probably just work as well but with these you don't need to do market research.
It's surprising how non-trivial even _adequate_ sound is still in 2026 and that's what these are guaranteed to give in any situation IMHO.
If you have only one Apple device probably no selling point as such.
In this case these are more expensive than I’d pay for headphones, but that just means I won’t have any Bluetooth headphones in this form factor. Been down that road before, non-Apple was a frustrating waste of money.
I mean FFS my AirPods are worse on Windows and Linux than in the Apple ecosystem, but are still better than the non-Apple ones I’ve tried, even there. It’s not even just the home-field advantage.
My personal best bang-for-the-buck are the Yamaha Orthodynamic HP-1 headphones that I bought at an estate sale last year for $10 and paired with a JDS Labs amp for $100.
Audiophile headphones in the '70s cost $100-$200. That's like $600-$1200 in today's dollars. Are the AirPods "audiophile" level? Many people think so.
- Top tier general: sennheiser Hbd 630
- good enough: sennheiser momentum 4 (affordable)
- good ANC and “bassy”: Sony xm5/xm6 (‘muddy’ for some)
- I like the Bose ANC profile: Bose QC2
All of them have bad microphones (worse than wired ear pods)
All of them have good to great ANC
All of them are wireless
If you need a good mic then get dedicated headset for calls. Otherwise settle for “ok”
I didn’t include bathys/marklevin cause the new senn 630 outplay them on all fronts.
Also base DACs from a MBP M1 (max) were fine to drive it for me. Both HD600/XX
For my kids I got Anker Soundcores, and for the price they are astonishingly good.
Ignore the thing about open-backs though, I have some extremely high end Grado open-backs and barely use them. My primary hobby outside of work is making music and I have a dedicated studio at home with expensive sound damping / proofing - the only reason to ever wear the Grados is if I'm going to be wearing them for hours on end. Even then, the Sonys are comfortable enough that I've never reached a fatigue point in them.
The ANC is not in the same league as a $300 pair, but one certainly would not expect them to.
They do have some annoyances like not always sleeping correctly when left connected to my laptop, but overall they are easy to recommend
For all day online calls, Jabra evolve2 65 are hard to beat for the price.
Conference calls? Get soundcores.
Actual music? Buy proper open backs and a DAC.
However I tried to wear them one on a train commute and it was horrid. Walking around with them really isn’t fun precisely because of their weight.
Every head movement feels like hard work and the headphones don’t even feel stable on your head during any movement due to the weight.
So I end up owned two headphones (well, technically 3):
1. AirPod Max for focus time
2. Sennheiser earphones (in ear) for commuting / exercise workouts.
3. Sennheiser DJ cans for DJing, video streaming and other times when I need wired, zero latency, audio.
I know my way around premium wireless headphones and I'd wager most of them within that price range are somewhere between 250 and 320 grams (like 8.8 oz to 11 oz).
There’s some random form of someone out there who figured this out, so credit to them, but this fixed mine (I couldn’t bear transparency mode for the longest time lol)
So it definitely is replaceable.
I actually have their budget brand CMF Buds 2 plus and they are straight up great even before you consider the price. Pretty good headphones are commodity now, everybody makes them. Apple is just winning the branding game.
Ex studio tech here. Legacy doesn't cover contracted manufacturing.
I'm not defending apple here, but using chinese drivers (which I assume is a synonym for poor quality) is fine so long as they are binned for performance, and matched/tuned to housing. I'm assuming the mic inside the ear cup is there to do dynamic EQ.
Also the drivers are screwed into a solid aluminium housing, so they aren't glued.
NS10s which are the standard reference mixing speakers were chosen not because they were high quality, but because they were average. If you could get your mix to sound good on those, it'd sound great anywhere.
So yeah, they are expensive. Would I buy them? probably not. I'm reasonably happy with my plantronic jobbies. Are they perfect? no, are they comfortable? yes. Is the active noise cancelling actually effective? also no, but then ANC is only really useful for a small subset of noises types. (even on Sonys. )
Before hearing-tuned EQ became a thing, trying headphones was like trying food. No matter what someone else said it was no guarantee you'd like the sound. Conversely, you might find a cheap pair that sounded spectacular to you. The APM will sound very good to just about anyone, with the hearing test EQ applied.
I think every headphone maker (or better yet, DAC maker) should have this feature. Audiophiles are often old, a hearing test EQ can make them hear music like they're 20 again, and they'll pay for it.
Look at the marketing materials for Vision Pro using the single strap. Next, look at the marketing materials with the dual strap. Which one of those would sell better into an office context where at least half the population spends considerable time fixing their hair. Which one looks slightly futuristic and which looks like a CPAP headset.
"How it looks" led Apple to ship a deficient strap, one that made the device actually hurt to use. And how it looks is why Apple stuck with that garbage strap for 18 months despite knowing from extensive user research that the dual strap was superior ergonomically, and despite having already done the R&D for the dual strap.
It was only when Apple had mostly given up on Vision Pro, understanding that the user base wasn't going to hockey stick, that fashion was already a complete failure, that they began offering the sillier looking but infinitely more functional dual strap. After 18 months, all Apple had was its existing user base, selling only a few thousand devices a month, so it shifted from growth to sustaining and that's what the dual strap and M5 logic board swap was for, holding onto the few users it has until it could figure out how or if to proceed with the product line.
That's not the case with Apple's headphones. That strap could easily be a lot higher quality without being a lot less fashionable.
Please see a doctor!!
But the market for that last 10% 1% 0.1% does exist. Like yes it's funny to make fun of middle aged guys who buy extremely expensive cars and who if actually tested couldn't tell the difference between a $60k sports car and a $160k sports car and there are plenty of businesses that prey on that lack of discerning taste to take advantage but it doesn't mean the difference isn't there at all.
That said, my first pair failed out of Apple Care and resulted in a full cost replacement. The APM sub is littered with stories of the BT module failing.
I’m sure it is ludicrous to some but I often measure value by utility and I go through entire workdays wearing this product.
If you’re unsatisfied with Transparency mode on your gen1 then the gen2 will give you Adaptive which is a big improvement (especially so if you wear them outdoors or around other people). Same improvement that the AirPods had, if you’re familiar with that.
If you use them for videoconferencing, the lower latency and higher quality headset codec may be worth upgrading. They retain value on the used market so long as you unpair them from Find My an hour before you sell them and have a purchase receipt.
I suspect there might be some slight power savings for your transmitting devices if both sides support Bluetooth 5.3, but I would not expect that to be significant or advertised.
(Watch it, it’s fun)
Windows and bluetooth is a really difficult combination. The problem is that for some reason if Windows detects a microphone on the Bluetooth headphone, it switches to a transport mode that a) allows the mic through b) makes the sound sound horrible. So disabling mics sometimes helps there.
I have a pair of the first generation AirPods Max. They leave dents in my scalp if I wear them for any real amount of time. I've been an Apple person since the 1980s. This is one of the most disappointing Apple products for me ever, and I really don't want to know how much $$$$$ lifetime customer value I've contributed to Apple's bottom line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator#/media/File:...
That being said, AirPods use a steel frame construction to get the weight up for the same reason. There's a whole thing with weight in neuromarketing for luxury and luxury-adjacent products. There's fringe benefits acoustically to using it, around resonance mainly, but mostly it's to get weight and influence perception. Same reason as the knock-offs, different mechanism.
Noting that you have no way of knowing that. Not that you’re necessarily wrong. I just read some reviews on the Beats Studio Pros and…the reviewer noted the amount of plastic used in the construction, while complimenting the light weight. Pick a lane, folks.
Currently wearing my XM4s and was really confused by the "physical off button" because ... I'm looking at them and they just don't? Where is it? What?
Then I realised that I'm old and, to me, "physical off button" means a sliding switch, a hardware disconnect, etc. (such as exists on my pair of Plantronics BackBeat PRO 2), not a pushbutton that triggers a software power-down (which the XM4s most certainly do have.)
And at least for the Sony my struggle is it’s a multi-function push down button. Maybe a weird gripe but I miss my non off switches. Easy to turn on and off and easy to see the state.
Second the sensor on the XM5 is known to be flaky. These are about a year old and already acting up.
It’s just a poorly built and poorly designed headset for me. I cannot even count the number of times I don’t notice they are on until the next day and they are dead.
Where do you see these at 150? Lowest I see is 250.
My ~6 year old Jabra headphones connect to two devices simultaneously, and can easily switch between a total of five at the touch of a button. My Pixel Buds do the same (called 'multipoint' and 'audio switch').
Yeah, things were more awkward in the mid 2010s, but I'd expect everything from the current decade to be able to do it without issue.
They also work natively with iOS's built-in noise reduction modes. No need for Krisp!
It's self-evidently extremely disingenuous to claim that Apple bought Beats for their "exquisite metal weight technology", so I thought I'd double check your claim that there are "metal weights" inside Beats headphones.
All of this appears to stem from two blog posts, written by the same VC.[^1] The first time they accidentally tore down counterfeit Beats, and when they managed to repeat the process, they "stuck by [their] claim" that:
> "…these metal parts are there to add a bit of weight and increase perceived quality with a nice look."
The BOM estimate they provide lists the following metal parts:
* Inner cast metal separator
* Springs
* Torx screw
* Self tapping screw
* Cast metal supports
* Stamped metal ear cup
None of these are extraneous weights not serving a purpose. The claim of the author might be better presented as:
"Beats headphones use heavier metal components instead of plastic ones, and I think it's because they add weight."
There are a lot of very good reasons to use materials that dampen unwanted interference like parasitic vibrations. Stiffer materials such as metal parts typically flex less, and have fewer (but usually more pronounced) resonances than plastic parts, which have intrinsic damping but might distort.
A good example of this is that the driver in your headphones is moving. Therefore the housing it is placed in must consider sprung/unsprung mass. Adding metal components increases the mechanical impedance.
So:
1. It is entirely possible that your claim about the weights is correct, and Beats chose to use metal components rather than plastic purely to add weight to the product.
2. There are a great many other possible explanations for using metal rather than plastic, and I don't think that you're likely to be party to them. For example: maybe they had the parts in-chain already and didn't want to have to tie up hardware engineering or supplier quality engineering for a new plastic part.
[1]: https://beneinstein.com/how-it-s-made-series-yup-our-beats-w... (the one where they tear down real Beats)
But my favourite hack was a Sennheiser model which had foam inserts to dampen the sound. 555 - foam = 595
-Boris the bullet dodger
Sound is subjective.
Loving my focal clears and DCA Aeon Noire 2s
There have been times where the AirPods Max have sort of crashed, and I cannot get them to connect properly. I find that forgetting the AirPods in the phone/computer and then resetting them by holding down the button allows them to start fresh with a new state. Maybe that can help resolve the issue for you. But Im constantly switching them between three nearby devices so maybe thats why I have this problem. Just throwing it out there in case you haven't tried a reset.
I know I have had this issue and did not have it after reset. Though I do have another annoying, and seemingly unique issue: sometimes, when adjusting the position of the headphone, they do a “click” (and a loud one), and just shut down. After a few seconds, they boot up again.
The farthest from the last reset, the more often it happens. I have no idea why.
I'd suggest experimenting by disabling both and trying to repro. Then re-enabling the features one at a time.
I've never triggered it on the Pro by merely speaking loudly, but they're earbuds and farther from my mouth. What does trigger it for me reliably, is sneezing.
Can I ask which, please?
And also I am a bit apprehensive for long term hearing lose with ANC headphones.
It's kinda like, who decided that TVs and phones should cost the same? Or who decided that a khinkali should cost 3 times as much as a xiaolongbao?
You just casually threw in these claims without backing them up, when it has been proven that the Sony model (and even the others) you listed outperformed the Airpods pro in those exact departments at the time of its launch.
I also have "etc" in my first sentence, which may include such things as: a stylish aluminum exterior, bells and whistles such as spatial audio, a more seamless bluetooth connecting experience with Apple devices, and so forth. These do not matter for everyone, but some people clearly care about that.
It seems that you are quite belligerent and trying to pick a fight across many of my comments. Why?
I have a lot of Apple gear, these would be obvious next choice because of integration, but I struggle to justify why otherwise. They heavy, going to pain to repair and cost much more.
[1]: https://docs.kenp.io/airpods-max/usb-c-kit/v1dot1_assembly/
This is the same as any over-ear headphones.
One question I have - do you have them connected to an Android device via bluetooth? Most Android devices will keep them awake by pinging them incessantly.
If for Find My, why stay in "low power" mode for days before moving to "ultralow power" mode? Is silly.
Sorry, this is not the case at all, I am just trying to understand the justification for your original comment on the justification of the price (and quality).
Apologies if it came out too aggressive.
> The cost of something doesn't always correlate with the technology, components, and material
Doesn't this actually contradict what you claimed originally, though?
I don’t think “it’s just marketing” is the reason, Apple always positioned themselves as the premium option with these things. Being the only wireless lossless headphone would be right on Apple’s expected feature list.
You could still be talking about bluetooth and it would still be “data over radio” technically.
By freezing the AirPods, the cold can cause the lining around the wires to contract, temporarily bringing the cracked sections together."
The Apple tax makes me extremely skeptical that I would get $500+ worth of sound quality, however ANC upsets that equation quite a bit. For around the same cost I could get a much better set of DAC+Amp+Headphones but it would sound objectively worse in a noisy environment.
You also can't experience true lossless on any bluetooth audio output device, for what that's worth (many "true" audiophiles would fail an A/B test for AAC).
The previous generation were also REALLY bassy, and there's nothing wrong with that, bassy headphones are how to make things sound "fun" and that's why the likes of Beats make so much money. That categorically makes it not audiophile, though, because it just takes an EQ/pre-amp to achieve the same effect (which can be toggled on and off).
Ultimately, my most basic issue with these is that if you're willing to blow 500 bucks on headphones, then going modular (DAC+Amp+Headphones) will give you more room to explore something that you apparently really enjoy.
Pretty sure you can... there's no technical reason you cannot use BT purely as a digital-only lossless data carrier. Whether or not current devices exist that work this way may be another story though.
Leaving the rest of your equipment aside, those would be the first options I'd consider in the Airpods price bracket.
I also have nice, but not over the top equipment. Yes, some of them sound nicer and more detailed (you can't compare large, 100W/channel bookshelf speakers with headphones, can you?), but for getting 95% of what they provide without any effort is pretty worth it.
Last, but not the least, Apple used Wolfson DACs in their iPods for most of their lifetime. Their replacement DACs are not worse than the Wolfsons, but probably even better.
That's only for spatial audio.
From my experience, Apple can sometimes “forget” to tell things.
this is something you believe about yourself, but an oxymoron for everyone else.
Its meaning has distorted as much as how the word hacker is distorted.
Yes, I love listening to music and quality audio, but don’t have a soundtrack to benchmark systems. My bar is simple: Do I enjoy what I hear? It doesn’t have to fit into a recipe. It should be enjoyable, period.
A pair of Apple AirPods can be as enjoyable as two $10K speakers powered by a separate stack costing $20K. It’s akin to loving that hole in the wall restaurant as well as that Michelin rated one. Both are enjoyable in its own sense.
Well, I use the same amp, turntable and tuner for the last 30 years, and the same CD player and speakers for the last 10 years.
Changed the speakers since I had no space for the older Akai set, and replaced the CD player since the older one was acting up.
Replaced the Logitech Bluetooth receiver for a Fiio DAC last week since I found one for a bargain.
Everything is connected with high quality yet 30 year old cables.
I believe that’s a pretty sane evolution for someone who grown up with music, and performed some.
I have a nontrivial listening rig in my house. I've spent thousands in headphones over the years (which happens quickly at $300-500 a pop). The finest ones I've owned MIGHT edge the Max out in certain conditions, but
- The Max add ANC - The Max are wireless - The Max are seamlessly integrated with the rest of my Apple gear
so to me that makes them the go-to -- so much so that I actually sold off the other headphones when we moved last year. I just wasn't using them.
The tl;dr is that the Max -- even the first gen -- do indeed perform very, very well.
Can anyone with a medical background confirm if this is a thing, or folks are just noticing old undulations in their skulls?
You have probably fallen asleep on something patterned or folded and have it leave an impression on your skin before: This is no different.
Other places it happens: Watches that are slightly too tight or have ridden up an arm. Glasses arms pressing against your temple or behind the ear. Tight socks after a day wearing them.
It's not a medical problem. It's just general physics.
I read “soft tissue on top of” the skull to mean more than a superficial skin depression.
We have layers of connective tissue between the skin and skull [1]. Their damage usually calls for medical attention.
Cultural cachet of Beats - note how Apple kept the brand.
Jimmy Iovine & Dr Dre showed them how to tap into a new demographic.
It helped Apple get up and running with streaming faster, they needed to compete with Spotify.
Meanwhile I had Sennheisers and they could take an absolute beating and still work fine. While also being plastic and cheap looking in comparison to other brands in the same price packet.
I gave them to a friend who "quick-fixed" them with a screw at the pivot point, but they lost all their flexibility after that. He didn't mind because he was using them solely for drumming, but I couldn't use them anymore.
That being said, I have had some nasty experiences with Sennheiser's IEMs as well. Had to send 2 of them in warranty within a year, products that were in the 300-600 euro range back around 2010!
Seems excessive. They should do something like forged carbon to cut weight and have removable gravity enhancement.
Adaptive EQ? Apple says otherwise [0].
What I was talking about was the "realtime" adaptive EQ tuned by pods' inward facing microphones.
What I argued was, this adaptive EQ also uses the calibration data from personalized spatial audio data.
THe biggest difference that most people hear is EQ. (oh these are very bassy, or too clean, etc, etc)
The people that have external DACs are almost certainly hearing a difference in EQ rather than _quality_. Is that a problem? for me I couldn't care less. However when that starts bleeding into advice or gatekeeping, then it becomes an issue.
(I am a former sound technician for both recording studio (analogue and digital) theatre and TV)
Given the same set of speakers, I'm pretty sure that almost anything I throw in to the chain will sound pretty similar (unless it's designed to color the sound some way). This is one of the reasons why I don't plan to change any parts of it .
For me the DAC has some serious benefits in the sound quality department, though. First, it doesn't have the 3dB loss like the Logitech, second I can stream AAC or aptX to it, which really sounds better than SBC, given the song is mastered correctly and has the detail which can be carried by the codec itself.
I listen to some of the albums I have as CDs in streaming services and even though it's labeled as "lossless" I can hear that the files are butchered pretty badly.
Beats brand basically disappeared after that or at the least has become "uncool".
Apple had iTunes already, they very well could've acqui-hired and improved their service themselves.
Apple music slowly died and is only becoming resurgent now, many years later.
