Apple launches AirPods Max with a ‘custom acoustic design’ and Digital Crown
Apple’s holiday surprise is very expensive. Michael Simon reports
After months of rumours, Apple has announced AirPods Max, the latest member of its headphone line that brings the technology of its popular AirPods earbuds to a new over-ear design to rival high-fidelity offerings from Sony, Bose and Beats. And in a nod to Apple’s other ubiquitous wearable, the Apple Watch, the AirPods Max have a Digital Crown to control your music. The new headphones, which come in
five colours to match the iPad Air 4 and cost a whopping £549, include all of the features Apple has brought to the AirPods and AirPods Pro, including active noise cancellation, Transparency mode and spatial audio. The somewhat large cups are wrapped in a ‘breathable knit mesh canopy’ that spans the stainless-steel headband and is designed ‘to distribute weight and reduce on-head pressure’.
That bit is important since the AirPods Max weighs 384.8g, which is significantly more than the £350 Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 (250g), Sony’s £350 WH-1000XM3 (254g), and the £250 Beats Studio 3 (260g).
The ear cups aren’t customizable as was rumoured, but Apple says they attach to the headband “through a revolutionary mechanism that balances and distributes ear cup pressure, and allows it to independently pivot and rotate to fit the unique contours of a user’s head”. A Digital Crown is affixed to the right cup to bring volume control as well as playback and other controls.
Like the second-gen AirPods and AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max are powered by Apple’s H1 chip to bring super-connectivity with low latency and lengthy battery life. Apple says the new headphones feature 20 hours of battery life on a single charge with noise cancellation and spatial audio enabled, but they don’t include a charging case. Instead, you get a soft Smart Case that puts the AirPods Max into an ultra-low power state to preserve battery between uses.
While you can press the Digital Crown to activate Siri, the AirPods Max
also support always-on Siri by voice control. They charge via a Lightningto-USB-C cable but a power adapter is not included in the box. As with other AirPods models, they can be used as Bluetooth headphones with non-Apple devices but Apple warns that functionality is limited.
Apple does offer a Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable for those times you want to connect the AirPods Max to a wired connection, like on a plane. The cable can also be used to connect an iPhone or iPad with a Lightning port to speakers. It’s £35 from Apple, but yo can find cheaper alternatives online.
The AirPods Max are available to buy now.