Apple AirPods Max

At $899, Apple’s wireless noise-cancellers seem extraordinarily expensive. But they do a great deal to justify that expenditure.

So to the Apple AirPods Max, the arrival of which prompted this whole group test of over-ear headphones. We had plenty of time to prepare — this particular Apple release was one of the worst-kept tech secrets prior to launch. But we hadn’t expected the price: $899 pushes them up above even premium wireless noisecancelling headphones. Can they justify it? Well the short answer is yes, they can.

While the styling may not be to everyone’s tastes, and you may prefer the silver, space grey, green or sky blue to the pink shown in the main image here, there is no denying the quality of the materials and build. The solid-enough Sony XM4s look and feel almost cheap compared with the Apples, which boast pristinely machined, single-piece anodised aluminium ear cups connected by a stainless-steel headband. Between the cups and your head are memory-foam cushions that surround even the largest ears, creating a seal both gentle and effective at physically blocking external sound.

They weigh 385g, which is 130g more than the Bose 700, for example. But they really don’t feel heavy on the head, and there are no pronounced pressure points. Even during long uninterrupted listening sessions, at no point did we feel any discomfort or fatigue.

Being Apple, the controls are marvellously simplified compared with the usual selection of buttons and sliders. On the top of the right-hand cup are two physical controls: a simple button for switching between noise-cancelling modes, and a dial inspired by the digital crown of the Apple Watch. The latter is particularly neat and intuitive, though perhaps a little easy to knock when adjusting the headphones, its low resistance meaning you can accidentally adjust the volume significantly. But it’s hard to go wrong when deliberately using it. Twisting increases or decreases volume, clicking it will play/pause; double-clicking skips forwards, triple-clicking skips back. Holding the crown down invokes Siri, although by default the AirPods Max are also always listening for the ‘Hey Siri’ command. (Indeed we foresee a new ‘Rick Roll’ opportunity here should you see someone wearing these headphones; sidle up behind them and say ‘Hey Siri play Rick Astley’, then run away chuckling.)

Another unique feature of the Apple AirPods Max is their case (right), part bra, part gun holster. The case is useful in that it prompts the AirPods Max to enter an ultralow-power mode that will apparently preserve the charge for months, but it’s rather less useful in its most basic function, which is protecting the product contained within from knocks, scratches and dirt. This case doesn’t cover the headband or the tops or bottoms of the cups, so is only vaguely more protective than simply shoving them naked into your bag.

One could also feel aggrieved at the lack of a bundled wall charger, although this is at least fairly typical of wireless headphones these days. If you don’t already have one, you’ll want to budget for a USB-C charger (Apple’s is $29) to ensure you can take advantage of their fast charging mode where a five-minute charge gets you an hour and a half of listening with noise-cancelling switched on. Indeed battery life seems pretty average in general, Apple quoting around 20 hours of use from a full charge, significantly less than some key rivals. However our testing suggested that 20 hours is a fairly conservative figure.

Another glitch in utility is the lack of a provided cable. You do get a Lightning to USB-C cable, so you can play from an iPhone. But how to plug them into the analogue sockets of an in-flight entertainment system

or a console controller? For that, as with the Beats Solo Pro, you’ll have to spring for a second adaptor cable to go from Lightning to minijack — another $55. As with Apple’s Macbook Pros, the additional cost of cables rankles after buying a very premium product at a premium price. And even with this chain of adaptor cables, the AirPods Max don’t work in passive mode: if the battery’s dead, the headphones are dead too.

Back on the technology front, Apple has installed one of its H1 chips in each of the earcups. Between them, these processors analyse information coming in from eight microphones dotted around and inside the headphones (there’s also a ninth microphone for picking up your voice, which comes through very clearly on calls). The processing then not only actively blocks outside noise but also tailors the sound in real-time to the fit and seal around your ears, making 200 adjustments per second.

In noise-cancelling terms this system works impressively, and the quality of cancellation is excellent. The Sony WH-1000XM4 seemed just marginally better at blocking constant consistent noise (engine sounds, for example, not that we could try them on a plane, for obvious reasons), but the AirPods Max let very little through there and were just a touch better at cancelling background chitchat, which is much harder to do. Ultimately the Apples did a very good job of limiting external noise making it through to our ears.

A Transparency mode actively processes external noise and plays it through to your ears with a slightly synthetic quality, should you be too lazy and impolite to take advantage of their on-head detection and drop them around your neck when talking to someone.

It’s worth pointing out that the AirPods Max sound their best with noise-cancelling (and Transparency mode) switched off. There’s a slight flattening of dynamics and softening of punch, and the treble becomes a little more pronounced when noise-cancelling is switched on. It’s not enough that you should avoid noise-cancelling when you need it, but if you don’t, switch it off to hear the AirPods Max at their very best.

Apple is no audio company, of course, but it says it has developed its own 40mm driver for the AirPods Max, featuring a dual neodymium ring-magnet motor. Apple claims that this design allows the AirPods Max to maintain total harmonic distortion of less than one per cent across the entire audible range. And while we’d note that true hi-fi equipment operates at still lower levels of THD, critical listening quickly revealed that the AirPods Max are very special indeed. Kicking off with SBTRKT’s debut album, we were instantly thrilled by a super-crisp and spacious delivery. There’s a degree of clarity and energy that the Sonys can’t match; they sound more engaging and authentic. We didn’t have the DALIs, our current reference of choice, to hand for direct comparison, but they have similar lightness on their feet, precise and exciting, a significant step-up from the lesser pack of noise-cancellers in terms of sonic sophistication. Trials Of The Past positively crackles with energy so that while the Sonys do a great job with this track, the Apples added an extra layer of sizzle and attack that was impossible to ignore.

Switching to the Tidal Master of ‘The Road’ (Nick Cave and Warren Ellis), the delivery was stunning. The AirPods Max nailed the beautiful inconsistencies in

timing and pressure of piano notes, with lovely subtle degradation to the tail of each note, a definite precise end when the vibration of the strings stopped. They lent a physicality missed by lesser headphones, plus texture that made everything that bit more moving.

With the sterner organisational challenge of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, the AirPods Max came up trumps again. That spaciousness played a big part, and the treble superb, with the triangle at the end twinkling brilliantly. The AirPods Max never became confused, their presentation never muddled.

With movies there’s an amazing trick: built-in head tracking, so the sound is always relative to the screen, even when you move your head. All told, the effect is superb.

Unsurprisingly, you do need an iPhone or iPad in order to get the most out of the AirPods Max. They will work with non-Apple products using standard Bluetooth 5.0, but you’ll miss out on many of their unique features. But assuming you are an Apple user, the AirPods Max are probably the best wireless headphones you can buy.

“With movies there’s an amazing trick: built-in head tracking, so the sound is relative to the screen, even when you move your head...”