Apple AirPods Max
The Apple AirPods Max sound great, but is that enough?
The Apple AirPods Max are the most hotly-anticipated headphones launch of 2020, and after years of speculation and rumor, they’re finally here.
They were quietly announced via a press release posted on the Apple newsroom. According to Apple, the AirPods Max boast “incredible high-fidelity audio, Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, and spatial audio”, like the AirPods Pro.
Since their launch, the unusual design of the Apple AirPods Max and their accompanying case have divided opinion – but then again, so did the original AirPods when they launched in 2016.
Design
The Apple AirPods Max come with a minimalist design that’s typical of the tech giant, with sleek lines and a stainless steel build. They come in a range of stylish colours, including space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink.
We tested out the space gray model, and we think they look nicely understated – aside from the rather unusual headband.
The headband is made from a knitted mesh fabric, which Apple says is “designed to distribute weight and reduce on-head pressure”. While we’re not entirely sold on the look of the mesh headband, but we can’t deny that the AirPods Max did feel comfortable to wear – and the headband isn’t nearly as conspicuous when the headphones are actually on your head, which is the most important thing.
The headband frame itself is made from stainless steel, with telescoping arms that you can adjust to find a good fit. The frame feels sturdy and well-made, but it’s
not so heavy as to put pressure on your head.
The on-ear controls on the AirPods Max are minimal; interestingly, Apple has reprised the Digital Crown dial of the Apple Watch, which it says enables precise volume control, as well as allowing you to play or pause audio, skip tracks, answer or end phone calls, and activate Siri.
You can simply turn the dial on the top of the right earcup to adjust the volume, or press once to play / pause your music, press once to answer and end phone calls, press twice to skip to the next track, and press three times to skip backwards.
Audio performance
While we’ll need to spend a little more time with the Apple AirPods Max to make a true assessment of the audio quality on offer, we’re impressed by what we’ve heard so far.
Listening to Little Simz’ Selfish, we found the bass was warm and powerful, but tightly controlled enough so as not to bleed into the other frequencies. Romantic sweeping violin flourishes sounded sweet and clear, while Simz’ vocal was smooth and prominent in the mix.
The soundstage generally feels quite wide, with room for all the instruments to really shine; you don’t get that ‘closed-off’ sensation that over-ear headphones sometimes impart. There’s plenty of detail, great imaging, and we didn’t notice any issues with rhythmic accuracy in the short time we spent listening with the AirPods Max.
Inside the headphones are 40mm dynamic drivers, which are powered by a dual neodymium ring magnet motor that, says Apple, allows the AirPods Max to “maintain total harmonic distortion of less than 1% across the entire audible range”. They certainly sound clear, and we didn’t notice any distortion, even at higher volumes.
Despite the high price of the AirPods Max, support for Hi-Res Audio files is limited to Apple’s own Apple Digital Masters tracks, which are only available via Apple Music. Again, this makes it feel as though we’re being somewhat shortchanged, as we’d expect comprehensive codec support at this price.
Like the AirPods and AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max come with the Apple H1 chip in each earcup, which features no less than 10 audio cores to allow for Adaptive EQ, active noise cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio.
Released as part of iOS 14, the Spatial Audio feature first came to the AirPods Pro, and works in 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos, which positions sound all around you within a virtual sphere – this means that, for example, if you’re watching a Dolby Atmos film that shows a plane flying overhead, it will sound as though the plane really is passing above you.
Battery life and connectivity
Apple says the AirPods Max provide up to 20 hours of highfidelity audio, talk time, or movie playback, which ordinarily wouldn’t seem a huge amount; however, given that this is with Active Noise Cancellation enabled, it’s a pretty respectable figure.
The best over-ear headphones will usually hit around 30 hours of battery life, although many very good models only make it to around 20 – either way it’s enough for a full day or two’s use, depending on how wedded they’ll be to your ears.
Connectivity comes courtesy of Bluetooth 5, so you can expect pairing times to be fast, and you shouldn’t lose your connection as you move away from your source device (as long as you don’t go further than 420 meters, or put several thick walls between the AirPods Max and your phone).
Noise cancellation
The noise cancellation provided by the Apple AirPods Max seems strong based on the time we’ve spent with them.
Sitting in our kitchen, we were unable to hear the roar of our washing machine or the noise of builders drilling in the road outside – a little environmental noise came through, but it wasn’t enough to ruin the listening experience.
We also tested the AirPods Max out during a commute; most of the rumble form the train was blocked out, and with music playing, we couldn’t hear it at all.
The Apple AirPods Max are the tech giant’s first over-ear headphones, and so far we’re impressed with the audio quality and noise cancellation – but we’re not entirely sure that the design, and the absence of a 3.5mm audio port justifies the high price tag.
Olivia Tambini