Apple AirPods Max impressions

These have been my daily drivers for the last month when working from home (main system is in another room).

I wasn’t expecting much, given the terrible sounding (but much lauded) Sony xm3 over ears that I’ve previously tried. I was pleasantly surprised by just how good these sounded. Slight dip in the mids and the top end had a hair too much energy for my liking, but overall pretty balanced. Has a nice sub bass rumble and bass overall is very good for a consumer branded headphone.

The big downside though: the price. It’s really hard to justify these at the “Amazon renewed” price of $450 I got them at, let alone the crazy $550 Apple is asking for these. They may be the best Bluetooth ANC headphones out there from a pure sound quality standpoint, but the price is frankly unreasonable.

For this reason I am returning them and just going to buy a cheap $99 Fulla to control my JBL monitors at my desk and power a pair of my wired headphones. I only travel for work a few times a year. If I travelled every month I’d consider keeping these as they do sound quite good and the convenience factor is high.

 

Update: The AirPods Max have stayed my most used headphones the last two months. The compromise between sound quality and convenience is very good IMO. I don't have measurements now, but I read a lower THD and even 25dB(!) less of the nasty odd-order D3 and D5 than an HD600 a while ago. Clearly Apple didn't just take a random driver and put it into a shell.
However I admit I've been listening to it with EQ quite a bit. I still have many local files on my phone and Neutron has a useful PEQ built in. With the EQ I wanted to get rid of the bass bump and also somewhat shift the pitch of the treble downwards. The filter for the bass was based on measurements, while the other three were done by ear. The EQ filters I use are:

• 30Hz, -8 dB, Q 0.5
• 6500Hz, 1.85 dB, Q 2.0
• 9000Hz, -1.9 dB, Q 2.0
• 16000Hz, -3.9 dB, Q .0.7

Here's what that looks like:


I tried to change the midrange based on crinacle's measurements, but it never sounded right to me. Just half a dB extra at 2kHz makes it too forward. The dip at 5-6kHz is real to my ears and makes tuning the 6.5kHz filter a bit harder. Anything between 1.5 and 2.4dB is fine, I find. I do prefer the extra bite this filter gives.
Reducing the bass doesn't reveal a bass that is completely devoid of impact and wooly overall, like it did on the Sony headphones. Instead it just sounds correct and grown up with the bass turned down like that. It still has enough punch and it kicks when called for. Reminds me somewhat of the large, open back Audeze headphones. Better than the Sine I'd say.

This feature has actually been added in an iOS 15 beta a while ago. I haven't tried it yet, since I mainly use the APM with my Android phone and don't see the need for that feature.

 

Quick question, I just gave the AirPods Pro to the Missus and ordered the Max in blue to match my phone because I’m a total wanker. Also long sessions with the pods in for watching Apple TV is doing me in and the Max should be more comfy for an old guy.
So - checking my phone I noticed an EQ option and in my iPad. I’m thinking for my HD600’s to try it. (Different thread, I know but sort of related )I’m thinking the less treble option would be better than the bass boost or am I wrong? And do the AirPods Max need any EQ - just using them for television and some Opera on TV. Thanks.

 

I had low expectations given my experience with closed backs like Sony and other Bluetooth crap. Sony always manage to give me somewhat of an ear fatigue (even their in ears wf1000xm4) - I attribute this to their huge mid bass bloat and slightly dirty overzealous high frequencies that Sony apply in almost all their wireless products.

I prepared myself to rip off the AirPods Max in disgust before I put them on - half an hour later I was still bopping my head to George Benson.. I didn’t expect this; I’m sensitive to treble so I though based on reviews this would bug me but the AirPods did a good job here - slight sparkle emphasis in the very high treble region which was very clean (unlike Sony) coupled with smooth, slightly subdued mids and lower treble, and a pillowy emphasised sub bass. The drivers felt quite high quality - resolving, low distortion, smooth, and without any resonances.

Color me impressed.

If I was being super fussy I’d bring down the sub bass a and top treble (10khz+) by few db, decrease the clamp a touch… that’s it

 

Sony WH-1000XM5 store comparison:



Didn't do any of the more proper setup, like the ear scan or the 3D features.
It's possible it might improve that way

Version 1.1.0
(1.1.3 is out)

No EQ

• Treble is mellow
• Lots of lower midrange and bass
• Midrange sounds a bit weird as a result
• Stage seems better than the other Sony headphones, but still a bit closed in

With EQ

• It's not perfect, but it's an improvement
• Treble isn't harsh despite the massive boost
• Bass is lacking impact, which the AirPods Max manage to do
  (not in terms of FR, APM have similar amounts of bass)
• Stage still too closed in
• Microdynamics could be improved from before
• Still sounds too overdamped
• Could have some modding potential
• But microdynamics are still not near the APM
• Resolution is severely lacking

NC seems to be roughly on par with the APM, but bass is worse with glasses
Even without glasses the bass is still there
They have this annoying fan noise here and it doesn't go away with either headphone, just damped to roughly the same level

Transparency mode is much improved, but not quite at APM level. Also it seems too quiet while the APM if anything is a little too loud.

Comfort is fine, but not exceptionally good. Maybe slight improvements

They need to make NC headphones with smaller R10 cups or similar. Though at this point I'm not sure Sony could pull off a neutral tuning for those.

 

So APM is the better sounding one?

 

I use them mostly for YouTube while my wife is watching TV or playing videos on her phone, and just occasionally for music.

As others have noted, the sub-bass is too much, otherwise the sound quality is very good (I'm still in free Apple Music time, so listen to their lossless. The Apple Digital Master albums may be specifically tuned for their devices; they sound good)

The only thing that bugs me: every other volume knob rotates clockwise to increase volume; wtf was Apple thinking making theirs turn the opposite way for the same thing?

 

you can change the direction for the knob in settings.

 

I'll add my 2 cents after having AirPods Max for a year. My wife bought these because my open backs were bothering her when watching movies.

Design: Very well done, and I hope audiophile brands take some inspiration. Why aren't more headphones using magnetic ear pads?

Sound: It seems that they're trying to simulate the experience of a modern movie theater. My main complaint is that everything sounds like it was run through a long series of algorithms. Nothing sounds natural at the end of the DSP pipeline. There's an uncanny valley here that ruins music for me, though it's fine for movies and podcasts.

 

@limesoft I'd say so, yeah

@dubharmonic I agree with the movie theater type of sound. Do you feel other NC headphones have less of the uncanny valley type of sound? I need to do a more proper comparison between AirPods Pro 2 and the Max.


I also briefly tried the BOSE QC45 and NC700 headphones again. Neither had particularly impressive sound or NC, though. Smoother than QC35II, however.

 

I don't have enough experience with the others to say. Turning off ANC doesn't change the sound signature much.

 

I keep bouncing between “proper” hifi head listening and the APM for office listening - more specifically Mojo 2 with IEMs (Andromeda/Softears RSV) and the APM. Each time I go back to APM I’m quietly impressed.. sometimes I get the slightly metallic and bright high frequency annoyance, but it’s weird as it seems to be very rare, most of the time I find them warm sounding, perfect for work.. what impresses me is the separation, dynamics, speed, control, grainfree and overall audiophile technicalities unexpected in a wireless Bluetooth headphone.
The one most mind blowing aspect to me is what seems to stem from high quality drivers- it’s as if there are multiple speakers each handling specific frequencies, it sounds unrestrained with excellent separation/very little blurring. Majority if not all Bluetooth headphones I’ve heard kinda group and mush all sounds elements together and it feels like listening to one thing I.e the headphone “mix” - the APM does away with this, which in itself is a stunning achievement.

Now Focal has released a Bluetooth headphone I wonder if it can compete.. I’m concerned it might have a wonky freq response

 

Anyone can chime in on the AirPods Pro 2 in context vs the APM? I got the Samsung Buds 2 Pro but they have some annoying treble problems (too much of it ). I used to have the original AirPods Pro but found them very boring, lacking dynamics and just un-musical soul sapping experience like staring at a blank wall..

 

That was my first impression. Bass is dull while having too much sub-bass.

Much more resolving of fine detail than expected with fast mid-high transients.

Comfort is okay. They are too heavy imo for a portable. Id never wear outside because Id probably get mugged. Not mine anyway, the wife bought them as an alternative to her Airpods and bluetooth UE customs. She has had the Max for a few months now and Ive only seen her use a few times while she regularly uses her UE.

ANC is excellent. On a plane would be the only time Id reach for these.

Next to a T50RP:


Interesting teardown photos by ifixit.

 

Gave these a try today for half a song at the Apple store. The mids were clean and it stages surprisingly well, but V-shaped and not how I like. Distracting bass boost that gave a sense of lower mid suck-out and the treble had some peculiar emphasis somewhere although it wasn't immediately wrong sounding.

If you gave them to me I'd probably use them for a plane ride, but I didn't feel compelled to spend time with them.