Review / Apple Airpods Max review: great battery life and the best active noise cancellation we’ve ever tried – but are they worth US$549?
Are Apple’s new Airpods Max over-ear headphones worth the money? We put them head-to-head with our favourite Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and Sony WH-1000MX4 cans to see which came out on top
Interestingly enough, that price tag – and I promise we won’t dwell on that for much longer – has placed the AirPods Max into a segment of no man’s land. They’re not really high fidelity enough to be in the company of the audiophile favourites such as Audeze and Ultrasone, yet they’re easily close to double the price of the popular mid-range headphones like the Bose 700 and the Sony WH-1000MX4.
While many had expected the pricing to be a sticking point, it hasn’t stopped Apple fans from pressing the order button. Current stocks sold out in a flash and at last check, customers are now looking at a mid-March earliest delivery date for the next arrivals. So I’m going to assume that if you’re still checking out the AirPods Max, that US$549 price tag is not scaring you off.
Enough about what it costs. The burning question is: do the AirPods Max deliver on all the technical wonders Apple has promised?
Form and function
In the history of Apple products, people have always either loved them or hated them – or rather, you didn’t know you loved them until you did. Having said that, it is proving very hard to love the weird bra-like case that comes with the Max. While I personally don’t hate it, it’s easy to see that men might find it a little embarrassing to be seen carrying it around like a tiny handbag.
Initial notes from Apple led us to believe that using the case was the only way to power down the headphones or make them go into ultra low battery mode, but it turns out that as long as you’re not wearing the headphones, they go into low mode after five minutes anyway. The headphones never really turn off, which makes sense because your Find My … function would be useless if they were completely turned off every time you put them in the case.
Since the headphones don’t fold, I find the case actually helps them lie flat and, for me, makes them easier to store in a tote bag than a hard case would. My only problem with them is that they don’t fully protect the aluminium casing and the rubbery silicone material gathers dirt easily and is hard to clean, meaning I have to put the headphones – case and all – into a canvas bag to protect them, which defeats the purpose of having a case in the first place. For non-fans, hard case options are already being rolled out by savvy accessories companies.