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AirPods Max

apple.com

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Re: AirPods Max

#81

Post by jc__denton »

That price is ... insane. I think the only saving grace will be spatial audio and if it's waterproof. They also seem a bit, well, ugly for an Apple product.

I was patiently waiting for these. I bought (and loved) the original AirPods. I really wanted noise cancellation for flights, but the AirPods Pro hurt my ears no matter what I tried. I waited through each Apple "one more thing," hoping these would surface. I eventually went with Sony's WH-1000XM4s. The Bluetooth is a little slow, but they're pretty stellar otherwise.

Re: AirPods Max

#82

Post by emsy »

nojito wrote: post #60
lma21 wrote: post #49

A few months ago, I experienced sort of an inflection point regarding the love I had for Apple products when my iPhone broke for no reason whatsoever: it worked perfectly during the day, no physical scratch or anything, woke up and I noticed that the phone was hot, i opened it, tried to close some apps and I noticed that it's quite slow. I opened the settings and kept getting notification popups regarding storage and…

>I'll never buy an 'un-repairable' headset for $549. What other headphones are repairable at that price point?

A lot of high-end headphones have interchangeable earpads, cables and sometimes even headbands.

Re: AirPods Max

#83

Post by peteretep »

reedf1 wrote: post #46

> Using the gyroscope and accelerometer in AirPods Max and iPhone or iPad, spatial audio tracks the motion of a user’s head as well as the device, compares the motion data, then remaps the sound field so it stays anchored to the device, even as the user’s head moves. I'm not sure I want this? What does this actually mean?

It means surround sound in headphones

Re: AirPods Max

#84

Post by formerly_proven »

nojito wrote: post #60
lma21 wrote: post #49

A few months ago, I experienced sort of an inflection point regarding the love I had for Apple products when my iPhone broke for no reason whatsoever: it worked perfectly during the day, no physical scratch or anything, woke up and I noticed that the phone was hot, i opened it, tried to close some apps and I noticed that it's quite slow. I opened the settings and kept getting notification popups regarding storage and…

>I'll never buy an 'un-repairable' headset for $549. What other headphones are repairable at that price point?

Beyerdynamic cans for ~120 €: replaceable padding, replaceable headband, replaceable cord, replaceable transducers. Only the last two need tools.

Re: AirPods Max

#85

Post by perardi »

I am a total apologist for the price of the AirPods and AirPods Pro.

I have tried a lot of wireless earbuds. Jabra, Samsung, Jaybirds, Anker…and none of them have the combination of bullet-proof pairing, keeping a connection, audio quality†, and sound cancelling†. †(AirPods Pro, for these.)

But hoo boy, $550 is a lot for more traditional headphones. The price premium for earbuds feels right to me, as you have to do the engineering to jam as much battery, antenna, and circuitry into a teeny tiny space as possible. But big ol’ can headphones? C’mon, you have so much more volume to work with, it should make them easier to design and manufacture, not harder.

Re: AirPods Max

#86

Post by hprotagonist »

nojito wrote: post #60
lma21 wrote: post #49

A few months ago, I experienced sort of an inflection point regarding the love I had for Apple products when my iPhone broke for no reason whatsoever: it worked perfectly during the day, no physical scratch or anything, woke up and I noticed that the phone was hot, i opened it, tried to close some apps and I noticed that it's quite slow. I opened the settings and kept getting notification popups regarding storage and…

>I'll never buy an 'un-repairable' headset for $549. What other headphones are repairable at that price point?

extremely high end audio gear can usually be dissembled down to its constituent parts and rebuilt from scratch.

usually because it’s for industry professionals who thrash their gear pretty hard.

Re: AirPods Max

#87

Post by cactus2093 »

Slikey wrote: post #30
headmelted wrote: post #7

$549 a pair. Yikes. I'm fairly confident I've reached my own personal peak for Apple pricing. As a spectator I've no doubt these will sell massive numbers but I'm curious to learn what the market will bear for Apple's products.

Especially if you consider the inherent issues with Bluetooth call quality. No matter how good their microphones in them are, they will mangle the audio back to the 90s. $549 seems entirely detached and I am baffled, even as an ANC enthusiast.

Have you used Bluetooth headphones this decade? And airpods in particular? There’s not really any problem with audio quality they sound pretty much indistinguishable from wired headphones in real world use (sure if you’re sitting alone in a quiet room with an audiophile setup listening to FLAC files because 320kbps mp3s aren’t high quality enough, then you may want something else).

Re: AirPods Max

#88

Post by deergomoo »

Etheryte wrote: post #39
headmelted wrote: post #7

$549 a pair. Yikes. I'm fairly confident I've reached my own personal peak for Apple pricing. As a spectator I've no doubt these will sell massive numbers but I'm curious to learn what the market will bear for Apple's products.

For comparison, Sony's WH-1000XM4 which are currently widely considered the state of the art in the active noise cancelling over-ears, will cost you anywhere between $300-$400 depending on where you are. (I was very surprised the price can vary that widely, actually. On Sony's US page they're $279, while in the EU they're €380 which is about $460.)

I’ve been hovering on the XM4s waiting for these to be announced. I very much like my regular AirPods, but at £549 I’m definitely going to get the Sonys for £349.

I’m sure the AirPods will be more convenient in some ways, but as I’ll be using them almost entirely inside the house, I’m willing to forego that considering the huge price difference. I much prefer the visual style of the Sonys too; not that that matters all that much.

I’m interested to see reviews of the AirPods to see what they’re like on the sound quality front though.

Re: AirPods Max

#90

Post by CubsFan1060 »

reedf1 wrote: post #46

> Using the gyroscope and accelerometer in AirPods Max and iPhone or iPad, spatial audio tracks the motion of a user’s head as well as the device, compares the motion data, then remaps the sound field so it stays anchored to the device, even as the user’s head moves. I'm not sure I want this? What does this actually mean?

Imagine wearing them, watching a tv show on your ipad. When you turn your head, it still seems like the sound is coming from the direction of your ipad.

Also used for surround sound, so if you turn your head, the "center channel" still is focused on the screen, and surround sound is where it would be if there were actual speakers behind you.

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