Live data from Hacker News

AirPods Max

apple.com

361–370 of 1001 posts

Re: AirPods Max

#361
post #122

I know nothing about headphones, nor do I want to invest any time learning about headphones. I’ve had a bunch of Apple products that have never disappointed me in the last 10+ years. I’ll buy these overpriced headphones because an extra $200 for a product I’ll probably use for 5 years will not break my bank account.

I'll have to say that the spatial audio stuff is friggin' cool in the AirPods Pro. This is a bit spicy for me in the $ department as I already have too many professional over-the-ear headphones. But, would be nice... Dammit. Don't make me do it! I haven't looked, but if this has spatial audio that is compatible with an upcoming AppleTV or something, I'd probably just say "ummm, yeah, I will not be putting any surroun…

A proper surround setup (5.1 is more than enough for a mid-size room) or even Atmos speakers can be had for a reasonable price if you shop around. There's really no substitute (in my opinion) for the experience if you watch movies and have a compatible receiver/amplifier. A large and well-designed subwoofer is incredibly noticeable as well depending on your use case. It can easily sound better than the large majority of seats in your average theater which aren't ideally positioned without spending too much.

Re: AirPods Max

#362
post #289
post #162

Oh, I find it fascinating how the audio gear industry has taught the consumers on how much money you are supposed to spend to have audio experience at certain level. Pay attention on audiophile arguments, they will talk in terms of money(i.e. 150$ headphones vs 500$ headphones) when talking about audio quality. I always find the audiophile market to be borderline fraud. They sell CD demagnetisers, ceramic cable lifte…

There's an exponential curve of cost vs quality. Buying in the bend is best. The difference between a $50 and $200 pair of headphones is staggering. From $200 to $500 is still significant. From $500 to $1000 is extremely slight. From $1000 to $5000 is basically unnoticeable. Apple looks to be using plastic driver cones more at home in a $30 pair of headphones while selling something at the inflection point where head…

> A $400 Sennheiser 650 will no doubt blow them away while still being $150 cheaper.

Of course they will. But it's not fair to compare open backs with closed backs without a huge asterisk [0]

> If you want the best sound quality for the buck, you usually need to go with open-backed (or simply “open”) headphones. The open (but uncomfortable) SR60 is probably the best value in the business, followed by the awesome DT-880, which is far better than everything in this review in both comfort and sound quality. But open headphones are like screen doors: they let all exterior noise in, and more importantly, they let all of your music out. This will annoy anyone around you, so it’s extremely inconsiderate to use open headphones in buses, trains, airplanes, shared offices, or anywhere else near other people, and it’s irresponsible to recommend them without this huge warning.

[0] https://marco.org/headphones-closed-portable

Re: AirPods Max

#363

It uses a lightning cable??! You’ve gotta be kidding me. So if you buy these and then buy the new iPhone rumored for next September your $550, less than a year old high-tech headphones will need to charge with a deprecated, proprietary cable that you’ll have to keep around just for them.

>then buy the new iPhone rumored for next September

Those rumors have been there for the past 5 years

Re: AirPods Max

#364
post #289
post #162

Oh, I find it fascinating how the audio gear industry has taught the consumers on how much money you are supposed to spend to have audio experience at certain level. Pay attention on audiophile arguments, they will talk in terms of money(i.e. 150$ headphones vs 500$ headphones) when talking about audio quality. I always find the audiophile market to be borderline fraud. They sell CD demagnetisers, ceramic cable lifte…

There's an exponential curve of cost vs quality. Buying in the bend is best. The difference between a $50 and $200 pair of headphones is staggering. From $200 to $500 is still significant. From $500 to $1000 is extremely slight. From $1000 to $5000 is basically unnoticeable. Apple looks to be using plastic driver cones more at home in a $30 pair of headphones while selling something at the inflection point where head…

The scale you are looking for is logarithmic.

Re: AirPods Max

#365

I'm a sucker. I just bought them. I love being able to switch between my iPhone and my Mac on my AirPods. I have the Sony MX3's, and they are great. I don't like toggling between devices and having it automatically connect to my last used device, have to disconnect it from one, blah, blah. This is what Apple does. They raise prices. People are stunned initially. Others follow, then those prices are the norm. iPhone w…

Sony fixed the multi device pairing in the mx4.. would be nice if they could just do a software update to fix it on the mx3.

or xm2

Re: AirPods Max

#366

$549!? That puts it in the same price category as: Sennheiser HD660S, Audeze LCD-1, Beyerdynamic DT1770/1990, Grado RS2e, among many many others. Honestly, I don't understand why you would buy these when there are a lot of established professional audio companies offering better sound at a cheaper price. At least airpods have a unique selling point in their portability and ux but I don't see how this benefits over-ea…

My main gripe with paying $550 for headphones is, they still revert to 90s landline quality when using the microphone?

Re: AirPods Max

#367
A bit on the expensive side for me, but still might consider it. Only thing I'm concerned about is the battery. My airpods are more or less dead now after 2 years and 8 months. They were not crazy expensive, but they worked fine up until the last few months. The Max is almost three times as expensive. If the battery stops working after 3 years I don't think it will be worth it for me.

Re: AirPods Max

#369
post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

Having paid $350 for Bose QC3 headphones 4 years ago, that I use every day but sometimes have to fight with when e.g. my MacBook Pro keeps trying to steal focus even though i shut it and am trying to use the headphones with my phone now, etc. I completely agree. Paying a bit more for something that just works as well as my airpods do, assuming that this delivers, is totally worth it. On top of that, I expect the soun…

I see you’ve never used AirPods between multiple devises. It’s become a lot better in the last year, but that’s only because it started out infuriating.

QC3s were much better than AirPods at multi device up until a recent update.

Re: AirPods Max

#370
post #162

Oh, I find it fascinating how the audio gear industry has taught the consumers on how much money you are supposed to spend to have audio experience at certain level. Pay attention on audiophile arguments, they will talk in terms of money(i.e. 150$ headphones vs 500$ headphones) when talking about audio quality. I always find the audiophile market to be borderline fraud. They sell CD demagnetisers, ceramic cable lifte…

I like this. Headphones as wine, basically.
Post reply on HN