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AirPods Max

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Re: AirPods Max

#561

Post by reaperducer »

eertami wrote: post #113

$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…

when there are a lot of established professional audio companies offering better sound at a cheaper price.

I won't argue about the price. But considering that exactly zero HN commenters have tried these, how can you categorically state that the audio is bad? People used spec sheets to make the same assumptions about each iteration of AirPods and were wrong each time.

Re: AirPods Max

#562

Post by TimTheTinker »

simias wrote: post #550
eertami wrote: post #113

$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…

It might be a bit of a hot take but from my point of view audio is mostly a solved problem. It's not like video where we still have trade-offs in terms of quality due to the huge bandwidth and processing involved for very high resolutions as well as the difficulty of reproducing very high dynamic ranges and framerates. None of this is relevant for audio. Despite what some audiocultists would have you believe CD quali…

“spatial audio” is the killer feature here. It’s one of the last “unsolved” audio problems (at least in available headphone/earphone product lines), along with the upper frequency limit on noise canceling, which this product doesn’t solve.

Re: AirPods Max

#563

Post by Reason077 »

eertami wrote: post #113

$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…

> "$549!?"

Sony WH-1000XM4s will set you back $350 and these are favourite NC headphones for many.

The AirPods Max have some clear advantages over those: 9 microphones, huge suite of positioning sensors including gyroscope and accelerometer etc. Presumably the sound quality and NC will be at least as good as Sony's, and the software, UX and "build quality" significantly better.

Re: AirPods Max

#564

Post by UncleMeat »

hajile wrote: post #289
mrtksn wrote: 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…

What does outperformed mean?

Beats by Dre sell incredibly well in large part because they are a fashion statement. They also have cranked bass, which aggravates people who want accurate response but sounds great to people who put them on in a shop and hear "wow, this one sounds different".

Apple products have long been sold as fashion and status symbols alongside their tech specs. Then they add the ease of integration into their ecosystem. Is that really the same as being "outperformed"?

Re: AirPods Max

#565

Post by alphachloride »

neom wrote: post #491
arvinsim wrote: post #455

If this sell out despite the price, then it just proves that people will buy anything as long as it has an Apple logo on it. Marketers and influencers out in full force.

Sorry to be pedantic but there actually isn't an apple logo on these. :)

We both know you're not haha

Re: AirPods Max

#566

Post by Reason077 »

buildbuildbuild wrote: post #352
mrtksn wrote: 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…

Be careful not to equate pro audio equipment with “overpaying audiophile” gear. Spending $500+ on headphones is common for engineers and musicians alike (typically custom fitted IEMs). Studios and professionals spend large sums on demonstrably better equipment. You won’t find many who identify as “audiophiles” in the “$1000 optical cable” definition of the word. AirPods Max are headphones lacking a headphone port. Th…

> "AirPods Max are headphones lacking a headphone port."

Not entirely. A 1.2m headphone-to-lightning cable is available for $35.

Re: AirPods Max

#567

Post by callmejorge »

eigenvalue wrote: post #283
eertami wrote: post #113

$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…

Besides assuming that Apple can’t match those other (very small, likely undercapitalized) audio companies in terms of sounds quality— something I sort of doubt considering that Apple probably spent more in R&D on these than those companies have had in total cumulative revenues combined— it also assumes that it’s all about the sound quality. As someone who just ordered these, I wear noise canceling headphones (current…

Have you tried the 700 or MX4s? In terms of comfort, is QC better?

Re: AirPods Max

#568

Post by fastball »

gwd wrote: post #192
kishinmanglani wrote: post #132

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…

My Bose QC35's connect to both my Macbook & my iPhone at the same time. Hit play on either one, and sound comes out. Listening to something on my laptop and someone calls? It rings and I can answer. I'm sure the AirPods Max will be pretty awesome in its own way though.

My $50 headphones do this.

Also they fast charge with USB-C.

Re: AirPods Max

#569

Post by adembudak »

hajile wrote: post #289
mrtksn wrote: 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…

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