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AirPods Max

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Re: AirPods Max

#591

Post by ksk »

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…

It seems you you are a huge fan of Apple, but you haven't explained what Apple is doing here that is interesting or unique.You can have any opinion you want, but I don't think you understand what the audiophile market or community is. There is nothing "deeply troubling" about buying a Sennheiser HD600 or an AKG K702 or buying a DAC or an AMP to listen to audio if you enjoy doing that.

> I would't usually have problem with such things but they often slide into extremism and quickly pushing you on the money-spend-for-audio-performance scale where you are simply supposed to check you bank account to see what sound quality you are about to get.

You can say that about anything. CPUs, GPUs, Expensive low latency memory Memory, high performance cars, etc, etc, etc. If you chase high-end performance you end up paying a lot for diminishing returns.

Re: AirPods Max

#592

Post by fastball »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #22

I worry this will drive up prices in the headphone market. Sennheiser and other players may see that there's way more money to be made by simply marking up what they have.

Couple problems with this line of thinking:

1. You are assuming these don't offer a better experience than Sennheisers et al. and that the only reason they are more expensive is "because Apple". Maybe true, but also hard to justify contextually given Apple just released the best bang-for-your-buck laptop on the market.

2. The audio market is pretty competitive. If Sennheisers up their prices without improving anything, someone else (with equivalent quality) will come along at Sennheiser's old price point. I know I just bought some $50 noice-cancelling headphones that work for my purposes (and have USB-C fast charging).

Re: AirPods Max

#594

Post by no-dr-onboard »

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…

> "you actually pay for the product experience instead for being part of some deeply troubling subculture"

I appreciate your larger argument but this statement is ironic in light of your previous paragraph :/.

IME (with time as an Apple software engineer) the Apple subculture _is_ a deeply troubling subculture. Take the iPhone for example: small, insignificant iterations that demand a premium. Consider the litany of software flaws that line BigSur and Catalina? What is the end consumer truly gaining with this new iteration? Would you respond "product experience"? Yet Apple appears to be doing well YoY with their returns on these products.

I'm particularly fond of your phrasing though: "cargo cult". Again, ironically applicable to Apple.

Re: AirPods Max

#595

Post by paulpan »

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…

For every value product (e.g. the SE lineup), Apple puts out an outrageously priced one like this.

Much like the $129 wireless charger (cable sold separately),it's intended for die-hard fans. Apple user demographic is across the entire economic spectrum so I'm sure that 1) this will sell well and 2) it's a great pair of headphones.

Worth pointing out that this doesn't have any auxiliary ports so you can't use it on airplanes, etc...unless there's an upcoming lightning-to-aux adapter. It feels like a culmination of the "no headphone jack" vision started with the iPhone 7.

Re: AirPods Max

#596

Post by schappim »

emsy wrote: post #24

These look magnificent. I’m Looking forward to a couple of years when the battery is dead and you can’t change it without breaking the glued case. This is similar to the reaction I have to announcements of new Google services due to notorious discontinuation. Edit: judging from the explosion view, it does look to feature actual screws, so I'm cautiously optimistic they might last longer than 3 years, although you nev…

Apple will service the battery out of warranty for $79USD.

Re: AirPods Max

#597

Post by diabeetusman »

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…

I'm not an audio engineer or a musician but I got custom IEMs and they were a great decision for me. My ears don't work with the majority of in-ear style audio devices out there for some reason-- my left ear is fine but everything falls out of my right.

Back when I flew a lot, I could have my IEMs in but not listening to anything and I could barely hear the engines. There was a crying baby behind me and I didn't know until I took them out (while listening to music almost as quietly as my phone would go).

It goes without saying, but they're also incredibly comfortable too.

Re: AirPods Max

#598

Post by thefourthchime »

Reason077 wrote: post #563
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.

Yep, this is exactly what I expect. I also expect they'll cost $350 by next Black Friday and force the rest of the industry to copy the build quality and some features.

Re: AirPods Max

#599

Post by hatsunearu »

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…

> I always find the audiophile market to be borderline fraud.

Not all of it is crap.

Re: AirPods Max

#600

Post by JCharante »

runawaybottle wrote: post #154
r0fl wrote: 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.

Dude, I can promise you for 600 dollars you can buy more amazing headphones. You can probably find two cans for 300 each that will be better. These are Apple Beats.

Please recommend more amazing headphones that meet the basic specs that the NCH 700/WX-/AirPods Max have:

- 20 hours battery life

- wireless

- noise cancellation

- has microphone(s)

Does audio quality matter that much when they have to work with bluetooth where the bandwidth will be halved whenever you have to use the microphone?

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