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AirPods Max 2

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Re: AirPods Max 2

#211

I don't understand how a pair of headphones can be $549 meanwhile the Macbook Neo is $599 The pricing on these always seemed a bit crazy to me, like the value is way off compared to other Apple products

It does look strange when you compare it directly to a MacBook, but headphones are a weird category

Re: AirPods Max 2

#212

A tangential question: What are the best bang per buck headphones these days (preferably wireless)? Not earbuds, but over-the-head headphones. Tell me your favorites. (The internet is so polluted that I cannot find any reliable recommendation today so I'm doing a mini "ask HN" here.)

any ANC soundcore (anker) headphones or TEMU if you fancy rolling the dice. A colleague got a clone of the Sony 1000xm4, they sounded and look very similar.

For all day online calls, Jabra evolve2 65 are hard to beat for the price.

Re: AirPods Max 2

#213

Wild. I have been eagerly awaiting this refresh, but this doesn't address either of the main issues with the original AirPods Max: 1. Still just as heavy. The AirPods Max sound quite good, but they are very heavy, to the point of being fairly uncomfortable after listening for any longer amount of time. This release as the exact same weight as the originals (13.6 oz). 2. Still no off button/position. They stay partial…

I leave my AirPods Max sitting on my desk for weeks at a time outside of the case and the battery never drains. I just put mine on today after sitting on my desk for a week and they still had 99% charge.

Re: AirPods Max 2

#214

Wild. I have been eagerly awaiting this refresh, but this doesn't address either of the main issues with the original AirPods Max: 1. Still just as heavy. The AirPods Max sound quite good, but they are very heavy, to the point of being fairly uncomfortable after listening for any longer amount of time. This release as the exact same weight as the originals (13.6 oz). 2. Still no off button/position. They stay partial…

I leave my AirPods Max sitting on my desk for weeks at a time outside of the case and the battery never drains. I just put mine on today after sitting on my desk for a week and they still had 99% charge.

Strange. Are they first gen or later? I did get the absolute first gen of these, so maybe it's a problem they couldn't fix in firmware? Or I just have a defective pair?

Re: AirPods Max 2

#215

My AirPods Max 1 left a headband dent in my skull from how poor the quality of the headband was after more than a year of daily use. They also are super heavy and don't travel well at all. Apple deciding that, on their 2nd refresh of these (after usb-c), they still aren't going to fix those fundamental issues is very frustrating for what feels like a very disproportionately expensive product (even by Apple standards)…

I've traveled extensively with my AirPods Max. I just toss them in my backpack with whatever else is there and move on. They travel a lot better than my Bose ones did with the bulky case. I much prefer Apple's approach here.

Re: AirPods Max 2

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yet, with that taken into account, today the latest DT 1770 Pro still cost over 20% more than the latest AirPods Max. Not sure where you're looking, but seems I paid 535 EUR for my beyerdynamics (and that's what Amazon sells them for right now too), meanwhile these Apple headphones cost 579 EUR, so seems it's opposite really, studio-grade headphones being cheaper than the consumer-grade hardware Apple sells. > Cons…

> Not sure where you're looking Both products in US on the site of respective manufacturer. Maybe you bought the older model (which by the way has higher impedance, so dedicated amplifier is a must, take it into account when you calculate the price). > no one is sitting with AirPods Max in their studios for work People absolutely use them for serious work. They are much more of a personal product though, and there ar…

It would be interesting to see the cost breakdown of the BOM for the two headphones.

I wouldn't be surprised if Beyerdynamic has similar, if not more, margin.

Re: AirPods Max 2

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sennheiser HD 800 S is $1700 and has been around for years. Or the Meze Elite Tungsten at $4,000 - if Apple can get 80/90% of the way there at $549, they'd be a steal for the right customer .

The quality x price curve is not linear. Expensive materials and engineering often produce only incremental quality improvements, if any. Sometimes the improvements are only cosmetic. So Apple's headphones would need to be a lot closer to the best of the best than 80-90% in order to justify their price.

The feature that applies a hearing test as an equalizer setting make the APM sound pretty damn good, so much so it ended my 20 year long headphone-collecting hobby.

Before hearing-tuned EQ became a thing, trying headphones was like trying food. No matter what someone else said it was no guarantee you'd like the sound. Conversely, you might find a cheap pair that sounded spectacular to you. The APM will sound very good to just about anyone, with the hearing test EQ applied.

I think every headphone maker (or better yet, DAC maker) should have this feature. Audiophiles are often old, a hearing test EQ can make them hear music like they're 20 again, and they'll pay for it.

Re: AirPods Max 2

#218

Wild. I have been eagerly awaiting this refresh, but this doesn't address either of the main issues with the original AirPods Max: 1. Still just as heavy. The AirPods Max sound quite good, but they are very heavy, to the point of being fairly uncomfortable after listening for any longer amount of time. This release as the exact same weight as the originals (13.6 oz). 2. Still no off button/position. They stay partial…

Thats 386,2 gram for the rest of the world.

Re: AirPods Max 2

#219

I'll briefly join the chorus: AirPods Max were the worst value for money I've ever spent on a tech product. But more interestingly: what happens at a company like Apple that leads them to not cancel this product and come up with something totally new? Is it that the success of their other products pulls this along so well that they are numb to this product being a dog? AirPods Pro (the earbuds) are a great product, s…

[deleted]

Re: AirPods Max 2

#220

I don't understand how a pair of headphones can be $549 meanwhile the Macbook Neo is $599 The pricing on these always seemed a bit crazy to me, like the value is way off compared to other Apple products

Isn't this pricing pretty in line with other high end ANC headphones? e.g. Bowers & Wilkins PX8 ($699), Focal Bathys ($849), Sony WH-1000XM6 ($399), Kef Mu7 ($399), Bose QC Ultra ($449)

Or Sennheiser momentum 4, 150 bucks and sound at least as good if not better, have absolutely huge battery compared to tiny apple one, more comfortable and generally work much better with non-apple ecosystem (also apparently they support multi-device pairing but I haven't used that one).

Don't pay the novelty price shortly after release, these go down quite a bit after introduction, ie last year Sony are basically the same device.

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