AirPods Max • Hacker News Board

Re: AirPods Max

#221

Post by JansjoFromIkea » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

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 dunno about fraud but it does occasionally have similarities to drug usage imo in that you can become aware of certain highs and then wind up endlessly chasing new levels of greatness.

I remember the first few albums I listened to on what I then considered HIGH quality headphones (Koss PortaPros and ATH-M50s) and it was mindblowing how much better some albums sounded, how much better they felt. It creates an itch that people with disposable income will want to scratch, then once you move into bluetooth you're adding all kinds of connection issues to consider too.

Re: AirPods Max

#222

Post by untog » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

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.

> nor do I want to invest any time learning about headphones

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-over-ear-hea...

~ 5 minutes of reading time and done.

Re: AirPods Max

#223

Post by throwaway287391 » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

clolege wrote: post #127

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…

Are there any other offerings for wireless spatial audio? That would be the main selling point for me.

I'm surprised spatial audio is a selling point for anyone on a product this expensive. Have you tried it? I have AirPods Pro and I spent £6 on a month of Disney+ just to try out the spatial audio feature when it came out (which already felt fairly ridiculous but what can I say, the HN comments were too enticing). I used it for 5 minutes, rotated my head around a bunch to maximize the effect, thought "hm, that's pretty neat" and then went on with my month never using it again. It really felt like a gimmick to me but I'm wondering if I'm missing something now...

Re: AirPods Max

#224

Post by partyboat1586 » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

On first take I thought this was satire. Looks like one of those fake mockups of new Apple products.

Re: AirPods Max

#225

Post by acqq » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

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…

Does anybody know if any product of "established professional audio companies" has built in "gyroscope and accelerometer" and can remap "the sound field so it stays anchored to the device, even as the user’s head moves"?

I guess some virtual reality headgear has something like that, but which audio headphones?

And which audio headphones of "established professional audio companies" have four microphones built in and the chip with "10 audio cores" to adapt? Including one microphone directed to the ear, not to the outside. I guess some could have something close to that, but which?

First to know if we compare apples and oranges, then to learn about the alternatives.

Re: AirPods Max

#226

Post by jankotek » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

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 think it is rather naive view. Audio market is an industry with professionals.

You can buy spare parts for 30-years old studio headphones. Apple with their "no repair allowed" business model and 500ms latency is a joke.

Re: AirPods Max

#227

Post by j2bax » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

khalilravanna wrote: post #142

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…

Assuming these compare in fidelity of sound, I think it’s a no brainer for a lot of people. Likely works seamlessly with apple products similar to other airpods and, unlike those other cans, doesn’t require a proper sound system or external amp to drive them. That being said, the fact that they stipulate they only work with apple products is a bit insane to me. I’ll stick with my wireless Sennheisers that I have to c…

I imagine that like the Airpods they require an Apple device to take full advantage of all the features but they can still be used as a generic Bluetooth headset on other operating systems.

Re: AirPods Max

#228

Post by lethologica » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

wp381640 wrote: post #191

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 can’t shit on audiophiles without mentioning overpriced cables

Funnily enough I came across these the other day.

https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/all/xl?catID=1&...

A fool and their money...

Re: AirPods Max

#229

Post by skor » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

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…

Apple products are now "for the (wealthy) masses". Unfortunately they focus less on professional users. Beyerdynamic DT-1990 are great headphones btw but I don't think Ill see anyone walking around with that :)

Re: AirPods Max

#230

Post by gwbas1c » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

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…

If you only use Apple devices, the way they integrate with your mac / iphone is probably better.

But, given that these only work with Apple devices...

I'm going to be honest, I have a set of Beyerdynamic DT 770 pro's collecting dust right next to me as I type this. (I used to use them when I worked in an office.) I have some 3M "hearing protection" muffs that I bought for mowing the lawn, and they happen to have bluetooth headphones in them. They aren't as good as the DTs, but they are pretty darn close; and good enough that I prefer them when I travel to the DTs.