My Experience with the AirPods Max
To Start:
This is one of those blog posts that I had to really think about what I wanted to highlight and the pros and cons of this product. I mean one of the biggest hurdles for folks thinking about grabbing a pair of these $550 Bluetooth headphones.
$550 plus Tax!!! For those of you in the back.
This sticker shock can definitely be a gatekeeper of sorts for the average consumer. I’m by no means wealthy and had to finance my pair of AirPods Max through my wireless carrier to make the burden a bit easier.
Research & Order:
After watching 50+ hours of YouTube reviews and unboxing videos and reading blog posts after blog posts. All of this research led me to have faith in these very expensive headphones.
Once they arrived I quickly charged them for about an hour or two and then paired them with my iPhone 12 Pro. If you’ve ever used an Apple peripheral with that amazing Bluetooth tech that pairs right away when it’s nearby.
The Music (Apple Music):
Now that I was paired and ready to start my listening experience I made a small playlist of my favorite songs mixed in with some great instrumental tracks to really feel the difference between regular-priced headphones and the AirPods Max.
That first song started and immediately I could not only hear the difference I could feel it. When you have a well-made song with lows that really hit the AirPods Max takes this in strides using its computational audio (fancy term for a computer chip fixing the audio signal you hear to make it sound better).
So after hours and hours of listening to my favorite music and some new songs, I kind of found myself in a bit of a honeymoon phase with my AirPods Max. To kind of explain, I was infatuated with the sound quality I was getting and how awesome that sound stage was. IF you’ve never heard of “sound stage” it’s basically how when you’re at a live concert you can tell that each instrument has its place on the stage.
When you have a well-done sound stage you can really feel that openness that I love from listening to my vinyl records. Now I’m not saying that AirPods Max are so good they can replace your HiFi audiophile setup but it can definitely substitute for when you’re on the go.
Lossless Audio?:
To kind of get into the meat & potatoes of this, I want to start with the limitations of this product. At the time of this post being published the AirPods Max will not be receiving the “Apple Lossless Audio Codec” aka ALAC. SO what this means is that even if you have an adapter cable that is already required if you want to listen using a wire it won’t work with ALAC. The reason for this is mostly in how the cable adapter converts the digital/analog signal.
Will Apple ever give lossless to its priciest headphones to date? I would bet no and this is mostly due to the limitations of Bluetooth technology. Now it also comes down to: “Can I tell the difference between lossless tracks and standard AAC. I would also bet no. For many including myself, it can be very hard to distinguish between lossless and standard AAC tracks. Will there be folks who can pinpoint the differences? Of course! But the real question isn’t if you want lossless or AAC but if you would rather have a cable dangling on you or just be free to put them on and press play?
For many of us, we would go with the easy tangle-free option.
The only other negatives I found with the AirPods Max would have to be the famous case it comes with and the damn clacking it makes when you pull em out. I mean fine it’s whatever about the case I grabbed a third-party one already. But why do they have to literally hit each other when taking them out. I find myself pulling out one ear cuff a bit more than the other so that I can quickly turn it slightly so when it tries to smack itself it hits the memory foam cuff.
On a good note:
I know I spent a good amount of time telling you some of my issues with the AirPods Max but I also want to highlight a couple more pros!
The battery life is amazing (for me)! I wear these headphones on average 3–4 hours on any given day that I pull them out. I have had to charge them maybe 4–5 times in the past 2 months of owning them. I mean you could literally charge them for 30 mins and get a good couple of hours of listening time from a dead battery.
Lastly, I would have to give credit to Apple for making these headphones incredibly comfortable. I was super skeptical of the mesh headband and how durable it would be. Now it’s only been 2 months so I’m still careful with them but I’m not as worried about the headband ripping or fraying. Not to mention that the headband mixed with the telescoping arms makes for a well-distributed weight on the head. This makes for a comfortable listening experience that can go on for hours!
Would You Recommend?:
If you are already invested in the Apple ecosystem then I would say yes but only if you have the means to grab them. These headphones aren’t cheap and aren’t out of reach and I think Apple likes them in that space.
If you would like to grab a pair of Apple AirPods Max you can support RNRT by using the affiliate Amazon link below!
Originally published at https://www.realnerdsrt.com on May 23, 2021.
