A word on the street that went on for several months was that Apple will present this generation with yet another crown jewel. And, when it comes to the ‘Macintosh-turned-iPhone company’ they are always revolutionary in their innovation game.
Apple came out with a futuristically designed over-ear headphones - Airpods Max.
A word on the street that went on for several months was that Apple will present this generation with yet another crown jewel. And, when it comes to the ‘Macintosh-turned-iPhone company’ they are always revolutionary in their innovation game.
Just when we thought that we are done after three keynotes, Apple truly made this a ‘one more thing’ moment in the words of Steve Jobs, by dropping Airpods Max on the 8th of December.
This is the first time Apple came out with over-ear headphones, and unequivocally it looks impressive on paper. It has a new industrial design that seems futuristic and goes well with their current line up of devices.
Radical Design
For the headband, it has a canopy shaped mesh with a stainless steel frame which is wrapped in soft to the touch material.
Telescoping arms to adjust your fit, anodised aluminum cups with custom-designed mesh textile, which wraps around memory foam to create an immersive seal over your ear.
To control your music, Apple has chosen a digital crown (dial) which will instantly remind you of an apple watch, and you can use the crown to control your volume, skip between tracks, answer phone calls, and to activate Siri. I believe this is a good call because touch-sensitive sensors can be unreliable at times and we have already seen that happening with other major brands.
It comes in five colours: space grey, silver, green, sky blue and pink.
Sound quality and features
As of now, we do not have much clarification on sound quality but, according to Apple it just sounds like an epiphany, as far as the sound quality and noise cancellation are concerned. It will go neck to neck with industry-leading Sony XM4 & Bose NC 700, which cost half compared to Airpods Max.
With any Apple-made device, it is just going to feel at home due to their tight software and hardware integration in between their devices. Inside, we have an Apple-designed H1 chip in each cup that will enable features such as active noise cancellation with transparency mode, spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, adaptive EQ, one-tap setup, seamless switching, and audio sharing.
Conclusion
It looks like a very well rounded and compelling product, but its retailing price of Rs 59,900 puts it into an ultra-premium category. Apple does not want to compete with Sony or Bose with that price point. When it comes to comparing Apple with those two, it shines in its built quality, features, and the smooth integration between the devices.
There goes a lot of advanced technology packed into these, starting with H1 chips which enable quick pairing with your device that we are used to. Everything that we have seen on Airpods Pro - active noise cancellation with transparency mode, adaptive EQ, is available, but on a bigger scale.
Due to R&D, the result is a handful of sensors that effectively react and adapt to your head movements. If you have tried spatial audio it is no joke, as sounds are not only coming from the left and right ear cup but from the front and behind as well. As you move your head it's almost immersed in that space. There are a total of nine microphones - stainless steel body, magnetic ear cups, and the list might not end.
This is not a bang for the buck device for an average Joe, but for those "Pro" or "Max" users they will be happy with their purchase. However, if you're looking for ANC Headphones then you should look at Sony XM4 & Bose NC 700, which comes under half the price of the Airpods Max.
The author is a tech-enthusiast and blogger