As I write this, I’m listening to tunes on my 2020-vintage AirPods Max. Sure, that makes me a little bit of an Apple fanboy, and at the least six pairs of headphones over them. However for me, they nonetheless sound excellent, have nice lively noise cancellation and work nicely with my most-used units. In addition they are lacking a couple of options in comparison with the second-generation AirPods Professional that got here out in 2022. That doesn’t hassle me, on condition that they’re virtually 4 years outdated — however the concept of spending the $550 that Apple is asking for the refreshed version of these headphones introduced yesterday is ridiculous, even when it’s a reduction that they lastly have USB-C.
For context, Apple wasn’t even anticipated to introduce an AirPods Max replace on the iPhone 16 occasion — however the day earlier than, Apple prognosticator Mark Gurman at Bloomberg surprisingly mentioned that the headphones would obtain their first vital replace. Nevertheless, the replace concerned changing the Lightning charging port with USB-C and a few new colours. That’s it. Nothing to encourage an improve from Apple nutjobs like me (although I sorely want my headphones did in actual fact have USB-C, now that I’ve principally moved away from Lightning units). I’m a fan of the brand new colours and would love to change to USB-C, however not sufficient to spend $550 — and even half that to be trustworthy.
Alternatively, Sony has up to date its flagship headphones frequently, with the WH-1000XM3 arriving in 2018, the XM4 in 2020, the XM5 in 2022 and the XM6 anticipated in 2025. Most Sony customers aren’t going to improve from the XM4 to the XM5, or perhaps a future XM6, as high-end headphones ought to final for years. However whenever you’re shopping for an organization’s flagship headphones, you are getting the perfect product they may probably make. Sony has made positive that’s the case by refining the design, providing higher battery life or enhancing ANC.
What’s most irritating concerning the AirPods Max replace is that they needed to do at the least a modicum of inside redesign to drop in USB-C, so why not improve the chips to the H2 processors? The H1 varient contained in the AirPods Max was first launched in early 2019, as a part of the second-generation AirPods. And now, all AirPods, together with the just-announced $129 fourth-generation model, use that H2 processor. It allows helpful enhancements like adaptive audio, which basically blurs the strains between conventional transparency and noise-canceling modes relying on the ambient sound round you. It additionally helps you to nod or shake your head to reply to Siri somewhat than having to talk out loud.
These options will surely be welcome by potential AirPods Max consumers, however as a substitute the extremely costly headphones are caught with a five-year-old chip for the foreseeable future. I can’t recover from how foolish that’s contemplating the truth that entry-level AirPods are getting a few of the advantages of the H2 processor. In fact, the AirPods Max have speaker high quality and tuning that far exceeds what you’ll get from a $129 pair of earbuds. However as Apple’s top-tier headphone (in value, if not options), they’re a troublesome promote given they’re lacking options you will get on the AirPods 4 with ANC for a 3rd of the value.
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