- Audio engineer Theo Browne lately criticized Apple’s AirPods Max for his or her sound high quality and value.
- Browne, a fan of the AirPods Pro, finds the mid-range sounds of the AirPods Max disappointing.
You do not should look far to see Apple’s AirPods Max headphones within the wild, whether or not it is in your morning commute or worn by somebody on TikTok.
But for those who’re contemplating buying headphones, an audio engineer and self-proclaimed “Apple fanboy” says it’s best to assume once more.
Theo Browne, a tech YouTuber and founding father of on-line audio and video platform Ping Labs, instructed Business Insider that regardless of being an avid fan of the AirPods Pro — which he says sound pretty much as good as in-ear headphones that value lots of extra — Apple’s over-ear counterpart, the AirPods Max, is a disappointment.
In a tweet that has now obtained over 800,000 views, Browne even warned individuals: “Do NOT purchase AirPods Max.”
The AirPods Max, first launched in December 2020 earlier than Apple refreshed them in September, retails for $549 — a heftier value in comparison with different widespread rivals from firms like Sony and Bose.
Browne walked BI via why he feels that the AirPod Max’s value makes it “insulting” to prospects anticipating a premium audio expertise worthy of the worth level.
Sound and match considerations
Browne stated that the bass and treble, or the high and low frequencies of sounds, are typically enough on the Max, however the mid-range sounds are the place the headphones fall flat.
“The large subject is these mid-range sounds the place individuals’s voices are, the place a guitar can be, the place many of the attention-grabbing components of a tune are,” he stated.
For instance, Browne stated he discovered that the expertise of listening to the British band Metronomy, who use actual devices, was distorted by the AirPods Max.
“And it was simply flooring to me, how little of the instrumentation you might hear and the way weirdly positioned his voice was,” he stated.
Another audio science fanatic, Douglas Stephens, who goes by “DMS” on-line and opinions audio tools for Headphones.com, agreed that the sound high quality when listening to music on the AirPods Max was missing.
Stephens, who beforehand owned a recording studio, instructed Business Insider that the ensuing sound was “unnatural” and “muffled” in some components of the treble response whereas “shiny and piercing” in different components.
Some individuals have additionally complained on-line in regards to the match of the headphones throughout lengthy durations. Stephens stated it may very well be as a result of means the scarf connects to the ear cushions, suggesting the design, which “appears to be like fairly,” might “apply uneven stress.”
While Apple launched new colours and added a USB-C charging port in its AirPods Max refresh in September, there’s nonetheless no option to truly flip the headphones off. Instead, customers can solely set them to low energy mode by both placing them down for five minutes or putting them within the accompanying Smart Case.
“I may put them on my desk, they usually’ll be useless once I go to select them up,” Browne stated, referring to longer intervals with out utilizing the headphones, which provide as much as 20 hours of battery life, in keeping with the corporate.
After 72 stationary hours out of the case, the AirPods Max will probably be set to a good decrease energy mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find Me. But the Smart Case — a novel design that some in comparison with a handbag or bra — doesn’t truly cost the headphones itself, which nonetheless requires a twine to cost it.
Apple didn’t reply to Business Insider’s request for remark.
The headphones do have their perks
Browne and Stephens stated that there are areas the place the AirPods Max shines. Like the opposite AirPods, they stated the AirPods Max gives an excellent expertise with energetic noise cancellation, spatial audio, and transparency modes.
“Personally, I feel that their transparency mode is the perfect that I’ve ever heard in a product interval,” Stephens stated. “I undoubtedly would describe them as class-leading for that.”
He stated that one side of the transparency mode that’s “significantly nicely designed” is its capability to select up the path of out of doors noise very nicely.
“It’s truly significantly straightforward, in comparison with others, to have the ability to inform within the transparency mode if somebody is behind you is speaking,” he stated. “That the sound is coming from behind you, which is admittedly cool.”
Apple’s top-notch energetic noise cancellation (ANC) equally shines with the AirPods Max, they stated.
“Its capability to silence noise from the skin is the very best of something ever made,” Browne stated.
But total, Browne stated that there are “so many higher choices for a lot much less.”
Try these alternate options
Browne recommends the Philips Audio SHP9500 as an incredible price range choice that retails for underneath $100.
For a wi-fi choice, he factors to any of the Sony noise-canceling headphones, together with the favored Sony WH-1000XM5, which value $399.99. (Business Insider’s headphone reviewer, Antonio Villas-Boas, known as the cans “the perfect wi-fi over-ear headphones you should purchase” in his 2022 evaluation.)
Stephens personally advisable the AKG N700NC (that are listed for $99 on the AKG web site however bought out) or the Focal Bathys, a a lot higher-end choice that can run you $699.
While a lot pricier, he considers the Focal Bathys to be “most likely the perfect Bluetooth headphones on all the market proper now.”
