There could be a reason for this. It’s been reported (by Prosser, again) that the AirPods Max may have been rushed to market. They weren’t quite ready. Supposedly there were meant to be touch controls built into those large side panels, but to move things along quicker the digital crown was brought in to save the day and allow Apple to get these out for the Christmas spending spree. If true, touch-control sides certainly make sense when you look at the design. That said, I like the physical buttons, even if it is a little too easy to knock the crown and jolt the volume up.
Lastly there is the Smart Case. Much fun has been had online at the expense of the design of the poor Max’s case, and you can see why. But I am not going to join in here. Shooting fish in a barrel is no sport. What is hard to forgive, however, is that it does a very poor job of actually protecting the headphones, surely a key function of any case.
Living with it
AirPods Max pair effortlessly to an iPhone and are about as intuitive to control as headphones get. The sound is superb - more of that below – and that quality build leaves you in no doubt whatsoever that Apple wants you to feel like these are an expensive bit of kit. The colour choices of silver, space grey, sky blue, pink or green are all tasteful.
The 20 hours or so of listening time on a single charge with noise cancellation on is sufficient (this is about the same as the Sony XM4s) and five minutes of charge gets an extra 1.5 hours of listening time. But note there’s no wireless charging, and, as they are never off (the headphones go into standby when taken off and into an “ultra-low-power state” in the Smart Case), you will notice the battery levels dropping between uses.
Making and taking calls is also a joy thanks to three microphones. One mic in the left ear cup works with two of the noise cancellation mics to enhance your voice during calls. The H1 chip is brought into play to discern your voice versus background noise, while one of the mics also suppresses wind noise.
Park all the good listed above, there are a number of issues, too. The first being weight. Remember that headband open-knit mesh canopy to distribute weight? Well, it is designed to reduce the pressure on the top of your head. It is very clever, and initially works well. But the key point here is why should it be needed at all? It’s needed because AirPods Max are heavy. They feel heavy, and wear heavy. Apple headphones come in at 384.8g. By comparison, the Sony XM4s weigh just 254g.
The mesh fools you just long enough to initially think you don’t mind the considerable heft of the Maxes. But walk around with these on for 30 minutes and you start to know you’re wearing them. This should not happen. And you cannot get lost in music or a podcast if you are constantly being reminded of the tech on your head. Perhaps worse still, on occasion the Maxes even started to get uncomfortable during longer sessions well past the hour mark.
Killer feature
Undoubtedly the sound reproduction. The AirPods Max are a feast for the ears. Apple has designed its own 40mm driver, and has done an exceptional piece of work here. I started to hear elements in familiar songs I had never noticed before. Not only are highs crisp and bass notes resonant, the whole soundstage, track after track, including the mid tones, is impressively balanced. Apple says the AirPods Max can maintain total harmonic distortion of less than one per cent across the entire audible range, even at maximum volume, and I believe it. You cannot make these headphones perform poorly, whatever you do to them.
What’s more, an adaptive EQ measures the sound signal being delivered and adjusts the low and mid frequencies in real time based on how AirPods Max fit and seal around your ears, even supposedly taking into account glasses, ear piercings and different hairstyles. I have no ear piercings, and it’s lockdown three so a haircut’s out of the question, but, yes, I couldn’t hear any difference in sound if I wore my glasses or not.
