[mthaynes]

You could carry a small bluetooth transmitter and plug that into the video.

yes could do that but have to charge that and charge the headpones. on the Sony with line in and the headphones turned off they still work as normal headphones. I do some really long flights on occasion and battery can be an issue.

Guess I would have liked to have seen a line in maybe that's just me.

There's a 3,5mm to lightning cable available that could bridge gap

I dont know if that transmits audio. connectivity just says bluetooth. Maybe your right and it does. maybe that's a question for apple

 

[stacey]

Dont think these are for me. I will stick to my HD800s / Bryston rig or my JH audio Layla or Roxy. for real listening.

I do like an over ear like this for international air travel watching movies etc so I have the Sony wh-1000. Maybe they will be better than the Sony over ear that I have but they do not appear to support any type of LINE IN! can't connect to the video on a plane without a line in. that killed it for me

Lightning to 3.5 is a thing.

 

[SilverEars]

After sleeping on it for a day, I think where the Airpods Max might work for me is as a home theatre headset given spatial audio. I have been in the market for surround sound headphones and I looked at the JVC personal surround sound system at last year's CES. I thought it was a cool idea. Today, my streaming services are completely separate from my audiophile listening. This product could extend and bring them together and the price point isn't bad for that use case. It would also get me interested in Apple TV when today all of my needs are fully met by Roku.

If it's just for listening to music, I'd probably consider an Ananda BT over the Airpods Max. I use my Airpod Pros for phone calls. I don't need these headphones for that use case. Noise cancellation is only interesting on an airplane and I have that use case covered in several other ways. I don't need that especially at the price point offered.

I'm interested in the surround sound, but the device that's transmitting has to be in the Apple Ecosystem I would assume, which is the issue. I'm one of those people that has varieties of devices not in the Apple Ecosystem like Amazon Firestick for streaming. I find Apple TV overpriced for what it is, and don't want to have to purchase one just so that I hear surround with movies on my OLED. Apple TV wasn't designed so well for getting the true to original content quality, but they've applied processing to the content that plays through Apple TV, which isn't good. Which is an example showing that Apple doesn't care about original content's integrity.

Also, I would bet that the surround will only work on Apple software through Apple's contents, which limits what's possible. I wish Apple was more open with their surround technology. $549 with limited to Apple Ecosystem really constains the user base.

If the surround is really good, I want to be able to apply to any movies that is played out a NAS library or any (non-Apple) streaming service to my TV, but I doubt that's possible with an Apple product.

 

[elton7033]

I am looking forward to how its going to sound like , its twice the price of a massdrop senn HD6XX

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I'm interested in the surround sound, but the device that's transmitting has to be in the Apple Ecosystem I would assume, which is the issue. I'm one of those people that has varieties of devices not in the Apple Ecosystem like Amazon Firestick for streaming. I find Apple TV overpriced for what it is, and don't want to have to purchase one just so that I hear surround with movies on my OLED. Also, I would bet that the surround will only work on Apple software through Apple's contents, which limits what's possible. I wish Apple was more open with their surround technology. $549 with limited to Apple Ecosystem really constains the user base.

Yeah, this is the exact negative that I have been trying to avoid with all of my purchases in the streaming video space. I love my Roku box and Apple TV is 3 times more expensive than it. Apple always finds a way to suck you into their vortex.

 

[Sp12er3]

Yeah, the trend of pricing stuff way more expensive than it should be is awesome...

I went from a 6S to an 11 Pro Max last year. Reallly started hating that big thing. Changed to a 12 Mini last month and I sure hope they'll keep making those minis.

thing is, the sound performance of the current offerings are just.... bad, like I'd rate all the forerunners like QC35, WHXM4,NC700,PCX 550, are 50-70 usd sounding at best. I know the ceiling of wired headphones & IEMs has been increasing sky high for seemingly no reason when you compare them side to side to a great performer at 600-1000 usd, but that's for the reach of the Superlative, not everyone is into them.

Here. I'm just looking for one that meets the basic standard.
also, higher rice ceiling may make those manufacturers try to tune them to be more "niche", as they know from the get go this is gonna sell way less than their "standard" 250-ish offerings.
We know Wireless is good enough with THX panda and DSR9bt around, its just ANC that's hard to crack.

 

[Thrifty Spender]

I'm interested in the surround sound, but the device that's transmitting has to be in the Apple Ecosystem I would assume, which is the issue. I'm one of those people that has varieties of devices not in the Apple Ecosystem like Amazon Firestick for streaming. I find Apple TV overpriced for what it is, and don't want to have to purchase one just so that I hear surround with movies on my OLED. Apple TV wasn't designed so well for getting the true to original content quality, but they've applied processing to the content that plays through Apple TV, which isn't good. Which is an example showing that Apple doesn't care about original content's integrity.

Also, I would bet that the surround will only work on Apple software through Apple's contents, which limits what's possible. I wish Apple was more open with their surround technology. $549 with limited to Apple Ecosystem really constains the user base.

If the surround is really good, I want to be able to apply to any movies that is played out a NAS library or any (non-Apple) streaming service to my TV, but I doubt that's possible with an Apple product.

Don't worry, the surround sound feature only works on iphone and ipad. You are not missing anything by giving the max a pass.

thing is, the sound performance of the current offerings are just.... bad, like I'd rate all the forerunners like QC35, WHXM4,NC700,PCX 550, are 50-70 usd sounding at best. I know the ceiling of wired headphones & IEMs has been increasing sky high for seemingly no reason when you compare them side to side to a great performer at 600-1000 usd, but that's for the reach of the Superlative, not everyone is into them.

Here. I'm just looking for one that meets the basic standard.
also, higher rice ceiling may make those manufacturers try to tune them to be more "niche", as they know from the get go this is gonna sell way less than their "standard" 250-ish offerings.

Totally agreed. Same feeling here. The quality of B&O h95 is poor at it's price. Can't wait to hear the Max. Good that it's not priced too high that touches the IEM and force a comparison.

 

[jagwap]

With modern headphones that can reach low enough distortion figures so far there is no research that has been able to demonstrate where that “more” comes from.
The problem is that the same headphones worn by two different people will not result in the same FR curve at the eardrum, and that these two people having a different anatomy require a different FR curve at their eardrum (but differently different if you get the drift). And we have no way right now to design headphones that can ensure that the reach the proper target for a particular listener.
it isn’t because you EQ headphones to the exact same target in a test rig that they would measure the same at your eardrum.

All true, but transient response, including the resonances of the headphone construction and damping, phase response and LF group delay, inter-channel accuracy, execution of multiband limiters (if DSP), BT CODEC implementation and their transcoding influence - all contribute to the system's sound. It has never been as simple as "get the frequency response right and you're done".

 

[WilcoRoger]

I am looking forward to how its going to sound like , its twice the price of a massdrop senn HD6XX

Totally agreed. Same feeling here. The quality of B&O h95 is poor at it's price. Can't wait to hear the Max. Good that it's not priced too high that touches the IEM and force a comparison.

Make it 3x the HD6xx (in Europe even more) - and I wouldn't even put any money on this sounding better at all.

 

[plakat]

I dont know if that transmits audio. connectivity just says bluetooth. Maybe your right and it does. maybe that's a question for apple

I was talking about this adapter:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MXK22AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-audio-cable-12m-white

Was offered as an accessory on checkout

 

[MayaTlab]

All true, but transient response, including the resonances of the headphone construction and damping, phase response and LF group delay, inter-channel accuracy, execution of multiband limiters (if DSP), BT CODEC implementation and their transcoding influence - all contribute to the system's sound. It has never been as simple as "get the frequency response right and you're done".

I don't know what you mean by transient response but I'm going to assume it's impulse response, in which case it's derived from the exact same measurement as frequency response - same applies to many of the things you mentioned : https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory199...o?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
I advise reading these posts from Oratory1990, who's an acoustic engineer : https://www.reddit.com/search/?q=author:oratory1990 subreddit:oratory1990&sort=new
If rTings' measurements are to be trusted a large majority of headphones doesn't have excess LF group delay.
I don't know what you mean by inter-channel accuracy but if it means channel imbalance then... that's frequency response.
BT codecs implementation can be measured. If it's done well distortion and noise floor measure low enough that it's inaudible. If done well.
So yep : in 2020 FR curve is by far the most important thing to care about. And since we can't design headphones that can ensure that a very specific FR target is reached at your own eardurm, that's where most of the problems are. Everything else should be given a much, much lower priority for concerns if at all.

 

[kumar402]

I'm interested in the surround sound, but the device that's transmitting has to be in the Apple Ecosystem I would assume, which is the issue. I'm one of those people that has varieties of devices not in the Apple Ecosystem like Amazon Firestick for streaming. I find Apple TV overpriced for what it is, and don't want to have to purchase one just so that I hear surround with movies on my OLED. Apple TV wasn't designed so well for getting the true to original content quality, but they've applied processing to the content that plays through Apple TV, which isn't good. Which is an example showing that Apple doesn't care about original content's integrity.

Also, I would bet that the surround will only work on Apple software through Apple's contents, which limits what's possible. I wish Apple was more open with their surround technology. $549 with limited to Apple Ecosystem really constains the user base.

If the surround is really good, I want to be able to apply to any movies that is played out a NAS library or any (non-Apple) streaming service to my TV, but I doubt that's possible with an Apple product.

Yes, spatial audio is limited to apple ecosystem and apps Like Disney, apple tv + is currently supporting it however I feel in few months we will see Netflix and prime also join the club.

 

[raypin]

Keep in mind that apple is a $2 trillion + company.

They can quite literally buy all the headphone manufacturers on earth and then some.

People were talking crap about the airpods pro - until they turned out to be damn good.

Same with the lightning to 3.5 dongle which at $9 puts most portable dac amp **** to shame.

I see this going 2 ways.

1. Stellar sound (main selling point) + funky "inovations" (the reason for price)

or

2. Average sound + Funky "inovations" (main selling point)

I wouldn't write them off just yet.

Mm....yup dont knock it until you've auditioned it.

MAX is not a "serious" headphone so comparisons to open back or closed back headphone seems far off. It should be compared with other wireless headphones.

I see this as a casual headphone suitable for use in noisy, crowded places or office use or while walking on the streets or riding the subway or libraries or on flights.

Now about the price, it is on the upper range for what it is. But until a proper review is done, it is unfair to prejudge the Max. My initial expectation is it will perform better than the comparable competition.

 

[Monstieur]

Any open back dynamic driver will have pretty substantial roll off, this doesn't make it a joke. I also love sub bass extension, but this is just plain ignorant. 'Audeze LCD headphones are way too heavy and are worth $0' - I could say that, but I obviously know how ridiculous that sounds.

Modern open-back dynamic drivers like the Focal Clear don't roll-off the bass - it's maybe -3 dB at 20 Hz relative to 1 kHz. Even the LCD-2 is -10 dB at 20 Hz, but planars can be EQed up without distortion. There's no excuse for Sennheiser.

We know from the Apple EarPods and old Apple Earbuds that they achieved bass extension from those earbud designs that's unsurpassed to date. If the AirPods Max were open-backs, they wouldn't have rolled-off bass like Sennheisers.

 

[mthaynes]

I was talking about this adapter:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MXK22AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-audio-cable-12m-white

Was offered as an accessory on checkout

oh that probably does work then. kind of sucks you have to pay another $35 for that. should be included but that is just my .02