[gooeyrich]

 

[Sp12er3]

hm? Sony and Bose IS high end in the wireless ANC headphones market tho? literally nobody else worth their salt is making a product in that specific market.
also Sony is clearly a high end brand, and still is in Audio, you can just peek in their headphones and in ears catalogue to see them.
What they are is they are so big they have such a wide berth range of products, from entry level to summit fi.

 

[vkenz]

The problem with the current crop of reviews is that they consider Sony and Bose high end. Rarely anything you can buy from your local Bestbuy is considered Highend. These days only Sony OLED TV is truly high end in Bestbuy.

HIGH END is a relative term yeah. Before I dive into the audiophile rabbit hole, bose and sony I also consider a high end. But audiophile high end is not what normal people call high end it is on a different level of ridiculously high end.

 

[binaryhermit]

Since when are 600+€ headphones "reasonably" priced?

When there are headphones priced almost 100 times that like the Sennheiser HE1. (NOTE: This sentence was meant a little bit tongue-in-cheek. 600EUR+ headphones would need a button that would make you climax instantly when you pushed it to justify their price, IMO)

HIGH END is a relative term yeah. Before I dive into the audiophile rabbit hole, bose and sony I also consider a high end. But audiophile high end is not what normal people call high end it is on a different level of ridiculously high end.

Indeed, I remember thinking that the Bose Triports you could buy for $150 at Best Buy were the pinnacle of headphone audio circa 2004 back before I found head-fi and I couldn't fathom that there was anything more expensive.

 

[bedlamite]

hm? Sony and Bose IS high end in the wireless ANC headphones market tho? literally nobody else worth their salt is making a product in that specific market.

I’d consider them mid-tier.

High end = Bang & Olufsen H95s, Bowers and Wilkins PX7, Dali iO-6

 

[gooeyrich]

Sony makes quality products at all price points, and aren't these summit fi?

https://www.sony.com/electronics/in-ear-headphones/ier-z1r

Some might disagree but I also think JBL and Jabra make quality products.

 

[ubs28]

Of course MB is first to get it...

He is being using it for a month now.

I really don't like the premise of this product. If you want to get off the Apple ecosystem, I guess you'll have to toss these half a grand headphones away. The EQ can't even be customized like the Sonys(5 band plus bass). I'm only happy this product gets released, so that Sony can answer back fiercely. It would be amazing if a company could figure out how to put parameterized EQ onboard the headphones, that would legitimately be game changing

Sony won’t. They are on their 4th gen headphone and they still have not fixed the comfort problems. So I am pretty sure their XM5 will have earcups so small, that my ears will touch the inside of the headphone again. Sony seems to never fix this issue.

 

[bedlamite]

Sony makes quality products at all price points, and aren't these summit fi?

https://www.sony.com/electronics/in-ear-headphones/ier-z1r

Some might disagree but I also think JBL and Jabra make quality products.

The APM is a wireless ANC headphone, thus IMHO we should limit discussion to cans of this category. If you start making comparisons to Z1Rs, HE1s, etc, discussion could get really muddled.

 

[plakat]

Not sure how the sound quality can beat the XM4s wirelessly without LDAC. Any mention of the quality of their wireless codec?

The driver Sony uses seems to be not that good (they even correct it using the DSP, so the overall acoustic tuning leaves much to desire), so the overall quality is definitely limited by that.

John Gruber got a pair for review, still not audio-centered but overall some interesting points:
https://daringfireball.net/2020/12/heavy_is_the_head_that_wears_the_airpods_max

 

[warekit]

Na the girl does not look bulbous.

They are very bulbous and cheap looking.

 

[SilverEars]

Indeed, I remember thinking that the Bose Triports you could buy for $150 at Best Buy were the pinnacle of headphone audio circa 2004 back before I found head-fi and I couldn't fathom that there was anything more expensive.

Yes, I started with Triports back in the days, and thought that was expensive. If I told somebody I paid 150 for headphones, they thought I'm crazy. Fastforward to 2010s to 2020 and I'm seeing headphones in the thousands of dollars.

Triports was a piece of crap. The headband snapped several times.

After Steve came back to apple, I think Apple changed their image to be a brand with image like a fashion brand. Apple has made a fashion image with tech, and this is their latest attempt. It was inevitable due to headphones becoming visible part of people these days and Apple want part of that. Just like iWatch.

I'm surprised it took this long. Apple did popularize the earphone trend afterall, so they were antithesis of fullsized. They were the fashion promoter of portable audio, the ipod.

So, now like Beats, which was also a fashion statement, Apple is pushing theirs for a particular target that buy Apple.

Apple is marketed quite well, like the Macbooks like some sort of premium we see all around us in thr media. Same for Beats worn by celebrities. These are mass market items which are highend in the mainstream, and then there's audiophile stuff which is catered for a smaller specific market.

 

[Whazzzup]

I use dr Dre beats for my pearl electronic drum kit, they reproduce a thump quite well.

 

[Sp12er3]

Boutique Luxury brand = high end is what make audio such an infamous money sink.

 

[DiederickFritz]

Sooo it seems like the only ppl that’ll buy this are rich ppl with cash to burn and planes to catch. Regular ppl will go with Bose/Sony and audiophiles have a whole lot more options.

 

[Thrifty Spender]

Sooo it seems like the only ppl that’ll buy this are rich ppl with cash to burn and planes to catch. Regular ppl will go with Bose/Sony and audiophiles have a whole lot more options.

Apple really good at sizing up the rich people crowd with the sold out.