[DiederickFritz]

I'm sure it will sound decent and will have uses we never thought of before.

Yeah, Dolce & Gabbana, LV, and Gucci have some real competition! It’s only a matter of time before the APM comes with $300 case options. Oh and the handle will be a separate $200 purchase, which will require a $50 dongle to connect to a not-included power brick.

 

[SilverEars]

I find his general reviews kinda bland, and I prefer MB's reviews instead. But, his other videos for reviews random gadgets his wife brings up is really good. His true self comes out, and it's really funny. lol I'd dig this kind of show, and him and his wife has real good chemistry with this type of content. I think they are much more genuine and entertaining than Lew Later, who just sounds like a car sales man.

 

[kmanmx]

I'm not personally concerned about the lack of a power off button for these headphones. With the optical ear sensors, accelerometers it really should be able to enter a very low power state when not in use, a far lower power state than say your smartphone. I would withhold too much judgement until it's confirmed, but I wouldn't be surprised if you can put them down (and not in their case) and come back to them after a few weeks without them having lost too much of their battery life. If it turns out then not using them for a couple of days and leaving them out of their case results in them losing half of their battery, that will certainly be disappointing. But it just seems unlikely to me. I'm fortunate enough to have one of Apple's new M1 powered MacBook Air's. Even that, which is a far more battery intensive device, loses barely a single percentage of battery life when you shut the lid overnight, and yet fully wakes before you've even half opened the lid the next morning. Apple are good at making their devices enter ultra low power states during sleep, so I'm optimistic in that respect.

 

[Coztomba]

Wow. These were a 3 week wait when I looked the other day (Apple Australia). It’s listed at 12-14 weeks now...

 

[davidmolliere]

Wow. These were a 3 week wait when I looked the other day (Apple Australia). It’s listed at 12-14 weeks now...

Yeah I ordered them less than 2 hours after launch and already a week delay so dec 21th for me

 

[jhoelter]

https://overcast.fm/+B7NCxUi10
Podcast with two Apple “pundits” who got review units. Some more details here including battery life on standby w/o case (spoiler: it’s fine). They’re both very impressed with the “immersive” spatial audio.

 

[Malevolent]

Wow. These were a 3 week wait when I looked the other day (Apple Australia). It’s listed at 12-14 weeks now...

Yeah, it's the same for me; a 12-14 weeks wait.

Clearly, despite its steep price - consumer-tech-wise - it is another home-run hit in terms of sales for Apple.

I'm still on the fence with its looks, but I am very interested to hear what it sounds like. That's the acid test for me; if it sounds good, I can certainly live with its (less-than-desirable) aesthetics.

 

[kmanmx]

I was lucky enough to be on twitter when the Apple news sites tweeted the press release of the AirPods Max, so managed to get my order in within a couple of minutes. Original estimate was 15th to 17th December, with 15th being the official launch date. For whatever reason it's now just saying 17th, but I am at least happy to be getting them on launch week, even if not launch day. I don't have a huge audiophile headphone collection to compare them too like many here unfortunately. I've had some HD650's many years ago, and had some AD700's up until about a year ago. But currently I just have the AirPods (non pro) and Audeze Mobius. I guess the Mobius is the closest competitor with them being bluetooth headphones. I am actually more than happy with how the mobius sounds, but my god, the user interface is awful. Buttons and dials all over the place, and a really annoyingly slow long button press to turn them off and off. Plus the software Is just buggy, I have to fight with them a lot just to listen to them each day. The AirPods Max are going to be so much better in terms of user experience, and if they can offer and equal or better audio experience to the Mobius I will be happy.

 

[SilverEars]

I'm not personally concerned about the lack of a power off button for these headphones. With the optical ear sensors, accelerometers it really should be able to enter a very low power state when not in use, a far lower power state than say your smartphone. I would withhold too much judgement until it's confirmed, but I wouldn't be surprised if you can put them down (and not in their case) and come back to them after a few weeks without them having lost too much of their battery life. If it turns out then not using them for a couple of days and leaving them out of their case results in them losing half of their battery, that will certainly be disappointing. But it just seems unlikely to me. I'm fortunate enough to have one of Apple's new M1 powered MacBook Air's. Even that, which is a far more battery intensive device, loses barely a single percentage of battery life when you shut the lid overnight, and yet fully wakes before you've even half opened the lid the next morning. Apple are good at making their devices enter ultra low power states during sleep, so I'm optimistic in that respect.

Good point. Apple does implement low power mode properly. I was really impressed with how there waa hardly any drain when ipad was on standby and I hope it's the same here.

In terms of looks, I understand the sentaments. It looks to be more on the lady fashion side and my masculinity seems to be under threat with these. Lol. I think that's the users they are trying to pesuade. Especially with the non-grey colors. The shapes look too weird and I don't get why they went with looking like iWatch. And call it Airpod Max with Airpod Pro being an earphone? Weird. It's not the best thought out design IMO. I expected better from Apple, but after Steve left, design sensibility left with him.

Build quality however is fantastic like you'd expect from Apple. It seems Apple was being too Apple and went metal, increasing weight, which I don't think was a good design choice.

I don't understand how it was sold out with it's design and pricing. I guess there's a lot of Apple people that can't get enough of Apple stuff.

 

[kmanmx]

Good point. Apple does implement low power mode properly. I was really impressed with how there waa hardly any drain when ipad was on standby and I hope it's the same here.

In terms of looks, I understand the sentaments. It looks to be more on the lady fashion side and my masculinity seems to be under threat with these. Especially with the non-grey colors. The shapes look too weird and I don't get why they went with looking like iWatch. And call it Airpod Max with Airpod Pro being an earphone? Weird. It's not the best thought out design IMO. I expected better from Apple, but after Steve left, originality went with him.

Build quality however is fantastic like you'd expect from Apple.

I don't understand how it was sold out with it's design and pricing. I guess there's a lot of Apple people that can't get enough of Apple stuff.

I'm listening to this podcast with John Gruber and his friend, and it seems like they will lose 10% (maybe a little less), if they are left out of their smart case for 24 hours. That is acceptable to me. Not as good as an iPad or MacBook, but still good to the point it won't be annoying considering I will use them every day. I was just concerned I'd pick them up and half of the time they would be out of battery, but it doesn't seem like that will be the case.

I don't love the design either, but I don't find it awful either. They are slightly odd looking - perhaps "unique" if you want a kinder adjective - but I do not find them unattractive to the point it would deter me from using using them. Maybe they are something that looks better in person ? we'll see. They are at least less deep and protrude from the head less than other headphones, which I guess could be considered a win on the aesthetics front.

What I do really like the look of it the removable fabric ear pads and the metal smooth telescoping head adjustment. I'm glad they went with the Digital Crown dial for volume adjustment than the long rumoured touch interface. I really don't fancy the idea of touch based controls...

As for the stock situation, it's rumoured they had very limited quantity availability. It is really hard to believe that many people are prepared to spend $549 on headphones right now. But hey, they sell 200m plus 1000 dollar iPhones every year, so who knows.

 

[Malevolent]

I don't understand how it was sold out with it's design and pricing. I guess there's a lot of Apple people that can't get enough of Apple stuff.

Here's an anecdote. When I'm asked about the price of my headphones and IEMs, they are typically dismissed as being too expensive; my friends and colleagues will usually remark, with some measure of disdain, that they'd never pay anything more than $150-200 for a pair. Fair enough - the audiophile game is expensive, and the (prohibitive) costs are usually palatable only to people who appreciate the nature of this hobby.

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if some of these same people actually sport AirPods Max on their heads a month or 2 from today.

 

[SilverEars]

I'm listening to this podcast with John Gruber and his friend, and it seems like they will lose 10% (maybe a little less), if they are left out of their smart case for 24 hours. That is acceptable to me. Not as good as an iPad or MacBook, but still good to the point it won't be annoying considering I will use them every day. I was just concerned I'd pick them up and half of the time they would be out of battery, but it doesn't seem like that will be the case.

I don't love the design either, but I don't find it awful either. They are slightly odd looking - perhaps "unique" if you want a kinder adjective - but I do not find them unattractive to the point it would deter me from using using them. Maybe they are something that looks better in person ? we'll see. They are at least less deep and protrude from the head less than other headphones, which I guess could be considered a win on the aesthetics front.

What I do really like the look of it the removable fabric ear pads and the metal smooth telescoping head adjustment. I'm glad they went with the Digital Crown dial for volume adjustment than the long rumoured touch interface. I really don't fancy the idea of touch based controls...

As for the stock situation, it's rumoured they had very limited quantity availability. It is really hard to believe that many people are prepared to spend $549 on headphones right now. But hey, they sell 200m plus 1000 dollar iPhones every year, so who knows.

I agree with all your points. I dislike touch controls as well. The response on casing isn't good either. I guess they had to sacrifice foldability for such build quality? Folding is a nice feature for travelers. I can't see myself packing the Max with that case, as it's awkward and worrysome.

10% is a lot! That is unacceptable to me.

To be honest, iWatch with square shape looked odd to me when it was first released and look at it now. I believ our perception of it has gotten normalized.

Here's an anecdote. When I'm asked about the price of my headphones and IEMs, they are typically dismissed as being too expensive; my friends and colleagues will usually remark, with some measure of disdain, that they'd never pay anything more than $150-200 for a pair. Fair enough - the audiophile game is expensive, and the (prohibitive) costs are usually palatable only to people who appreciate the nature of this hobby.

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if some of these same people actually sport AirPods Max on their heads a month or 2 from today.

Yeah, I think of Apple people as people that really love the brand and it's image, and they eat up anything Apple. But, I also think people that buy Apple have somewhat of a disposible income.

 

[kmanmx]

I agree with all your points. I dislike touch controls as well. The response on casing isn't good either. I guess they had to sacrifice foldability for such build quality? Folding is a nice feature for travelers. I can't see myself packing the Max with that case, as it's awkward and worrysome.

10% is a lot! That is unacceptable to me.

Well, it's 10% out of the case of course. Presumably the drain is a lot lower when in the smart case. If you are going to be putting them away for a few days or more, it seems like putting them in the case is the best option. It's a weird case for sure, but if that's what I have to do to keep the long battery life if I end up only using them infrequently, then that's okay. Not ideal, but okay.

Though I do entirely suspect a $200+ "premium" hard case from Apple to arrive in the future. No doubt 3rd party ones will arrive even sooner, and at 1/4 the price.

 

[SilverEars]

Well, it's 10% out of the case of course. Presumably the drain is a lot lower when in the smart case. If you are going to be putting them away for a few days or more, it seems like putting them in the case is the best option. It's a weird case for sure, but if that's what I have to do to keep the long battery life if I end up only using them infrequently, then that's okay. Not ideal, but okay.

Though I do entirely suspect a $200+ "premium" hard case from Apple to arrive in the future. No doubt 3rd party ones will arrive even sooner, and at 1/4 the price.

That's annoying. I don't want to be putting it case to put it on standby. I may take it off several times and don't want to put it in the case everytime. A power button would have been helpful.

Wow, $200 case is rediculous. That a 3rd of the already overpriced headphone price.

 

[kmanmx]

That's annoying. I don't want to be putting it case to put it on standby. I may take it off several times and don't want to put it in the case everytime. A power button would have been helpful.

Wow, $200 case is rediculous. That a 3rd of the already overpriced headphone price.

But would you feel it necessary to put it in a case each time you take it off, when from what we've heard power drain is probably under 10% per 24hours when outside of a case ? If you take them off for a couple of hours outside a case, you're going to lose about 1%. I don't really see why anyone would bother putting them in the case for that. Perhaps just at the end of the day, and even then I'm not sure I'd bother. But each to their own.

And yes 200 dollars is ridiculous, but it's Apple, so to be expected... they did a 300 dollar iPad keyboard case afterall.