[DeweyCH]

I use my Airpod Pros every day and I never noticed this feature.

I had to Google it. It's turned off by default, you have to activate it on your device.

 

[MayaTlab]

It's 50/50 that the sound quality will be any better than the Sonys.

While this is highly debatable between the WF1000XM3 and AirPods Pro as both measure very decently to the point where it's only a matter of individual variations in preferences and HRTFs (ie given what research tends to demonstrate what range of dB value per frequency these variations imply, meaning that your opinion is just as valid as anyone's to the contrary), this absolutely isn't the case when comparing the AirPods Max and the XM3 and XM4. Apple's acoustics team is just a little too competent to come up with such crappy FR curves such as these even if they tried :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/27fvbywlep8d5ay/Sony WH1000XM3.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wx3nvscvt44i4w/Sony WH1000XM4.pdf?dl=0
And it's likely that audio over bluetooth will be more solidly implemented as well.
That debate simply isn't going to happen.
To be frank given that cheaper over-ears wireless headphones give a good spanking to Sony's higher end offering, including their own lower-end ones, it's not much of a challenge.

 

[ubs28]

While this is highly debatable between the WF1000XM3 and AirPods Pro as both measure very decently to the point where it's only a matter of individual variations in preferences and HRTFs (ie given what research tends to demonstrate what range of dB value per frequency these variations imply, meaning that your opinion is just as valid as anyone's to the contrary), this absolutely isn't the case when comparing the AirPods Max and the XM3 and XM4. Apple's acoustics team is just a little too competent to come up with such crappy FR curves such as these even if they tried :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/27fvbywlep8d5ay/Sony WH1000XM3.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wx3nvscvt44i4w/Sony WH1000XM4.pdf?dl=0
And it's likely that audio over bluetooth will be more solidly implemented as well.
That debate simply isn't going to happen.
To be frank given that cheaper over-ears wireless headphones give a good spanking to Sony's higher end offering, including their own lower-end ones, it's not much of a challenge.

I believe the adaptive EQ of the Apple Airpods Max should adjust the frequencies based on a signal that is being send inside the headphone. So in theory, there is not 1 unique frequency response of this headphone, but personalized.

But we shall see how this exactly works.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

While this is highly debatable between the WF1000XM3 and AirPods Pro as both measure very decently to the point where it's only a matter of individual variations in preferences and HRTFs (ie given what research tends to demonstrate what range of dB value per frequency these variations imply, meaning that your opinion is just as valid as anyone's to the contrary), this absolutely isn't the case when comparing the AirPods Max and the XM3 and XM4. Apple's acoustics team is just a little too competent to come up with such crappy FR curves such as these even if they tried :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/27fvbywlep8d5ay/Sony WH1000XM3.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wx3nvscvt44i4w/Sony WH1000XM4.pdf?dl=0
And it's likely that audio over bluetooth will be more solidly implemented as well.
That debate simply isn't going to happen.
To be frank given that cheaper over-ears wireless headphones give a good spanking to Sony's higher end offering, including their own lower-end ones, it's not much of a challenge.

How can you make any claim about the Apple acoustics team? Name one product that they have designed that competes with any of the top audio manufacturers discussed on this message board? You are projecting your wishful thinking onto a product that you haven't even heard yet based on a claim about a competency that a company hasnt even demonstrated. That's impressive.

I've heard the Pros and the Sonys. I don't need to see a chart to tell you which one sounds better. That evaluation is subjective, but there are a lot of people who agree with me on this point. So at worst, it's a push and you can't claim that the Pros are definitely better than the Sonys.

I believe the adaptive EQ of the Apple Airpods Max should adjust the frequencies based on a signal that is being send inside the headphone. So in theory, there is not 1 unique frequency response of this headphone, but personalized.

But we shall see how this exactly works.

Yeah, but I heard that Sony is introducing the flux capacitor into its next headphone. Come on, the Airpod Max is going to read your mind and provide equalization that you will like based on that reading?

 

[Double C]

I bit..

 

[ubs28]

Yeah, but I heard that Sony is introducing the flux capacitor into its next headphone. Come on, the Airpod Max is going to read your mind and provide equalization that you will like based on that reading?

This is a quote from the Apple website below. Now you might say it is BS. I am willing to test it out to see if it actually does what it says.

• Adaptive EQ: AirPods Max use Adaptive EQ to adjust the sound to the fit and seal of the ear cushions by measuring the sound signal delivered to a user and adjusting the low and mid-frequencies in real time — bringing rich audio that captures every detail.

Based on my experience, this is a real issue as the Sennheiser HD820 doesn’t work on my ears / head. I have to press them tightly against my head to get a good sound.

 

[snapandslide]

I also own the Sony WF-1000XM3 IEM and the Apple Airpods Pro blows it out of the water. It is:
- way more comfortable
- is water resistant
- far superior fit

I have lost count how many times the Sony WF-1000XM3 fell out of my ears while running. It is really not practical as a wireless ANC IEM.

You might think it is “high-end”. I don’t think it is. Apple really thought about how a wireless ANC IEM should be and they delivered something far superior than Sony their wireless ANC IEM. I don’t even remember the last time I have used my Sony WF-1000XM3.

You need to take use case into account - I have the WF1000XM3 - I'd never use them for running. I'd agree the fit is better with the APP, however for the hum and drum of the London Underground, the Sony's are great.

I believe the adaptive EQ of the Apple Airpods Max should adjust the frequencies based on a signal that is being send inside the headphone. So in theory, there is not 1 unique frequency response of this headphone, but personalized.

But we shall see how this exactly works.

I'm also really curious to see how much Marketing BS this is versus actually enhancing.

I bought the Shure Aonic 50s last week, £270 - so half the price of the advertised AirPod Max's. And they're absolutely great - and work well with Apple products and I have no complaints with AAC. These have to be something amazing for the price. However I also fear other competitors use this as an excuse to push up prices of their next gen flagships.

 

[3Putter]

One of my biggest worries is how the market will react, and, subsequently adapt to the uptick in price, especially once consumers start purchasing the AirPods Pro in droves - and I'm quite certain of this eventuality.

Once contemporaries, such as Sony and Bose, realize that the average tech enthusiast, albeit one that is relatively wealthy, is willing to splash $550 for a top-end wireless headphone, they might start to wonder if an increase of $100 over their existing flagships won't be seen as egregious premium after all. Heck, an elevation in price may even be a good thing - the general market often co-relates price with performance; hence, a $550 Apple headphone has to sound better than a $350 Sony headphone, no?

I greatly enjoy my WH-1000XM4; however, I hope that any subsequent models won't be riding the astronomical price rocket.

Having switched my daily driver computer to a MacBook and my phone from an LGV30 to an iPhone for my family's sake (they like to track me, iMessage, etc) the one thing I can say having acquired a set of Air Pods Pro is that their items are high grade materials and workmanship. I could care less if the Max is ugly if it sounds terrific. I didn't think the Pro's sounded that great so I gave them to my daughter who can't tell the difference in a track played from Apple Music of Tidal Masters on my system or other headphones. Apple is easy to use. SQ is good. Solidly built. What's not to like if they sound superb? I'd bet you put the Max up against your Sony's and the Sony's might feel a little plastic(y). Maybe not...I also owned the Bowers & Wilkins PX and PX7's and they were robust units. I'm just not a huge fan of the wireless sound by anything yet. The Pro's were a close second to the PX and PX7's. As to your price influence set by Apple, I could see it happening. This pandemic has no shortage of people buying Tech, toys, and more...

 

[DeweyCH]

Yeah, but I heard that Sony is introducing the flux capacitor into its next headphone. Come on, the Airpod Max is going to read your mind and provide equalization that you will like based on that reading?

In theory it should be able to use the tech from their facial recognition software and a few strategically-placed microphones to sort of map out how sounds reverberate in your individual ear canals. Kind of like a virtual version of getting a CIEM made. I've seen less tech-forward versions - specifically Creative Labs' XFi stuff - where you take a picture of your ears and the app adjusts its outputs in a way that is (supposedly) optimal for your specific ears.

I was mostly unimpressed with that, but that's an app on a phone trying to guesstimate how a particular set of headphones (you picked from a list of headphones which ones you were using) was sitting on and around your ears. I could see it working a whole lot better when the scanning is being done directly on your ears rather than going through several mostly disconnected steps.

 

[ubs28]

You need to take use case into account - I have the WF1000XM3 - I'd never use them for running. I'd agree the fit is better with the APP, however for the hum and drum of the London Underground, the Sony's are great.



I'm also really curious to see how much Marketing BS this is versus actually enhancing.

I bought the Shure Aonic 50s last week, £270 - so half the price of the advertised AirPod Max's. And they're absolutely great - and work well with Apple products and I have no complaints with AAC. These have to be something amazing for the price. However I also fear other competitors use this as an excuse to push up prices of their next gen flagships.

I agree, they have to be mindblowingly good to justify the price. I will test them against the Bose QC35 II, Bose NC 700 and the Sony WH-1000XM3 that I have. If it doesn’t greatly outperform these 3 headphones, I will send it back within the 14-day return period.

 

[Wishmaker]

Been using a pair of AirPods pro since January this year.
Not my best purchase
They fall out and randomly disconnect.
Audio quality is okay-ish for the size.

I will not purchase the new Apple headphones that is for sure.

 

[DeweyCH]

Having switched my daily driver computer to a MacBook and my phone from an LGV30 to an iPhone for my family's sake (they like to track me, iMessage, etc) the one thing I can say having acquired a set of Air Pods Pro is that their items are high grade materials and workmanship. I could care less if the Max is ugly if it sounds terrific. I didn't think the Pro's sounded that great so I gave them to my daughter who can't tell the difference in a track played from Apple Music of Tidal Masters on my system or other headphones. Apple is easy to use. SQ is good. Solidly built. What's not to like if they sound superb? I'd bet you put the Max up against your Sony's and the Sony's might feel a little plastic(y). Maybe not...I also owned the Bowers & Wilkins PX and PX7's and they were robust units. I'm just not a huge fan of the wireless sound by anything yet. The Pro's were a close second to the PX and PX7's. As to your price influence set by Apple, I could see it happening. This pandemic has no shortage of people buying Tech, toys, and more...

That's really the big thing - "Apple is easy to use." When everything is in their ecosystem, the synergy is nearly unmatched. I'm a PC guy, but I recognize that having Apple products for work computing, home computing, phone, tablet, headphones, watch, etc. etc. makes for a seamless experience. As opposed to Android/PC, where the interplay between hardware is made orders of magnitude more complex because there's, what, a few dozen major parts that make up a device, and for each one of those there's countless options?

Apple is seamless because it is only designed as one device per category, more or less. So the equivalent of going from the XFi I mentioned to these things is kind of like the difference between trying to stitch together a tech stack - components, drivers, etc. - on a Linux box vs. just having the pretty, expensive, easy-to-use solution, if you're willing to give your techie soul to Cupertino.

And yeah, you can get a better overall experience from the more flexible, customizable solutions, but that requires knowledge, and testing, and experience, and most importantly time. And if you can't invest those, you may well get a craptacular overall experience. So the "walled garden" of iOS/iPadOS/etc. becomes inviting as it's just gonna work, and work with other products in its ecosystem, and work with them seamlessly.

 

[geardoc]

Wow, 6 pages of Headfi discussion and nobody has listened to these yet?

My takes:
Lightening for charging instead of USB-C?
Nice volume control knob. A real knob!
Stupid case - not really a case.
Not foldable? Stupid for traveling. Will force people to wear these in airports, getting people used to seeing them.
Looks weird, but that never stopped the original Airpod series, so who cares anymore? See line above.
Computational audio is new, built into the headphones - could be a game changer. Remember, AAC is a psychoacoustic codec, much more than others.
I'll wait to see if these beat Bose at noise reduction.

 

[MayaTlab]

How can you make any claim about the Apple acoustics team? Name one product that they have designed that competes with any of the top audio manufacturers discussed on this message board? You are projecting your wishful thinking onto a product that you haven't even heard yet based on a claim about a competency that a company hasnt even demonstrated. That's impressive.

Name one pair of on-ear headphones from a traditional audio company that measures as excellently as this :
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/graph#1626/4011
Otherwise where to begin ? Designing the first affordable speaker that can automatically EQ its own response on the fly to moderate the peaks and nulls of your room in the lower frequencies, designing laptops and phones with outstanding audio reproduction and among the best mics in the business (have you tried the MBP 16" 's microphones ?), designing a whole bunch of audio outputs with better measurements than nearly all others on the market in the same class (Yes that dongle : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/), the best audio over bluetooth implementation yet overall (https://www.soundguys.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-bluetooth-headphones-aac-20296/), designing a pair of in-ear wireless earbuds half the volume of competing earbuds with extremely innovative packaging (the flexible "board" that Apple uses in the APPs is state of the art) that still performs well as far as ANC is concerned and still manages to land their FR curve within acceptable values all the while having shallow insertion tips (this is very difficult to do) and on top of it have the lowest amount of distortion in their class (https://www.rtings.com/headphones/graph#1625/4029), Designing what is likely to become in the years to come the first truly successful consumer oriented surround sound simulation system, the list goes on....
That doesn't mean that all they do is excellent, far from it. Apple is a general mass market consumer company and their acoustics team works under tremendous design / ergonomics and price constraints (well less so for the AirPods Max it seems ). What they do within these constraints is pretty impressive.
EDIT : oh and BTW, how could I forget about the lowly earbuds ? Here's an acoustic engineer's take on them (Oratory1990's answer) :
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/7svjyg/apple_earpods_imaging_and_cue_positioning/

I've heard the Pros and the Sonys. I don't need to see a chart to tell you which one sounds better.

Only to you given both respective measurements. Mandatory reading for you : https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/04/harman-target-curves-part-1/
Both of these headphones' FR curves seem to land roughly within the range of acceptable dB values / frequency that research in individual preferences or HRTF variations tends to define.
Ie your opinion is valid. Someone else's opinion to the contrary is just as valid.

In no way does this all mean that these AirPods Max will be outstanding not even worth their price for a lot of people. I certainly can't know that. But the likelihood that Apple can mess up their FR curve in a way that's worse than the XM3 and XM4 that we already know is not going to happen.

 

[plakat]

Replacement pads seem to go for $69 / 79€...