[tkddans]

To be honest, though I'm somewhat a fanboy myself, even I find his commentary leaning to the shill territory. Regardless...here's his sound comparison with the Bose 700...

AirPods Max vs Bose 700 - Sorry Apple...

 

[coldkick]

Been lurking for a bit... got an AirPods Max ordered. For background I have the LCD-2 Fazors as a comparison. Apparently getting them in February but it was saying mid March before so it might keep getting pushed up.

In the meantime yet another YouTube video:

 

[Duncan]

I find the APM to be a very good bedfellow with my FiiO FH7 and HiFiMan Ananda BT - I’m not interested in tech specs or anything like that, I’m interested in what sounds good to my ears without the need of spending obscene amounts further upstream - the APM for me hit that nail on the head, and are preferable to me than the Ananda due to being closed back.

no one is right, no one is wrong, I’m the only one that can be happy (or not, looking at the Sony XM3 with its faulty ANC that lots of people reported but Sony never acknowledged or accepted) with my purchases.

 

[garethr]

I agree that Apple's marketing team manufactured a number they new would sell out and create demand. That's smart marketing 101. I just think 10,000 is way too low. Apple employees would buy up those before they even got to the market LOL. Assuming they're allowed to.

10000 is definitely way too low. They’d not be able to produce in those ridiculously low volumes (by Apple standards) within their expected margins. 100k would still be low by Apple standards but more believable.

As someone who has had the Sony XM4, Bose 700, Momentum 3, PX7, and the B&O H95, based on industrial design, construction and materials these are well worth their price alone. That’s before the sound. The construction of the APM make the Sony and Bose look and feel very cheap indeed, the Sony’s in particular, although that’s never been a Sony strength.

Out of all these the APM is my favourite (sound, build and convenience of H1) although it’s really tight between the H95. It’s fair to say though both of these come with poor cases but for entirely different reasons - they’re both opposite extremes.

 

[soonerkevin]

Final thoughts
At the end of the day, just buy what you like to hear. Sometimes a cheaper headphone sounds better to you for some media/music/genres/wtvr. Sometimes or most of the time for you it's only the expensive setup. For me, I'm delighted that for my ear I prefer the APM in a few genres and that they give me a lot of fun and practical use cases the 800 S couldn't. The 800 S does not have portability or rich deep frequency presence like the APM do. I've already enjoyed getting up from my desk to walk around my place in ways I couldn't ever do while wired. I can listen in privacy while other people do their own thing around, and I can do this when I leave home as well. The thought of having an enjoyable, even preferred audio experience for some genres/media while traveling...is fantastic.

I will be getting a Drop Panda and AKG K361 in the mail in the coming week or two and will compare those to the APM next. I will keep only one of the three after that comparison. If I can't return the APM, and I end up preferring the sound qualities of the Panda or AKG, then I'll let my wife take the APM off my hands. I actually caught her trying them last night for several hours. First she watched a movie and then leaned back in the chair with her eyes closed, listening to her favorite music for an hour - I even needed to remind her of the time. She normally goes to bed early. This alone was something to me that a non-audiophile would be able to pick up these headphones, genuinely enjoy them without any presumption of critical knowledge, and stay up past their bedtime to keep going.

If you guys try to listen to any of the tracks I've tested, and have similar gear (800 S and APM), and feel differently, please feel free to reply with your own experience!

Brilliant write up. I own an HD 800 (older non S version) connected to Modi Multibit/Magni 2 Uber. My AirPods Max just arrived yesterday. I have to say that so far you and I have very similar feelings. Crazy to think my $1800 setup is bested by my $550 APM in certain situations but here we are.

 

[spinspin]

To be honest, though I'm somewhat a fanboy myself, even I find his commentary leaning to the shill territory. Regardless...here's his sound comparison with the Bose 700...

AirPods Max vs Bose 700 - Sorry Apple...

Not that I go looking for obvious schillers of a particular brand... but this guy is the most biased apple reviewer I've come across so far on YT His channel is basically all videos about apple and every review on every product is always positive, and every comparison apple always wins.

 

[torifile]

Apple invented this strategy. No one does it better. In fact we are probably a few weeks away for the intial reports about how the iphone 13 will be limited in supply at launch...

What are you talking about? Apple hasn’t needed to artificially limit supply for any of their products in recent history. You have no evidence for any of your assertions except for your gut. All you need to do is look at launch quarters for apple products. They sell as many as they can make. This isn’t just a marketing thing. This is from Apple executives speaking, at legal risk if they mislead, during investor calls.

 

[torifile]

28 percent market share worldwide.

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide

To further this point, Apple has deliberately refused to offer high res files or adopt alternative codecs. So yes to me it's a walled garden. For 550 perhaps apple could have offered up Aptx or LDAC or something else since AAC is not implemented well on Android. This is all part of Apple's walled garden strategy.

Worldwide market share is a silly metric. What’s their profit share in mobile? Since you are a fan of supposition, I don’t suspect you’ll actually do the research so I’ll tell you - it’s 66%. That’s the important number. People that spend money are iOS users. Period. End of story. That’s all that matters.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

To me, Airpods Pro + Sennheiser HD650/HD6XX >> Airpods Max.

 

[Thrifty Spender]

Been lurking for a bit... got an AirPods Max ordered. For background I have the LCD-2 Fazors as a comparison. Apparently getting them in February but it was saying mid March before so it might keep getting pushed up.

In the meantime yet another YouTube video:

Dude, why didn't you check your other local electronics or office stores. They should have stock now.

 

[clerkpalmer]

[

What are you talking about? Apple hasn’t needed to artificially limit supply for any of their products in recent history. You have no evidence for any of your assertions except for your gut. All you need to do is look at launch quarters for apple products. They sell as many as they can make. This isn’t just a marketing thing. This is from Apple executives speaking, at legal risk if they mislead, during investor calls.

It was said tongue and cheek. I didn't say they artificially limited supply of the APM, I said the evidence points to the fact that there wasn't much supply at launch. And since you are listening to investor calls, hopefully you own some stock and have a vested interest in the success of the APM.

To be clear, you don't have to "artificially" lower supply to exploit the hype around limited supply. There are lots of creative ways to create hype based on scarcity of supply.

Unless you have proof that there are millions of APM sold to date, I'm gonna believe what I believe and that is that supply was EXTREMELY constrained at launch and the reason for the 12 week backorders (which are beyond absurd for a company with Apples resources). Of course, as you must know, we will never know the truth because Apple won't disclose sales figures to it's shareholders.

 

[clerkpalmer]

Worldwide market share is a silly metric. What’s their profit share in mobile? Since you are a fan of supposition, I don’t suspect you’ll actually do the research so I’ll tell you - it’s 66%. That’s the important number. People that spend money are iOS users. Period. End of story. That’s all that matters.

My point was that the APM is closed off to the majority of smartphone users because it is part of Apple's walled garden. I fail to see what profit share has to do with that. I would have liked to see them ditch the lightning port and offer Aptx, AptxHD or LDAC. That would have at least opened up the APM to Android users and would have been a nice way to broaden the appeal of the APM. Someone over in macrumors claimed that LDAC is embedded in iphones and could be activated via software. I have no idea whether it's true. Since it has been established that AAC over Android suffers in terms of SQ, if Apple had just offered a different slate of Codecs, the product wouldn't feel so closed off.

 

[soonerkevin]

To me, Airpods Pro + Sennheiser HD650/HD6XX >> Airpods Max.

I need to test with my HD650. My initial thought is that the APM will edge it in soundstage and clarity.

 

[lowrider007]

Man the hyperbole in this thread is off the wall, APM's comparable to well amped HD800's lol, your ears don't deserve those headphones seriously, you've wasted your money on high-end cans when Koss Porta Pro's would've probably been plenty for you. I'm done with this thread seriously, it is a perfect example that owning a high-end headphone rig gives you absolutely no credibility when it comes having any skills at evaluating audio.

 

[coldkick]

Dude, why didn't you check your other local electronics or office stores. They should have stock now.

Full lockdown. Only have grocery open