[vlenbo]

No I have not heard them yet, as soon as I can source a pair they will be on my head, I don't care what name is slapped on them, if people are saying they compare to high-end rigs then I need to listen to them, and I can promise you, if these really are that good I will hold my hand up, like I said, I'm out for now until I can grab a pair.

I suggest you and the others who are really unsatisfied with the stupid comparisons over high end rigs to either ignore or leave the thread. I've been reading this thread for a while and understand that regardless how good or bad a headphone performs they don't care, regardless of price. For sure the APM isn't worth 550 at all, considering the focus on sound quality alone. With features there will be people who will buy this. Is it comparable to other closed headphones? Maybe, but there are quite a lot of closed ones that a lot of people don't own except over recommended ones (ath-m50x, beyer, etc). While those can be comparable to the Apple headphones the real competition is anc wireless sets. I understand getting annoyed at the profuse praises the headphone receives especially considering its extremely limited usage (most things you want to enjoy are apple ecosystem only) does that mean its a bad headphone? No, it beats other wireless offerings that are well known. Does that mean it deserves the price point? Since I don't care for anc especially in covid times where people are going crazy about traveling in groups and require vaccines etc, this feature is useless especially if you're a person who can't have anc on. For those who still travel and don't care for the world and require tranquility it is as good or better than its main competitors.


To keep it short for those who abhor paragraphs, apple bad for price, and if so why bother mentioning it? People will disagree and want to prefer hearing it anyway. What gets me really annoyed is that people try to compare these to high end anyway despite that it really doesn't help except hype it up more for no good reason. If people hate closed or open headphone comparisons then I say its fair to not compare it to ones that are more costly either. However of course people like to use hd800s and lcd, etc. Imo any headphone beats the hd800s especially since the tonality of that phone is whack. I'd rather an hd600 anyway.

 

[tkddans]

I suggest you and the others who are really unsatisfied with the stupid comparisons over high end rigs to either ignore or leave the thread. I've been reading this thread for a while and understand that regardless how good or bad a headphone performs they don't care, regardless of price. For sure the APM isn't worth 550 at all, considering the focus on sound quality alone. With features there will be people who will buy this. Is it comparable to other closed headphones? Maybe, but there are quite a lot of closed ones that a lot of people don't own except over recommended ones (ath-m50x, beyer, etc). While those can be comparable to the Apple headphones the real competition is anc wireless sets. I understand getting annoyed at the profuse praises the headphone receives especially considering its extremely limited usage (most things you want to enjoy are apple ecosystem only) does that mean its a bad headphone? No, it beats other wireless offerings that are well known. Does that mean it deserves the price point? Since I don't care for anc especially in covid times where people are going crazy about traveling in groups and require vaccines etc, this feature is useless especially if you're a person who can't have anc on. For those who still travel and don't care for the world and require tranquility it is as good or better than its main competitors.


To keep it short for those who abhor paragraphs, apple bad for price, and if so why bother mentioning it? People will disagree and want to prefer hearing it anyway. What gets me really annoyed is that people try to compare these to high end anyway despite that it really doesn't help except hype it up more for no good reason. If people hate closed or open headphone comparisons then I say its fair to not compare it to ones that are more costly either. However of course people like to use hd800s and lcd, etc. Imo any headphone beats the hd800s especially since the tonality of that phone is whack. I'd rather an hd600 anyway.

Live long and prosper

 

[vlenbo]

You know what it is? These conversations conflate objective with subjective constantly. And at times, we misunderstand each other - whether we are saying something is "better" meaning they are objectively or subjectively so.

When I, or others, say we enjoy stuff more than the 800's in some situations, others may think...
A) that isn't possible, we're doing something wrong or
B) that we aren't just giving an opinion, but making cold hard statements about where the 800 is a worse performer; or
C) some mix of these things

I want to be very clear to people...the 800's are better performers in many respects.
I enjoy the APM more, sometimes.
I enjoy the 800's more, sometimes.

I feel sometimes people can be a bit more reactive and critical, for good reason in a way, since they are rightfully skeptical. Still, I think there's some misinterpretation going on in this online thread. Well...this is the internet after all. And people can generally misunderstand one another.

Apologies again to anyone who misplaces my attempts at qualifying my experiences.

Don't forget to consider that you guys are in a forum where people want reccomendations. This website is chock full of hype. Of course if one person goes overboard on how great something is, or how horrible you need to specify. It is not really your fault for saying it without any context. However, it will be your fault if you fail to properly convey what you meant. You did fix the issue already, so anyone can't really criticize you for it. The hd800s are a huge technical monster rig. People who compare them hyperbolically have to immediately state what about them is comparable to or worse than apm, which would be the tonality. This is marketed as a consumer headphone, im glad they nailed the tonality at least. I highly doubt that the technicalities are up there though, and thats probably what is the landmine for people imo

 

[Maukey]

You know what it is? These conversations conflate objective with subjective constantly. And at times, we misunderstand each other - whether we are saying something is "better" meaning they are objectively or subjectively so.

When I, or others, say we enjoy stuff more than the 800's in some situations, others may think...
A) that isn't possible, we're doing something wrong or
B) that we aren't just giving an opinion, but making cold hard statements about where the 800 is a worse performer; or
C) some mix of these things

I want to be very clear to people...the 800's are better performers in many respects.
I enjoy the APM more, sometimes.
I enjoy the 800's more, sometimes.

I feel sometimes people can be a bit more reactive and critical, for good reason in a way, since they are rightfully skeptical. Still, I think there's some misinterpretation going on in this online thread. Well...this is the internet after all. And people can generally misunderstand one another.

Apologies again to anyone who misplaces my attempts at qualifying my experiences.

You owe no one an apology. Your experience is your experience. It's your truth. It doesn't matter what I or anyone else in this thread says. I find it rather childish that people are getting offended by it.

 

[MICHAELSD]

If they sound better to my ears than the B&O H95, Dali iO-6, Beyerdynamic Amiron Wireless, and in some instances, the HD800S, then they sound like $550 to me . Seriously though, as another poster said, what do $550 headphones "sound" like? Hell, many $500+ headphones don't sound like $500+ headphones without adding externals to assist in their sound.

I would expect 9to5Mac to be biased in favor of AirPods Max, although expensive headphones tend to get a lot of additional criticism which isn’t necessarily unjustified since they have a lot to live up to in terms of expectations.

Audeze’s EL-8 Titanium was panned by more than a few critics for not living up to its $799 price tag, and even got a 2-star review from What Hi-Fi. I’ll be curious to see how they review AirPods Max since to my surprise HomePod Mini got a five-star review.

 

[MICHAELSD]

You know what it is? These conversations conflate objective with subjective constantly. And at times, we misunderstand each other - whether we are saying something is "better" meaning they are objectively or subjectively so.

When I, or others, say we enjoy stuff more than the 800's in some situations, others may think...
A) that isn't possible, we're doing something wrong or
B) that we aren't just giving an opinion, but making cold hard statements about where the 800 is a worse performer; or
C) some mix of these things

I want to be very clear to people...the 800's are better performers in many respects.
I enjoy the APM more, sometimes.
I enjoy the 800's more, sometimes.

I feel sometimes people can be a bit more reactive and critical, for good reason in a way, since they are rightfully skeptical. Still, I think there's some misinterpretation going on in this online thread. Well...this is the internet after all. And people can generally misunderstand one another.

Apologies again to anyone who misplaces my attempts at qualifying my experiences.

After a certain point audio gear for the most part tends to sound different, not necessarily better or worse beyond subjective opinions.

 

[tkddans]

Don't forget to consider that you guys are in a forum where people want reccomendations. This website is chock full of hype. Of course if one person goes overboard on how great something is, or how horrible you need to specify. It is not really your fault for saying it without any context. However, it will be your fault if you fail to properly convey what you meant. You did fix the issue already, so anyone can't really criticize you for it. The hd800s are a huge technical monster rig. People who compare them hyperbolically have to immediately state what about them is comparable to or worse than apm, which would be the tonality. This is marketed as a consumer headphone, im glad they nailed the tonality at least. I highly doubt that the technicalities are up there though, and thats probably what is the landmine for people imo

Totally agreed. While I do try hard to be careful...it's tough. And hey, I probably DO say things at times that would, in hindsight and re-reading, unintentionally send readers into critique mode. From what I'm trying to say thus far, and what I THINK others are saying who share a positive response regarding the APM is that the APM can sound quite nice, with characteristics that simply don't exist in the same form on the 800's. Even if they lack performance where they are different, they posess a difference, with just enough quality, that people enjoy them more on some music.

And therein lies the existential audiophile's question of whether the audio is worth their money. For many, it is. Especially when you consider the wireless competition being so slim.

I think that's the jist of it.

EDIT:: That being said, I am going to compare the AKG K361 and Drop Panda before the end of the month!

 

[kdphan]

This is the first Apple headphone to be priced over $300. The first reaction from most ordinary consumer (not people on head-fi) will be shock. Why does anyone need a $550 pair of headphones? How does this $550 headphone sound better than other headphones that cost $100? How much better can it be? "How much better" can be up for discussion and interpretation. Everyone will have a different opinion on this. And we can all be civil debating...

 

[vlenbo]

Totally agreed. While I do try hard to be careful...it's tough. And hey, I probably DO say things at times I would, in hindsight and re-reading, would send readers into critique mode. From what I'm trying to say thus far, and what I THINK others are saying who share a positive response regarding the APM is that the APM can sound quite nice, with characteristics that simply don't exist in the same form on the 800's. Even if they lack performance where they are different, they posess a difference, with just enough quality, that people enjoy them more on some music.

And therein lies the existential audiophile's question of whether the audio is worth their money. For many, it is. Especially when you consider the wireless competition being so slim.

I think that's the jist of it.

And there you have it. Perfect response that even if the people go and get their pants rustled up. While I despise apple, I don't mind it if they did one thing right in an area. That also doesn't mean I'll go preach the "its not worth it" message as actual audio enthusiast reviewers already did their part in that. However they did it soberly which is something you also concluded from your post. Enjoy them.

 

[MICHAELSD]

This is the first Apple headphone to be priced over $300. The first reaction from most ordinary consumer (not people on head-fi) will be shock. Why does anyone need a $550 pair of headphones? How does this $550 headphone sound better than other headphones that cost $100? How much better can it be? "How much better" can be up for discussion and interpretation. Everyone will have a different opinion on this. And we can all be civil debating...

Keep in mind that AirPods at $159 were seen as incredibly expensive. There were multiple memes about how AirPods users were rich...

 

[kdphan]

Keep in mind that AirPods at $159 were seen as incredibly expensive. There were multiple memes about how AirPods users were rich...

I still hate the original airpods as much as I did the first day I heard about it.
These airpods would be useless to me w/o the iOS integration. Sound quality sucks bad too. I say this even though I have 3 pairs in my household (original airpods, gen2 and then APP). APP made a 180 on sound quality.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I still hate the original airpods as much as I did the first day I heard about it.
These airpods would be useless to me w/o the iOS integration. Sound quality sucks bad too. I say this even though I have 3 pairs in my household (original airpods, gen2 and then APP). APP made a 180 on sound quality.

The sound quality of AirPods grew on me over time. They sound noticeably worse compared to Powerbeats Pro and probably AirPods Pro, but by no means as bad as some audiophiles claimed they were.

That being said, these memes were about $159 AirPods:

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

For the objective comparison I’m waiting for Rtings’ review.

I‘d be willing to bet that AirPods Max will be objectively better in a few regards technically.

There is no serious reviewer on the planet that would do a comparison of the Airpods Max and the Sennheiser HD800S.

 

[MICHAELSD]

There is no serious reviewer on the planet that would do a comparison of the Airpods Max and the Sennheiser HD800S.

They do objective measurements so you can compare any headphone they’ve reviewed to any other headphones regardless of headphone type or price range.

 

[tkddans]

The sound quality of AirPods grew on me over time. They sound noticeably worse compared to Powerbeats Pro and probably AirPods Pro, but by no means as bad as some audiophiles claimed they were.

That being said, these memes were about $159 AirPods:

Lol!