[ubs28]

So these headphones are already sold out. I tried to order a pair today and it is shipping next year. So i cancelled my order.

I guess I was wrong that Apple would price themselves out of the market with these headphones.

 

[jagwap]

LDAC isn’t the be-all and end-all of audio codecs. The Sony XM3s use LDAC but the audio tuning has such flabby bass I eventually sold my pair. Don’t know if the 4 sounds any better.

AAC is on iPhones is fine. Not like they can do anything else either. SBC is just...no.

Audeze Mobius has LDAC, and they sound very good. The LDAC does improve over AAC and SBC, but then on android AAC is not to be trusted. They do not have any form of abtx unfortunately.

 

[Jonathan268]

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.

Exactly same to me, my WF-1000XM3 just collecting dust, the case is too big for my pocket, stop using it after got my APP

 

[imparanoic]

I personally think apple is competing with bang and olufsen H95 and H9 target market than sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose 700, as the price is the giveway, i am skepical that these headphones will sound better than XM3 or XM4 but the reviews should mention this,time will tell, i don't think the target market who will buy these will care or be familar with ldac.

 

[MayaTlab]

I missed the on-ears bit. Then I will submit the Audeze Sine. RTings haven't measure them but Innerfidelity have:

Looks decent from Oratory1990's measurements as well : https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets
Now to be fair there's also this pair of Marshall that measures well : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/graph#1626/4011/611

That being said... neither one of these can be considered any better than the Beats. They all fall within reasonable dB values per frequency. Which can't really be said about nearly all of the "high-end" ANC BT over-ears headphones we've seen lately, most of which clearly put sound quality way down the list of priorities.
Which is why I find it comical to question Apple's acoustics team capabilities. If they want to hit a particular target, they can do it, even for cheap. And most frequently than not, contrary to a lot of traditional audio companies, the target they strive to hit is backed up by research and not audio gurus.
Given that these probably can't really fine tune their response in the high frequencies I'm expecting Apple to have made some arbitrary choices as far as tuning goes up there which may not be to everyone's preference or correspond well to everyone's HRTF / anatomy, but that arbitration probably is the result of a rational process and not "well what if I add a bit of felt right there ?".

 

[kyotousa]

I don't think Beats has anything to do with Apple's branded stuff. I do have a pair of AirPods Pro, and they're pretty damned good sounding true wireless buds.

I don't think they are pretty damn good and they might have bought Beats for their manufacturing process.

 

[RamGuy]

I personally think apple is competing with bang and olufsen H95 and H9 target market than sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose 700, as the price is the giveway, i am skepical that these headphones will sound better than XM3 or XM4 but the reviews should mention this,time will tell, i don't think the target market who will buy these will care or be familar with ldac.

I sure hope Apple is able to beat the B&O BeoPlay H9 and H9i. I have not tried their latest offering with the more expensive H95 but I've had the H7, H9 Gen1, H9i and H9 Gen2 and they sure look and feel premium and the H7 and H9 was really comfortable until they started featuring slimmer ear pads on the H9i.

But the audio quality wasn't really that impressive all things considered. And when you see frequency measurements from them you start to realise that the are not focused around sound quality. They don't really offer much in-terms of computational audio or anything else either. They just look and feel premium and that's basically what you are paying a premium for.


I've pre-ordered the AirPod Max. I'm not sure if I will be keeping them but I don't really mind the price tag to be honest IF the quality is matching. I don't expect them to compare to my Sennheiser HD 800 + Hegel HD12 DAC setup. But I've been through so many wireless headphones over the years. Apple AirPods, AirPods 2, AirPods Pro, Audeze Mobius, B&O BeoPlay H7, H8, H9, H9i, H9 Gen2, Bose QC35, QC35 II, NC 700, Beats Studio 2 Wireless, Beats Studio 3 Wireless, , Sony WH-1000XM2, WH-1000XM3 and most likely some I can't even remember at this point.

The one thing common with them all is that every single option has at list something that is mediocre about them. I'm currently using the Apple AirPods Pro and Bose NC 700. I find the AirPods Pro to simply strike a unique mix of ease of use and overall quality that all the others can't really achieve. My one problem with them is how they are in-ears and in a lot of scenarios, I simply prefer over-ear/around-ear headphones for obvious reasons.

Currently I find the Bose NC 700 to be the best as I don't really enjoy the sound quality of the Sony WH-1000 series. They are a bit boomy to me, they almost feel like what Beats feel like back before they got purchased by Apple. Their frequency response doesn't feel balanced or neutral at all if you ask me. The Bose NC 700 is far from perfect either, but I just find them much more preferable from a sonic standpoint and they are comfortable, have multi-point and good ANC.


Judging by the Apple AirPods Pro and Apple HomePod, Apple seems to be on top of their game when it comes to bringing their A-game into audio. Not claiming the AirPods Pro to sound great. But it's really impressive to me how they are able to achieve such a great overall product in such a small and convenient form factor and whatnot. And the Apple HomePod is just such a great sounding device. Being able to get such amazing audio from such a tiny device at that price point is beyond me. Not saying you can't get better-sounding speakers out there, but they did a really great job all things considered if you ask me.

This gives me great hope for the AirPods Max. Only time will tell, but I'm eager to put these to the test and hopefully, they will feel like the first-ever wireless headphones without any noticeable sacrifices and drawbacks. And if that is indeed the case I'm more than happy to pay 550 USD.

 

[snapandslide]

So these headphones are already sold out. I tried to order a pair today and it is shipping next year. So i cancelled my order.

I guess I was wrong that Apple would price themselves out of the market with these headphones.

it

I find the december announcement odd, no time for building up hype prior to Christmas so I have suspicions there is a supply. It also shows Apple's power and influence is still nuts - some folk just want the latest and greatest from Apple.

Audeze Mobius has LDAC, and they sound very good. The LDAC does improve over AAC and SBC, but then on android AAC is not to be trusted. They do not have any form of abtx unfortunately.

I've been comparing my Aonic 50s with LDAC on the M11 (in stable mode) and AAC on my iphone - there is a difference, but at the same time it's not night and day for general casual listening when I am working (for instance).

 

[Xero the Banana]

So these headphones are already sold out. I tried to order a pair today and it is shipping next year. So i cancelled my order.

I guess I was wrong that Apple would price themselves out of the market with these headphones.

That doesn’t really surprise me, regardless of who actually was sold by the features, I think the apple name alone would’ve had the initial launch sell well.

Personally I don’t have high expectations for this and would probably rather buy a drop panda or Audeze Penrose, integrating the mesh into the headband seems like an interesting design, although I’m not a fan of the full headphone’s appearance.

If it manages to have good sound quality that raises Bluetooth sound quality standards then I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[jagwap]

Looks decent from Oratory1990's measurements as well : https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets
Now to be fair there's also this pair of Marshall that measures well : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/graph#1626/4011/611

That being said... neither one of these can be considered any better than the Beats. They all fall within reasonable dB values per frequency. Which can't really be said about nearly all of the "high-end" ANC BT over-ears headphones we've seen lately, most of which clearly put sound quality way down the list of priorities.
Which is why I find it comical to question Apple's acoustics team capabilities. If they want to hit a particular target, they can do it, even for cheap. And most frequently than not, contrary to a lot of traditional audio companies, the target they strive to hit is backed up by research and not audio gurus.
Given that these probably can't really fine tune their response in the high frequencies I'm expecting Apple to have made some arbitrary choices as far as tuning goes up there which may not be to everyone's preference or correspond well to everyone's HRTF / anatomy, but that arbitration probably is the result of a rational process and not "well what if I add a bit of felt right there ?".

They can be considered better than beats, if they sound better. There is more to sound quality than frequency response. The Sines are planar, which have some advantages.

 

[Medikill]

Keep in mind that apple is a $2 trillion + company.

They can quite literally buy all the headphone manufacturers on earth and then some.

People were talking crap about the airpods pro - until they turned out to be damn good.

Same with the lightning to 3.5 dongle which at $9 puts most portable dac amp poops to shame.

I see this going 2 ways.

1. Stellar sound (main selling point) + funky "inovations" (the reason for price)

or

2. Average sound + Funky "inovations" (main selling point)

I wouldn't write them off just yet.

 

[MayaTlab]

They can be considered better than beats, if they sound better. There is more to sound quality than frequency response. The Sines are planar, which have some advantages.

With modern headphones that can reach low enough distortion figures so far there is no research that has been able to demonstrate where that “more” comes from.
The problem is that the same headphones worn by two different people will not result in the same FR curve at the eardrum, and that these two people having a different anatomy require a different FR curve at their eardrum (but differently different if you get the drift). And we have no way right now to design headphones that can ensure that the reach the proper target for a particular listener.
it isn’t because you EQ headphones to the exact same target in a test rig that they would measure the same at your eardrum.

 

[nutcasey]

I still don't get how they can offer something thats 550 and talk about amazing sound without it being able to offer lossless audio. I'm just talking about the normal Apple Lossless codec that many people can rip their CDs with. It really seems strange to have the best hardware and everything else when you're feeding it with lossy audio.

 

[WilcoRoger]

Even though I'm an Apple fanboy to a certain extent (Mac, iPhone, iPad) but there seem to be a very steep Apple-tax on this. I mean double the price of a PX7, io6, Aonic50? Triple the price of a Sennets HDxx?

For €600+ you can get seriously good headphones.

I agree that it will raise the ceiling on mid-range BT headphones, unfortunately.

PS - the "look at me" crowd will carry close to €3k on gadgets in order to snap selfies and pics of cups of coffes and to listen to mp3 quality streams. Fools and their money are easy to part.

 

[SilverEars]

I don't think they are pretty damn good and they might have bought Beats for their manufacturing process.

But, looking at Airpods Max I don't see anything they got from Beats.