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.