Apple has clearly aimed for a more high-end audio profile on these. Where the Sony XM3's and XM4's are very dense, v-shaped in-your-face/head kind of audio which tends to bring the lower frequencies into focus that tends to overshadow the mid's and high's the Apple AirPods Max tries the achieve the complete opposite. They try to offer a very wide soundstage, they try to sound very spacious with great clarity.
I prefer the Bose NC 700 over the Sony XM3's back in the day because I don't really enjoy v-shaped audio profile. I tend to prefer stereo separation and clarity over dense and deeper/darker sounding ones. The Apple AirPods Max are leaps above and beyond the Bose NC 700 in this regards as well but for me, these aren't really comparable to the Sony's as they differ so much in their sound profile so if you are one that tends to prefer a more dense and in your head sound profile you won't really enjoy the AirPods Max and if you are one that enjoys and prefer a wide soundstage with great separation and clarity there really is no contest here.
I haven't really tested the ANC as of yet so I can't really comment on its performance.
I prefer the Bose NC 700 over the Sony XM3's back in the day because I don't really enjoy v-shaped audio profile. I tend to prefer stereo separation and clarity over dense and deeper/darker sounding ones. The Apple AirPods Max are leaps above and beyond the Bose NC 700 in this regards as well but for me, these aren't really comparable to the Sony's as they differ so much in their sound profile so if you are one that tends to prefer a more dense and in your head sound profile you won't really enjoy the AirPods Max and if you are one that enjoys and prefer a wide soundstage with great separation and clarity there really is no contest here.
I haven't really tested the ANC as of yet so I can't really comment on its performance.