[HiFiHawaii808]

Agreed, still waiting for an experienced headphone reviewer (or anyone with extensive listening experience) to comment on technical performance, sound signature, etc.

You mean that Valley girl podcaster beaming out the APM doesn't count as an experienced reviewer? Who knew.

I'm not concerned that someone knows I am wearing Apple headphones. I just think the bare aluminum at that size looks odd. Maybe more like cheap hearing protection from Home Depot than a high-grade audio headphone. Or a white label Chinese product on Amazon sold under two dozen unintelligible brand names created with a random word generator.

Apple is concerned that people know. It’s their branding.

 

[BoardC3]

Bought a pair this AM and have put a few hours on them. They're very very detailed with great bass response and very fun, but kind of soulless when you get to certain types of music. Strengths are definitely with electronic/dance/pop but string instruments and voices lack soul. ANC is great, and they look way better in person than in the photos. One really strange issue is that they sound way better with my phone than over Bluetooth connected to my computer.

 

[noper]

You mean that Valley girl podcaster beaming out the APM doesn't count as an experienced reviewer? Who knew.

To be fair, the tech youtubers did a fine job describing as much as they could. They just don't have the experience of critically listening to many different systems across the entire personal audio ecosystem. I'd even settle for a Z Reviews at this point.

@BoardC3: Sounds like they're missing something in the midrange, good to know.

 

[MayaTlab]

I'm not concerned that someone knows I am wearing Apple headphones. I just think the bare aluminum at that size looks odd. Maybe more like cheap hearing protection from Home Depot than a high-grade audio headphone. Or a white label Chinese product on Amazon sold under two dozen unintelligible brand names created with a random word generator.

Originally most of Apple's patent suggested that the earcups would be tough sensitive, and that they'd feature inside long range capacitance sensors to make a rough image of the listener's ear, to allow for the HPs to be left/right agnostic and maintain the alignment of the touch controls relative to the ground regardless of the HP's orientation. A lot of the APM's design elements were probably decided in accordance to this vision :

- the front to back symmetrical earcups with non-angled drivers (for left / right agnosticism)
- the deep cavity inside the cups, to allow for the ear lobes to enter the cup regardless of orientation, and to allow placement of long range capacitance sensors on the surfaces around the ear,
- the empty and flat sides on the earcups
- the headband joining the cups at the top

All of these combined must have created an absolute nightmare not only for the acoustics engineers but also for the mechanical engineers. Headbands traditionally join the earcups roughly at half height to apply even pressure over one's skull. Earcups are usually asymmetrical front to back and often slightly rotated to better conform to our skull. The APM compensates these issue with their pads design and more importantly with the pivot mechanism which must be quite a feat of engineering.

None of that vision came to be, so in a certain way all of these mechanical engineering prowesses are wasted... at least until gen 2. Which is also why I sorta find the price understandable. It's a price point Apple targeted for that vision. So in a certain way I feel that Apple created with these a platform that will progressively evolve to realise that vision, a bit like the Apple Watch. I'd expect these to be turned into an "SE" version later down the road for cheaper, without much changes, and the gen 2 to arrive at the same price point with at least some of the aforementioned tech.

 

[angelom]

Agreed, still waiting for an experienced headphone reviewer (or anyone with extensive listening experience) to comment on technical performance, sound signature, etc.

Ok, thank you for not thinking my impressions are valuable.

And, even when measurements aren't available, I will saying that the mids are a little recessed and this is why everybody saying the soundstage is great, Yes, soundstage is very good because of a little v-shaped signature that is typical of headphones producing 'fake' soundstage. The APM are NOT a neutral/flat/reference headphone. Apple doing excellent job producing a consumer sound product that can be liking by 'audiophiles' too. BUT the APM, wireless or not, is not giving a reference sound. Is a very, very good consumer sound that isn't bloated like sony xm3 or xm4, but isn't very far from that, either.

 

[MayaTlab]

Anybody with a good measurement rig, please measure and post!

Rtings has already ordered one.

One really strange issue is that they sound way better with my phone than over Bluetooth connected to my computer.

What are the phone and computer in question ?

 

[noper]

@angelom: Sorry guy, must have missed your points. To be honest your posts were a little hard to understand for me, for some reason.

 

[pfurey89]

The instruments sound a little congested, but at the same time, the soundstage width is very wide and precise sounding. Likely something software is doing here. A little sibilant on some tracks. Very dynamic, mid-bass bump-y, but within the realms of audiophile bass somewhat to me. Not sure these will be replacing higher end headphones anytime soon, but again, for the price point they're more enjoyable to use than a Senn, etc, in this price range.

If anyone plays guitar as well, these with transparency mode plugged into a modeler is absolutely game changing insane. I have mine plugged into the HX Stomp, and with transparency mode on it sounds like I am playing guitar in the room. It's bizarre but incredibly fun.

 

[BoardC3]

What are the phone and computer in question ?

11 Pro Max + iMac Pro

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

To be fair, the tech youtubers did a fine job describing as much as they could. They just don't have the experience of critically listening to many different systems across the entire personal audio ecosystem. I'd even settle for a Z Reviews at this point.

@BoardC3: Sounds like they're missing something in the midrange, good to know.

Most of what I saw were unboxing reviews which I don't like in the first place even from experienced reviewers. They should have skipped that and listened critically from the first minute they got them.

 

[ubs28]

Grabbed a set at the local Apple store today. About three hours of assorted music and an hour of Greyhound movie. A little Dark Knight now. These are game changers for wireless and maybe even wired near or somewhat higher in price. ANC that really works. Good detail, nice bass, comfortable wearing, and superb easy to use controls. When received had 68% charge, two hours use dropped it to 60%, 15 or so minutes plugged in while being used brought it up to 90%. Received a 15 minute phone call and it was better than being in person with the ANC. Unbelievable clarity and zero interfering noise even with many activities in the room around me. These are game changers. Looking forward to my 3.5 to lightning arriving in two days.

It is quite funny what Apple did. They managed to make an ANC headphone version of the old B&W P7W. Not even B&W themselves managed to do it.

So Apple really has hands down the best ANC as it has minimal impact on the sound quality and it sounds like a non ANC headphone.

I think if Apple included an EQ, then you can really dail it in to get it more close to the B&W P7W.

 

[angelom]

@angelom: Sorry guy, must have missed your points. To be honest your posts were a little hard to understand for me, for some reason.

Try again and you will seeing that my posts aren't so difficult understanding if you only taking a few seconds more for digesting the content.

 

[HuoYuanJia]

My pair isn’t coming before Dec 23rd, but here is a video I want to share:

It’s more detailed than most videos I came across yet (including MKBHD).

So apparently the ANC is far superior to the competition, which is thanks to the abundance of microphones and overkill of 2x H1 chips. But every ear cup needs its own CPU because the ANC notices and reacts to every individual fit. He claims the APM can compensate for seal issues due to glasses, for example.

He doesn’t mention sound much, though. Overall, just a very positive verdict.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

It is quite funny what Apple did. They managed to make an ANC headphone version of the old B&W P7W. Not even B&W themselves managed to do it. Basically B&W had to discontinue their B&W P7W from their line-up because every ANC headphone they made sounded worse.

So Apple really has hands down the best ANC as it has minimal impact on the sound quality and it sounds like a non ANC headphone.

We will have to see just how far up the audiophile value chain Apple decided to go. It seems they are fine with dominating every segment that their current technology can reach. That's a huge market so a sensible business decision.

 

[MayaTlab]

11 Pro Max + iMac Pro

Interesting . The easy explanation would have been an iPhone vs. a Windows laptop but this introduces an interesting twist.
Now what I could think of perhaps :
- Apple's own chips feature their own DSP, perhaps it plays a part in the decoding of AAC files and reencoding in AAC over bluetooth after mixing the music file with the system's audio ?
- AAC has a number of extensions that could theoretically enhance the quality (look for AAC SLS), now I'd be surprised that this is what Apple does as they never mentioned it anyway. But it could make sense for them to implement it first on a controlled platform before transposing it to the Mac, as they frequently do.