[Author]

I've got these on release day and I've been enjoying them.

It's not all about audio quality but the whole package of noise cancellation, transparency mode, spatial audio and the convenience of being wireless.

The built in DSP is a hit or a miss with many listeners, I'm glad that it's working fine for me with or without glasses.

I also found the Airpods Max work better when connected to my iDevices when compared to Android through AAC. Moreover, these simply shine even more when watching movies or netflix even without spatial audio being engaged!

For me, they're excellent but the Apple logo has its tax. It would have been an amazing value for $400 USD.

I agree that with glasses, for me personally there is little or no difference in ANC quality. I certainly don’t detect anything different. Such a good and comfortable seal. I did notice a difference with the XM3. My glasses are narrow/slight in width (at the ears).

 

[Mediahound]

I guess there is another Apple Max thread (maybe mods can combine them?)

Anyways, my video review of these. I cover whether or not I think they’re worth it and also from an audiophile perspective:

 

[rbmusicman]

Can anyone compare noise leak from APM vs Drop Panda? When your listening on medium to higher volumes? I tried searching for the answer, sorry if it’s been covered.

 

[Author]

Can anyone compare noise leak from APM vs Drop Panda? When your listening on medium to higher volumes? I tried searching for the answer, sorry if it’s been covered.

I have never heard the panda, but I can say that listening at 50% volume on the AirPods max has left me with absolutely no exterior noise interference.

Higher frequencies may leak a little more than the XM3 Sony headphones, but generally speaking, the AirPods max are superior, because they block to a greater extent lower rumbling frequencies, in my experience, and these frequencies are more common and typically longer lasting.

 

[rbmusicman]

I have never heard the panda, but I can say that listening at 50% volume on the AirPods max has left me with absolutely no exterior noise interference.

Higher frequencies may leak a little more than the XM3 Sony headphones, but generally speaking, the AirPods max are superior, because they block to a greater extent lower rumbling frequencies, in my experience, and these frequencies are more common and typically longer lasting.

Thank you very much for replying. I did a bad job phrasing my question. Can people hear what your listening to very clearly. Will it sound loud to the person in the same room or sitting next to you? I don’t want to disturb my wife if I’m watching a movie or listening to music on medium to higher volume.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

Thank you very much for replying. I did a bad job phrasing my question. Can people hear what your listening to very clearly. Will it sound loud to the person in the same room or sitting next to you? I don’t want to disturb my wife if I’m watching a movie or listening to music on medium to higher volume.

I listen to the APM at night in bed. There is no significant sound leakage according to my wife. I listen at a medium-medium high volume.

 

[Author]

Thank you very much for replying. I did a bad job phrasing my question. Can people hear what your listening to very clearly. Will it sound loud to the person in the same room or sitting next to you? I don’t want to disturb my wife if I’m watching a movie or listening to music on medium to higher volume.

i just reread your post and actually, I think that’s on me! You did say noise leak after all. No one has complained to me yet at 50%, but I’ve read there is some leak at higher volumes.

 

[Verificateur]

....sounds very muddy with bass bleeding very badly into the mids. Vocals sound congested and then when the fake 3d sound kicks in there’s a floor hiss noise that bothers my ears after a while....

Hey pkcpga - could you please clarify what you mean?

My APM pair has no floor noise (or any Bluetooth noise) in the “off” mode (ie middle between ANC and Transparency). When in “ANC” mode, there is a slight audible “hiss”, which I believe is normal and as-intended. The ANC “hiss” is actually a lot quieter than both the H95 and Sony XM4 that I also have, for what’s it worth.

And regarding “fake 3D sound” - do you mean the spatial audio? I believe it is only active in AppleTV+/Disney when watching movies and doesn’t apply to music.

Thanks in advance for clarifying!

 

[tkddans]

Crinacle's Panda Review: "Drop + THX Panda Review: To Be Blunt"
Click link above for review^

Interesting how he hears "mush." On certain segments, I heard something similar during comparisons when against the APM.

From his technicalities section:
"My biggest issue with the Panda is that it is blunt. Hits are soft, lacking impact and virtually textureless. This has broad effects on the overall technical ability of the Panda of course, the most obvious being its utter lack of resolving ability.

Forget the microdetailing, they can barely resolve the surface level, with notes smearing and obscuring each other constantly. From a technical perspective, listening to music (specifically, familiar tracks) on the Panda is exhausting in that the brain is constantly filling in missing detail that they gloss over. Now I usually make it a point to have the headphone/earphone I am reviewing on my head while writing the post, but I just gave up with the Panda midway.

Its blunt attack also has an unfortunate double-whammy combo with the warm/downsloping tuning, resulting in a veiled, muddy, and muffled presentation all around."

 

[tkddans]

Can anyone compare noise leak from APM vs Drop Panda? When your listening on medium to higher volumes? I tried searching for the answer, sorry if it’s been covered.

The Panda leaks less when I heard people try them against the APM. But it's not a huge leak. They aren't open backs in either case. Even the APM's greater leak isn't very much to the people sharing your space unless you have them near 100% on some recordings that are already loud.

EDIT: If the person is next to you, and you're trying to sleep, it could be a bother. But during daytime listening, it's not a big sound by any means.

 

[pkcpga]

Hey pkcpga - could you please clarify what you mean?

My APM pair has no floor noise (or any Bluetooth noise) in the “off” mode (ie middle between ANC and Transparency). When in “ANC” mode, there is a slight audible “hiss”, which I believe is normal and as-intended. The ANC “hiss” is actually a lot quieter than both the H95 and Sony XM4 that I also have, for what’s it worth.

And regarding “fake 3D sound” - do you mean the spatial audio? I believe it is only active in AppleTV+/Disney when watching movies and doesn’t apply to music.

Thanks in advance for clarifying!

Yes, I heard no floor noise, I am trying to explain the extra sibilance that some iems use to try and create a wider sound stage. In many full band or multi instrument situations instead of separating the instruments and expanding the stage the APM simply brightens and adds an almost fake air sound almost breath or hiss like to try and make the headphone sound wider or more airy, more space. Not talking about the movie mode, this artificial sound becomes even more present when ANC is on. High mids become more recessed and the sparkle takes over smearing the sound with extra bright haze to make it sound further away instead of just separating something like a flute, clarinet, female vocal and/or piano.

 

[Karnicopia]

I just picked up a pair from the Apple store and I am really enjoying these. At first the bass was too emphasized for me it sounded good for some songs but I liked the improvement going to balanced and then I took the hearing test and imported the audiogram and that made a big difference everything seems nicely balanced and I'm really enjoying the sound of everything I put through it. I'm coming from ZMF Verite and GOTL with RME ADI DAC and these don't replace the desktop setup but they sound really nice for portable use.

I think it's exciting how it can compensate for your hearing but also you can put in different target curves and hope they add to this and enhance the tunability. Whatever the audiogram is doing seems to be working well though. The soundstage is surprisingly nice on these for a closed back it's really impressive to me. I guess I don't really compare them to the desktop setup as much as everything outside of that and I think they do everything well for what I need, when things get back to normal I do a lot of train commuting so ANC will be great for on the train but walking through the city I want to hear whats happening around me and the sound out of these is good enough that I'm really happy with it. I've had them on for probably a couple hours now and they seem really comfortable, again I'm used to ZMF so the weight of these don't really bother me and I really love what they did with that headband that was a really smart idea its comfortable and everything stays pretty nice as far as fit with the sliders. When you put the full package together I think these hit the sweet spot in a lot of ways or I guess most of the ways I care about for a portable.

Something I'm interested about is one reviewer said that if you turn on transparency mode and listen to speakers the headphones image like speakers and I know that's not a reasonable way to listen to them (you may as well just listen to the speakers) but it makes me wonder what Apple could do if they can use some of the computational audio to try and extract imaging and soundstage information from any audio signal to simulate the surround mode with any source. Maybe that goes against everything Audiophiles stand for but that would be pretty cool to see what they could do with it.

 

[atomikn00b]

Hi-fi Insider with a new video. He seems to approve the sound quality and price. Some interesting info on wired quality and source importance as well, based on his experience trying.

Honeymoon is over! Audiophile’s Thoughts on AirPods Max​

EDIT (summarized sound quality and verdict):
"The sound quality is very good. [...] Playing from a CD track [...] it gave me that hit, that dynamic range, that a high end headphone delivers. [...] These are worth owning [...] I think they are underpriced for what you get [including tech features as well]."

I've also updated my comparison posts' "Critical Consensus" section to include the above summary.

I'm still catching up on this thread but did you ever compare it with the AKG K371? I think there's a bigger difference between the K371 and K361 than just the frequency response. I ask because I thought you were initially going to compare with K371.

Thanks!

 

[tkddans]

I'm still catching up on this thread but did you ever compare it with the AKG K371? I think there's a bigger difference between the K371 and K361 than just the frequency response. I ask because I thought you were initially going to compare with K371.

Thanks!

When I did my comparison of K361 with Panda and APM, I hadn't yet owned the K371. I did get the K371 shortly after posting though, and had a brief chance to listen to them. I also had the chance to let a couple other people I know try them all as well.

Between the K361 and K371, I personally probably preferred the K361. My memory of specifically why, or citing for you the tracks or observations I had, I can't recall too well. Sorry!

My friend preferred the K371 by a small margin when he tried them yesterday. He said the following when comparing the two:
"I found particular parts of the K361 to be shrill in the treble [compared to the K371]. Overall tonal quality is pretty bad in both, but better in the K371. I think these suffer from tone problems. It's not a super pleasing listening experience. I think you could get a neutral headphone that sound better than this. In these, it seems like the balance is made by EQ. It doesn't seem to faithfully reproduce the sound, like pipe instruments.

In the AirPods Pro, you can hear the dampers [of a piano] come on and off. Details like that don't come off well on these.

Cellos plucking very quietly, if you focus in on that for example...not a lot of separation. Not a lot of presence. I'm a little annoyed that if I'm not getting the tone that I want, like from juicy mids, then at least give me more details and more separation.

It's a little harsh, but it's not bad. They're not beats [he tried Beats Solo 3 briefly before these comparisons].

Comparing between the K361 and K371, I like the tonal quality better of the 371's. If I had to choose one, it would be the 371's, but it's not a dire thing. It doesn't matter much."


Between the different comparisons and reviews I've shared here, I hope it helps you! If you're in doubt, you can always buy both and return whichever you like less.

 

[ricksastro]

Regardless, this has everything to do with the body of the user and little to do with the body of the headphone. There are heavy sweaters and not so heavy sweaters. You know which you are. Buy the headphone that matches your lifestyle.

For condensation to occur, the temperature of the surface has to be lower than the air temperature. With a metal body, I'd imagine these will cool off quickly if used outdoors in cold environment. In those cases, I could see condensation being a possibility more than a plastic body.

That said, I'm one of those sweaty people and, while I do find the APMs quite warm, I never noticed any condensation after hours of use.