[plakat]

Husband wants headphones that are comfortable while lying in bed (not sleeping with, just lying down). What’s the consensus on the APMs in this regard compared to other Bluetooth headphones? Do any come to mind as especially comfy?

Given the APMs weight I don’t know if laying down and getting up will work fine

 

[nealh]

Personally. I really love the sound but I am returning mine due to comfort issues. The weight is too heavy and my ears get too hot. I wanted to keep them but I just don’t see myself using them enough

 

[tinyman392]

Husband wants headphones that are comfortable while lying in bed (not sleeping with, just lying down). What’s the consensus on the APMs in this regard compared to other Bluetooth headphones? Do any come to mind as especially comfy?

Depends on fit. If the headphone housings can comfortably rest on the pillow, then it’ll be fine. If his head is in an upright position it will be fine too. You can adjust the headband to be in a leaning position, but it might start to slip. It all depends on how the headphone fits the head.

 

[plakat]

I have to admit that I'm enjoying the APM more and more... up to the point where I'm considering getting a second one in silver... but I think I'll wait for a second generation, whenever that may be. In the meantime I also enjoy the AirPods 3. gen, which is really surprising actually.... did not expect them to sound anywhere that good

 

[All Day Breakfast]

I have to admit that I'm enjoying the APM more and more... up to the point where I'm considering getting a second one in silver... but I think I'll wait for a second generation, whenever that may be. In the meantime I also enjoy the AirPods 3. gen, which is really surprising actually.... did not expect them to sound anywhere that good

If you’re considering a different colour there’s always Colorware (https://www.colorware.com/p-1198-apple-airpods-max.aspx?). More money but amazing choices.

 

[plakat]

If you’re considering a different colour there’s always Colorware (https://www.colorware.com/p-1198-apple-airpods-max.aspx?). More money but amazing choices.

It’s less about the color per se… I was thinking about leaving one at the office. But that’s a bit overkill I have to admit

 

[Andrew Sedgwick]

I have to admit that I'm enjoying the APM more and more... up to the point where I'm considering getting a second one in silver... but I think I'll wait for a second generation, whenever that may be. In the meantime I also enjoy the AirPods 3. gen, which is really surprising actually.... did not expect them to sound anywhere that good

Hi - To what extent do you use eq or the Headphone Accommodations with your APM

 

[All Day Breakfast]

Hi - To what extent do you use eq or the Headphone Accommodations with your APM

Just one data point. When I’m focused on just listening to music I use Crinnicle’s APM eq setting (with Roon + Qobuz or SoundSource with Apple Music on Mac). To me it really improves the sound of APM. But if I’m cooking, cleaning or otherwise multitasking I don’t bother.

 

[plakat]

Hi - To what extent do you use eq or the Headphone Accommodations with your APM

None at all. I'm not that interested in EQ for private use (I used to work in pro audio / live audio, there EQ is a necessity, but also of better quality than most smartphone/computer implementations). To me the APM sounds fine as is -- otherwise I'd rather switch headphones for a different profile than try to EQ.
The possibility to use a hearing correction profile with the APM is somewhat interesting, but I don't have such a profile either.

 

[Andrew Sedgwick]

None at all. I'm not that interested in EQ for private use (I used to work in pro audio / live audio, there EQ is a necessity, but also of better quality than most smartphone/computer implementations). To me the APM sounds fine as is -- otherwise I'd rather switch headphones for a different profile than try to EQ.
The possibility to use a hearing correction profile with the APM is somewhat interesting, but I don't have such a profile either.

I have experimented with the Headphone Accommodations on the iPhone. I am 64 and my hearing on upper frequencies is typical for someone my age (Ie not that good). I used the mimi app to test my hearing & been using those measurements in the audiogram setting.

Overall prefer the standard sound or the audio gram setting for extended listening. I have several apple products (phone, pad, tv) - and these are very convenient & sound good to me.

I find the balanced tone & vocal range settings can be a little fatiguing so would only use for short periods on low volumes (55 - 65 db). For more serious listening tend to use my sennheiser HD800s.

in my opinion these headphones are well worth a try if you have other apple products. I will be keeping mine.

 

[Heyyoudvd]

Well, this is interesting. The man in charge of audio at Apple just hinted that Apple may have a plan to move beyond Bluetooth.

This is from an interview with Gary Geaves, Apple’s VP of Acoustics and the man who used to run R&D at Bowers & Wilkins for many years (until Apple poached him).

Everything points to Apple taking sound quality very seriously with the AirPods 3, and all of its modern-day audio products for that matter, and the recent launches of Lossless, Hi-Res Lossless and (in a slightly different way) Spatial Audio point to a real push towards higher audio quality. But there’s a catch, as far as I can see it – a bottle-neck that’s been preventing real qualitative leaps in the sound of wireless headphones essentially since wireless headphones came into being. I’m talking about Bluetooth, of course, which almost all wireless headphones, including AirPods, rely upon and which doesn’t have the data rate for hi-res or even lossless audio. I ask Geaves whether the use of Bluetooth is holding back his hardware and stifling sound quality.

“Obviously the wireless technology is critical for the content delivery that you talk about”, he says, “but also things like the amount of latency you get when you move your head, and if that’s too long, between you moving your head and the sound changing or remaining static, it will make you feel quite ill, so we have to concentrate very hard on squeezing the most that we can out of the Bluetooth technology, and there’s a number of tricks we can play to maximise or get around some of the limits of Bluetooth. But it’s fair to say that we would like more bandwidth and… I’ll stop right there. We would like more bandwidth”, he smiles.

Reading between the lines, I reckon Apple has a plan for overcoming Bluetooth’s current limitations. That could be as simple as switching to Qualcomm’s recently announced aptX Lossless format, but I wonder if Apple might have its own alternative to Bluetooth up its sleeve.

 

[Author]

Just checking in folks. I’ve had the APM for a solid year now. Heavy, heavy use. Build quality remains amazing. Sounds as good as ever. I never run out of battery, but I do think they drain a bit more quickly (understandable). ANC may not be quite as good, but my pads have stiffened a bit and that is likely the reason. I may purchase new pads. These headphones are simply the best marriage of sound quality/Bluetooth/convenience/comfort I’ve ever owned (over ear cans).

 

[MayaTlab]

Nice to see someone from Apple's acoustics team being interviewed, too bad it's from What Hifi. Not a lot of in-depth insights.

Qualcomm's aptX lossless however is not the solution to both problems highlighted by Mr. Geaves (bandwidth and lag). I'm rather putting my money on Apple developing / expanding their UWB tech to encompass audio applications, if it can be applied to such an application (but there's already a range of wireless UWB mics from Audio Technica).

Just as interesting IMO : https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=11190878&IDKey=56618B86DDB7 &HomeUrl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%26Sect2=HITOFF%26d=PALL%26p=1%26u=%252Fnetahtml%252FPTO%252Fsrchnum.htm%26r=1%26f=G%26l=50%26s1=11190878.PN.%26OS=PN/11190878%26RS=PN/11190878

A later patent detailing quite a few design / engineering details, most (but not all I believe) already implemented in the APM.

Once again it repeats the IMO very dubious and not particularly factual justifications for the APM's headband to cup attachment being located at the top of the earcups already mentioned in earlier patents.

And it features some really weird segments such as :

Makes me wonder what the design team was smoking when the idea that users would switch the entire earcups to go from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Tkay Maidza was floated.

And you know the people who were worried about the earcups banging against each others ? Well Apple was fully aware of that problem :

No idea whether that has been implemented in the final product or not.

One of my favourite James May comment is "It's an ingenious solution to a problem that should have never existed in the first place."
The APM's entire design to me is the incarnation of that quote.
I am extremely impressed by what has been achieved by the engineers and the manufacturing teams given the design constraints they were under but I can only dream of the product Apple could have made had they been focused on a truly effective design that actually solves users' problems and not systematically conjure new ones out of thin air for the rest of Apple's employees to waste their time and resources over.

 

[SparkOnShore]

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ort-and-sound-emitting-charging-case.2329716/

Happy new year to everybody! I find it rather peculiar for Apple to offer their first in lossless streaming, on the new 2022 AirPods Pro and not to the 600 euro flagship APM! I really hope that APM has some chip already built inside which can be functioning with some software update, after they release the lossless streaming feature on the new APP. Otherwise it will be a strange choice, I believe.

 

[tinyman392]

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ort-and-sound-emitting-charging-case.2329716/

Happy new year to everybody! I find it rather peculiar for Apple to offer their first in lossless streaming, on the new 2022 AirPods Pro and not to the 600 euro flagship APM! I really hope that APM has some chip already built inside which can be functioning with some software update, after they release the lossless streaming feature on the new APP. Otherwise it will be a strange choice, I believe.

Is it official or is it just a rumor? About ⅔ of Apple rumors tend to not happen. I can see the sound emitting case being true. The lossless BT codec has a far lower chance of being true. Big if true though.

It’s also possible to add it to the APM as a firmware update.