Many believed that they would be announced in 2022, and oft-reliable Apple tracker Mark Gurman poked the fire by claiming that we should “look out for an AirPods Max refresh with new colors” this year. Nothing is concrete, but there are already murmurings of the AirPods Max 2. Inevitably, the AirPods Max will get a second-generation update. One of the biggest dilemmas that continues to plague the tech world is “should I wait for the upgrade?” It wasn’t too long ago that I was asking this question when impatiently waiting for Apple to finally release the AirPods Pro 2, but I caved and got the AirPods Pro anyway - and it was a good decision. But with Black Friday 2022 already kicking off with a bundle of brilliant Black Friday headphone deals, I’m convinced now is the best time to nab the AirPods Max. You don’t need me to tell you if they’re worth it - that’s what our AirPods Max review is for. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows (looking at you, Smart Case), but these are a stellar pair of over-ear headphones. After months of re-listening to my go-to playlists, testing them out in different scenarios, and watching all manner of shows with the volume cranked up, I can say these premium cans have satisfied my internal hype. Luckily, I received a review sample of Apple’s AirPods Max earlier this year (and thankfully, they came in the luscious Space Gray color option I had been eyeing up). But the AirPods Max were quietly whispering “I’m worth it” at the back of my mind, and I had little doubt everything from Apple’s Personalized Spatial Audio to its stellar active noise canceling (ANC) would impress. Do you know what you can buy with that kind of money and still have a little left over? A PS5 for $499/£479. Oh, and that beautifully crafted stainless steel design that screams comfort? *chefs kiss*īut then, like many of us, I looked at the $549/£549 price tag. Ever since Apple revealed its premium wireless headphones in a surprisingly discrete press announcement back in 2020, I was enamored by their seamless integration with iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks, and I could only imagine what their 40mm custom dynamic drivers could do to my favorite tunes. I'm using it more than I thought I would and the sound is slightly but noticeably better when going the wired route (and you can listen to lossless FLAC files on your computer if you have a stash of uncompressed digital music files).The AirPods Max always piqued my interest. The only way to go wired is to buy Apple's Lighting-to-3.5mm audio cable, which costs $35. You'll get no sound with that setup either. Furthermore, you can't use the little Lightning headphone adapter that used to come with iPhones to connect a 3.5mm auxiliary cable and plug into an audio device's headphone port. You can't plug that cable into the USB-C port on your computer and get any sound. The USB-C-to-Lightning cable that comes with the headphones is just for charging the AirPods Max and your other Apple mobile devices that have a Lightning port (you still need a power adapter but could also use a standard USB-A Lightning cable to charge the headphones). That's kind of absurd considering what the AirPods Max cost, even if Apple is concerned about its unused - or lightly used - accessories ending up in landfills. I do not recommend that Android owners buy the AirPods Max at this time, particularly given the high price.Īlas, Apple didn't include a cable for wired listening, which would come in handy if you wanted to plug into an in-flight entertainment system on a plane (most still required a wired connection). Although Android devices support AAC streaming, there have been reports that they don't handle it as well as iOS devices. That's just fine for owners of Apple's devices, which these headphones are optimized for. It's possible that support for additional codecs - and additional features - could be added in the future with a firmware upgrade, but for now there's just AAC. The AirPods Max currently stream only AAC and not aptX, aptX HD or Sony's LDAC codecs, which are compatible mostly with Android devices. You then find it in the Bluetooth settings menu on your other device. To connect, you simply hold down the noise control button (the button that allows you to toggle between noise canceling and transparency modes) to make the headphones discoverable as a Bluetooth device. However, you lose some extra features, like hands-free Siri (for voice commands) and Apple's new spatial-audio surround-sound feature, which is pretty cool and only works with iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. Yes, the AirPods Max are Bluetooth headphones and should connect to any Bluetooth-enabled audio device.
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