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Jon Wolfe.

IT Professional. Photographer. Proven Geek.
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Airpods Max: First Impressions

September 24, 2024

They arrived on the 20th as expected, and I’ve put a number of hours into listening so far. I’m using Youtube Music as my source. Figured I’d give a quick point form impressions post!

  • Definitely heavy - Though they’re balanced well on the head. I’ve worn them for about 2+ hours straight without fatigue issues. The fit and finish across the whole product is great.

  • Clamping force feels average for me, maybe slightly above. It’ll take a bit of time to get used to over-ears again.

  • The color is definitely a cool-leaning black. Depending on the lighting they can come across black or deep navy. Not sure how I feel about that entirely.

  • Noise cancelling is great as expected.

  • Transparency mode is outstanding. Close to not wearing anything. Love using it for work calls.

  • The sound signature is enjoyable, if leaning a bit bass heavy. Would love to see an EQ option that carries between your devices, but overall they sit squarely in the luxury listening sound signature - AKA headphone sound good, not for critical listening.

  • The sound stage is great for closed cans. That probably comes from spatial audio as well.

  • Integrations into the Apple Ecosystem make these feel even more premium - auto-device switching, device based controls for noise cancelling modes/spatial audio, etc.

  • The case is fine. It’s not amazing.

  • The magnetic ear cups are a really cool feature that should be a standard.

  • The digital crown and buttons feel really nice to use.

  • They fit great in my new Aer Day Sling 3 Max along with my iPad, camera, and a bunch of other electronics carry stuff. That meets the requirements for the December India trip.

  • 20 hours of battery seems fine for these. They can charge off the phone too with a USB-C to USB-C cable.

  • Would be nice if these folded into the headband itself to reduce size further.

Overall I’m happy with the headphones, but I’m still not sure if I want to keep them or not. I’m going to evaluate the rest of the week and decide on a return. They’re very nice, but I don’t know if they’re very nice for the price point quite yet.

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