What you need to know about AirPods Max, Apple’s new over-the-ear headphones

The AirPods family of products added an addition today in the form of Apple’s first over-the-ear headphones. Here’s what you need to know.

Years run together in my memories, but I seem to recall rumors of over-the-ear headphones from Apple as far back as late 2016. Today those rumors came to fruition when Apple announced the AirPods Max. Like the earbud-style AirPods and AirPods Pro these are powered by Apple’s H1 chip and connect to your Apple devices wirelessly via Bluetooth. They retail for $549, and will start shipping on December 15.

Price

No doubt that $549 number jumped out at you. These are not designed as the headphones for everyone the way Apple’s entry-level AirPods are. That’s a big number, but it’s not out of line for high end headphones. Just head to Amazon, search for headphones, and set the price target to $400 and up and you’ll see a whole bunch of high end headphones priced comparably to the AirPods Max. (And some are quite a bit more expensive.) I’m not an audiophile, and I can read all of Apple’s talking points on how these sound until my eyes glaze over, so I’ll be curious to watch and read reviews when these are in the hands of people who know what they’re really listening for. But I have no doubt that we’ll be seeing these on the heads of pro athletes and pop stars in the near future and have little doubt that Apple will sell a lot of these, though at that price they certainly won’t become ubiquitous the way the standard AirPods have.

And make no mistake, there are more “regular” customers than you might think who will snap these up. I remember years ago when I worked in Apple Retail a customer walked in and bought two pair of $500 Beats over-the-ear headphones. One for his son, and one for his son’s friend who was with them that day.

Design

These, of course, look great, though with a couple of oddities. The most distinctive thing about their design is the concave design of the headband. That looks somewhat odd to me the way the original AirPods looked odd when Apple first unveiled them. But it’s the kind of odd distinction that makes them readily identifiable as AirPods Max headphones, and may wind up growing on me. It’s also of interest to me that the AirPods Max includes a Digital Crown for adjusting volume. We’ve never seen Apple use the Digital Crown in any context outside of Apple Watch before and I must say my initial reaction to seeing it here is that it looks… cheap? As if, rather than create a new control surface specifically for these headphones, they instead dipped into the parts bin. Having said that though, a small round knob is of course perfect for adjusting volume, which is one of the main things I use my Apple Watch’s Digital Crown for already, so I get it. AirPods Max comes in Space Gray, Silver, Sky Blue, Pink, and Green.

Audio

This is where I’ll need people with more sensitive ears than mine to really weigh in on the quality of this product, but here’s the main features: adaptive EQ, active noise cancellation, transparency mode, and spatial audio. These are all features currently found on the AirPods Pro, so it’s no surprise that they’re here as well. Presumably what distinguishes these headphones is overall sound quality provided by the audio driver. Here’s what Apple says:

AirPods Max feature a 40-mm Apple-designed dynamic driver that provides rich, deep bass, accurate mid-ranges, and crisp, clean high-frequency extension so every note can be heard. A unique dual neodymium ring magnet motor allows AirPods Max to maintain total harmonic distortion of less than 1 percent across the entire audible range, even at maximum volume.

Charging and Storing

From Apple:

AirPods Max come with a soft, slim Smart Case that puts AirPods Max in an ultralow power state that helps to preserve battery charge when not in use.

So unlike the AirPods and AirPods Pro, the case doesn’t charge the AirPods Max. For charging you’ll need to connect the included Lightning to USB-C cable. But the Smart Case recognizes that you’ve inserted the headphones and adjusts their battery state while they’re in storage. Neat. Also unlike the AirPods and AirPods Pro case, the Smart Case doesn’t completely enclose the AirPods Studio, so I’ll bet many users will choose to purchase a larger case to throw these in even while they’re in the Smart Case. Still, the Smart Case looks pretty dope. Branding My first reaction here is that I don’t like the name. And it’s not the “AirPods” part that bother me, though I’ve already seen people complaining about how these aren’t “pods” in any meaningful sense. No, it’s the “Max” part that I’m not a fan of. That does make it consistent with Apple’s iPhone branding, but I feel like “AirPods Studio” would have been such a better name for these, and I’ve already had to stop myself once from typing that as the name. I’m sure “Max” will grow on me.

Bottom Line

We’ll have to wait for reviews from people who have actually listened to these to know how they compare to other headphones in a similar (or lower) price range. But Apple has delivered what appears to be a very premium, very Apple set of over-the-ear headphones for people in the market for high-end headphones. That’s more than I personally want to spend on headphones, but there are a lot of customers who won’t balk at paying these prices. For the rest of us, AirPods and AirPods Pro are Apple’s solution.