The best over-ear headphones: Expert tested and reviewed

Apple AirPods Max tech specs: Weight: 13.6 oz (384.4 g) | Battery life: 20 hours | Bluetooth: Sure (5.0) | Multipoint: No, however connects to a number of Apple gadgets 

Who these are for: The Apple AirPods Max are the perfect headphones for Apple fanatics. In case your pill, smartphone, TV, and each gadget in between are made by Apple, these are for you. Their seamless integration with Apple gadgets makes them simple to make use of, however their {hardware} and software program limitations would possibly frustrate non-Apple customers.

If you’re deeply dedicated to the Apple ecosystem and also you need to preserve it that approach, you will need the AirPods Max. The sound high quality is nice, and Apple’s Transparency Mode is well the perfect out of all of the headphones on this record. The AirPods Max noise-canceling is superior to Sony’s XM5 over-ears and follows carefully behind Bose’s QuietComfort Extremely.

Their fascinating design is broadly recognizable, and I see many individuals use these headphones as each a style assertion and a standing image. Nevertheless, by way of performance, the AirPods Max should not the perfect you will discover — except you could have principally Apple gadgets. 

To begin, AirPods Max haven’t any native EQ settings, and their nearly five-year-old Apple H1 chip leaves them with out the up-to-date software program settings discovered within the AirPods Professional (2nd technology), like Dialog Consciousness and Adaptive Sound Management.

You’ll be able to seamlessly pair the AirPods Max to greater than two gadgets, one thing Apple holds above different headphones with two-device multipoint connectivity. Nonetheless, seamless pairing will not work with AirPods Max except they’re connecting to different Apple gadgets. Do you have to join AirPods Max to an Android or Home windows machine, you will not get Spatial Audio, put on detection, or entry a digital assistant.

{Hardware}-wise, AirPods Max do not have a headphone jack or a USB-C port for wired listening. You will get the superior AAC codec when paired through Bluetooth to Apple gadgets and the usual SBC codec when paired with non-Apple gadgets. The shortage of audio ports additionally means you will must preserve them charged up, particularly in the event you’re prone to run down their brief 20-hour battery life.

Evaluate: Apple AirPods Max