Apple followers are brimming with excitement. The tech brand recently introduced its first over-ear wireless headphones, AirPods Max, following the meteoric rise of its Airpods earbuds, and immediately after the launch of its new iPhone 12 Series.
We got our hands on these new noise-cancelling headphones and tested them immediately. Here’s a rundown of our experience.
Unboxing
Just like every other Apple product, AirPods Max boasts a sleek, elegant, minimalist design, and comes in subtle colors: Space Gray, Silver, Green, Sky Blue, and Pink. Each unit comes with a slim Smart Case in the same color and can be charged using a USB-C to Lightning cable. The cable itself, however, is not included in the box due to, as Apple says, “environmental” reasons.
The headband is made of stainless steel—steady and strong—and a knit mesh canopy, while the ear cushions are outfitted with acoustically engineered soundproof memory foam. Apple claims that the stretchy mesh on the headband helps distribute weight and reduce pressure, and assure a more comfortable fit. But, as we found out, the bulky AirPods Max don’t sit too comfortably on the head when worn for a long time.
Function
We liked the ear cushions, however. Each one can pivot 95 degrees, allowing for a better and more flexible fit around the ear. And after connecting the headphones to your Apple devices the first time, the AirPods Max will automatically and promptly connect to the same devices with every successive use.
AirPods Max can be used continuously for up to 20 hours on a single charge—a plus for those who don’t like to carry powerbanks—and will automatically switch to energy-saving low power mode when not in use. Charging the AirPods Max is easy. Just plug in the cable to the single lightning port on the left side of the headphones. (But you’d have to buy the cable first.)
The headphones also have a Digital Crown feature, a button that enables you to control volume, play or pause audio, skip tracks, answer and end calls, and activate Siri. Right beside it is the power button, which can also be used to activate Noise Control—Noise Cancellation for immersive sound and Transparency mode for external sound.
Soundcheck
The Noise Control is actually our favorite function. It makes the AirPods Max more user-friendly than other headphones. You don’t have to turn down the volume or take off the headphones to hear the world around you—just press the button to switch from Active Noise Cancellation to Transparency mode, which receives sound from three microphones on each side of the headphones.
The sound that comes through the AirPods Max is crisp, clean and clear. You can hear every note from deep bass to high frequencies. A Spatial Audio feature assures a theater-like sound experience, so we highly recommend these headphones for entertainment use, such as listening to music or watching movies.
Airpods Max also features a positional audio system that detects the movement of the user's head as well as that of the device it’s connected to, assuring excellent sound performance in any position.
In Brief
- Premium design
- High-quality material
- Get up to 20 hours of listening time
- Best for entertainment purposes
- Kinda heavy
- Not as portable as, say, the AirPods
AirPods Max is available now at Apple Store for B19,990 with an engraving service for free.