The AirPods Pro offered the best portable personal audio experience Apple had to offer. But, those small true wireless in-ear earbuds will always lose out to over the ear headphones when it comes to sound quality. And so, I was excited when rumours of Apple making their own over the ear headphones appear. I didn’t expect the Max to be RM1,300 more expansive than the Pro.
The highlights of the AirPods Max are its over-ear design, high-fidelity sound, custom acoustic design, H1 chips, and advanced software. It also comes in five colours, including space grey, silver, sky blue, green, and pink.
Let’s begin at the top. The larger over-ear design gives Apple engineers freedom to pack in more technology and use bigger drivers (40-mm) which would naturally lead to high-fidelity sound and better acoustics.
Every Chinese manufacturer will copy its design, but they won’t be able to replicate that H1 ship, advanced software and all those enhanced features that it affords. On the other hand, Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, and Spatial Audio are already available on the AirPods Pro.
The AirPods Max is also said to retain the simple setup process AirPods are known for, seamless handover between Apple devices, and those little qualities of life features that make the AirPods stand out from its imitators such as the ability to pause whatever is playing by just lifting an ear cup.
However, because the AirPods Max is over the ear headphones, it has better noise isolation and all those features it shares with the other AirPods will now work and sound better.
When it comes to calling quality, the AirPods Max promises the ability to block out ambient noise and focus on the user’s voice using beam-forming microphones. I would love to test that out because that would be a welcomed improvement over the AirPods Pro.
So, it looks like almost all of the advantage that the AirPods Max has to justify its RM2,399 price tag all stems from its form factor. Sure, the price seems cartoonishly expensive, it costs more than an iPhone SE. However, keep in mind that there are other options. The AirPods start at RM699 and the AirPods Pro are available at RM1,099.
Now, the AirPods Max is the best that portable personal music solution that Apple has to offer. Knowing Apple, it is going to be well designed, it is going to sound excellent, and it will have its quirks. But remember, there is a reason why when Apple puts its best forward, it is highly desirable, and others will aspire to follow in its wake.
Azizul Rahman Ismail 