1. Still just as heavy. The AirPods Max sound quite good, but they are very heavy, to the point of being fairly uncomfortable after listening for any longer amount of time. This release as the exact same weight as the originals (13.6 oz).
2. Still no off button/position. They stay partially on unless you put them in the awkward and useless "case", which means they're constantly out of power when you want to use them. There's even an obvious fix: the ear cups swivel flat, they could just make this the "power off" position. Solved. But they didn't, so presumably these still have the same problem. There's also no mention of magnetic charging via stand, which would be another way to help alleviate this problem.
If these were even a few ounces lighter and powered off properly, I would buy them for sure. Given this announcement, I guess I will look for something else to replace the old AirPods Max.
If you set your AirPods Max down and leave them stationary for 5 minutes, they go into a low power mode to preserve battery charge. After 72 stationary hours out of the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into a lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My to preserve battery charge further
[Archive link, as the latest Support doc doesn't have this wording any longer]
[0]https://web.archive.org/web/20210315052229/https://support.a...
However, the Bose headphones just haven’t worked as smoothly for me from a software and integration standpoint. I tend to run into more glitches and small issues compared to the AirPods Max. I’m not sure whether that’s primarily a Bose issue or something related to Apple’s ecosystem, but my guess is that other high-end headphones probably face similar integration challenges when paired with an iPhone.
On the bright side, Max is very reliable.
The noise cancellation was intentionally downgraded at a certain point. Because one pair worked until it also got an update.
Second issue is both stopped working. No idea why and both shortly after AppleCare ran out.
They are very expensive and it’s just not worth the risk.
The killer feature for me is the deep ear cups. All the Sony headphones touch my Dumbo-sized ears and get crazy warm, the APMs don’t.
And then they just won't connect. Requiring searching how to reset them, then doing it, then they still might not connect.
It sucks because they noise cancelling is amazing and they sound fantastic... when they work.
I've worn these for multiple cross-country and transatlantic flights, and have not noticed them being too heavy for comfort, but that's definitely gonna be a personal thing.
>which means they're constantly out of power when you want to use them.
I have not found this to be a serious problem, assuming you put them in the case. Even out of the case, though, they keep a charge a while -- which I unfortunately know b/c I lost my case on a plane a while back.
I have the original model. I haven't seen a huge need to upgrade so far -- mine still work great, have excellent battery life, and so replacing them isn't on my radar. Honestly there's a real chance mine will hang on long enough be the last remaining Lightning-connector thing in our house.
The work-around I use is to plug them in to the charging cable for a couple of seconds. They wake up, the green light comes on and everything is fine.
It's a strange problem, but it's not the specific problem you think it is.
My noise cancelling started to go flaky until I stumbled upon that - after I've dried it off after every use and stopped using the "case" /store pads separately from headphone things improved a lot again.
It feels like a serious design issue, I'm really confused why so few people talk about it, but I guess it's because most are just casual users of the headphones with people only wearing it a few minutes a day... And the water only really build up when you're wearing it several hours without taking it off
But there aren't even new colors - the colors were released in a AirPods Max 1.1 release that changed to a USB-C port.
Even still, they are calling these "2". Which means the next update could be a few years out given this update was basically 6 years after the initial launch.
These Airpods appear to have ear-cups made entirely of aluminum, which is an odd choice. Plastic cups are typically more than strong enough and aluminum is actually a fair bit denser than magnesium. That's a lot of weight for no good reason. Aluminum is a great material for some things, but Apple seems to be using it for everything even when its not appropriate.
#1 reason I use the Sony XM4/XM6. Sometimes I wonder if they intentionally do this to appeal to a younger crowd cause as an older person with neck issues it’s just not a very good product.
The audio quality of the Sonys is just as good but the comfort is a much better. I think I like the mic on the AirPods Max better but the mic on the MacBook I use in meetings works as well for meetings.
expected way more from a refresh tbh
The pricing on these always seemed a bit crazy to me, like the value is way off compared to other Apple products
That is literally the sole moat of these companies: minimum orders from china and the fact we can't spend the ad money they can to move that volume quickly. Not tech or offering a good deal. Just being there already with money and doing the inevitable. Being the more productive drug dealer quicker to move the kilo to the captured audience and bankrolled to get the next several and scale.
e.g. Bowers & Wilkins PX8 ($699), Focal Bathys ($849), Sony WH-1000XM6 ($399), Kef Mu7 ($399), Bose QC Ultra ($449)
$549 is pretty reasonable if the headphone has the sound detail it's advertising. Given how AirPods Gen 3 sounds, I'm sure that thing sounds pretty amazing.
Premium products usually have higher margins.
I say this because I was able to compare them to my own $400 Sennheisers (which are somewhat awkward because they're wired, and really require a headphone amp to shine), and found the Max to be just as good.
There are also a number of online reviewers who've said the same thing, among them developer, Tumblr millionaire, and headphone addict Marco Arment. He famously described the Max as his favorite closed-back headphone.
As long as a pair exists on the demand curve, Apple can charge that price.
To give 3 examples:
1. The marginal value of these products is in the mind of the individual buyer. No individual is buying both the AirPods Max 2 AND the MacBook Neo for personal use. You can’t compare marginal value across two different individuals.
2. The MacBook Neo has a different set of substitutable goods vs the AirPods Max 2. This affects margin. AirPods Max 2 buyers are likely heavily bought into the Apple ecosystem already.
3. With the Neo, Apple are in some sense subsidising entry into the Apple Ecosystem and ‘getting them young’. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s zero or negative margin. With the AirPods Max 2 they are exploiting people who are already bought into the ecosystem. Margins will be high.
Every single one of their products is overpriced to appear premium.
Apple deciding that, on their 2nd refresh of these (after usb-c), they still aren't going to fix those fundamental issues is very frustrating for what feels like a very disproportionately expensive product (even by Apple standards).
I'm now a very happy QC Ultra 2 user. Can't recommend enough.
You should get checked out. No adult should have a dent put in their skull by headphones.
It isn't perfect, but it makes them wearable.
Pretty incredible oversight by a company that focuses so much on "design."
The bands sell pretty well on Amazon from what I can see so this isn't an isolated issue.
I only really wear them at home or when traveling though, so they’re not a fashion accessory for me.
Still wish they would have improved the headband, but if anyone else is struggling with discomfort, I’d recommend wrapping it in yarn XD
I could go 30 minutes before the discomfort made me have to take it off.
No such issue with the WH-1000XM6, I can wear it the entire day.
But more interestingly: what happens at a company like Apple that leads them to not cancel this product and come up with something totally new? Is it that the success of their other products pulls this along so well that they are numb to this product being a dog? AirPods Pro (the earbuds) are a great product, so perhaps the headphones org just doesn't have to face the music?
I'm in the suburbs of a middling Australian city, nothing special and not in particularly high socioeconomic areas
There is at least two people per bus wearing them (or at least very good comps), they're as common as Sony XM5 or XM6's and while they're not Airpods penetration, they're wildly popular for their pricepoint
Some people don't like anything in their ears. Some people have ear canals that don't work/aren't comfortable with "standard" tips. This is why headphones will always exist.
I sent them to support with a very good description of the problem, came back the same, “cannot reproduce”.
It seems support workers for both companies just connect them to an audio source and check if sound comes out relatively alright.
>(5) Ultra-low latency audio and Lossless Audio listening requires a wired USB‑C connection and compatible content from supported apps and services.
Soooooooo Apple, you gonna tell us which content, apps, and services are compatible?
On another note, it seems excessive that your marketing page for this product needs 22 footnotes, disclaimers, and legalese consisting of 1,252 words.
Why they don’t support it wirelessly on the AirPods Max 2, which should be a superior product to the AirPods Pro 2, is beyond me.
It's slowly made less sense to buy directly from Apple in recent years. Not a criticism just an observation. I assumed Apple was simply okay with that and decided it was net better for them. Seems reasonable. There was a period not that long ago where you could only buy directly. And there still are some products that are seemingly only on sale at specific retailers—Homepods have for whatever reason never (rarely?) been sold on Amazon, but are at Best Buy. Often you'll see like the latest Airpods for sale cheaper on Amazon/Costco/Target/etc. immediately even before launch day. The whole Apple experience is nice in its own way and sometimes I suppose you get small but nice little dopamine hits buying directly or going to the nice stores and having someone walk you through stuff (if you need/like it) so there's reasons some people go direct. Simply saying there's less reason than before and so I'm surprised and curious as to how this little section of the website came to be.
Do they want that margin back? Do they want to fight a little bit to keep you in more parts of the chain (but I guess not to the point of restricting sales/inventory to themselves)? Is this just like one PM (measured on one KPI) fighting for a little web real estate (presumably against the PMs involved in the retail partner channels)?
I maintain a fork of this app, which allows you to quickly set and lock your audio input device, so that they don't switch your audio input device to bluetooth as soon as you turn them on. Mostly because of the first gen of these headphones. They LOVED to keep the mic on at all times with no way to disable that behavior.
I assume it's the same with the second gen.
Mass market Apple products may be expensive but they are still great value. Look at the $499/$599 Macbook Neo for a recent example, but this generally covers iPhones and other Macs, as well as Airpods, Apple Watch etc.
Then there are the $550 Airpods Max, $3500 Vision Pro, $600 storage upgrades, $700 CPU wheels, $230 "iPhone Pocket", $20 polishing cloth...
In the latter category there is no effort to actually compete on price or value, because it is made for people who will blindly buy anything with an Apple logo on it.
I've tried Bose and Sony; in fact, I have two pairs of QC Ultras sitting in their boxes waiting to be sold. Neither sound as good, even after EQing them as close to the Harman curve as their software allows (with Apple products; I haven't tried them with AptX streaming) and both were slower at cancelling noise. The Bose headphones I tried got decent mics after an update, but they are still unreliable at times.
The Maxes are also heavy, but you don't feel it due to its being very nicely distributed across the head. I've seen scores of people run, walk, and work out in these. I even saw a child using them!
I can't stress how premium the Maxes feel. The cups, for example, don't deform even after hours and hours of wear (and sweat). Replacing them is trivial and they attach with magnets instead of adhesive and/or clips. The headphone band is also extremely strong; much stronger than it looks. They feel like $549. Meanwhile, Bose charges $499 for their QuietComfort Ultras with their slow noise cancelling processors (AirPods use Apple Silicon, which is unbeatable atm) and cheap, plastic body (though part of the headphone band has a chrome finish --- premium!)
All this said, Bose and Sony headphones are significantly easier to travel with, and they have power buttons. This was why I sold my AirPods Maxes the first go around (though I went back to them a year later for the reasons stated previously).
H2 chip enables smart audio switching when paired with Apple account + other Apple products. This is a feature that many people find valuable.
I see both of those lines as utilities for travel. Not sure why I can't shake that.
The Max's don't do anything particularly well. I work within the Apple ecosystem and the Airpod Max's plug seamlessly into it. So because of that they are my daily drivers.
As someone with an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and a Macbook, I never got into Apple's headphones. My Sony WH-something-4 that I bought refurbished 4 years ago are more than enough for me.
You want to be seen in public wearing this object
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-po...
That’s all you have to understand.
They just work.
I mean there are other pieces of kit that probably just work as well but with these you don't need to do market research.
It's surprising how non-trivial even _adequate_ sound is still in 2026 and that's what these are guaranteed to give in any situation IMHO.
If you have only one Apple device probably no selling point as such.
Irritating thing is how Apple hides bluetooth headphones pairing 2-3 clicks deeper than AirPods pairing – on iPhones and Apple TV.
Can't you just create a Shortcut on the iPhone to pair with whatever you want via bluetooth in a single tap? Or just edit the control center menu itself and add the Bluetooth button directly to the control center?
My (non apple) Bluetooth devices almost always need a manual connect step
As for ATV, yeah that thing is deep
The XM5s were super uncomfortable to me (to the point I was relieved when they got stolen) and I ended up going back to Bose even though I liked the sound quality on the Sonys better.
Does anyone have experience with obtaining a flatter frequency response from any AirPods, though? While maintaining the full power of noise cancellation.
My experience with Pros has always been that they exaggerate the bass. EQ settings available in Music are coarse, and I don’t know of any other way to control frequency response independently of the app that plays the sound.
I know they are not really best for critical audio work, but they are damn convenient.
Really quite annoying from the "damn convenient" aspect as well.
Based on my experience, almost all consumer-grade headphones (in ear and headphones) seem to suffer from this, I'm guessing people tend to prefer bass-heavy over "not enough bass". Not until you start looking at headphones meant for studio-use does it seem to get closer to expected when it comes to the bass.
iPhone users are kinda out of luck, but the autoeq database can show you how to set Music's equalizer to approximate a flat response
And there is certainly a way for you to set system wide eq, see what AutoEq recommends.
(The internet is so polluted that I cannot find any reliable recommendation today so I'm doing a mini "ask HN" here.)
- Top tier general: sennheiser Hbd 630
- good enough: sennheiser momentum 4 (affordable)
- good ANC and “bassy”: Sony xm5/xm6 (‘muddy’ for some)
- I like the Bose ANC profile: Bose QC2
All of them have bad microphones (worse than wired ear pods)
All of them have good to great ANC
All of them are wireless
If you need a good mic then get dedicated headset for calls. Otherwise settle for “ok”
I didn’t include bathys/marklevin cause the new senn 630 outplay them on all fronts.
For my kids I got Anker Soundcores, and for the price they are astonishingly good.
Ignore the thing about open-backs though, I have some extremely high end Grado open-backs and barely use them. My primary hobby outside of work is making music and I have a dedicated studio at home with expensive sound damping / proofing - the only reason to ever wear the Grados is if I'm going to be wearing them for hours on end. Even then, the Sonys are comfortable enough that I've never reached a fatigue point in them.
They do have some annoyances like not always sleeping correctly when left connected to my laptop, but overall they are easy to recommend
For all day online calls, Jabra evolve2 65 are hard to beat for the price.
Conference calls? Get soundcores.
Actual music? Buy proper open backs and a DAC.
I've been enjoying the nothing headphones, I enjoy having an off button and ability to connect via wire to the device.
Edit: also has a proper cushion on the headband.
* occasional deafening screatch when there's too much moisture. I'm surprised they didn't need to recall them over that
* occasional reboots when you move it a bit on your head.
Unfortunately in apple-manner they don't mention if such issues were resolved with this v2
Repair bill at Apple was 90% of the cost of a new pair.
Truly the worst built product I’ve bought from Apple.
Never again.
It just sits there, with no one touching it. Suddenly, music randomly starts and stops playing. Take it into the Apple Store, they acknowledge it’s a known hardware defect to start registering non-existent touches, and they refuse to fix it. Offer to replace it with a refurb unit for like ~$20 less than a brand new unit.
Edit to add: the unit is less than 2 years old.
It represents the company effectively forgetting about it as as a product line, but leveraging the latest chips to keep them selling, even in small quantities.
If they truly invested any amount into updating these things, they would reflect the many lessons learned from the 1.0 product. To have a 2.0's form be 1:1 with the 1.0 is lazy at best.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Multipla#/media/File:Fiat...
The built-in Apple audio DSP, amps, etc have surprisingly good fidelity. Much higher quality than you would expect from consumer hardware. They even provide high-impedance headphone jacks on their recent computers.
It is unwise to dismiss their prowess
So, if Apple keeps on building new features while not fixing major problems, I'm not considering buying these unreliable, expensive products at all ...
Can anyone with experience with either the AirPods Max 1s or XM-6s tell me what they feel like to sleep with on an airplane (business class with a lie flat bed?) Plane travel is my primary use-case for these type of headphones.
The Bluetooth chip & version in these won’t be the same one you have today, so there’s no guarantee that present experience will inform future experience (better or worse).
Considering the modest update and the fact that they lose many of the quality of life features if outside of the Apple ecosystem, which I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with, I will be looking elsewhere.
Passive noise cancellation beats active hands down. (no weird air pressure, reliable, no need for batteries, less expensive) Analog and wired beats bluetooth if you care for sound quality, portable DACs are very good in 2026. Professionals are using BeyerDynamics and Sony headphones made for studios and almost unchanged since the 90s for good reasons.
The only good reason to opt for wireless is for practical reasons when you are running, and you want smaller models.
Also, this design is kind of ugly and dated.
Until they make the ear cups tilt horizontally, these will be a no-go for me. My ancient 10+ year old Bose QCs 35s can pivot and are a million times more comfortable.
Apple has not done enough to fix glitchy software problems, which continue to occur even on the latest AirPods Pro devices. I won’t touch the Max headphones until I start hearing that the software has been fixed.
Since the AirPods Pro 2 that were released last year got wireless lossless, this surprises me: I would have expected lossless without cable in the AirPods Max 2, to the point that I was waiting to buy them.
That’s a shame, as that would be a real differentiator compared to all other headphone manufacturers, wireless lossless audio.
I really wish the audio technica headband style was more common, even they use it less now. The two winglets as the head contact are just so much more comfortable than literally any other configuration.
Has anyone done a teardown and figured out where all the gravity in these things comes from?
I couldn't use neither AirPods Max nor AirPods Pro (1st generation) because they were making my tinnitus noticeably worse.
I have no such issues whatsoever with my Sony WH-1000XM4 and a few other ANC headphones I've used.
I can buy a laptop for that money.
It’s strange to me that they haven’t introduced a more budget friendly line to serve different segments, like most of their product categories. Headphones aren’t an experimental hobby product.
Where are my $200 budget pair?
Sony WH-1000XM and Bose QuietComfort can do 24h on bluetooth + ANC if not more.
Putting a 2022 chip into the most overpriced headphones and that's the only update is... wild in 2026
I had the Sony's but returned them after 3 days. I had this issue: https://corychu.medium.com/sony-wh-1000xm6-sound-terrible-wi... I went back to Apple.
Does that mean 50% better, or 150% better? Sure does look like weasel words.
Now I wonder if AirPods Max 2 is even better than AirPods Pro 3 but we are soon reaching the point of diminishing returns. So to all kindred souls who hate noise, Pro 3 is probably good enough for your use cases!
My biggest issue with the Max I have now (and why they just don't get a ton of use) is keeping them charged. I would love for a dock or something. I know there are third party solutions but they require putting a little plug into the plug in the headphones, and it is not hard to find issues that people have had with those so I have not done it.
An official solution from Apple would be amazing, something as simple as what the Astro A50 does.
sony xm6 -- 30h
bose qc ultra -- 24h
would recommend the sony anc headphones, they're quite good.
As for wired listening? My XM4s sound okay wired in, and at home I’ve got critical-listening kit already. Adding a USB-C cable to the Max is not appealing given that 3.5mm already exists, USB-C cables are heavier than analog audio wires, and more corps block USB ports in general or mess with them in ways that corrupts the audio stack.
Give me wireless CD-quality audio and I’ll be a happy dinosaur. Until then, I have zero reason to upgrade what I currently have.
Did they fix this known flaw that has ruined hundreds of people’s very expensive headphones? Nope.
Should have gotten AppleCare, but I didn’t know walking with them in the cold for 15 minutes would destroy them so easily.
That surprised me... I buy every in-ear AirPods Pro without much deliberation, even the Pro 3 which measurably regressed on sound. The heart rate sensor and ANC bump were enough.
I say that to clarify: I wanted to want these.
But it's death by a thousand cuts. The weight alone I'd live with. The case I'd accept. No IP rating on something I'd like to wear outside.. fuck.. fine, annoying, moving on. But all of it together, at that price, with that much time to fix any of it? Hard pass.
I've gone for the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 instead. More expensive, noticeably worse ANC. But you can hear where the money went. The drivers, the feel, the fact that four hours in you've stopped thinking about them. It sounds like it was made by people who find audio interesting.
Apple used to feel like that.
Embarrassingly, it also has no IP rating: somewhat hilarious from a company in West Sussex, where "unexpected sunshine" makes the local news. And the ANC versus Sony is less a gap than a... uh "chasm".
The question I'd put to anyone in this thread still weighing it up: are you buying the best headphone, or the most convenient one? For in-ears those are the same answer. For over-ears, I'm not sure they are.
I’m someone who bought three generations of AirPods Pro, as well as an AirPods Max. All four devices have been absolute headaches.
The first AirPods Pro had the rattle‑gate issue. I was able to get it replaced under warranty, but it was a pain to deal with until the recall program came out.
Ok I chalked it up to a first gen product and I generally liked it when it worked so I decided to upgrade to the second generation because it offered more features and I hoped that it improved reliability.
I upgraded, and I immediately got the rattle‑gate problem again, this time right past the warranty period. There was no recall program for second gens, and when I went to the store they told me the headphones were damaged and I was out of luck.
I try to maintain these devices extremely carefully, but I guess my use of isopropyl alcohol to disinfect and clean them damaged the ANC microphone. I’ve never dropped the AirPods, yet they still failed.
While being super frustrated with the Pro 2 I ended up buying the pro 3 but reconsidered after what I was told about the status of the Pro 2 but I missed the return window by a few days. After these Pro 3 fail, I just don't want to give them any more money for headphones.
I saw the Airpods Max on sale for Black friday a while back so I gave them a try as I was getting ear issues wearing in ear devices for so long each day. While they are very comfortable, the ear caps are a pain to clean.
They absorb sweat and oils over time and do not make it easy for them to get released when cleaning with detergent and water. it’s a massive effort. Im scrubbing with a toothbrush to clean, disinfect and then extensively drying them with a heater. All of this is taking 1+ hour each 1-2 weeks.
I am someone who is trying to maintain all my equipment as much as possible and this "woven texture" feels great but is not great for maintenance lifestyle.
Luckily ive accepted that the cheapo 20$ ear caps on Amazon are good enough and I just toss old ear caps after they become too hard to clean and buy another replacement set. I also have to disassemble the headband and use a special cleaning solution I found on Amazon, which smells like its just laundry detergent to prevent the headband from darkening from regular skin oils.
Now I’m starting to get very occasional "tinny" type of rattling with ANC enabled, as other people have indicated here as well.
These damn things are too expensive to have all these stupid issues. I’m really desperate for something more repairable and maintainable than this junk.
I had a sennheiser wired unit before this and those things lasted years with the only replacement being the ear caps like once a year.
As it stands, I may have spent close to $1,000 on this over the years, and I am just sick and tired of it. They’re not bad products when they work, they’re absolutely GREAT when they work. But man, all this headache when they dont work is just ridiculous at this point.
Also quite frankly I’d rather just not have to buy them and keep working from home. Listening to music using good speakers is an objectively superior experience.
I'll be interested in seeing a review on specialized sites. The 20 hours of battery life is impressive.
