Apple AirPods Max Wireless Headphones Review

The Apple AirPods Max have a refined and minimalist design that reflects their premium status and high-end materials. The ear cups have a sleek aluminum cover with a satin finish, and the headband is wrapped in athletic knit webbing, which adds texture to the look. They come in several colors to better suit your style: Space Gray, Sky Blue, Green, Pink, and Silver. You can also buy additional magnetic ear cushions from Apple separately if you prefer to mix and match colors.

The Apple AirPods Max are satisfactorily comfortable headphones. They're very heavy overall, and their clamping force can be fatiguing over time. That said, the ear cups are well-padded and are detachable if you need to replace them. The headband is also comfortable for short listening sessions, but some users may feel that its two metal components put pressure on your head.

The Apple AirPods Max have very good controls. There are only two buttons found on the right ear cup's top side, and registering commands is very easy. They have a unique Digital Crown, which acts as both a knob and button. It makes a clicking sound when you adjust the volume. There are audible beeps to indicate when you're connected or disconnected from a device. Unfortunately, when you press the crown, it doesn't give any feedback. The headphones also lack a power on/off button, which is a little disappointing.

The digital crown has the following functions:

• When turned: Adjusts volume.
• One press: Plays or pauses audio. Also answers calls.
• Double press: Skips the track forward.
• Triple press: Skips the track backward.
• Press and hold: Activates Siri.

There's also a button that offers the following controls:

• One press: Allows you to cycle between ANC on, ambient mode, and ANC off.
• Press and hold: Enters pairing mode.

The Apple AirPods Max have passable breathability. Due to their over-ear design, they trap in some heat, which could become uncomfortable over time. It shouldn't be too noticeable while working at your desk, though. While they can make your ears especially warm if you're wearing them while working out, they aren't designed for this purpose.

The Apple AirPods Max have mediocre portability. They're bulky and can't fold into a more compact format. While they come with a carrying case, it doesn't make them easier to take with you on the go.

The Apple AirPods Max have a just passable carrying case. It's a sleeve that only fits over the two ear cups, so their headband isn't protected at all. This is by design, as Apple advertises that you can use the headband as a carrying handle. There are magnets near the inside of the case that automatically put the headphones into a low-power sleep mode.

Update 01/11/2021: We've raised the scoring of this box from 7.5 to 8 to better reflect the materials used to construct these headphones. They have a premium look and build, thanks to their aluminum and metal build. However, we consider the mesh headband as the weak point, especially as it acts as the carrying handle. To reflect this, we had lowered their score in this category. We previously judged this too harshly and have adjusted the score to better reflect the premium feel.

The Apple AirPods Max's build quality is great. Compared to other premium headphones like the Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018 or the Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless, which are both made from hard plastic, the Apple are made with premium materials and have an aluminum exterior with a metal and silicone headband. However, these materials also have different pros and cons than traditional plastic builds. The mesh screen surrounding the headband feels very fragile as it can rip or become damaged, especially if you're using the headband as a handle when carrying the headphones around. That said, the ear cushions are held in place by magnets, so you can easily replace them if they get damaged.

There have been reports from users about condensation forming on and inside the drivers after wearing them for a few hours. It can occur even if you're wearing them at your desk or if you live in a dry climate. Some reports suggest that this is due to the metal ear cup design, which may trap heat from your ears, and create condensation. They don't have an IP rating for dust or water resistance, as Apple hasn't had them IP-evaluated.

The Apple AirPods Max have alright stability. While the cups form a good clamp on your ears, the headband can move around a bit if worn during moderate physical exercise.

• Apple AirPods Max
• USB-C to Lightning charging cable
• Carrying case
• User guide

These headphones use Apple's Adaptive EQ, which adjusts their sound to the fit and seal of the headphones on your head. As a result, they have a neutral although slightly warm sound profile, which is suitable for a variety of audio content. They have a touch of thump and rumble that should especially please fans of EDM and hip-hop. However, the dip in the low-treble veils vocals and lead instruments. While they don't have any built-in EQ presets, if you have a compatible iOS or iPadOS device, you can access a couple of different EQ presets in the 'Accessibility' settings to help you adjust their sound.

We've also tested their sound via firmware 3C39 and they perform very similarly to the original firmware's sound profile. You can see a graph comparison of our results here. However, what does make a difference in sound profile is whether the ANC is on or off, as this effectively turns the Adaptive EQ on or off, respectively. Both the wired and Bluetooth connection have a very similar frequency response when the ANC is on. However, if you turn the ANC off, there's a minor difference between frequency responses, and is most prominent in the bass range. Using Bluetooth reproduces more low-bass while using the headphones wired results in less thump and rumble but a bit more boom and warmth. You can also see all four passes together here.

The Apple AirPods Max have satisfactory frequency response consistency. They're somewhat prone to inconsistencies in bass and treble delivery due to the headphone's fit, seal, and positioning on your head, and you may especially notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or glasses.

The Apple AirPods Max's bass accuracy is excellent. The whole range is slightly overemphasized, which adds a bit more thump, rumble, warmth, and boom to your mixes. However, unlike the Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless' bump in bass, it shouldn't overwhelm vocals and instruments.

The mid accuracy is outstanding. The range is very even and neutral, resulting in clear, present, and detailed vocals and lead instruments.

The Apple AirPods Max's treble accuracy is sub-par. It's underemphasized throughout most of the range, resulting in veiled vocals and lead instruments. Sibilants like S and T sounds are slightly dulled.

The Apple AirPods Max's peaks and dips performance is decent. There's a peak in the low-bass, which adds thump and rumble to your mixes. Another peak in the high-mids can make vocals and lead instruments sound a little harsh. However, a large dip towards the end of the low-treble veils the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments, dulling their clarity and detail.

The Apple AirPods Max have good imaging. The weighted group delay falls below the audibility threshold, resulting in a tight bass and transparent treble. The L/R drivers of our unit are also well-matched in phase response, ensuring a stable stereo image. However, the amplitude and frequency response are slightly mismatched, so some objects like voices or footsteps may not be accurately placed within the stereo image. These results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

Note: Unfortunately, we couldn't test the left and right drivers at the same time, as we normally do. These headphones use Apple's Adaptive EQ, which adjusts its sound profile to the fit and seal of the headphones on your head. You can't turn off this feature unless you turn off ANC or Ambient mode as well. We ran the left driver separately from the right driver to test with the ANC on. While we don't know how comparable the results may be due to this change in our methodology, the results of this test are still valid.

These headphones have poor passive soundstage. Just like many other closed-back headphones, their soundstage sounds unnatural, closed-off, and as if audio is coming from inside your head, rather than from speakers placed around you.

The Apple AirPods Max support Spatial Audio. This feature allows the virtual soundstage to reorient itself based on your head movements, creating a more immersive and 3D audio experience. If you're watching a movie and turn your head to the left, audio will become more noticeable in the right driver as your right ear is closer to the audio source. Spatial Audio also works with Dolby Atmos content available on Apple Music. It can help make your favorite tunes sound like you're at a live concert, as Dolby Atmos virtually creates different audio channels to help create the impression that sound is coming from all around you, rather than from strictly the left and right drivers. You can turn Spatial Audio on/off by going into your iPhone's Bluetooth settings or when you connect to them for the first time with iOS 14.3. Keep in mind that it's only available on newer Apple devices, and not all apps or services support it.

The Apple AirPods Max's weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. There's a small peak at normal listening levels in the low-treble, but it can be hard to hear with real-life content. They also perform well at max volume, resulting in clear and pure audio reproduction.

Update 01/11/2021: After user feedback, we've retested the frequency response using AAC codec. We first tested them by placing them on our Head Acoustics HMS, using a PC with SBC codec, and we ran a sweep. Without changing the position of the headphones, we then connected to our iPhone 11 Pro (iOS 14.3) with AAC and ran another sweep. From our measurements, we didn't detect any significant changes to the frequency response, and our results haven't changed. You can see the graph here. For over-ear headphones, we also do a sweep with humans and match the crossfade. Ignore anything below the 200-300hz range on this graph, as this was entirely measured on our testing equipment. The review still reflects the results measured with SBC.

These are the settings we used to test the Apple AirPods Max, and our results are only valid when using this configuration.

Note: These headphones have a great noise isolation performance with an adaptive ANC system, which means that the ANC automatically adjusts to your environment, depending on the kind of noise and its directionality. It also adjusts depending on the kind of seal the headphones have on your head. This means their ANC performance is highly dependent on the environment and fit. The ANC reduces sounds like ambient chatter and the high-pitched whirl of AC units extremely well. We also noticed that when we extend the length of time of any particular frequency, the overall ANC performs more favorably. As a result, it's hard to compare their performance to other non-adaptive ANC headphones or between firmware updates, as the ANC may perform better in some cases than others. However, there have been a few articles and threads that have noted a drop in performance, starting in May, and users also have alerted us of a potential change to ANC strength after updating to firmware 4E71. We did measure a difference in our unit's isolation (you can see our previous results here), but we don't know if this is due to the firmware update, or another factor affecting their measured noise isolation. There's a difference in non-ANC measurements that indicates that these results aren't directly comparable⁠, and it extends to our firmware 5B58 measurements. We're currently investigating this issue and will update the review as soon as we can.

Users have also reported high cabin pressure when using their unit's ANC. It's a pressure-like feeling inside your ears when the ANC is on and is a similar sensation to when a plane ascends and descends. It's caused by your brain perceiving the lack of low-frequency sound as a pressure difference between the inner and outer ear, which can become uncomfortable. The cabin pressure of these headphones feels strong when their ANC is on. However, it shouldn't be an issue for most users unless you're already sensitive to ANC. In comparison, other ANC over-ears, like the Bose QuietComfort 45/QC45 Wireless, seem to have somewhat less noticeable (but still present) cabin pressure.

The Apple AirPods Max have a decent leakage performance. They leak a bit of sound across the range, but most of it falls below the noise level of an average office. It's unlikely that it should bother those around you, even if you're listening to audio at a high volume.

The Apple AirPods Max's mic has an alright recording quality. Your voice sounds thin and a bit muffled, but you should still be understood by whoever's on the other end of the line.

The noise handling of the Apple AirPods Max's microphone is poor. It has a hard time separating speech from moderate ambient noise, so if you're taking a call from a loud environment like a busy street, your voice may be drowned out.

The Apple AirPods Max have a great battery performance. They have a continuous battery life of over 21 hours and charge quickly. While there have been user reports that firmware 3C39 has improved the battery performance, we received similar results after updating our model to this firmware. Apple also advertises a 5-minute quick charge that can give you up to 1.5 hours of playtime, but we don't currently test this. While the headphones don't technically turn off unless you completely drain the battery, they enter a very low-power state when placed in their carrying case. They also go into a low-power mode when in an idle position for five minutes. If you don't want to be away from your audio for too long, you can use them while charging. However, even though you can use them wired with a Lightning to 1/8" TRRS cable (which isn't included in the box), you won't be able to use them passively as the headphones need to still have power to produce audio.

The Apple AirPods Max don't have a companion app but have an interface that only works on iOS and macOS devices. On the iOS screen, you can switch between ANC, Ambient mode, and off. You can reconfigure the Digital Crown knob to adjust the volume by going up and down or down and up. You can also turn the Spatial Audio feature on or off and access the same controls on macOS via your headphones' Bluetooth settings.

Apple allows you to adjust their sound through Headphone Accommodations in iOS and iPadOS 14. You can find instructions on how to access these features here. This interface allows you to tune audio for 'Balanced Tone', 'Vocal Range', and 'Brightness'. This interface is only available for select Apple and Beats headphones, and it only works on iOS and iPadOS 14. You can't use it on macOS, Android, or Windows. Due to this limited compatibility and because these features are found outside the headphones' interface settings, we don't consider these to be EQ presets for the headphones.

The Apple AirPods Max have decent Bluetooth connectivity. Although they don't support NFC pairing, and you can't connect them with more than one device at a time, they have an H1 chip. This chip allows you to seamlessly pair them with other devices in your Apple ecosystem. If you like to stream videos, their latency on iOS and Android devices is low, so you shouldn't experience a significant audio delay. However, their latency on PC is much higher, which could negatively affect video streaming or gaming. However, some apps and devices compensate for latency differently, so your real-life experience may vary. Unfortunately, these headphones don't support lossless audio via Bluetooth.

Right out-of-the-box, you can't use them wired, and they only come with a Lightning to USB-C cable for charging your headphones. However, if you want to use them wired, Apple advertises that you can purchase a Lightning to AUX cable separately. The headphones must have battery life remaining for you to use them wired via the lightning to AUX cable. That said, you'll be able to use ANC and transparency mode using this connection.

The Apple AirPods Max can wirelessly connect to Bluetooth-enabled PCs. However, you can't connect them in any other way out of the box.