Specifications
Sensors and microphones
Usually, Apple is not very keen to share what’s inside their products. But the AirPods Maxis a far cry from the unrepairable AirPods Pro and its 0/10 iFixit score.
The company teardown the headphones, and found out that Apple gave the Max some modularity (at least for the brand) and gave it an impressive 6/10. This means, to some extent, that you could repair your headphone on your own… if you could get the right pieces from Apple.
What we also learned, is how much Apple’s engineers outdid themselves to offer the premium experience delivered by the AirPods Max. First, there are sensors everywhere, in each cup you have:
- one optical sensor, to detect your ear
- a position sensor, to see how the headphone fits on your ear
- case-detect sensor, one that put the Max in standby mode when you put it back in his case
- an accelerometer, to unlock spatial audio effect and check if you put down the headphone
- and lastly, a gyroscope, for the same purpose as above
Add to that no more than nine microphones, where six of them are used exclusively for noise-canceling purposes, while two are shared for voice capture and noise-canceling, and you can almost say that Apple, isn’t charging you that much for the specs. Almost.
Dynamic driver and H1 chip
Even if the AirPods Max cups are utterly massive, Apple’s headphones only use 40mm, dynamic drivers.
Apple being Apple, they managed to develop their own driver “modeled after those in high-end, floor-standing speakers”. Each driver enjoys a dual-neodymium ring magnet motor ensuring abysmal distortion and clear, consistent playback at every volume level.
And, behind those drivers, Apple put the famous H1 chip, performing millions of calculations every minute to ensure that what you hear, is reproduced exactly how the brand intends. In each cup, you’ll find a microphone, constantly listening to your music, so the AirPods Max can adapt to your ears.
Named AdaptativeEQ, this kind of computational audio foreshadows a future where software, will outperform hardware, as it happens in the video/photo world. The power of sound correction!
Full specs
- Type: Bluetooth Headphone
- Style: Dynamic driver + high-end audio computation
- Drivers: Proprietary 40mm drivers
- Socket: Bluetooth 5.0
- Battery Life: 20 hours – 3,5h per charge
- Shells: aluminum, silicon, and mesh fabric
- Frequency response Range: NA
- Impedance: NA
- Sensitivity: NA
- Microphone: 6 noise-canceling mics, 2 shared mics (NC + voice), 1 voice mic
- Price : $549 / €629
The article continues on Page Six, after the click here
MhtLion
Definitely the best review on Airpod Max I’ve read! Have you tried the optional cable? Some says it sounds better with it, and some says it’s the same.
Thomas Hoff
the fact that it works best with Apple Music should be a reason not to buy into Apple’s walled garden. Apple Music is horrible. I have recently untethered myself from Apple and am loving it.
Darwin
Nah Apple Music is great. Best sound quality. Best interface. Now high res and Atmos audio. Nothing else even comes close. Even the best price!
Jazz1
Well I’ve been on and off about buying these headphones. I’ve read many a review, mostly some too bias, and some too insanely harsh. I think your review “hits the nail on the head”.
Soooo, I have ordered them after finding and reading this review, after reading many other review and watching many YouTube pundits 😉
I do own a B&W PX7 headphones which I like very much. I am hoping the sound on this Apple headphone exceeds the PX7 to some extent. So thanks to your review I dig deeper into the Apple “walled garden”.
Any updates you care to share?