Today, EDM Lab talks about Apple. Among the news of the end of 2020, the Cupertino-based company included the launch of its first line of over-ear headphones: the AirPods Max. Besides the typical sense of wonder, Apple clearly aims to find a placement in the niche of high-end audio.
However, such an action caused controversies in the pro audio community concerning the price out of business compared to the market segment of which this product wants to become a competitor. Apple justifies this price (629 €) by listing several features that, to be honest, arouses curiosity at least to test the product.
On top of the circum-aural design, captivating and “luxurious” as usual for this brand, the pavilions’ memory foam tissue seems to promise comfortable listening and good isolation.
The isolation is the first important feature of any headset. Apple describes it as “computational,” thanks to the implementation of the Apple H1 chip. Like some of the other headphones, the AirPods Max, through four microphones per pavilion, promises active noise canceling.
This feature is switchable with its counterpart: the transparency mode. This mode allows the user to listen to the sounds from the pavilions and the outside.
Another important audio feature is the sound spatiality, with the possibility to enjoy the Dolby Atmos encoding. The list ends with adaptive equalization, which is a constant rebalancing of the frequency bands of the signal so that the sound is continuously optimized depending on the listening conditions.
Our question is: will these headphones have the honor, in terms of quality, to be placed between the products belonging to the pro-audio niche? The judgment, as usual, to the posterity.
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