It is truly the quality of the sound itself that brings AirPods Max to the level above the competition. Put simply, these are the wireless headphones most from the sound I’ve ever heard and with a significant margin.
I honestly say it as definitively as possible. When they arrived for the first time, I put the AirPod Max against the Sony Wh-1000xm4, Bose Noise that erases 700, Mont Blanc Mb01, Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Carbon and Shure Aonic 50.
The main difference between these headphones and all the others is what they sound. From the minimums roughing to tall and clear highs, everything finds a place. The bands seem to play in larger rooms in the eyes of your mind and each instrument becomes more distinct than ever in the fog of busy blends.
I love listening to the detailed pop of more recent artists such as Billie Eilish, because the creative production techniques of his brother Finneas concentrate complete. Every little glitter and Ringhio seems more distinct than ever. The hip hop is equally fascinating because the bass is incisive and defined but is never flaccid. 808 Kicks and Dendune voices never merge, and the brightest elements of each song ride perfectly on top of them.
When they listen to hard sounds like Elliott Smith’s guitars, they feel as if they were a lot at the edges of my musical vision, giving a lot of space in the middle of the sound. The overwhelming sense of musical clarity is crazy for the headphones that cancel the noise. Some competitors can keep up with Apple’s work better than others, but in most cases it is as if you were pulling a layer of wool from other headphones for the cancellation of the top noise when moving on to AirPods Max.
Good for movies
Another excellent feature that distinguishes AirPods Max aside is the space audio that is actually usable. If you are watching on a compatible app (I saw HBO Max on an iPad), the max AirPods will simulate the surrender sound based on objects such as Dolby Atmos, so that the audio effects seem to materialize from the imaginary “speakers” positioned around you in a 3D space.
Turn the head and the audio remains blocked on the original orientation. It makes sounds a little more hissing (or “brighter”), but the function really immerses you in the visualization experience. It is as if I were in a real home theater with surrender speakers all around you.
Apple states that the AirPods Max USB-C model will also be the only headphones that allow “musicians to create and mix in a personalized space audio with head monitoring” with the latest features updates, making space audio even more useful.
To buy or not buy
Airpods Max, like any $ 550 accessory, are obviously not for everyone. But despite their exorbitant price (and some small oddities), the constructive quality, the ease of use and the surprising loyalty they offer make them worthy of the cost.
Unlike other Apple products, these are objectively the best in their category. Somewhere in the ether, Steve Jobs is probably blocking with pride.
Functionality updates
One of the best and most appreciated features of the best Apple headphones was the introduction of new features that help them not only relevant, but competitive with innovative rivals. After issuing an USB-C model in 2024, Apple added some new intriguing features in March 2025, including 24-bit/48 kHz loss audio support when it was connected to an Apple device updated with iOS 18.4, iPados 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4 for AirPods Max with USB-C.
Is it important? It could depend on who you ask. Many audio professionals claim that most people cannot feel the difference between a compressed audio track and a high resolution track, in particular with the high quality tablets today on streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music. And in fact, this is what our tests have revealed with AirPods Max. In the blind A/B tests among the best traces of Spotify tablets and the traces without loss on Apple Music or Tidal, our results were essentially inconclusive. In other words, we could not always feel the difference.
What made an evident difference was listening to music connected to the streaming on Bluetooth. This is good news for Lightning AirPods Max users, who did not get audio update without loss. Therefore, if you thought of updating the new audio support without loss, you may or may not notice a difference and, if you do, it will probably be less.
Musicians, producers and hobbyists can have another reason to consider the update to AirPods Max USB-C, since Apple has also announced the “Ultra-Bassa latency” which should make the work within Apple’s music recording apps as Logic Pro a more fluid experience. This feature can also benefit from players and livestresters thanks to the lowest delay that Apple claims is on par with “incorporated native speakers”. -Ryan Waniata