Photo: Courtesy of Apple
Apple just announced the Airpods Max, their first pair of over-ear headphones, foreseen to be revolutionary. Designed to deliver all of the best features including active noise cancellation, high-fidelity audio, transparency mode, Adaptive EQ, audio sharing and spatial audio, the AirPods Max follows recent releases of the iPhone 12 and the new Macbook Air, iPad and Apple Watch. Senior vice president of Apple’s worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak said that the “AirPods are the most popular headphones in the world, beloved for their effortless setup, incredible sound quality, and iconic design. With AirPods Max, we are bringing that magical AirPods experience to a stunning over-ear design with high-fidelity audio.” The newest addition of the AirPods family provides “the ultimate personal listening experience.” If you’re not sure whether to get the latest AirPods, here’s everything you need to know about these hyped headphones.
Every single part of the AirPods Max is meticulously designed to provide exceptional performance to the user. The Digital Crown on top of one of the earcups, for instance, is inspired by the Apple Watch and allows you to adjust volume, play and pause, answer calls and activate Siri. The knit mesh canopy is designed to distribute weight and reduce head-on pressure, while the stainless steel headband frame provides the ultimate comfort regardless of head shape and size. The headband also uses an innovative mechanism to balance and distribute ear cup pressure, effectively reducing external aching after many hours of listening.
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
The AirPods Max has a 40mm Apple-designed dynamic driver that ensures listeners can hear every single note. The AirPods Max will have some distinct advantages for people with multiple Apple devices. The integrated H1 chip, a custom acoustic design and advanced software, allows the AirPods Max to automatically switch between the audio on your Mac, iPad and iPhone seamlessly. It’ll fast pair to your devices and allow you to share audio with a friend. Using each of the chips’ 10 audio cores, the headphones are capable of a staggering nine billion operations per second. Lastly, spatial audio, Adaptive EQ and active noise cancellation also play a huge role in providing the best listening experience. Not to miss anything important, we break them down in detail below.
- Adaptive EQ – With inward-facing microphones created by ear cushions, music is delivered with a rich and consistent experience. This is done by measuring the sound signal delivered to a user, adjusting the low and mid-frequencies in real-time.
- Active Noise Cancellation – As the AirPods deliver immersive sound through Active Noise Cancellation, it allows you to fully focus on what you’re listening to. Each ear cup has three outward-facing microphones that detect environmental noise, and one of the microphones monitors the sound reaching your ear.
- Transparency Mode – With the press of a button, you can easily switch to Transparency mode from Noise Cancellation to simultaneously listen to music while hearing the environment around you including your own voice.
- Spatial Audio – This function offers a theatre-like experience for movies and shows. The AirPods Max also track the subtle motion of your head, anchoring sounds to your device.
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
Enjoy up to 20 hours of high-fidelity audio of movie watching or talk time with Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio enabled. A simple five-minute charge via Lightning connector enables 1.5 hours of listening. The device also comes with a soft, slim Smart Case that when stored in it, the AirPods Max enters an ultra-low power state to preserve charge.
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
From setup to Siri commands, AirPods Max makes the listening experience utterly fluid and inherits all of the wireless, effortless magic. It immediately connects to your iPhone or iPad with the one-tap setup and seamlessly switches between all of your devices. If you’re listening to music on your Mac and need to take a call on your iPhone, AirPods Max will automatically switch over and block ambient noise thanks to the beam-forming microphones. Easily share music or audio with your friends between two sets of AirPods on your iPhone, iPad iPod touch or Apple TV by bringing any AirPods near the device you’re listening to and connect with just a tap.
Siri also comes in play with the AirPods Max. It has the ability to fetch directions, make calls, play music, control the volume and much more. Siri can also read your messages as they come in, no hands required.
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
The AirPods Max costs 19,900 baht and comes in five colours: space grey, silver, green, sky blue and pink. Each order includes the device, the Smart Case, Lightning connector and USB-C cable. You can engrave and customise your AirPods Max for free to make it yours, choosing from a mix of emoji, text or numbers.
Note: AirPods Max requires Apple devices running iOS 14.2 or later, iPadOS 14.3, macOS Big Sur 11.1 or later, watchOS 7.2 or later and tvOS 14.3 or later.
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
Related: What You Need To Know About The New MacBook Air