NEW AIRPODS MAX 😱 SHOULD YOU BUY?!

Intro we really need to talk about the airpods max okay so I wasn't going to make a video about the airpods max this week that wasn't in the plan in fact we've had to move things around to fit this one in but we've done it for a very good reason because we had an Apple event this week and part of that Apple event was a new version of the airpods max we now have just airpods max again there's two changes that we think Apple well we know that we know Apple has made two changes but that that's we we think they're the only two changes I'll come on to that later equally I know that lots of people now will be thinking is it worth buying these headphones in 2024 now that we have a new version and also I keep seeing people wearing airpods Mac Everywhere whether it be in lemington where I live Warick where I have the studio or in London where I spend a lot of time for that reason clearly there's still a lot of interest in these headphones however before you spend 499 in the UK or $549 in the US please watch this video before I get started although this video isn't sponsored I do have some fantastic Partners who help me keep the lights on here and one of those is brain FM brain FM is basically something that I cannot work without at the moment in fact I hav I've not been able to work without it for the last 3 years basically it pumps music and sounds and stuff into your head which is supposed to make you more productive they can't claim that that that it definitely does that and it may not work for you but I know personally that I can't do any writing productively if I'm not listen listening to brain FM it's just utterly amazing and well I won't say any more about it because this isn't a sponsored video but I will put a link in the description I have a very tasty offer for you if you want to check it out and I think it could help you potentially go and have a look anyway with that out of the way let's get into airpods Max and explain why all this stuff is here okay let's talk about Updates these updates to the airpods max in 2024 the first thing is colors so we have five new colors midnight Starlight blue orange and purple they're all different shades to what we had before so for inance the Blue version which is what I have here I think has changed slightly and same thing with the orange was was there an orange one before I think there was anyway they're different colors basically apple is calling them five new colors and in the press release for the airpods max Apple says that they offer complimentary finishes alongside other Apple products like mac and iPad that's the first update the second update is they have got rid of lightning which is on the first version of airpods Max and we now have USBC which is what they did with the airpods Pro 2 and they've just done with airpods 4 which is a whole other video that I need to I need to make but we now have the USBC charging on airpods Max that's good news because lightning I think these are one of one of the only remaining Apple products apart from things like the magic keyboard and the Magic Mouse and all that sort of stuff that still had lightning so more convenient as Apple said that's a a big deal more convenient is there anything else no as far as we're we're aware and until I get a pair which I am getting I have a pair of the new airpods Max in transit basically for next week as far as we're aware that's it new colors and USBC charging the rumors about the Air airpods Max being updated in a very small way were completely true from the looks of it the price it's still the same so in the UK it's 499 and in in the US it's $549 so these are still a very expensive pair of headphones they've barely changed in 4 years and you're thinking about buying them because you're still watching this video so for that reason I'm going to give you what's good about the airpods Max and what's bad about Good Stuff them okay the first thing that I like about the airpods max is their integration with the Apple ecosystem the Apple ecosystem in my humble opinion is still the best one out there if you don't agree with me just get involved in the comments but for me the you know the ability to switch between devices with these so if I'm listening to stuff on my iPhone I can very quickly walk over to my my Mac and instantly these switch over without any faffing around it was a little bit flaky to begin with when they first introduced that but over the last 12 months or so it's it's become really really reliable and it it just works as Apple stuff should you also get find my support so these will sit on the find my network so you can see all of your all of your Apple devices you can see where they are other ecosystem stuff that's kind of it I suppose we could add spatial audio into to that as well it's not really ecosystem but it's one of Apple's technologies that is where you have this huge Sound Stage and if my if my iPad is in front of me here and I've got my airpods Max on and I'm playing something through Apple TV I can look away and it sounds like the audio is still coming from there it's mesmerizing and it's one of the best versions of spatial audio out there still the other thing that's great is Dolby atmus support so these have Dolby atmas built into them and if you combine that with spatial audio it makes the listening experience for what watching movies and TV shows particularly if you're doing it with Apple TV which comes back to the ecosystem brilliant um what's the other thing I still think they look quite good let's get them out the case they do that when you get them out of the case they always like smash together which is annoying but I think they still look pretty good I like the look of airpods Max I particularly like the look on my head I can't hear myself now but on my head these sit better on my head than any other headphones most other headphones because I'm folically challenged tend to stick out a bit and look a bit a bit massive these don't actually so I I like the look of them they're they're built incredibly well apart from one thing which I'll come on to in a moment but they are built very well they they rank among the most beautifully designed headphones that I've ever tested for instance the telescopic arms beautiful design everything about the look and the feel feels very quality on that note the buttons they they resolutely only have physical buttons there's no touch controls which is just brilliant in my book and the decision to include the kind of Apple watch style digital Crown was inspired and that it's so satisfying to use if you weren't aware that's for volume but it's also for for playback controls it's just lovely and there's a dedicated button for active noise cancelling so you can very quickly turn transparency mode on and off on that note that's something else I love about these transparency mode on the airpods max is the best on the market I've not heard any of the transparency mode that comes anywhere close I think that the both Quite Comfort Ultras come very fairly close actually I was using those on the plane the other day they they're good but nothing like this I don't know why other brands and manufacturers can't get anywhere near Apple when it comes to transparency mode it's that it's absolutely class leading the noise cancelling is pretty good as well it's it's up there it's up there with the XM 5S by Sony and a few others and the Bose actually as well what else was there that's pretty much it really that's the good stuff now on to the bad stuff let's start with the case and I'm not going to Bad Stuff throw it around I spent most of the first few months of this channel throwing around the airpods max case because I thought it was funny um it was funny occasionally but the joke wore quite thin after well very quickly the whole point of that throwing it around there was something behind that though which is the fact that it's not a proper case the only credit it kind of deserves is that it doesn't take up any space in your bag so if you put that in your bag versus let's say the Sony xm5 case which is huge by comparison you do save some space in your bag which is quite nice the problem it just doesn't cover any of the important bits so you have all these gaps where you know you can damage your head you can basically damage that very expensive finish the aluminium they've used on these is expensive because they cost a lot and it just doesn't protect it the other thing is that it has this horrible material that scuffs really easily and very quickly so it looks very unsightly very quickly whether or not Apple has changed that with the new version at the very least if they've changed the type of material great I suppose but no the case is just utterly useless they're also very heavy I'd forgotten how heavy they were until I put them on again recently the reason I I think I'd forgotten about that is because I've used so many headphones since most other brands tend to focus on making the headphones as light as possible with the exception of the Dyson onrack headphones which are these which funny enough have a case that is very similar to the airpods max case but these are pretty heavy as well as well so too heavy easily damaged because of that case the other thing is that the canopy which is this part here on mine as you can see hopefully has gone a bit loose it's lost its rigidity I talked about this in a video a little while ago and I didn't realize again until I put them on recently that they they're not quite as comfortable as they were because that rigid rigidity loss means that the the canopy doesn't really rest on your head very comfortably anymore I don't know if this is just a pet a problem with the pair that I've got or if it's because I don't have any hair I have no idea if you've got a pair of airpods Max you probably wish I've never mentioned this now but check yours I can I can almost guarantee if you've had them for quite a while that has gone a little bit floppy the next thing is the sound which is just okay when I first got the airpods max I said they they sounded expensive which I kind of still stand by that I think if you're not I'm not this is I'm not being you know I'm not looking down on people who don't you don't know much about audio but if you don't know much about audio and you buy the airpods max I think you'll listen to them and think yeah these sound fantastic which is fine and if that is the case then who am I to tell you that they don't sound good you know sound is so subjective but if you do know a bit about audio you realize that these are very very bright they're just not a very enjoyable listen compared to something like let's say the Sonos Ace which sound fantastic they don't sound 500 500 quid good they just don't I'm afraid however the biggest issue now with airpods Max which is is something that's crept in over time and it's basically basically due to the fact that Apple is very committed to updating and improving their airpods line they did that this week we've now got the airpods 4 which now have active noise cancelling we've got the hearing aid stuff and the hearing Health stuff that's being built into the airpods pro they're doing some amazing things with these and like I mentioned earlier the upgrade in sound on the airpods Pro 2 from the airpods pro one it was just mindblowing it was so so good and as a result of that these have overtaken these massively so for in I've made a list of the things that you get on on the airpods that you don't get on the airpods max so you don't get personalized spatial audio on the airpods max conversation awareness which is when if you're playing some stuff on your airpods and you walk up to someone and you and you start talking the airpods recognize that you're having a conversation with someone and they automatically dip the volume of whatever it is you're listening to so you can talk and then when you're finished the volume comes back up super clever super useful voice isolation which is used for telephone calls where if you're know walking through a busy street the person on the other end of the phone can just hear you they can't hear all the people and the trains and the cars and stuff in the background it's again brilliantly useful and Siri interactions which is a new thing where you can nod your head to say yes to Siri and shake your head to say no none of that stuff is on these it's it's not there because these don't have the H2 chip in them I can't remember what chip these have in them but it's it's whatever chip was put into these back in 2020 yeah we're talking 500 quid for these versus airpods which are half the price or less actually if you go for the airpods 4 that doesn't make any sense to me at all that's unfair I think if you if you buy a brand new pair of airpods Max today they should have that stuff in there why haven't why hasn't Apple put the latest chip into these new head not these ones into the new airpods Max and all of this basically all those good points and the bad points beg one question who are Conclusion these four I think this is quite straightforward I think the airpods max are for Apple Fans who have quite a lot of disposable income for starters but who also don't want the airpods the regular airpods for whatever reason who don't want a pair of overair Beats headphones again for whatever reason but who just want a pair of headphones that connect seamlessly to their Apple TV to their Mac to their iPhone to their iPad Etc that is the market for airpods Max and clearly it's working so there's definitely a market for airpods Max and if you are that sort of person that I've just described they're for you 100% and you won't be disappointed you'll enjoy them and I'm not judging you either I've bought a pair there's a pair on the way which I will review and trust me you won't want to miss that video make sure you hit subscribe and the bell not to miss that one but if you're not that sort of person there's so many other options we do have the Beats Studio Pro which I genuinely love the forget them we do have also the Sony XM 5S which aren't my favorite headphones in the world but a very good in terms of noise cancelling they're a lot cheaper than these and they have a big fan base the senis and momentum 4 are fantastic as well and again a lot cheaper both do loads of headphones which are just as good as the airpods max in terms of sound quality and noise cancelling including the much cheaper quiet comfort and the quiet Comfort Ultra which are fantastic they're a great option and if you do want to spend a lot of money on headphones take a look at the focal bartis these are amazing I've made a couple of videos about these one of which I'll link to above they are superb they sound brilliant they look a bit weird but they do sound fantastic and then we have the noble audio focus which I will be reviewing quite soon they're very expensive but they again potentially are better than these and well they're another option so that is my thoughts on the airpods max guys remember I will have that video on the way about the new version I'd love to hear from you now let me know in the comments what do you think about the new aods Max are you annoyed are you happy are you going to buy a pair get involved and if you missed my live stream about the iPhone 16 event where we talked about the iPhone 16 the Apple Watch series 10 and the airpods keep watching for a link and yeah I'll see you in the next video cheers