Beautifully and incredibly thoughtful design. I love the Apple Watch cues and of course, the \u2018magic\u2019 of AirPods carries over to these in the W1 chip which, design aside, is the key to AirPods\u2019 success over the last few years. I\u2019m sure it sounds good enough. The price well I was expecting $350 and not $550.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My Shure SRH840s are a little bit lighter than these but are wired and never need to be recharged and are quite comfortable at $129. They\u2019re good enough for Taylor Swift (featured heavily in her Disney+ Folklore Special). Shure\u2019s SRH line of headphones are reference monitors which aren\u2019t always ideal for general consumer use but if you\u2019re an Apple Music customer and iPhone owner, the AirPod Max will probably be great because Apple\u2019s audio division is tuning everything together from iTunes Master to your ears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t be purchasing these until generation 2 and for two reasons. First, the cost is too much. Apple at this point knows that their AirPods line has suffered from battery issues for a while. These are 2-year lifespan headphones. After 2 years, the batteries need servicing to extend the life. I\u2019ve purchased 3 sets of AirPods now and would have much preferred spending that same amount of money up front on a premium pair of in-earphones from Shure instead. I would lack the magic of the W1 but I wouldn\u2019t be contributing to E-Waste.<\/p>\n
Usable life and price means these aren\u2019t for me. I’ve owned my SRH840s since 2007 and my SE530s since 2006. I still use each of them on a daily and weekly basis respectively and I love their sound quality. Apple\u2019s AirPods will never be able to match the usable life OR sound quality of these. AirPods are just magical bluetooth calling earphones. They\u2019re great but not something I use to listen to music. Maybe the AirPods Max would replace my SRH840s for my iMac long work sessions headphone but I\u2019d love if if the battery was user serviceable. If that was the case and it was $100 cheaper, I may consider it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They ARE beautiful though.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beautifully and incredibly thoughtful design. I love the Apple Watch cues and of course, the \u2018magic\u2019 of AirPods…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2020-12-08T18:15:21Z","apple_news_api_id":"d9890411-06fa-4db1-9284-4144edd801e2","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2020-12-08T18:15:22Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A2YkEEQb6TbGShEFE7dgB4g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-technology","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-2bG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8607,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2021\/11\/08\/the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":0},"title":"The Cost of Apple-Fanboyism in 2021","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"November 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"See 2018 and 2020 costs here What I hope will continue as a semi-annual tradition, I\u2019ve been tracking Apple\u2019s costs informally for a while. The price of an iPhone from $499 to $1599 has come alongside inflation and technology improvements. It\u2019s okay for costs to increase over time but, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12222,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2024\/01\/12\/linked-every-day-carry-9-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":1},"title":"Linked: Every Day Carry 9-5","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Via BasicAppleGuy: I wanted a bag for my EDC to and from work that felt neither cramped nor oversized. Because there are days I choose not to bring the AirPods Max and MBA, I didn't want to constantly switch bags or feel like the bag I am carrying suddenly became\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12306,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2024\/09\/19\/technology-about-apples-2024-iphone-watch-and-airpods-event\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":2},"title":"Technology: About Apple\u2019s 2024 iPhone, Watch and AirPods Event","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"September 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary of this post generated by Apple Inteligence: The author discusses their recent Apple Watch purchases, including the Series 10 and Ultra 2. They recommend the Series 10 for its value and features, while the Ultra 2 is considered a poor value proposition due to its similarities to the previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8376,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2020\/10\/13\/the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":3},"title":"The Cost of Apple-Fanboyism in 2020","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I published this post in 2018 where I break down pricing of someone like myself who wants to buy in to the Apple ecosystem whole-hog. Note, inflation I supposedly 3.7% from 2018 to 2020 so we can factor that int to my math. Here are prices from 2018: iPhone XS:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12928,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2025\/07\/23\/applecare-one-versus-best-buy-total\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":4},"title":"AppleCare One versus Best Buy Total","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"July 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been a Best Buy Total subscriber for going on 4 years or more. The main benefit to me is the inclusion of 2-years of AppleCare on every product you buy from them. 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