One More One More Thing - Apple Unveils AirPods Max

[Video Beagle]

I think the design is one of the big drivers of this product.  This looks "executive", rather than DJ...and that alone can be more appealing to business types traveling who want the Noise Canceling especially on flights etc. (or zoom meetings?)..Same reasoning behind Ultra class laptops...sleek, professional looking, poor performance/cost...that's a HUGE market in the world.

 

(OP ranted about the digital crown vs touch controls...I'd be willing to bet that was focused grouped and debated with psychomarketing research to justify it. It is a curious design decision)

 

Based on the other Airpods and the Homepod Mini's reviews, I'm assuming these will sound good...audiophile level? Maybe..maybe not...we'll see when reviews happen.

 

(Now me, I find the idea of spending $25+ on audio gear outlandish....I got a set of AirPods 2nd gen from Amazon for $99 in the prime day sale, i think...still haven't opened them..was kind of an idea to get them as treat for myself, rather than the cheap chinese clones I've tried...but not sure if i'll return them unopnened or not (I have some hearing damage so comfort tends to be more a factor that pure sound quality for me)

[ZuppaSalata]

Linus already explained why these headphones are priced at $550. (€630 in my country).

Apple don't want them to sell, they just some advertisement

[Commodus]

3 hours ago, ZuppaSalata said:

Linus already explained why these headphones are priced at $550. (€630 in my country).

Apple don't want them to sell, they just some advertisement

I'm pretty sure Apple wants the AirPods Max to sell... and they clearly are, since orders are backlogged up to 14 weeks out. And as I recall, Apple's price for the Mac Pro wheels is more about economies of scale (it's an optional accessory for an already niche computer) than stirring controversy.

 

 

[RejZoR]

7 hours ago, Spindel said:

Are we talking about the same audiophiles that shun double blind tests, that shows how ful of bullshit audiophiles are?

Yeah, but my tube amplifier connected with platinum infused 120% pure copper wires to my 384kHz speakers work at their peak. Also, did I mention my glorious gold audio capacitors? I thought I haven't

[Spindel]

55 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Yeah, but my tube amplifier connected with platinum infused 120% pure copper wires to my 384kHz speakers work at their peak. Also, did I mention my glorious gold audio capacitors? I thought I haven't

Remember that vinyl has better dynamic range than digital too apparently 80 dB (newley pressed never listend to) is better than 96 dB

[JZSam]

On 12/8/2020 at 1:39 PM, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

Summary

 

Early this morning, Apple launched their "professional" set of over-ear headphones - AirPods Max, which features "high-fidelity audio, Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, and spatial audio". It is available in space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink, and will start shipping Tuesday, December 15 for $549 USD.

is it just me but does this look like a giant apple watch without a screen. I personally hate how it looks. Even for good audio $549 is a lot of money I think this is going to become a fashion statement like the OG Airpods.

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

5 hours ago, ZuppaSalata said:

Linus already explained why these headphones are priced at $550. (€630 in my country).

Apple don't want them to sell, they just some advertisement

Why would they not want them to sell?

 

Look. Mac Pro Wheels are literally a niche of a niche product. Even if you buy a Mac Pro, chances are you're not buying the wheels. They know they're not going to sell, so they're passing that price off to the consumer to make margins back. In fact, the entire Mac Pro is just the definition of when a company passes off huge amounts of RnD cost to the consumer. I highly doubt the 2022 Mac Pro will cost anywhere near the $6000 it costs now.

 

But the AirPods Max are supposed to be mass market. We simply don't know who Apple is competing with right now. Let's give Apple the benefit of the doubt. If they do sound a lot better than the XM4s, would it be fair to Sony to compare $200 more expensive headphones? Depending on the tech, and how it sounds, the $549 may very well be justified. For me it's not worth it, but that doesn't mean it's unjustified.

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

and they clearly are, since orders are backlogged up to 14 weeks out.

In mid-late October, many prominent leakers said that Apple would cut out key features (the headphones were apparently supposed to be $600 but dropped $50 due to the cut in features) such as tech that would let it detect which side ear you're listening to, interchangeable headbands, and touch sensors. So if they had to hackjob these headphones out ASAP, mass production might not have started until mid-late November, and these things launched yesterday. They probably only had a few hundreds of thousands of units compared to the millions of units they have for the iPhone when they start mass production about 2 months earlier than what they did now. That's why it's backed up until March. Apple wanted those holiday sales, so they just rushed this out.

 

If you needed any endorsement to wait until a Gen 2, there's your endorsement.

[Commodus]

1 minute ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

In mid-late October, many prominent leakers said that Apple would cut out key features (the headphones were apparently supposed to be $600 but dropped $50 due to the cut in features) such as tech that would let it detect which side ear you're listening to, interchangeable headbands, and touch sensors. So if they had to hackjob these headphones out ASAP, mass production might not have started until mid-late November, and these things launched yesterday. They probably only had a few hundreds of thousands of units compared to the millions of units they have for the iPhone when they start mass production about 2 months earlier than what they did now. That's why it's backed up until March. Apple wanted those holiday sales, so they just rushed this out.

 

If you needed any endorsement to wait until a Gen 2, there's your endorsement.

I was thinking there might be a dearth of units (shades of the initial AirPods launch, really). That orders now extend to March says a lot, though! And I wouldn't be surprised if the shortages wind up helping Apple in the long term by creating rarity and hype... well, insofar as you can in a pandemic when your friends can't see you outside of Instagram.

[Drama Lama]

On 12/8/2020 at 2:54 PM, FloRolf said:

I thought they bought Beats for that? 

that's what i thought but I guess beats aren't selling that great. Or apple just realized they can sell headphones very well under the apple brand.

[Commodus]

10 minutes ago, Drama Lama said:

that's what i thought but I guess beats aren't selling that great. Or apple just realized they can sell headphones very well under the apple brand.

It's a question of segments and branding.

 

Beats is the generic headphone brand Apple can use to reach people regardless of price or platform. It can sell you $50 Beats Flex buds or $350 Beats Studio 3 headphones; it can cater to hardcore Android users as well as iPhone devotees; it can festoon products with buttons and wild color schemes.

 

AirPods are the more sophisticated offerings aimed at Apple users. They might not sound the best (the jury's out on the Max), but they include intelligence you won't find in Beats and are focused more on balance and elegance. The AirPods Max give Apple a way to sell over-ears that won't conflict with the Beats brand, and opens it up to higher-end hardware that wouldn't make sense with a big "B" logo on it.

[Lord Vile]

14 hours ago, AvMaverick said:

AirPods Max are standard Apple behaviour.

1. Slightly modified form factor than the rest of the market, very metallic.

2. Part replacements demand a premium. ($50 Cushions)

3. Highly-priced for the product they are.

4. Tapping into a price-form factor zone never tapped into.

5. Market shockwaves.

I don't think you can say something is highly priced when you don't know how good they are...

[Random_Person1234]

According to this ex-Apple designer, development for the Airpods Max started about 4 years ago, which is around when the original Airpods were released.

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

2 hours ago, Random_Person1234 said:

According to this ex-Apple designer, development for the Airpods Max started about 4 years ago, which is around when the original Airpods were released.

Are we surprised? Apple plans their products way in advance. They probably had the iPhone X key features at least drafted in 2015 or 2014...

[Lord Vile]

1 minute ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

Are we surprised? Apple plans their products way in advance. They probably had the iPhone X key features at least drafted in 2015 or 2014...

The iPhone was in dev for like 2.5/3 years

[RGProductions]

I don't see any reason for this to exist. AirPods were a success because they changed the game, this regresses it at nearly double the price of other high end products

[Guest]

Well, rather than saying they suck before ever touching them, I shall see what's what in about 6 days.

[FakeNSA]

14 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

Well, rather than saying they suck before ever touching them, I shall see what's what in about 6 days.

I eagerly await your results.

[Action_Johnson]

Where's the headphone jack? 

 

Such Sound. Much professional.

[Guest]

On 12/9/2020 at 5:55 AM, RejZoR said:

People think everyone buys Apple stuff just because of logo. Maybe shallow Americans with their stupid fashion brands and endless need to flash brands around to feel special. I bought AirPods 2 because they are one of rare remaining earphones without garbage a** silicone tips that I absolutely despise. And I like the way EarPods that came with iPhone XR sounded so I assumed AirPods 2 sound the same. And they do. And I only use them on Windows 10 systems. Only used them with iPhone once when i bought them to check the magical pairing, but since then, never used them with phone. And I'd buy them again. I just hope Apple will keep this classic design around and won't replace them entirely with dumb silicone "Pro" model... If you like that, have it, just leave my AirPods classic design around.

The original AirPods are fantastic. I’ve owned both and currently use the AirPods Pro, they fall out over time. Never had any issues with the original falling out, but these AirPods are really bad at keeping in your ear. 
 

For the topic:

Was waiting for these, going for the Sony XM4s. I don’t care for sound quality too much, and it probably won’t be significant to justify the price. I’d love to go Apple, but these are way out of my price range.

[Commodus]

2 hours ago, NotTheFirstDaniel said:

Are we surprised? Apple plans their products way in advance. They probably had the iPhone X key features at least drafted in 2015 or 2014...

Reminds me of how people used to cry that Apple was surely copying the LG Prada with the iPhone. Jobs explicitly said "it's a day I've been looking forward to for two and a half years," but some people were absolutely convinced he looked at the Prada and had a phone designed virtually from scratch in a few months.

 

It's the same reason why Apple is shipping new iPhones with Face ID several months after a pandemic hit. It's really hard to turn things around when your design and production ramp has to be locked in relatively early.

 

The closest I've seen happen to that is the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung was chasing after the original iPad when it unveiled the design in January 2011 (I know, I held that version myself), but when the iPad 2 was announced it panicked and had a complete external redesign in several weeks.

[AvMaverick]

3 hours ago, Action_Johnson said:

Such Sound. Much professional.

[Bombastinator]

They didn’t actually do a literal “one more thing” for a set of headphones did they?

[AvMaverick]

3 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

They didn’t actually do a literal “one more thing” for a set of headphones did they?

It was a Newsroom release. Technically a "One More Thing"

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, AvMaverick said:

It was a Newsroom release. Technically a "One More Thing"

But there wasn’t a big convention or whatever where they introduced a bunch of other stuff and at the end literally said “Oh, one more thing..”.  A press release would be reasonable.  A set of cans isnt on the same level as the original iPhone or the M1 macs though.

[AvMaverick]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

But there wasn’t a big convention or whatever where they introduced a bunch of other stuff and at the end literally said “Oh, one more thing..”.  A press release would be reasonable.  A set of cans isnt on the same level as the original iPhone or the M1 macs though.

More like "Hey, One moe thing in 2020 (even after we launched a lot of stuff this year), for Xmas"!