Apple introduced Airpods Max

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dinesh1201

dinesh1201

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Hi guys,

Just encountered with a news popup about Apple's new Airpod Max.
Pricing is very steep, selling at 59k but it is having a bunch of tech I haven't heard in a headphone.
However many brands like Beyer, vmoda, Sennheiser or many have hp in the same price band.
Interesting to know Guru's thoughts on this :) Is this pricy or buyable with such tech involved?

Regards
D
 
I think people are just bashing it not looking into details. Audiophile groups says it’s gonna sound bad without hearing it. The “normal” crowd says the price is too high for a headphone not knowing it’s a normal price for a boutique headphone. Bowers and Wilkins had more expensive wireless headphones in the past if I am not wrong. Apple claims 1% aTHD on this thing. And if it’s true, it’s incredible considering most drivers whether it headphone or speakers have it above 10 percent.

Also head tracking on a wireless headphone is an incredible achievement. For movies and games it makes the environment “locked” to your screen irrespective of your head movement.

I had loaned a stax along with htc vive for over 6 months as part of a binaural room simulation study and I know how immersive the environment becomes with the help of head tracking. Our ability to locate an object in space can be improved from ambiguous to sharp focused if we move our head left or right a skittle bit(slightly letting us have a different ITD and ILD to locate it) https://www.researchgate.net/public..._movement_Implications_for_3-d_audio_displays

And for VR applications the effect this has is unmatched compared to something without head tracking. Apple is definitely cooking VR to complement this. Also to achieve this on a wireless headphone, there is a tremendous effort behind it unlike traditional hifi companies doing simulation of a driver or something. I am not disregarding their work. But that’s an area that has been in exploration since 1950s and nothing break through has happened outside marketing. It’s always a different material cone, different material of surround, spider could etc , and yet there is no driver which has everything perfect. So forget that lousy engineering for some time and see what can a headphone like this make as a new “normal”. Also, don’t disregard apples audio department altogether. Their 9 dollar lightning adapter is good if not better than many entry level dac amps around 10k and look at how small it is. There is no dac of its size that sounds as good as it is.

I am not promoting Apple, (I had so many bad experiences from their products) and I don’t know if this is a product everyone wants but it’s not nice of people to bash it without even seeing what it offers. May be it’s bad like everyone says who knows?!
 
In the US it's retailing around $550, in India, it's costing us 59K (800$). So, an additional 250$ might be going to custom's pocket + expense towards India operation. Considering the fact that Apple usually sells its product at a 40/50% margin, I am afraid the BOM won't more than $160/170$. At the end of the day, it's huge money that is falling through the cracks. No wonder why Apple is sitting on a pile of $300+ billion cash.
 
OM_2K19 said:
In the US it's retailing around $550, in India, it's costing us 59K (800$). So, an additional 250$ might be going to custom's pocket + expense towards India operation. Considering the fact that Apple usually sells its product at a 40/50% margin, I am afraid the BOM won't more than $160/170$. At the end of the day, it's huge money that is falling through the cracks. No wonder why Apple is sitting on a pile of $300+ billion cash.
Click to expand...
Its the same with every other audio company. If you look at material cost, the sennheiser hd 800 should cost around 200 bucks at the max including the labour in Germany.
 
SachinChavan said:
CNet has a review on it:

www.cnet.com

AirPods Max review: Top-notch sound, noise canceling and a hefty price tag

They're big and expensive, but Apple's AirPods Max over-ear headphones impress with their sound quality and the same extra features found in the AirPods Pro.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
Click to expand...
All the big brands like B&W, Vmoda, Senn and many having the headphone in the price range apple launched. However, after I watched it on YT, really liked the hp. Magnetic earcups, clean design and many other tech they involved in it. Price is good but not for us Indians paying double import duties :(
 
dinesh1201 said:
All the big brands like B&W, Vmoda, Senn and many having the headphone in the price range apple launched. However, after I watched it on YT, really liked the hp. Magnetic earcups, clean design and many other tech they involved in it. Price is good but not for us Indians paying double import duties :(
Click to expand...
Actually I never saw anyone using over the ear headphones out in public when I was in India. Honestly over the ear with fabric earcups are not dust friendly. I don’t know if the scene had changed in the last few years. But at my office some guys used to bring them in their backpacks.
 
Passive_audio_enthusiast said:
Actually I never saw anyone using over the ear headphones out in public when I was in India. Honestly over the ear with fabric earcups are not dust friendly. I don’t know if the scene had changed in the last few years. But at my office some guys used to bring them in their backpacks.
Click to expand...
I used my wh 1000xm3 in office and while travel, and I can see many people on same floor using over the ear headphones. Even while travelling in train, I foundany people using over the ear headphones.
 
Passive_audio_enthusiast said:
Actually I never saw anyone using over the ear headphones out in public when I was in India. Honestly over the ear with fabric earcups are not dust friendly. I don’t know if the scene had changed in the last few years. But at my office some guys used to bring them in their backpacks.
Click to expand...
Over the ears do not provide that much comfort. I never had a chance to purchase one. But there's one open back comes from Grado and heard they are very comfortable.
 
avtar2008 said:
I used my wh 1000xm3 in office and while travel, and I can see many people on same floor using over the ear headphones. Even while travelling in train, I foundany people using over the ear headphones.
Click to expand...
While you walk over the ears looks right on the head. Though I prefer in ears in public, over the ears seems a little bit more flashy to me while commuting.
Imagine some one wearing Sennheiser HD 820 while walking :D
 
dinesh1201 said:
While you walk over the ears looks right on the head. Though I prefer in ears in public, over the ears seems a little bit more flashy to me while commuting.
Imagine some one wearing Sennheiser HD 820 while walking :D
Click to expand...
I've seen quite a few guys nonchalantly flashing similar huge headphones while travelling at peak hour in a packed second class Mumbai local train much to the annoyance of fellow travellers lol
 
dinesh1201 said:
While you walk over the ears looks right on the head. Though I prefer in ears in public, over the ears seems a little bit more flashy to me while commuting.
Imagine some one wearing Sennheiser HD 820 while walking :D
Click to expand...
I saw people in train with dt990 pro and hifiman hexxx. I myself went office with wh1000xm3 when I travel via metro.
 
avtar2008 said:
I saw people in train with dt990 pro and hifiman hexxx. I myself went office with wh1000xm3 when I travel via metro.
Click to expand...
I have dt990 pro... on images, it looks big but when I encountered it in person, found the earcups are of normal size..smaller than Senn HD 598. Quite comfortable. Even wh1000xm3 has a perfect size.
 
In spite of the Negative Rants, It will be sold Instantly;
if a minimally used ones are offered at USA price on HFV Classifieds...
I'm curious about the Efficacy of the Head Tracking Feature, Let's wait for user experience by HFV members.
 
If apple can price a pair of wheels at $999, we shouldn't discuss price in apple product. Apple fan overlooks that part.

Still it have some flaws like weight due metal body and no on/off button. If you dont put it in its bags, then it will go to low-power mode after 2 hours. Moreover, that carry case resembles a ladies private garments.

People will buy it for sure, but even if we forget the price, the headphones have flaws.
 
avtar2008 said:
If apple can price a pair of wheels at $999, we shouldn't discuss price in apple product. Apple fan overlooks that part.

Still it have some flaws like weight due metal body and no on/off button. If you dont put it in its bags, then it will go to low-power mode after 2 hours. Moreover, that carry case resembles a ladies private garments.

People will buy it for sure, but even if we forget the price, the headphones have flaws.
Click to expand...
It’s already sold out if I am not wrong
 
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