Apple’s AirPod Max. Image:Apple
Apple’s new over-ear AirPods Max has cool features and carries a very ‘Apple’ price tag
The headphones’ controls take design cues from the Apple Watch, with battery life rated at around 20 hours with all of the AirPods Max features activated.
Apple’s AirPod Max. Image:Apple
Apple has announced that it has started taking orders for its long-rumored over-ear headphones bearing the AirPods brand.
Called AirPods Max, they take design cues from existing Apple products and use several internal sensors and microphones to deliver what Apple says is “computational audio” features.
Priced at $549 (R8 000), AirPods Max is fully wireless headphones, and they use Bluetooth aided by Apple’s custom tech to connect to audio sources like an iPhone or a computer.
Smart case
The AirPods Max come with a “Smart Case” that protects the headphones for storage and puts the headphones in a low-power sleep mode.
Additionally, the case has a Lightning port, allowing users to charge the headphones with an included Lightning to USB-C cable.
The above-mentioned sensors include an optical sensor, a position sensor, a case-detect sensor, and an accelerometer in each ear cup, and a gyroscope in just the left ear cup. There are also nine microphones.
One is devoted exclusively to voice pickup, while the other eight are used for active noise cancellation; two of the mics perform double duty.
In addition to the active noise cancellation that is standard in many headphones at or below this price point, computational audio features also include transparency mode (as seen in AirPods Pro previously), spatial audio, and adaptive EQ.
The built-in sensors can also be used to detect when and how the headphones are being worn, driving some convenience features like automatically pausing music playback when you lift one of the ear cups.
Available in 5 Colours
Available in five different colors (silver, space gray, sky blue, pink, and green) and featuring a “40-mm Apple-designed dynamic driver” on each side, the AirPods Max use a stainless steel flexible headband covered in breathable mesh that’s paired with what Apple calls a “revolutionary mechanism” where the strap connects to each ear cup.
This supposedly allows the AirPods Max to adapt to the unique shape of every wearer’s head, while memory foam cushions promise a tight seal around the ear.
The AirPods Max takes advantage of Apple’s wireless H1 chip so that pairing is a seamless process when used with Apple devices. And in lieu of touch-sensitive pads on each ear cup that detects taps and finger swipes for adjusting the sound and playback, the AirPods Max borrow the Digital Crown from the Apple Watch, hopefully providing a more precise and mechanical way of making volume adjustments and quickly accessing other shortcuts.
Battery life is rated at around 20 hours with all of the AirPods Max features activated.
Tags:
