Apple AirPods Max Australian review: are Apple’s seriously expensive headphones worth it?

Apple’s new headphones come with an unorthodox design, weight and an unprecedented price. This is how they compare to their rivals.

Apple’s white earbuds are iconic.

Wearing them in public was enough to get you mugged in the early 2000s, and the original models can still be seen on live TV crosses and Zoom calls today.

But after more than a decade issuing these noisemakers — and their stubby, wireless successors — Apple is switching tactics.

The company’s AirPods Max are everything their simple white earbuds were not: they are overhead, over-ear and over-the-top headphones with an unorthodox design and an unprecedented price.

They’re also advanced rather than simple, showy rather than subtle, and not the kind of accessory you’d shove into a gym bag.

Plus, Apple is entering a cutthroat market in which audiophiles picked their favourites long ago (such as Sony, Bose or Sennheiser) and even top models command half their price.

So can Apple’s lavish take on headphones win fans? And are they worth your investment? We tested them for a week to find out.

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT DESIGN?

Apple AirPods Max look like no other headphones.

Their design is a mix of the retro and futuristic: they don’t quite belong in a Kylie Minogue-in-space film clip or on the head of a 1950s air traffic controller, but you can see their inspiration in both scenarios.

Apple's AirPods Max feature an unusual design.

As with the launch of the original AirPods, these headphones are a magnet for comments about their oddball shape, but each design element has a purpose.

The mesh band on top of the AirPods Max helps them rest comfortably on your head, distributing their weight.

Their flexible but tough metal frame should remove the threat of heartbreaking snaps seen in early model Beats headphones.

And the coloured stainless steel finish outside the ear cups looks like a nod to Apple MacBooks.

The padding inside these cups is extra generous — to the point it looks a bit like a pillow — but this is designed to insulate your ears and keep them comfortable. It’s also particularly kind on spectacle wearers.

These pads can also be removed and replaced, as they’re held on with magnets, delivering extra style choices and potentially extending their life.

All of Apple’s design choices do come with consequences though: these headphones are a tad heavy.

The AirPods Max weigh 384g, making them more than 100g heavier than their Sony rivals and more than twice the weight of two iPhone 12s.

The band distributes that weight well across your head rather than clamping on your ears, but it still puts more downward pressure on your neck, which won’t suit all listeners.

Their form also won’t fold down for travel and will require quite a bit of space inside any bag.

IS APPLE ANY GOOD AT NOISE CANCELLATION?

Power tools, lawnmowers, rattling air conditioners all fade to silence with your ears inside the AirPods Max. I actually had to remove these headphones to check whether my neighbour was still playing with his leaf blower.

You can also kill TV noises blaring in the next room and quieten clacky keyboards so much you could underestimate the racket you’re making.

Apple's AirPods Max headphones offer active noise-cancellation that can help users work from home.

Apple cancels these noises by using enough microphones for a small choir.

There are nine inside these headphones, and eight of those mics are designed to measure noise outside and inside your ear cups.

The company has clearly spent a lot of time refining this element as its noise cancellation sounds at least as effective as offerings from long-time leaders Sony and Bose.

Better still, Apple’s active noise cancellation doesn’t feel as aggressive as either of these offerings. While you won’t hear the hum of a nearby air conditioner with this feature employed, neither will you feel like you just entered a vacuum.

There’s a pleasing pressure balance, which also makes it easier to talk to callers when they interrupt your tunes.

DO THEY DO ANYTHING ELSE?

There are a few standout features inside Apple’s big AirPods besides noise cancellation and a slightly bonkers design.

Apple has eschewed touch-sensitive controls in favour of physical ones and it’s not a bad thing.

The addition of a volume knob may sound trivial but it’s a simple shortcut that got constant use in my tests. It can also be pressed for use as a play, pause and skip button, or to summon Siri.

Apple’s headphones feature a volume knob.

The only other button on these headphones switches between noise cancellation and transparency mode, letting you instantly hear what you’ve been missing.

Like their earbud peers, these headphones also offer ‘spatial audio’ or a virtual surround-sound effect.

This is only available with a limited number of videos so far — including Mariah Carey’s Christmas special on Apple TV — but it’s both intriguing and bizarre to turn your head and have the source of the sound appear to move, like you were standing in someone’s highly tuned lounge room.

The audio quality in these headphones is also befitting of its high price.

They use a 40mm driver to deliver well balanced audio across a wide range, and the sound is clear, natural and delivered without distortion even at higher volumes. Those looking for bass-heavy headphones will have to look to the Beats range — the AirPods Max focus on detail.

WHAT ARE THEY MISSING?

Apple’s headphones use what it calls ‘adaptive EQ,’ meaning that automatically make choices about how music should sound.

Many rival headphones let users personalise these settings themselves in an accompanying app, and it may disappoint some audiophiles that they don’t have the choice here.

Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones also offer innovative shortcuts — pausing all features when you touch a hand to your ear cup, for example — that aren’t available in Apple’s offering.

Apple AirPods Max users must put the headphones in a carry case to put them into low-power mode.

In line with Apple’s recent environmentally friendly cutbacks, these headphones also don’t come with a plug or even an audio cord to connect them to a music source, which you should really expect for their price.

And there is one more surprising quirk: you can’t turn AirPods Max headphones off.

While they offer 20 hours of listening time, and longer on standby, they won’t go into low-power mode unless you put them in their purse-like case. There is no on/off button available, which is bound to catch users out if they put them down and step away for a day or two.

APPLE AIRPODS MAX VERDICT

Only Apple could or would deliver headphones as eccentric and appealing as the AirPods Max.

Their design is a part throwback, part throw-forward, and is thoroughly recognisable. Their sound quality and active-noise cancellation skills are refined and enviable, they’re comfortable to wear (if you don’t mind the extra weight), and they’re likely to turn heads in public.

Plus, in a year when so many of us discovered working from home, among noisy partners, neighbours, kids and pets, their release is perfectly timed.

It is a big call to recommend $900 headphones, though, particularly when there are lighter, more customisable, and capable models on the market for less.

Those who buy the AirPods Max — and they are sold out online until February — are unlikely to regret their purchase.

But those who want quality headphones at the best price may prefer to buy two rival pairs for the same money.