Apple’s long-rumoured over-ear headphones have arrived; introducing the AirPod Max.
The tech giant has not been in the headphone game long, but its in-ear headphones have quickly become some of the most popular wireless buds on the planet. Indeed, you’ll be hard press to go outside these days without seeing a dinky white pair of earphones in someone’s ears.
After the AirPods and the AirPod Pro (which come with active noise cancelling), it was long-rumoured that Apple would be applying its wireless headphone technology to an over-ear pair of cans. And the rumour was true.
These AirPods borrow the ‘Max’ moniker from the brand’s iPhone range, to denote it’s rather bigger than the rest of its headphone brothers.
According to Apple, they are both incredibly comfortable and provide a superior listening experience to other headphones.
They use larger 40mm Apple-designed dynamic drivers, to deliver base, middle and high ranges. And there’s also a dual neodymium ring magnet motor, to keep distortion at a minimum. In non tech speak, that means you should get sweet-sounding tunes no matter the volume.
The headphones are further enhanced with Apple’s smart H1 chip, that can provide active noise cancellation as well as spatial audio, that should make audio that much more immersive.
They should be comfy, too. Apple has crafted the ear cups from memory foam, which will seal your ears away from the noise of the outside world. Apple has used a breathable mesh to hold each ear in place, which it says evenly distributes the weight of the headphones, and each cup has been designed to independently pivot and rotate to best fit the wearer’s head.
Apple also borrowed the Digital Crown from its Watch, letting you easily control volume, pause, play and activate Siri.
According to Apple, the earbuds have enough juice for 20 hours of playback – even with noise cancellation on full. And when they are stashed in their included carry case, they go into an ‘ultra-low power mode’ which should further extend battery life.
Apple’s AirPod Max headphones are available for pre-order starting right now. They will hit heads (and stores) on December 15.
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