The year is not over! With less than three weeks before Christmas, Apple announces theAirPods Max, its first wireless headphones. The AirPods Max has the H1 chip and the same sound isolation features as the AirPods Pro, as well as spatial audio.
It is already in pre-order at 629 €, a price much higher than the high-end helmets of Bose and Sony. It will be available on December 15 in five colors: space gray, silver, sky blue, green and pink.
“With AirPods Max, the magical AirPods experience comes in a stunning over-ear design [qui entoure les oreilles, ndr] offering exceptional sound quality ”, summarizes the marketing manager Greg Joswiak.
The stainless steel headband is wrapped in a breathable mesh fabric headband which is supposed to distribute the weight of the helmet evenly. The pads are attached to the hoop by means of a “Revolutionary mechanism” which must balance and distribute the pressure it exerts. The ear cushions incorporate memory foam designed to preserve acoustics and isolate the ears from outside noise.
No touch gestures like on some headsets to control the music. The AirPods Max features an Apple Watch-inspired digital crown to manage volume, playback, and activate Siri. This crown is located on the top of one of the atria. Another button is present to control the isolation mode (transparency, active noise reduction, disabled). The headset incorporates eight microphones in total for active noise reduction and three for voice detection (two of which are shared with active isolation).
In terms of sound, Apple promises “A spectacular listening experience” thanks to a 40 mm in-house dynamic transducer and two toric neodymium magnet motors which must guarantee a total acoustic distortion of less than 1% on all audible frequencies.
The “AirPods magic” is also promised on this headset which can be easily paired with Apple devices and which interrupts the music when it is removed and resumes playback when it is put back on.
Apple advertises up to 20 hours of battery life in high fidelity listening, talk time, or movie viewing with active noise reduction and spatial audio enabled. The product is charged via the integrated Lightning port (under the right ear cup). Five minutes of charging provides an hour and a half of listening.
The headset is supplied with a Smart Case to activate an ultra-economical consumption mode to conserve the battery. With an Apple device, AirPods Max requires at least iOS 14.3, macOS Big Sur 11.1, watchOS 7.2, or tvOS 14.3. You can admire the AirPods Max in augmented reality by activating the 3D model at the bottom of his product page from your iPhone or iPad.
Here are some interesting details jumbled up: no U1 chip for proximity tracking (the AirPods Pro don’t have one either, but you could wonder); possibility of engraving a message or emojis (up to 7) on the top of one of the earpieces when ordering; fairly high weight of 385 g (compared to around 250 g for the Bose 700 and Sony WH-1000XM4); possibility of using the wired headset using the Lightning to mini-jack cable sold separately.
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