Apple introduces over-ear AirPods Max for Rs 59,900
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alekhkhanna
Innovator
Oh. Sometimes I find the Seinns TWS better than most full cans, but that's primarily because both of us are comparing IEMs to headphones. Physically, it's just impossible to match the active push of an IEM to a full bodied can. The main pro when using the headphones is much much better battery life, better comfort, and possibly lesser hearing loss (and depending on the cans, neutral sound).I tried the XM3 and Bose 700 from a store after i bought my airpods pro. to my pleasant surprise, the airpods sounded better than both of these bigger cans. both of them sounded very thin and cheap like while airpods sounded more full bodied without a hint of sibilance (slightly EQed to pull up the lower frequencies). noise cancellation was obviously better on those two, but airpods does it amazingly well considering the size difference.
I didn’t tell this here before because i know i’ll get called a fanboy and all other reviews suggest otherwise.
im pretty sure the max sound much better and maybe more comfortable ? than both sony and bose. but to evaluate if it’s worth paying the extra it boils down to one’s affordability. if i could easily afford a 550$ headphone, i’d probably go for it
Lol.
I'm a heavy user of WF (not H) 1000XM3. Have heard both WHXM3 and XM4, and after listening to some relatively neutral cans, I am not a fan of Sony's line anymore.
To your point i do think i have heard many others say that seinheiser and grado have better sounding Bluetooth headphones. Wonder why these 60k headphones are comparable to the Sony headphones then? Shouldn't people just say these are in different leagues and apple just blows them out of the water if Sony ones are so crap? They should then go ahead and compare it to better sounding ones which would still be 70-100% lesser than the apple 60k price
I wouldn be surprised if the supply was not the problem. It is common for many companies due to covid. Just look at ps5, motherboards ec.
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alekhkhanna
Innovator
Every company has a signature sound signature. Sony is aligned more with people who like a peppy AQ, where even a neutral tone is heavily colored. Some hate it, many more like it. It's primarily defined for "pop" music, and hence heavily popular.
If you look at the history of development of these cans, they have apparently been made by a team different than Beats. I will honestly trust Apple to give their 100% for this new product.
The price, heh, pure capitalism. As long as others think they're worth 549 USD or 60k INR, who are we to question them ? As a for profit company, they will look into maximizing their profits.
Agree with all your other points. Don't agree with not questioning the price : if the customers don't evaluate and question the price who will? If we are relying on capitalism, surely we cannot dissuade customers doing their duty and evaluating the price. It is not a monopoly but an open market for most of the market (customers) who don't blindly buy from apple but evaluate their options.
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alekhkhanna
Innovator
Speak with your wallet. Every other discussion is useless. That's the only way to tell a company what's working and what's not.
I've always thought otherwise, IEMs sound worse than full bodied cans. And almost every review on the internet tells me the Sony XM3s sound better. I made it a point to try out everything myself and evaluate whether it's good for 'me' or not ever since.
I feel we can question the price worthiness of a product.
If the product in no way is better than likes of Sony and Bose, it makes sense to criticise them. But in Apple's defence, they do have a couple or few USPs for their products. Apple ecosystem being one, and build quality perhaps? Like you said, I fully trust Apple to have given their 100% on this.
This is like those wannabe car enthusiasts saying it's better to get a Octavia vRS than a 330i. The only thing the Octavia comes even close to the 330i is 0-100 time. Sure, it costs more than the skoda, but guess what. It is a bmw and it drives like one. There is simply no comparison.
Here that is not the case. These are not crushing the item priced at 33% just better and that too in some areas. Wrong analogy.
Also the BMW doesn't restrict your performance based on what clothes you are wearing. These headphones restrict the performance based on your os.
the ones who don't are the primary target demographic here. The point here is that you can question the price, you can recommend not buying it to others, but you can't say the company is immoral/unethical for their pricing/business strategy.
rdst_1
Juggernaut
Bro, not everyone does the same level of research for everything. And as I have pointed out before as well, Apple, at least in India, also has a brand value associated with it that is akin to luxury brands. Rich people, who can afford it, buy T-shirts and sneakers worth lakhs.
Talking about other markets, firstly, these are not 3 times as expensive as their nearest competition, the XM4. In US, XM4 are 280 in sales and these are 550. Yes, you are right, that in India these are around 3 times expensive and even 4 times compared to what my friends paid for the Senn PXC 550. But as I pointed out above, in India, Apple have the brand value to be seen as an aspirational luxury brand, so they can get away with whatever price they want to charge.
Lastly, like I said, not everyone wants to research everything, unlike folks like us. For many people, including me in certain cases, a higher priced item will equate to better quality, and if they have the money, they will spend it without thinking twice.
What I would do instead, if I were in the market for a BT HP, was I'll buy both XM3/4 and the Senn PXC 550 and still save 20-30k bucks.
Yep, I was done with Sony since long back, after listening to the M40X which was like less than half the price of the 100AAP (or whatever the model number was) that was it for me. Their XB lineup is the premium of garbage, rest are less. I've heard praises for the V6/7506 though, but I haven't tried them personally. I feel so embarrassed for wasting so much behind them, anyway, i did learn my lesson for that at least.
Yep or buy and use mx4/550 for a year or 2...throw or donate them (if one doesnt like to sell old ones, dont know why not - environment friendly according to apple
- Nobody knew that when they had been producing serviceless products for 20 years and still do)buy newer technology ...repeat
buy newer technology...
Still probably end up saving some money after 2 cycles of using newer tech
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I bet not a single person person in the world who bought the Max doesn't have at least one iOS/MacOS device. Like I said, ecosystem is one USP of the product. If you don't benefit from it, just don't buy it instead of ranting how useless it is to YOU.
80-85% of the world doesn't use ios/mac os, so it is not PERSONALLY USELESS to me but useless to the majority of the world.
Your analogies tied it to open market cars without any restrictions of usage which is why I had quoted it.
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lol and 80-85% of the world cannot afford a 550$ headphone mr. Nobody is forcing anybody to buy anything.
It was just an analogy w.r.t value of a product, not a direct comparison.
I've used 1000XM4 extensively, and NC700 for a brief period.I tried the XM3 and Bose 700 from a store after i bought my airpods pro. to my pleasant surprise, the airpods sounded better than both of these bigger cans. both of them sounded very thin and cheap like while airpods sounded more full bodied without a hint of sibilance (slightly EQed to pull up the lower frequencies). noise cancellation was obviously better on those two, but airpods does it amazingly well considering the size difference.
I didn’t tell this here before because i know i’ll get called a fanboy and all other reviews suggest otherwise.
im pretty sure the max sound much better and maybe more comfortable ? than both sony and bose. but to evaluate if it’s worth paying the extra it boils down to one’s affordability. if i could easily afford a 550$ headphone, i’d probably go for it
If you think XM4 doesn't sound thick/ full, don't know what is!?
Even my modded Mad Dogs and Woo Audio tube amp combo has thinner sound ( I've never heard anything with this amount of layered good bass including the the Denon 2K and 5K)
XM4 sounds really really unrefined and outright bad, but the sound is definitely thick ( only the crazy Nuraphones can make thicker sound, but it's a crazy piece of tech)
Now coming to airprod Pros, they are very convenient, very well designed but the sound quality is really no better than XM4 except a touch less mid bass. The treble is completely artificial ( possibly a TW trade off), overall it's just another typical consumer grade garbage sounding product ( only garbage sounding, must be great for other uses...but the sound quality is PURE GARBAGE) Even a pair of Momentum TWS sound considerably better ( they are possibly more expensive also)
Coming to YouTube reviewers...MKBHD praised headphones like M50X ( absolutely bottom of barrel sound quality) 1000 XM3/XM4 ( the most hyped rubbish sounding wireless headphone), yes he reviewed Sennheiser HD800S, but see the quality of that review!! He doesn't care about sound quality ( possibly not passionate about sound quality)
I've never seen Dave reviewing an headphone before...he took literally 2 minutes to describe the sound quality.
People need to understand one simple thing...no matter how hyped the 1000XM4s are, any half decent headphone will win the battle of sound quality with that POS!!
This Apple headphones need to be compared with similarly priced relatively tolerable wireless headphones..like Dali IO6, Grado open back wireless ( only the sound quality...to judge the DSP correction) or even the lowly PXC550, or the insane B&O H9i.
Comparing something with XM4 only checks the ANC capabalities, nothing more..even 100USD wireless cans sound lot cleaner!!
I'm not bashing Apple, but these stupid reviews!! You don't have to be an audiophile to review a headphone, but you must at least know certain basics of audio, must have listened to a large number of headphones and most importantly understand frequencies with your ears...these reviews are hopeless..but the problem is, most experienced audio reviewers have minimal interest in wireless audio and zero interest when it's made by Apple, which is very wrong thing to do.
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People here are gushing over a 60k headphones like it's an end of the world for them, the same type of people cried when they first saw prices of flagship phones way back when it was not common for a phone to cost 30k. They said oh I can buy a bike for that price, no way I will ever buy any phone that expensive.
Thanks for your informed and unbiased inputs. It is very hard to come by. I would love to hear more such thoughts on products from someone who has a complete understanding and does not belong to either 'camp'.
Have read about your journey on your other threads, so probably you don't have the time but have you thought about starting your own youtube channel?
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I don't understand, never did anyway, how anyone becomes a fanboy of any brand. Apple's phones are the best value for money, no argument even, for those seeking a flagship device. Their MacOS or Mac also told to be very good for working professionals, and I take their word for it as I cannot have (don't wish to either) any experience regarding that. But how that transcends to a dumbass headphone, which is indeed exorbitantly priced is beyond me.
I am dedicating this post to all the fanboys here. You guys are really cute you know.
I am dedicating this post to all the fanboys here. You guys are really cute you know.
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