Apple unveiled an update to its five-star, award-winning AirPods Max wireless headphones at its September iPhone launch event, ending months of speculation about its plans for the line.
This would normally be a cause for excitement at What Hi-Fi? towers, with Apple's first generation over-ears remaining a stellar option for iPhone and MacBook users, but my immediate reaction to the launch was disappointment.
Why? Because rather than the holistic next generation AirPods Max 2 rumoured to launch alongside the iPhone 16 and new AirPods 4 earbuds, we got a very tepid refresh. The only upgrades include three new colours (blue, purple and orange) and a shift to use USB C charging, rather than Apple’s ageing Lightning connector.
Are these upgrades bad? No, I am willing to put my head above the parapet and admit I am particularly drawn to the orange option. The inclusion of USB C is also a good quality of life improvement that will reduce the number of cables you need to carry around.
But they don’t address key issues that are becoming more and more noticeable as the years roll on. The biggest is the fact they haven’t been updated to offer lossless playback. This feels like a really odd omission given that Apple Music has offered lossless audio quality tracks since 2021 and adding the capability could have made the already great sounding headphones so much better – trust us, lossless makes a difference when done right.
However, as my disappointment built up I realised I wasn’t surprised for one simple reason: the first generation AirPods Max are still among the best wireless headphones available for audio quality in their class, especially for Apple users.
Though they require a compatible Apple source to unlock features, including Apple Spatial Audio (powered by Dolby Atmos), the first generation AirPods Max are so good, we continue to use them as a benchmark for quality during comparative testing. This was the case when we reviewed the Sonos Ace and Dyson OnTrac earlier this year.
And in this instance, running them head-to-head, we found the AirPods Max are still excellent, offering superb audio and noise-cancelling that was a cut above what the new headphones offered.
Apple’s also clearly aware of this as its reps’ boasted the AirPods Max will offer the same “highest fidelity sound quality” and “personalised spatial audio for film and music” as the first generation, rather than focus on any improvements.
With that in mind, it makes sense that Apple engineers don’t feel the need to do a holistic, back to the drawing board update yet. Why bother when the first generation are still doing so well and it’s easier to do a minor cosmetic, quality-of-life update?
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