I auditioned a bunch of AirPods Max replacements, but none could match Apple's secret AV weapon

A pair of AirPods Max headphone draped over an Apple TV 4K on a white shelf.

After more than five years of daily use, my AirPods Max recently stopped working.

I can't really complain. Between commuting, international travel and a house move, they'd spent years being stuffed into backpacks and suitcases before emerging to soundtrack thousands of hours of music and movies. They'd had a pretty hard life.