Apple announced AirPods Max, an innovative Bluetooth 5.0 wireless headphone design that brings the quality experience of AirPods to an over-ear format with high-fidelity sound. The AirPods Max combine a custom acoustic design, H1 chips, and advanced software to power computational audio for a breakthrough listening experience with Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio. The AirPods Max come in five colors, including space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink, and are available to order with availability beginning Tuesday, December 15.
“AirPods are the most popular headphones in the world, beloved for their effortless setup, incredible sound quality, and iconic design. With AirPods Max, we are bringing that magical AirPods experience to a stunning over-ear design with high-fidelity audio,” says Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The custom acoustic design, combined with powerful H1 chips, and advanced software enable AirPods Max to use computational audio to wirelessly deliver the ultimate personal listening experience.”
From the canopy to the ear cushions, every part of AirPods Max is carefully crafted to provide exceptional acoustic performance for each user. The breathable knit mesh canopy, spanning the headband, is made to distribute weight and reduce on-head pressure. The stainless steel headband frame provides strength, flexibility, and comfort for a wide variety of head shapes and sizes. Telescoping headband arms smoothly extend and stay in place to maintain the desired fit.
Each ear cup attaches to the headband through a revolutionary mechanism that balances and distributes ear cup pressure, and allows it to independently pivot and rotate to fit the unique contours of a user’s head. Each ear cushion uses acoustically engineered memory foam to create an effective seal — a critical factor in delivering immersive sound. The Digital Crown, inspired by Apple Watch, offers precise volume control and the ability to play or pause audio, skip tracks, answer or end phone calls, and activate Siri.
The Digital Crown provides precise volume control and the ability to play or pause audio, skip tracks, answer or end phone calls, and activate Siri. The noise control button easily switches between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode. The ear cushions use acoustically engineered memory foam to create an effective seal for immersive sound, and an Apple-designed knit textile wraps each ear cushion for added comfort.
Inside each of the anodized aluminum cups, the AirPods Max features a 40-mm Apple-designed dynamic driver, using a unique dual neodymium ring magnet motor that Apple says, "allows AirPods Max to maintain total harmonic distortion of less than 1 percent across the entire audible range, even at maximum volume."
And expanding on what's possible with the AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max are equipped with an Apple-designed H1 chip in each earcup, combining custom acoustic design, and advanced software, while using computational audio to deliver the highest quality listening experience possible. Utilizing each of the chips' 10 audio cores — capable of 9 billion operations per second — computational audio powers a breakthrough listening experience that includes Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio.
In total, the new Apple design combines five sensors per earcup, with one optical sensor, one position sensor, one case-detect sensor, one accelerometer and one gyroscope (this one only on the left ear cup), coupled with nine microphones in total, eight of which are used for Active Noise Cancellation, and three are optimized for voice pickup (two shared with Active Noise Cancellation and one additional microphone).
The AirPods Max use Adaptive EQ to adjust the sound to the fit and seal of the ear cushions by measuring the sound signal delivered to a user and adjusting the low and mid-frequencies in real time — bringing rich audio that captures every detail.
The AirPods Max deliver immersive sound through Active Noise Cancellation so users can focus on what they are listening to. Each ear cup features three outward-facing microphones to detect environmental noise, while one microphone inside the ear cup monitors the sound reaching the listener’s ear. Using computational audio, noise cancellation continuously adapts to the headphone fit and movement in real time.
And with the AirPods Max, users can switch to Transparency mode to simultaneously listen to music while hearing the environment around them — ensuring everything, including a user’s own voice, sounds natural while audio plays perfectly. Switching between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode can be done with a single press using the noise control button.
Finally, like the AirPods Pro after the firmware update, the new headphones use spatial audio with dynamic head tracking to place sounds virtually anywhere in a space — delivering an immersive, theater-like experience for content recorded in 5.1, 7.1, and Dolby Atmos. Using the gyroscope and accelerometer in AirPods Max and iPhone or iPad, spatial audio tracks the motion of a user’s head as well as the device, compares the motion data, then remaps the sound field so it stays anchored to the device, even as the user’s head moves.
The new AirPods Max headphones join the existing AirPods family in delivering Class 1 Bluetooth 5 wireless audio, whether a user is listening to music, making phone calls, enjoying TV shows and movies, playing games, or interacting with Siri. The magical setup experience users love with today’s AirPods and AirPods Pro extends to AirPods Max with one-tap setup, followed by automatic pairing with all the devices signed in to a user’s iCloud account, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.
AirPods Max automatically detect when they are on a user’s head using the optical and position sensors. Once in place, the headphones play audio and can pause once removed or when the user simply lifts one ear cup. And voice calls and Siri commands are crisp and clear due to beam-forming microphones that block out ambient noise and focus on the user’s voice.
One of the most relevant features, considering the selling price, is the fact that the AirPods Max feature great battery life with up to 20 hours of audio listening, talk time, or movie playback with Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio enabled. And the AirPods Max come with a stunning soft, slim Smart Case that puts AirPods Max in an ultra-low power state that helps to preserve battery charge when not in use. The headphones charge via Lightning connector (the package includes also a Lightning to USB-C cable) and with only 5 minutes of charging time, will provide around 1.5 hours of listening time.
Automatic switching allows users to seamlessly move sound between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. And when playing music on a Mac, users can easily take a call on iPhone and the AirPods Max will automatically switch over. Audio Sharing makes it possible to easily share an audio stream between two sets of AirPods on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV 4K. And users just need to simply bring AirPods Max near the device and connect with a single tap.
Voice recognition capabilities with Siri include the ability to play music, make phone calls, control the volume, get directions, and more. Siri can also read incoming messages as they arrive with Announce Messages with Siri.
The AirPods Max are available from December 15, 2020, and can be ordered for $549 (US) in the US and more than 25 other countries and regions.
www.apple.com
