3 beats wireless headphones vs Airpods Max headphones
Now, this won't be a dedicated review, but more so a detailed to kind of overview of my experience my thoughts and opinions with the airpods max headphones versus the three other options of headphones which are going to be the;
- $339 Bose headphones 700
- $275 Sony WH1000XM 4 newer version or the cheaper option the Sony WH1000XM 3 headphones
- $400 Drop+THX Panda Wireless.
So all three wireless headphones I think are just a better option for the money in the end.
We'll still go through it all again talk about my experience, my opinions, you just want to think about the new 3 beats wireless headphones vs airpods Max headphones 2021.
Apple products
So first up just taking a look at them, like most of Apple products they do have that clean design and they have a pretty premium look i'd say they definitely stand out the construction here for the ear cups, is this a nice aluminum, and they're a matte finish and just from my handling, they seem to do a pretty good job of avoiding picking up on your fingerprints as well.
You do have these nice and smooth telescoping arms to adjust the size of the headband. Have you a larger or a wider head.
I don't mind it too much, it's not as satisfying as other you know clicky heavy adjustments out there, and up top for the headband is this really interesting mesh material, and honestly I kind of like it just due to the way it's constructed obviously if you just lay it on your head, it will kind of vent just sit naturally and do the materials, it'll kind of just even at the balance of it, but really just in terms of visuals you know talking just purely aesthetics.
I really don't mind that at all There are definitely a nice pair of headphones. So for color options we have it here in the space gray.
It's also available in silver, a sky blue, a light green, a pink color, and clear because clearly these headphones are too expensive. I'm just kidding clear isn't real.
Please clap. On the side, we do have this digital crown for taking calls adjusting volume and playback controls, it's pretty much just like a bigger crown, like they have on the Apple Watch.
And then next to that is a button for toggling noise cancellation just toggling on and off.
Ear cup versus Other pairs of headphones
We'll talk about this more in detail in a minute but first I really dislike the fact that they're on top of the ear cup versus like every other pair of headphones in the world either have it on the back side or underneath it's just more natural that way versus having it up top, and also with the design of the aluminum ear cups, they clash against each other in hard when you're not using them.
It's like hitting rocks together to combat that Apple gives you the headphones purse or the hearse that you're gonna want to end up in once you realize that this is the case they give you four or $550 pair of headphones.
It doesn't make any sense they looked at this case and thought, yep, that's a that's a like, that's the final case, I mean hell we didn't really go over it yet but for the other headphones, like the Bose.
Include a carrying case, Sony, you know, even the drop handle headphones. Yes. All three have actual carrying cases.
What are you doing, like, seriously. What kind of cases this if I ever see anybody like walking on the streets carry their headphones, like this with this case.
Go straight up just just bought a quick company there because they have those Apple blinders on, you know. So, what is the benefit of this kind of battery life, you can say not really though, so when you sit down your AirPods Max's leave me for five minutes, they go into a low power mode.
Then after 72 hours of sitting stationary, it goes into the ultra low power mode to preserve battery, but if they are in the actual smart case and you're not using them.
They go into that low power mode immediately but after 18 hours in the smart case the air pods max go into the ultra low power mode.
What the hell does that mean right, pretty much if you put them in a case then they go to low power mode, but work really gets confusing is Apple doesn't even explain the difference between what they deem low power and ultra low power drainage so there's no way for even us to even like test that out because no way to tell you, if it's in low power, or ultra low power so definitely it's confusing.
And also with their own verbiage they always say stationary when it's stationary then it goes into low power versus ultra low power.
But what if it's not stationary What if I bring these around with me What if I move them in that 72 hour time period. What if I put them in my bag, not in the case.
Is it draining more batteries it's not stationary so it's not going into ultra low power mode Bruno's.
Also, guess what, there's no power button. You heard that right. So they didn't include a power button. They also didn't include a cable for Wired listening, and you can't plug lightning cable into the USB C port on your computer and get any sound out of these.
If you want that either drop in additional $35 on the cake here is there's no passive mode. So if these die You can't just plug them in and use them and still get audio.
Now they have to have power to use them. But speaking of you know battery life and stuff it's really not too bad.
It's free to add around 20 hours if you plug them in for 5 minutes a charge you get an hour and a half a battery so that's not bad for a quick charge but again you still do need to have them actually plugged in to get battery to use them in the first place.
And the 20 hours I say is pretty on par for me there overall a quieter pair at 100% so I was constantly having them at full blast. So it did drain a bit quicker than other reviewers I've been seeing out there right like 25 or 26 hours. I'll be I found for me 20 hours is pretty accurate.
Headphone's Sound Quality
But let's talk about sound quality because let's face it, that's the most important aspect of buying headphones, especially $550 headphones so honestly they sound way better than I thought they would and I'm impressed.
my initial kind of impression before even receiving these was that I thought since Apple owns you know Beats by Dre the whole production line, it wouldn't have that money kind of bloated base and it would just be beats with a facelift, but now it's not the base here is definitely present, but it's not overbearing and I'd say they're well controlled on the low end on the other side of the spectrum with the higher end frequencies and treble, it's not as bright as I'm used to with my Sennheiser HD 800 S's.
So I would like a bit more sort of sparkle there. But I think in return it makes up for that, with the mids and the sub bass there is just so much presence and detail and clarity here in the mids, that really compliment I'd say instrumentals and mix vocals to sound very true to life in natural so the sound quality here.
Just a lot better than I was expecting. Honestly, I can't lie. I will say one aspect that kind of lacks in is also soundstage, they're not a wide sounding pair of headphones. But again, I'm used to Sennheiser HD 800 S is so different story there.
And I know 95% of you out there are gamers so that's why I don't get too technical when it comes to the technical terms of audio.
Think Like a week ago I used the word sibilance and it might test video and you would have thought, judging by the comments that I was speaking Latin or something so I understand I understand, but also keep in mind that everybody's sort of you know, perception of audio is going to differ from person to person.
When I look for what I prefer in music, what genre music I'm listening to, it's all going to factor in you know how I perceive audio, and how it sounds to me.
So, what one person might think you know sounds good might not be to someone else and every individual is different in how they perceive audio, and what they prefer, so keep that in mind. Before we move on, I'm sure you've heard about their spatial audio, which I feel like is more so it's like a marketing thing because it's only for certain like certified movies and TV shows and what it does is it kind of emulates surround sound I'd say.
So, you have the phone in front of you, you're watching a movie, and it maps where you are, with a gyroscope, and in correlation to what you're looking for, I'm looking over here.
I'm going to hear it more in this ear cups. Are you going to use that and utilize it really not too much but the bigger factor here is Apple's Active Noise Cancelling, which is really really good.
I wouldn't say it's in that top tier some of the best I've heard, and what it does is for example if I'm sitting at my desk, you know, I have my PC to the right of me there's like six fans in there. the age brackets in the room over, and it just completely eliminates that hum from the heater and the sound of my fans going through noise canceling like I said it's just one of the best out there.
And you've also heard about their transparency mode, which sort of mixes in the overall ambience around you what's going on, into your headphones so it mixes in your surrounding audio into your music, it does a pretty good job there as well.
Great for example if you want to you know keep an ear out for the doorbell. If you want to hear a dog barking. But one weird thing I noticed that it does is when I had that on. As I was walking around the house.
It sort of like amplified the air around me into my headphones so you know like for example when you're outside you're recording something on your phone, and just the sound of the wind hitting the microphone how it kind of like blows it out and has that wind sound.
It did that into the headphones but just with the air as I was walking. So not movement friendly. Which brings me into the next portion.
These are not going to be friendly to anybody who is active, or moving around. So with the overall building materials.
These come in at 385 grams which isn't light by any means. These were constantly sliding off my head and just shifting off my ears during use unless I was sitting perfectly still.
So you cannot use these for jogging or working out because they will literally just fall off your head with any sort of movement, the clamping pressure here really isn't that strong either, so if you are laying down or you know working out they're just not going to stay in place, so again if you're standing still sitting at your desk getting work done and yeah they're gonna be fine, but that use case is extremely limited, so for $550 Apple isn't trying to compete with Bose or Sony in the market. They're competing directly with themselves by driving away any new potential customer at this price point.
And you can be one of those out there who's saying oh there must not be that expensive of throw it out of stock no ship until March. For all you know, Apple could have made 500 of each color so they go off the shelves quick, you see out of stock and when it does that drives pipe, it drives demand when something's out of stock.
That's what they're doing. For $400. Yes, I'd recommend them pants down for 550. No way too expensive case dismissed, bringing the dancing lobsters my fancy lobsters I mean the three other headphones, we've got to get to.
So let's do that now. So we'll do a rundown of each of these three, just to give you an idea, I think the best mix of design comfort, good sound quality and Active Noise Cancelling is the Bose 700 headphones, the best overall value are the Sony's great sound quality, their bass heavy and a similar sort of noise canceling effect like we have on the air pods Max, and he's the best overall sound quality.
I say, drop Panda, there is no ANC here, they sound absolutely incredible. You can't even tell that they're wireless.
Drop Pandas Headphones
So let's talk about them. First up, the drop pandas. These headphones are collaboration with drop in THX, and I am extremely impressed with the sound quality here, just the final execution.
For the price of $339 they are the pricier option out of these other two recommendations, but they're still 150 less than the air pods Max, and to control your volume and playback control all that is done with a joystick implemented on the right side.
And I will say it works great, it's just really user friendly, and it is one of the better implementations of an all in one button I've seen, but these do something pretty rare.
So, first, like I said, these don't have the active noise cancellation like the other three feature with the amplifiers used inside here, and they're THX direct technology, but noise floor is practically non existent, meaning that using these wired versus wireless, there is not going to be a noticeable sound difference at all.
You're not going to hear any sort of hissing and that slight sort of airy sound you hear with wireless headphones. When your music is paused you're not playing anything. The best noise floor I've ever heard by far, while still keeping that really good sound quality.
These are bass heavy but in a good way. The overall sound signature I'd say is warm which I always prefer, there's ample clarity in the mids with vibrates in great detail and the treble does give you a bit of sparkle without being you know too over the top or harsh, I wouldn't say that they lack sort of detail in that treble, but man just sound here for being wireless is so good.
Bose headphones 700
The next recommendation is the Bose headphones 700, and I think in terms of actual like visuals and stuff. These are probably what most people envisioned.
When you think of Apple headphones, you know, this sort of design is very Apple like they're clean looking, they're minimal and kind of futuristic plus they're lightweight so that's a plus for people who do jog or work out, they're gonna be great for that, and the noise cancellation inside is pretty good I'd say, just for comparison's sake, I'd rate the Apple AirPods Max, like 8.5, these add give a seven, but what I really like is their app.
I know it sounds dumb, but the app for, you know, controlling your music your ANC levels, creating EQs, it says really convenient, in terms of sound quality i'd categorize these as V shaped, which means having the bass in the high ends the mid range does kind of suffer a bit overall.
If you're looking at the Bose 700 as a total package for like I said before, $340, I think that the most well rounded for the price here for the active user, you know, you go to the gym you walk around the city, you're on the go you're looking for you know that noise cancellation, while still providing pretty good sound for just $200 less than Apple highly suggest these, they will talk to Sony but I dub the best overall value here.
So these the Sony WH1000XM 3 of like I said before the Sony WH1000XM 4, they're 275. These were 155 us like new.
They're just a year difference between the two models that she wants to change which is why I saved money with the Sony WH1000XM 3 route, and for the price whether you go Sony XM 4 headphone and Sony WH1000XM 4 headphone.
There is no way they can disappoint anybody. And I'm sure you've seen a lot of reviews of people comparing and also recommending these versus the air pods Max, because Sony is the king and active noise cancellation, it's the real deal.
I said before, comparison's sake I'd give the air pods max like 8.5 with ANC here, I'm giving Sony A nine design wise, kind of dated yes for looks. But they're still on the lighter side and headband hinge.
It folds in for better portability, that your cups have touch controls for changing tracks and adjusting volume you just swipe on the side, and well maybe you don't want to be physically touching your headphones 24 seven, it is still more convenient than reaching to the top of your ear cups to press a button.
There is also a Sony app for E cueing and adjusting some settings but it's not 100% necessary, and it's not only that user friendly so you don't need it.
We do also have a transparency mode but I'd say it's. Overall, but the sound quality, there definitely V shaped here a bit too bacey, but it's kind of Sony's thing, but I think just for the price they do sound great. In the end, while I do have some complaints of the lack of sort of mid presence.
Again, for the price, it's impossible for us to disappoint anybody, it is a killer value. So again, a quick recap air pods Max, they sound very very good Apple users, you're gonna love them either way, they're just too expensive for my recommendation, the Bose headphones 700, probably the best well rounded in all the categories, overall, I'd say.
Then we have the drop Panda, while they don't have active noise cancellation, they are the best sounding wireless headphones, I've ever heard. And then the best value, just for the price the overall sound quality AMC Sony XM XM for either way.
So, like I said, I pretty much summed it up, beer pods Max, they sound really really good, but He impressed me. They also disappoint me. And for the price of 550.
I personally can't recommend them. My voice is going alright so that wraps it up guys, hope you enjoyed and hope you appreciate the other comparison recommendations to the air pods max if you're interested in.
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