Apple on Tuesday unveiled its first wireless over-ear AirPods Max with high-fidelity sound, Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio.
Available to order from apple.com and Apple Authorised Resellers for $549 ( R8 243). The AirPods will begin shipping on Tuesday in the US and more than 25 other countries and regions.
According to Apple the AirPods Max combine a custom acoustic design, H1 chips, and advanced software and come with five colours — including space grey, silver, sky blue, green and pink.
Image from Apple
“With AirPods Max, we are bringing that magical AirPods experience to a stunning over-ear design with high-fidelity audio,” said 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.”
AirPods Max sports knit mesh canopy, spanning the headband, that 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. The telescoping headband arms smoothly extend and stay in place to maintain the desired fit.
The headphones feature a 40-mm Apple-designed dynamic driver that provides rich, deep bass, accurate mid-ranges, and crisp, clean high-frequency extension so every note can be heard.
They also 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.
Image from Apple
With 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 the audio plays perfectly.
Switching between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode can be done with a single press using the noise control button.
The battery life is up to 20 hours of high-fidelity audio, talk time, or movie playback with Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio enabled.
AirPods Max require Apple devices running iOS 14.3 or later, iPadOS 14.3 or later, macOS Big Sur 11.1 or later, watchOS 7.2 or later, or tvOS 14.3 or later.
The currently available AirPods start at R3499 and R4999 for the AirPod pros.
