There are ears at Bose and Sony that must be quiet. Apple has revised its AirPods Max 2 and solidified its strengths, instead of correcting its weaknesses. The result is a wired or wireless headset that is extremely attractive, due to its technical prowess, but also very exclusive, due to an exorbitant selling price.
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Yes, wired or wireless. Because to benefit from its best sound quality, Apple’s most high-end headphones need to be connected via USB-C to a source capable of sending it music in its least altered form possible. In the jargon, this is lossless music in 24-bit format sampled at 48 kilohertz. In theory, that’s more sound waves than the human ear can distinguish.
In practice, this is not the main attraction of the AirPods Max 2. It is rather the enhancement of its processor, now compatible with the Bluetooth 5.3 standard, which improves active soundproofing and which adjusts a little better to ambient noise and possible interruptions by colleagues or loved ones who want to talk to you.
A particularity of version 5.3 of the Bluetooth protocol is that it reduces the latency of compatible headsets to less than 150 milliseconds, and sometimes even to less than 60 milliseconds. This means that the delay between the moment when the sound is sent by your sound source, and the moment when your ear perceives it, falls below the generally acceptable threshold for not perceiving any delay (around 200 milliseconds).
Fans of video games where everything is decided with a click of the mouse will laugh because they always need more. Users who just want to watch videos on their iPad tablet will be delighted.
No sound
It’s legendary that Apple still resists offering its customers the ability to personalize the sound settings of their devices. You cannot adjust the sound equalization of AirPods. Fortunately, the Max 2 has good sound cutting. The bass is heavier than expected, and the treble is well isolated.
It is especially the additional sound functions that amaze you. Spatialized sound immerses us in the heart of music, games or videos. And above all, active soundproofing isolates us from our immediate environment in the best possible way.
We guess that the AirPods Max 2 will appeal to still-mobile workers who have to work in noisy environments. Consider a café, a shared office or a cubicle in an open area. Apple’s headphones completely cancel out background noise. Your colleague at the workstation right next to you magically disappears.
It is, as Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang, the sound of silence.
A bubble of silence from which we can emerge when we start a conversation. A non-permanent isolation, therefore, which will avoid seeming downright antisocial.
Fortunately, the AirPods Max 2 have enough battery life for a day’s work, but not much more. Apple, optimistic, announces 8 p.m. This is below standard in this niche. Sennheiser and its Momentum 4, or Sony and its headphones with a name as complex as a password on a banking site (you know which one we’re talking about), each do twice as well.
These also have the advantage of being lighter on the head and on the wallet. At least the steel and elastic canvas headband of the AirPods Max 2 allows them to be worn for a long time without much fatigue. The same can’t be said for the too-thin ear cushion of most other over-ear headphones.
At $799, the AirPods Max 2 continue to be what they are: a good quality, aspirational headset above all. The kind of products Apple does best. The rumor suggests that at least one version of this much more affordable helmet, and with a less equipped technical sheet, could be launched later in 2026.
At the risk of falling into perronisms, allow us this adage: silence is golden, but patience will cost less money…
