![]() I needn’t go into it in detail today, because we all know how stupid the ‘case’ is, but it borders on insulting.īoth the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max get the controls right. Apple got this biblically wrong with AirPods Max. Starting with the last item on that list, I get some stick for this on YouTube, but I stand firm on my stance that the case remains one of the most important elements of headphone ownership. Winner: AirPods Max (but it’s not really a fair battle) Round 3: ConvenienceĪ great-sounding pair of headphones with the best noise cancelling you’ve ever experienced can be utterly ruined by poor convenience.įor me, convenience consists of the following areas: There’s genuinely nothing separating them in this regard anymore. Transparency mode? Apple remains the king of this barely contested area, but the improvements made to the latest AirPods Pro put them on level-pegging with AirPods Max. This isn’t a failing of the AirPods Pro, but it’s the most obvious example of where the increased mass and physical dimensions of over-ear headphones offer significantly improved noise cancelling over earbuds. However, step outside, and the ability of the AirPods Max to deal more definitively with wind noise and particularly loud environments becomes clear. When you’re sitting in a coffee shop or at home, there’s little to separate the second-generation AirPods Pro from the AirPods Max when it comes to noise cancelling. The world gets noticeably quieter when noise-cancelling is engaged on the second generation, too. If you A/B test the second generation AirPods Pro against their forefather, you realise that the latter feels far more oppressive there’s an audible background rumble on the first generation that is entirely absent on the new pair. The former is, just like the sound, noticeably better. One of the biggest improvements Apple has made to its latest version of AirPods Pro is the noise cancelling and transparency mode. Winner: AirPods Pro 2 Round 2: Noise-cancelling More importantly, the new AirPods Pro sound good enough to make the £300 ‘upgrade’ to the AirPods Max for sound alone, laughable. While the first generation were sonically adequate, the new version sound noticeably better and can happily rub shoulders with far more expensive earbuds. The second-generation AirPods Pro are something else, though. I’ve previously described it as “expensive” for a pair of consumer cans, but when pitched against a pair of headphones that really know what they’re doing, Apple’s effort pales by comparison. This has made me question the quality of the AirPods Max sound, though. Which, again, they should do, given the price and heritage of the brand behind them. They also walk all over the AirPods Max in terms of sound (and far more besides). It’s quite an entrance, too, because the Barthys are the best-sounding consumer headphones I’ve ever heard. The Barthys are their first foray into the over-ear noise-cancelling consumer headphone arena. For the uninitiated, Focal is best known for its dominance in the pro audio field. ![]() I recently pitched the AirPods Max against the hugely expensive Focal Barthys. ![]() I’m going to keep this ultra simple by looking at three key points of differentiation: sound, noise cancelling, and convenience. So, pricing aside, this is a fascinating comparison, isn’t it? Has Apple inadvertently cannibalised its first entry into the over-ear headphone market with an unexpectedly brilliant pair of earbuds? As I’ve pointed out on a couple of occasions, the noticeable improvement in noise-cancelling is giving me more of a reason to choose Apple’s earbuds over a pair of over-ears during my early morning writing sessions. But I was wrong – big time these new AirPods Pro are a huge upgrade over the first generation. I made the assumption that it was just another dull, marginally iterative release from Apple. After all, the second-generation AirPods Pro have been met with universal praise from reviewers, including yours truly. As noted earlier, I suspect that the reason many people are asking for this comparison is simply that they’re curious. That does make this entire Apple product battle questionable. In fact, you’d have enough change remaining to take your loved one out for a relatively expensive lunch. You could buy two pairs of AirPods Pro before you come anywhere close to the price of the AirPods Max. The price difference between these two Apple products is comical. ![]()
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