Its striking design and its exorbitant price compared to its more direct competition immediately re-sowed the doubt as to whether it was another of the ‘eccentricities’ of those from Cupertino, eccentricities that to be fair on many occasions end up becoming a sales success, if not ask all those who filled the network with memes at the launch of the first AirPods in 2016 and who today wear some in their ears, or worse, a copy of the same.

Be that as it may, these AirPod Max that we analyze today have a lot to prove in a segment such as that of wireless noise-canceling headphones where the competition is wide, good, and, in most cases, cheaper.

Surely you have already seen a thousand photos of them, but it is one of those cases in which the images do not do justice to reality, it is unfair to make any kind of criticism of the AirPods Max without first having had them in your hands.

They are by far the best-built headphones that I have had the opportunity to analyze, and there are already quite a few, here I do not judge their aesthetics it is a purely objective statement.

And it is that the quality of the materials and the solidity of the construction are very surprising, the main skeleton composed of the headband and the mobile ball joints that join it with the two headphones are made entirely of stainless steel, for the capsules we have used the already classic anodized aluminum that reminds us of MacBooks and is available in five colors: space gray, silver, sky blue, green and pink.

As smart as it is impractical

The headband is entirely covered with a very soft and pleasant-to-the-touch silicone in a stronger color tone than we have chosen for the aluminum of the headphones. In the upper part, the one that supports directly with the head, instead of the usual pad they have an elastic grid that ensures that at no time the metal part of the headband rests on the head. Aesthetically it does not seem the most beautiful thing in the world, but I already anticipate that it is one of the key design elements of these AirPods Max.

The mesh fabric is very elastic and seems resistant, perfectly withstands strong and prolonged pressure with the fingers, although I think it should be kept away from sharp objects that could cut it. Be very careful when leaving them, for example, inside a backpack, since this part is completely unprotected even if we use the Smart Case.

If we pull gently, but with some firmness, the union between the headphones and the headband we can lengthen the extension of it up to 3 centimeters on each side. There are no step-like jumps here, you just have to slide and retract the telescopic adjustment until you achieve the fit that you are most comfortable with.

In the Apple Max, there are no creaks, clicks, or the feeling that nothing can break. The union between the headphones and the headband, one of the critical points that any circumaural or “over-ear” headphones are solved using a kneecap with a steel ball that allows bending outwards to facilitate adjustment and a turning game just over 90 degrees.

They cannot be folded on themselves like most headphones, which makes them very difficult to store, all we can do is flatten them to place them on a table or put them in their peculiar case that I will talk about later.

The pads are made of fabric-covered memory foam and have a plastic frame with magnets that allow them to be changed with amazing ease. If the usual thing is to have to carry more than one flimsy plastic tab to replace the pads, in the AirPods Max the process is simplified to the maximum thanks to its magnetic fastening system.

I honestly think it is a genius, which also opens the door to being able to change the aesthetics of the headphones at any time by changing the color of the ear pads.

The pads can be washed, something that is unthinkable with the synthetic leathers that are commonly seen. As for your comfort, or not, I’ll talk later.

The large external surface of the headphones could lead to some kind of touch control, but it is not the case, and after my experience with some models such as the Philips PH805 I have to confess that I appreciate it. The physical controls are more reliable, and allow to be located in areas less prone to involuntary interactions.

Delivers what it promises

This aspect has been simplified to the maximum, and in my opinion, it is very well resolved: a button and a rotating digital crown similar to that of the Apple Watch although ostensibly larger, which is also clickable. Both are placed on top of the right earbud, one at each end of the headband, and are easily accessible with the index and middle fingers of the right hand.

The digital crown is very sensitive, although I have not had any problem of involuntary interaction during my already many hours of use to be able to offer you this opinion of the AirPods Max. The rotation of the crown serves to increase or decrease the volume if you press it once it plays, pauses or answers, and hangs up calls, the quick double-press allows you to jump to the next track, while the three consecutive presses do the opposite effect, one track backward.

To invoke Siri you just have to press and hold the crown, although by default the AirPods Max can also use active listening and react to the command ‘Hey Siri’ at any time and we have it configured in the device to which we have the headphones linked.

As for the second button, it is only used to toggle between the different listening modes: active noise cancellation, normal, or transparency, in that order. Also, if you keep it pressed, it activates the pairing mode to be able to use the headphones with other devices outside the Apple ecosystem.

As with AirPods, AirPod 2, or AirPods Pro you can pair them with Android devices or any audio source with Bluetooth, although leaving aside part of the functions such as Siri always active or the spatial audio system with head tracking, in addition to a great part of the information and configuration options available to iOS or Mac users.

And if you were looking for an on/off button, don’t look for it because it doesn’t exist. The AirPods Max never gets paid at all, although do not worry because it has a trick, you keep reading.