Are Apple’s AirPods Max Worth It, or Are You Better Off With an Alternative?

Back when Apple debuted the AirPods Max in late 2020, the eye-watering £549 asking price felt especially steep compared to the key rivals at the time, like Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones, Bose’s 700 series, or Apple’s own Beats Studio 3. Those three models launched at £349, have dropped in price since, and are all now succeeded by refreshed models.

In that time, the big AirPods have stuck with the £500+ tag, aside from a few price cuts during certain sales periods. So, are they overpriced or worth shelling out for?

That’s what we’re here to answer. And, well, anyone paying attention to developments in the wireless headphone world will have noticed that Apple is far from the most expensive player in the game anymore. You’ve got some serious audio performance from the Mark Levinson No. 5909, Focal Bathys and the Bowers & Wilkins PX8, with each model delivering more luxury and higher fidelity.

And there are still Sony and Bose models that are significantly cheaper and match the Max at noise-cancelling. But there’s also the Apple “walled garden” to consider, and we’ve got to say these are still the best bet for those comfortably ensconced in the world of Apple.

We’ve had our hands on the AirPods Max for over a year now, and during that time we’ve tested and compared them to several key players from brands including Sennheiser, Bose, Sony, Bang & Olufsen and more. Below, we look at how they stack up against the other top-end contenders.

Apple AirPods Max

Apple AirPods Max

£499 at Amazon£549 at Curry's£549 at Very

Pros

• Apple convenience
• Detailed sound and top transparency
• Great ANC and spatial audio

Cons

• Lightning-only charging
• Rubbish for Android users
• Carrying case is just weird

Apple AirPods Max Specs

Weight	384.8g
Battery Life	Up to 20 hours with ANC on
Quick Charging	Five minutes of charging provides around an hour and a half of listening time
Charging Port	Lightning port
Drivers	Custom drivers, material not specified
Water Resistance	No official water resistance rating

We wanted to get this in right at the top of the review, but if you’re an Apple super-fan and can afford these, you might as well stop reading now, head over to your online store of choice, click “add to basket” and get on with your day. We’re serious. There’s a reason the AirPods Max subreddit community is full of buyers who wished they hadn’t waited around so long and had just bought them sooner.

Below, we may quibble about the sound or value for money. But if you have an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and a Mac and you want a seamless pair of over-ear headphones, then these more than deliver and we’ve got to be frank, most of us can’t hear the difference between many cans in the premium space. The sound you’ll get out of these is pretty much as good as what we’ve heard from many others, but it isn’t the end of the conversation if audio fidelity is your number one focus.

Let’s consider design next. How do AirPods Max look? In a word, slick. The aluminium outer shell on the rounded-off square cups and the stainless steel mesh headband are padded for comfort as you’d expect (the earpieces have soft fabric-covered cushions). They come in several colours: silver, grey, blue, pink and green.

Controls are minimal, with a button to switch between noise cancellation and transparency mode, and a digital crown on one cup to adjust the volume or the track. If you’ve got an Apple Watch you’ll be familiar with this small dial, which can be pressed in to activate Siri or answer calls. There’s also a Lightning port at the bottom of the other cup to charge the headphones up in two hours. This port can wire up the AirPods Max to your phone, iPad or MacBook, but you’ll have to fork out another £40 to buy a jack from Apple.

The design is a little divisive, as it doesn’t take the usual oval or circular visuals of other headphones at this price. We like elements of the look but probably find them both a bit weighty and dainty for everyday use – and they’re a lot larger than others, making them a little less ideal for travel.

There are decisions here that are frustrating too, like the lack of an on/off button, meaning you must use the unusual travel case (yes, it was mocked online for resembling a small purse or a bra, and it still does) to keep them in a low-power state. It’s a strange choice. We’d have preferred a button or toggle to switch them on and off.

Where the AirPods Max does deliver, though, is with comfort. We’d have no problem wearing these all day and they do a much better job with weight distribution and clamping force than a decent chunk of other over-ears out there. The fabric earcups are more pleasant to have on than some leather ones, and you won’t find that your ears overheat in these. They don’t have as much passive isolation as a leather design though. However, we don’t find that a big deal because these are immense noise-cancellers.

Apple is well-known for being at the top of the pile for its active noise-cancelling (ANC) tech, and that’s the case here too. They adapt well to your surroundings, silencing chatter at the office, rumbles on a train or plane or the din of your fellow customers at a coffee shop. In short, they’re fantastic for noise-cancelling and up there with top rivals from Sony and Bose.

After comparing several models that include this tech, we’re confident in saying this: Apple’s transparency is the best.

That’s not all though. They also offer a transparency mode to amplify outside sounds – and it’s a class leader in this department. It’s not even that close. When engaged, it feels like you’re not wearing them at all, and we’ve found it possible to have entire conversations without needing to remove them. In this area, rivals have loads of catching up to do, and they haven’t managed it in the years since the Max launched.

From an audio perspective, the AirPods Max are a high-quality option in the Bluetooth realm. They’re not going to match the fidelity of the best wired headphones, but they do stand toe-to-toe with their main rivals from Bose, Sennheiser, Bang & Olufsen and Sony. They sound superb, with a relatively neutral signature that is free from distortion and has a good amount of width to the soundstage.

In our direct side-by-side comparisons, we came away feeling that most people would be delighted by the performance, especially with how Apple’s “Adaptive EQ” kicks in to recognise what kind of music you’re playing and automatically adjust the levels to give you a better experience. Whack on some Childish Gambino and the bass is boosted, or mellow out to Fleetwood Mac and the vocals are prioritised without you having to lift a finger.

However, we’d also say that these are “particularly good” rather than “exceptionally outstanding” – if that distinction makes sense. If you’re after audiophile-grade wireless listening, we would now recommend a few other models at around the same price or higher. Consider the excellent Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 (£379) for a step up, or the Master & Dynamic MW75 (£549) are also a further improvement on the Max. For a serious upgrade, look at the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 (£599), Focal Bathys (£699) or the sheer audio nirvana that is the Mark Levinson No. 5909 for £999.

The key thing to say here is that while the AirPods Max sound good, they’re not that much better than direct rivals and there are several improved alternatives. Food for thought if audio is your top priority.

When the AirPods Max were unveiled, their battery life was comparable to the other main contenders. In 2024, they’re just a bit behind the rest of the pack. The AirPods Max lasts up to 20 hours with the ANC on, but others now typically last around 30 hours and some battery life beasts go up to 50 hours or more with the noise-cancelling on. We don’t know about you, but we’d find 20 to 30 hours more than enough given that we’re not often away from a charger for that long, but it’s an important aspect of the cans to note.

Also, in our hands-on use, we think it’s important to talk about how fiddly the AirPods can be for power management. They go into a low-power mode after you haven’t used them in a while, or when back in their funny charging case, but if you forget to do this, they do seem to drain juice in the background. It’s annoying that you must remember this behaviour – and it would be solved if the Max had a power button.

Still, that should see about two days' worth of use on a single charge and is still a damn sight better than most noise-cancelling earbuds, which will need to go back in their charging cases after around five to six hours.

If you’re big into watching movies or shows on your iPhone, MacBook, iPad or Apple TV, the AirPod Max gives you a fantastic cinematic experience, with “spatial audio” surrounding you from all directions. Yes, this means we can pop Tenet on and finally hear what The Protagonist is saying, though that might be wishful thinking. In our tests, we’ve loved using this ability for everything from Andor to Severance, and there’s loads of stunning Dolby Atmos content available from the likes of Apple TV+, Disney+ and Netflix.

There’s also a major benefit if you use Apple Music as your main music streaming platform, as you’ll find music in spatial audio available within the service. Depending on the quality of the recording and the mastering, this can sound astonishing. We have been shocked by how listening to Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ or Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ made us feel like we were right in the studio.

Another point for Apple: these headphones can share audio between other Apple AirPods or Beats headphones if you’re listening on an Apple device, so you and your partner or mates can still enjoy stuff together without buying one of those headphone splitters. We’ve used this while binge-watching the first season of Yellowjackets on a train journey, and it worked perfectly for sharing audio with the Beats Solo Pro on-ear cans.

If you’re Team Android, these will still sort of work with your devices, but we have no idea why you’d be buying the AirPods Max when you’re rocking a Google Pixel. As you can’t tweak the settings without an Apple device, we’d say they’re a non-starter for Android fans, and that makes them far less versatile.

After all that, let’s answer the real question: are these worth it? Well, sort of. We’d struggle to wholeheartedly say yes, primarily because they don’t last as long, travel as well, or sound quite as incredible as the new kids on the block. However, if you’re an Apple fanboy, it’s a different story.

There’s nothing else out there offering the supreme simplicity of how these slot into your Apple ecosystem, merrily getting along with all your other kit and instantly pairing to all your devices.

Enjoying your tunes through Apple Music and Dolby Atmos? These make the experience that much better. Delving into the world of Severance on Apple TV+ or Mando’s adventures on Disney+? Yes, that enveloping spatial audio is worth it. And if you’re not a fan of leather, the comfort is terrific, even if they feel a little dainty.

The downsides include a weird charging case, lack of a power button (really!) and that it uses Lightning over USB-C, along with not-that-good passive isolation or overall sound compared to certain rivals. However, the noise-cancelling is still better than many headphones, the transparency mode is the best in the category and we can’t deny that they’re just more convenient for Apple users.

It’s also worth remembering that these are getting a bit old. We think Apple might update them at some point, potentially this year. If you're not in a hurry, that may be as good a reason as any to hold off on parting with your hard-earned dosh.

Apple AirPods Max

Apple AirPods Max

£499 at Amazon£549 at Curry's£549 at Very

Pros

• Apple convenience
• Detailed sound and top transparency
• Great ANC and spatial audio

Cons

• Lightning-only charging
• Rubbish for Android users
• Carrying case is just weird

Apple AirPods Max Specs

Weight	384.8g
Battery Life	Up to 20 hours with ANC on
Quick Charging	Five minutes of charging provides around an hour and a half of listening time
Charging Port	Lightning port
Drivers	Custom drivers, material not specified
Water Resistance	No official water resistance rating

It’s not 2020 anymore, and the over-ear headphone market has changed considerably in the years since Apple released its sole competitor. To say that the AirPods Max cans are overdue an update feels like an overstatement at this point, and it’s true that you can either pay more for a significant leap in quality, or a little less for better performance for around the same cash.

While Cupertino has been sitting twiddling its thumbs, the likes of Mark Levinson, Focal, Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen and Bose have caught up (and in some ways surpassed) what the Max offers.

Unless you need Apple niceties like audio sharing and Find My support or exclusive features including spatial audio that are handy for Apple Music subscribers, we’d recommend looking at one of the key rivals below:

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay HX for £449

While they’re distinctive, there are several other cans we’d consider a bit more stylish than the AirPods Max in 2024. They’re starting to become more popular, and we see them more often when commuting to work on the Elizabeth line in the morning.

If you’re after something unique that stands out it’s worth considering the Scandi delights on offer from the Beoplay HX or Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay H95 (£779). For something really unusual, we’d also consider KEF’s Mu7 (£349) noise-cancellers with their futuristic appeal.

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay HX

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay HX

Now 18% Off

£452 at Amazon£360 at John Lewis£449 at John Lewis

Pros

• Sleek design
• Comfortable fit

Cons

• Not the best noise-cancelling

Bowers & Wilkins PX8 for £599

For sheer luxury, we’d still opt for these over all the other contenders. They sound stunning and have a gorgeous soundstage. The look is pristine and high-end, and we love almost everything about the experience of using them. Sure, they’re expensive too, but you could get the PX7 S2 for £379 and still get the majority of what’s great about the PX8.

Bowers & Wilkins PX8

Bowers & Wilkins PX8

Now 18% Off

£493 at Amazon

Pros

• Stunning sound quality
• Great button controls

Cons

• Imprecise wear sensors

Mark Levinson No. 5909 from £899

We’ve already mentioned above that there are quite a few performers that sound better than the AirPods Max, and the 5909 is the top achievement when it comes to audio reproduction over Bluetooth. They’re highly expensive but worth it and are perfectly optimised to the Harman curve for outstanding performance, especially with vocals.

The Focal Bathys (£699) are a worthy option here too, offering a little more comfort and a slightly more bass-forward signature that is an addictive pleasure to listen to. Both of these cans make you feel like you’re in your little musical bubble.

Mark Levinson No. 5909

Mark Levinson No. 5909

£810 at Amazon

Pros

• Incredible sound quality
• Comfortable

Cons

• Steep price

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones for £449.95

If active noise-cancelling is your primary focus when searching for a new pair of headphones, these outclass all rivals when silencing background noise. They're also, as the name suggests, very comfortable.

Looking for something more affordable? We think it’s worth either looking at these or the Bose QC45s for £249 or the Sony WH-1000XM4 for £219. They’re both much more affordable than the AirPods Max while delivering just as good if not better noise-cancelling in a more travel-friendly and lightweight design. They’re a no-brainer if space in the travel holdall is limited.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

£449 at Amazon£400 at bose.co.uk£450 at John Lewis

Pros

• Excellent noise-cancelling
• Folding design

Cons

• Prone to fingerprint marks