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Tech · Apple · 2020

Apple AirPods Max

Built like nothing else in the category, priced like nothing else, and only fully useful on Apple hardware.

When music comes first, build decides the pair — #2

Overall

8.1

out of 10

Axis scores

Tech is scored on these 5 axes. The total is their plain average — nothing is weighted.

Apple AirPods Max — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. Apple AirPods Max: Performance 8.4, Value 5.8, Durability 8.2, Ease of use 9.0, Design 9.0.PerformanceApple AirPods Max — Performance 8.4 out of 108.4ValueApple AirPods Max — Value 5.8 out of 105.8DurabilityApple AirPods Max — Durability 8.2 out of 108.2Ease of useApple AirPods Max — Ease of use 9.0 out of 109.0DesignApple AirPods Max — Design 9.0 out of 109.0Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Type
Over-ear, closed
Codecs
SBC, AAC
Battery
About 20 hrs with ANC on
Case
Fabric sleeve, no full case

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • Everything you own already has an Apple logo on it
  • You want a metal-and-mesh build rather than plastic
  • Automatic switching between Mac, iPad, and phone is a daily need

Skip it if

  • You need a codec better than AAC
  • The sleeve that ships instead of a real case bothers you
  • Android is your main platform

Machined aluminum cups, a breathable mesh headband, and weight distribution engineered so that 385 grams sits better than lighter plastic rivals. Nothing else in this comparison feels like this, and after several years the materials still look new in a way plastic headphones do not.

Integration carries the rest. Audio follows you between Mac, iPad, and iPhone without a menu; the case shows charge on screen; spatial audio with head tracking works properly instead of as a novelty. Apple controls both ends of that chain, so inside the ecosystem none of it asks anything of you. No competitor can reach that, because no competitor owns the phone.

Step outside and most of it disappears. On Android there is no companion app, no automatic switching, no firmware updates, and the codec is AAC. What remains is an expensive, well-built pair of headphones with good cancellation — a poor value proposition at this price.

Owners raise two irritations consistently. The Smart Case is a sleeve that leaves the headband exposed and does not fully power the headphones down; it puts them into a low-power state, so they drain slowly when stored, and a pair left in a bag for a week comes out with meaningfully less charge. There is also no physical power button, so nothing forces them off.

Cancellation is very good and a step behind the Sony and Bose pairs on this page, which are two and three years newer, and further behind the 2025 successors to both.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.