Most importantly, and as acceptable as the standby time has been without the case, it still isn’t on a par with competing headphones, and the only difference is the presence of a power switch on every single example of the latter. Indeed, many of the people who have commented on my previous AirPods Max content have agreed that they’re best suited to home use, which means these headphones spend far less time in any kind of case – stupid or not. They look wonderful on a headphone stand like my favourite from Benks, and you won’t stop admiring them if they’re simply placed haphazardly on your desk. ConclusionĪs noted above, it’s possible to rid your life of the stupid AirPods Max case and still benefit from low power mode if you choose the right case, but the fact remains that these headphones have been designed to be on show. If you’re interested, I’ve been using the co2CREA Hard Storage Case, which is now available with sleep mode (many other examples exist, including the wonderful option from Waterfield Designs). Sure, you’re going to need to invest in an alternative case – which is yet more expense – but at least it will actually be a case. Getting rid of the stupid case entirely is akin to Alan Partridge removing the ‘cock piss Partridge’ graffiti from his beloved Lexus you can finally enjoy your headphones without feeling like everyone is laughing at you. It was a very silly, obnoxious, and downright pretentious design decision by Apple. It looks silly, feels horrible, and, worst of all, offers no meaningful protection for your expensive AirPods Max. It was a laughing stock right from the moment Apple launched their most expensive pair of headphones. The AirPods Max case dents the ownership experience. This is partly for comedic effect, but there’s a serious point attached to my schoolboy antics. A new ownership experienceĪnyone who watches my YouTube channel will know that I’ve made a bit of a ‘thing’ about throwing the AirPods Max case either over my shoulder or inadvertently in the direction of my 16” MacBook Pro. While not exactly ground-breaking, that feels fair, given the time they’ve been in use (I’d estimate it’s a good few hours), and the fact that in-between use, I haven’t even considered plugging them in.īut there’s more to this caseless world than relatively good standby performance. I’ve simply grabbed them when I fancied a listen, or when it was convenient to do so.Īs a result, I haven’t charged them for over a week, and the battery now finally stands at 1%. I’ve not used my AirPods Max consistently during that time. The standby time hasn’t felt any different to what I was achieving with the stupid case in tow. For the last two weeks, my AirPods Max have either dangled from their stand or sat within a non-low-power-mode-equipped hard case. Well, that, and the fact that someone pointed out the standby time without the case is practically indistinguishable from that of when AirPods Max are encased within it. This was the reason for my No Stupid Case experiment. It’s not there yet, but I’ll get to that later. Now, it’s getting closer to the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM4 and Bose QC45. In fact, it was noticeably worse than the standby time exhibited by every other pair of over-the-ear wireless headphones I own. Last March, Apple issued a firmware update for AirPods Max which fixed one of its biggest flaws – the standby time.īefore the lovingly named 3C39 update, standby time on AirPods Max was pretty dreadful. More in-depth tests are out there, conducted by people far smarter (and more patient) than I. I’d rather eat my own hair than sit down and obsess over every last second of battery performance under differing conditions, use cases, and against every possible competing product. I don’t undertake any kind of rigorous testing on anything. Disclaimer (and a reminder about my battery tests) So, a couple of weeks ago, I threw it in the bin. Nothing else beats their build quality, design, or inevitable convenience when placed within the Apple ecosystem.īut there’s just one problem, and for many, it’s a dealbreaker. This may well suggest that we’ll see a new version soon, but that’s completely irrelevant and, as Jon Prosser demonstrated last year, impossible to predict.ĪirPods Max are a superb pair of consumer headphones. Prices are dropping – quite significantly. I firmly believe that now is the best time to grab a pair of AirPods Max if you’ve been longing for your own pair of Apple’s most expensive headphones.
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