Amazon Is Offering a Great Deal on Old AirPods Max
I love my AirPods Max, but have a hard time recommending them. They are quite convenient, sound fantastic and automatically connect to all my Apple devices. What’s not to love? Well, the price: $549 is almost criminal for a pair of wireless headphones, no matter how good they are, considering there are plenty of competing products on the market that are much cheaper.
Drop the price enough, however, and AirPods Max suddenly becomes a very tempting option, especially if you’re already as deep into the Apple ecosystem as I am. If you’ve been itching to buy a pair but have been put off by the ridiculously high price tag, there’s good news: these headphones are selling in droves during October’s Prime Day —provided you’re happy with the older model.
That’s not to say Apple’s latest over-ear headphones aren’t on sale: they are, just at a much smaller discount. You can get the latest AirPods Max for $499.99 , which is 9% off the suggested retail price. It’s not much of a discount if you’re going to spend $549 anyway, but it’s not a deal I’d recommend. Seriously, if you’re going to buy these things, buy the old model for $349.99. Amazon sold them for the same price during Prime Day in July, but otherwise this is the lowest price these headphones have ever cost.
The main reason I recommend this older model is simple: these headphones are almost identical to the new ones. AirPods Max fans have been waiting for an update for years since the original earbuds launched in December 2020. When Apple finally released the “new” AirPods Max , these fans were very disappointed to find out that the only changes were new colors and a USB port. Support C. USB-C support is great, don’t get me wrong: if you have an iPhone 15 or later, you’ll love carrying a single USB-C cable to charge your devices instead of carrying both USB-C and Lightning cables. . cables in your bags.
However, is USB-C worth the extra $150? Are the new colors worth the price? In my opinion, no, especially when you get the same headphones with the same H1 chip, without any new features. Apple didn’t even add some AirPods Pro 2 exclusive features like conversation recognition or adaptive audio. It’s a bummer.
That said, the $349.99 AirPods Max are a viable option for Apple fans, along with similar options from Sony and Bose. The sound quality is fantastic, perfect for both music and watching shows and movies. If you have an Apple TV, this is by far my favorite way to watch TV since my headphones are way above the soundbar. They are also great for travel, blocking out sounds on planes, trains, cityscapes, etc. Sometimes I don’t even turn on the noise canceling because the seal on the ear cups is quite good.
The choice is yours, but if you’re dead set on the AirPods Max, I think you’ll want to live with another Lightning device for a while and save that $150. The original colors are just good.