Oh Apple! I know it’s impossible to please everyone at the same time… but you could at least try!
I love my pair of 1st Gen AirPods Max. They sound amazing, have almost the best noise cancelling around, and I’m a fan of the simple yet useful control buttons. But in 2025, even with an ‘updated’ 2nd Gen version, I just can’t recommend them to anyone.
Why? Because you can get the near-perfect Sony WH-1000XM5s for £207 at Amazon instead.
The Sony WH-1000XM range has been dropping the jaws of audiophiles and fans of active noise cancelling (ANC) for nearly 8 years (they offer the best noise cancelling available). And with the XM5s, they made a classic. Excellent sound, industry-leading ANC, a light, comfortable frame, and a chic look, all made these cans win perfect marks is our sister site What Hi-Fi’s Sony WH-1000XM5 review. Now the XM6s are out, there are some seriously tempting deals on the XM5s.
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Great for indoors, but if I want a pair of headphones for travel, these are too heavy.
Now, this revelation is coming from a committed Apple Muncher. I love the OS ecosystem, love the MacBooks, Mac mini, the iPads… everything! And in 2020 the AirPods Max were a rare example of Apple actually trying something new. And it rocked! I’d not heard sound from wireless headphones like it. The look fit into my Apple-crowded home office, and the noise-cancelling worked wonders when I needed to drown out my lovely partner’s incredibly loud voice when she was in meetings.
Thing is, they cost $549/£549, were made of metal and were a little heavy, and so I never took them out of the house. They’re just not that travel friendly. Fast forward to 2024 and the release of the new generation model and… they’re exactly the same! Same price and specs, apart from you get a USB-C charging port instead of a Lightning one. One change in four years? Not exactly vaulting ambition Apple!
If the 2024 ‘update’ that Apple offered had included a new design, a lighter frame, a budget version, hell anything more than a port change, I may still be hunting for the AirPods Max deals. But as it is, it’s the XM5s that I’d get today.
