Apple's got new headphones in its lineup. Or does it?

The new AirPods Max 2 are the first proper upgrade to the company's first and only set of over-the-ear headphones, which came out in 2020; the revised version in 2024 only got a USB-C port instead of Lightning, and Apple, again, just called them AirPods Max.

Now, the AirPods Max 2 are here, but the list of upgrades is once again pretty short. I've spent about a week with a pair to see whether these are worth their price; here's what I found.

Design, colors, battery life: No changes

This is the first time, and possibly the last time, I'm lumping all of these together in a headphone review. The reason is simple: They're all the same. The design, weight, and dimensions haven't changed at all. Even the colors on offer are the same: Midnight, Starlight, Blue, Purple, and Orange.

I've had an old pair of Midnight AirPods Max with USB-C (check my full review), and the new ones Apple sent me were Blue. There's literally no way of telling that these are different model numbers and two years apart.

To be fair, there isn't very much I'd change here, design-wise. These headphones look great, they're incredibly sleek and comfortable, and even though I rarely use the physical controls on the right earcup, I have no improvement suggestions there, either.

Some people complain that the AirPods Max are too heavy. At 386.2 grams, they are pretty chunky; for comparison, Sony's WH-1000XM6 and Bose's QuietComfort Ultra headphones, which are also wireless, over-the-ear headphones with active noise cancellation, both weigh roughly 130 grams less. I don't mind the weight, but if you do, just note that nothing has changed in this regard since the very first AirPods Max model.

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What does annoy me is the fact that the AirPods Max can only be fully folded inwards, and when you do that, the chance of one earcup chaffing and scratching the other gets very high with each movement. Apple's Smart Case is practically a must-carry for this reason alone, but I'm unhappy to report that the case is still the same as before: Unsightly and not very protective.

The Blue color was nicer than I thought, because it's far more silver than blue. It is a lot flashier and more noticeable on your head than Midnight, so if you're looking for something subdued, Blue isn't it. It is odd, however, that Apple didn't introduce at least one new color with the new model.

Battery life is still listed at 20 hours with noise cancellation on, and I didn't notice any difference between the old and the new model.

They sound pretty much the same, too

If you're shopping for a pair of headphones, the way they sound should be pretty high on your list of priorities. With the AirPods Max 2, Apple left most of the hardware unchanged, with the biggest difference being the new H2 chip.

In theory, it should improve sound quality; in its marketing materials, Apple says the new model offers "elevated sound quality."

Both the old AirPods Max and the new ones sound excellent. They offer a wide soundstage and plenty of detail across all frequencies. The sound is tuned so that the bass and treble are pronounced, while the mid-range is a little subdued. I prefer to fix that with a trick: On the iPhone, go to Settings - Accessibility - Audio & Visual - Headphone Accommodations; turn the setting on, and select "Tune audio for Balanced Tone". I have it set to Moderate, which makes the overall sound brighter and the vocals more present.

With or without such tinkering, I could not hear the difference between the old and new models. My initial setup was to remove all equalization, turn off Bluetooth, connect the headphones to a MacBook Pro with a USB-C cable, and play some hi-res lossless track on Apple Music, while alternating between the two models. In such a setting, the two models sounded exactly the same.

With the biggest improvement to the new model being the H2 chip, I thought perhaps I could get a bigger difference by going wireless, and switching between various modes and options, including Transparency mode and Noise Cancellation. Nope. I still couldn't hear a difference, aside from noise cancelling being better on the new model (more on that in a bit).

Better noise cancellation and tons of new software features

Apple says the new H2 chip improves noise cancellation by 1.5x compared to the old model. I can't vouch for that exact figure, but the noise cancellation has been audibly improved. I've tested it by blasting white noise and jet engine noise on various speakers around the house, and not only did the new AirPods Max 2 blocked more noise, but they were also better at reducing noise depending on where I turned or how I moved my head.

That said, Apple's AirPods Max 2 still aren't particularly great at noise cancellation. While not directly comparable as they're a different type of headphone, Apple's own AirPods Pro 3 earbuds are a better choice, and not by a little. Wearing them on a busy street makes the outside noise vanish in a spectacular fashion; the AirPods Max 2 make the noise more tolerable, but the effect isn't nearly as noticeable.

The AirPods Pro 3 are worth mentioning here because they also have the H2 chip, and with this latest upgrade, Apple's AirPods Max 2 are essentially catching up with them. This means the AirPods Max 2 now also have features like Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Live Translation, Voice Isolation, Personalized Volume, Loud Sound Reduction, and Siri Interactions. These are all great since they're optional. For example, I like to manually switch Noise Cancellation on and off, but if you prefer the headphones to do it automatically, Adaptive Audio is the way.

Still pretty great, but not all that new

The AirPods Max 2 are Apple's only over-the-ear headphones (if you don't count Beats), and they're an excellent product. They sound pretty good, play nice with Apple hardware, they look great, and they're very comfy (if you don't mind the weight). They're pricy, and you can get better-sounding headphones for the money, but you will never get all of the features listed above in one product.

As a second-generation product, however, they aren't great. They're basically the same as the original, with the only meaningful upgrade being the new H2 chip. This does enable a number of new features as well as improve noise cancelling, but that's where the list of improvements ends. And yes, they're still priced at $549, which is more than you'll pay for similar headphones from Sony, Bose, or Sennheiser.

As a result, I can recommend the new AirPods Max 2 in one case only: If you're an avid Apple user shopping for over-the-ear headphones for the first time. If you have a pair of old AirPods Max at home, it's not worth upgrading, and I'd argue that if you just need something that cancels noise well, you'd do better if you just bought the AirPods Pro 3.