AirPods Max 2: Amazing Transparency Mode, Fatiguing Audio, Emotionless Sound
I’ve been using the AirPods Max 2 for a week, and honestly, I’m pretty disappointed with the sound quality overall.
The biggest issue for me is the tuning. The sound comes across as overly aggressive and fatiguing, especially in the upper frequencies. Songs I know and love just don’t feel engaging or emotional on these headphones. Everything sounds technically “clean,” but there’s very little warmth or immersion. I never really get that feeling of being pulled into the music.
I also noticed that disabling Spatial Audio made the listening experience more pleasant. The sound became less artificial and less processed, although it wasn’t a night-and-day transformation.
For context, I’m used to listening with Fiio FT1, Meze 99, and Hifiman Edition XS headphones. Obviously, it’s probably unfair to directly compare wired headphones to wireless, but it does make the AirPods Max 2 sound quite underwhelming to me emotionally and musically.
As for comfort, I do not notice the weight. Build quality is also OK.
ANC is good, but honestly, I’m not blown away by it. My comparison point is the old Sony MDR-1000X, and while I assume ANC technology has improved a lot over the years, I still expected a bigger “wow” factor.
Transparency mode, however, is seriously impressive, feels incredibly natural.
Overall, the AirPods Max 2 feel like a nice piece of hardware with good comfort, build quality, and transparency mode, but the actual sound signature just doesn’t work for me. Too sharp, too sterile, and not enough emotion in the music.