How the Airpods Max Headphones Helped me Kick My Apple Addiction
Inferior-tech inside a beautiful exterior is still inferior to superior-tech in plastic. An Apple logo can’t change that.
When you compare the Airpods Max to the Sony WH 1000 XM 4 or the Bose 700, it is impossible not to notice that the Airpods are less user-friendly, heavier, and technologically inferior. That’s hard to believe. But it’s true.
When Apple was still Apple, under Steve Jobs, I loved everything they made. I stood in line for hours multiple times for the privilege to buy the latest iPhone. I always upgraded even though it was expensive. I was a true fan. So it shouldn’t be a surprise I immediately got the new Apple gadget, practically on automatic pilot. But instead of feeding my addiction with a new high, I got a bad after-taste and a shock.
I couldn’t believe it at first. I liked the design and expected that at almost double the price they would crush everyone else.
Apple Used to Be the Top
A superior user-experience used to be at the center of any Apple product. They were known for introducing cool innovations in each new iteration, almost forcing you to upgrade.
But Asian and Chinese brands have caught up, and have switched from simply copying Apple, to innovating themselves.
For the past few years, Apple became a follower. New features were often introduced first by others, only to be followed by Apple a year later. But even so, Apple products remained user-friendly and technologically competitive.
This changed with the Airpods Max.
Remember the Audio-Jack?
Apple always made it difficult to love them wholeheartedly. They removed useful ports from devices. It started with the audio-jack in smartphones. And continued with the removal of all peripherical ports from MacBooks, leaving me only with a few USB-C ports. This forced me to start carrying all kinds of external adapters, which is hardly an improvement.
Due to the constant keyboard-issues in macbooks, I switched to Lenovo hardware for work. But at home I remained fully inside the Apple ecosystem.
What did the power button ever do wrong?
Now it’s the power button that is being killed off. The Airpods Max don’t have one. Seriously, why would you remove a way to turn off a device. What magical intelligent design thinking is hiding behind that decision. I must be missing something.
Knowing Apple by now, its reasonable to assume that the power button will dissapear in newer iPhones, macbooks, and other Apple devices.
Yes, Apple is too Expensive
Like it or not, Apple comes with a premium cost. Just like Gucci, Versace or Prada are far more expensive than Zara, Cos or H&M. You pay extra for the brand. But what is important in the fashion industry, the image, the design, the materials, the history, is actually secondary when we look at luxury in technology.
In tech superior technology, convenience and user-experience are primary factors. The build quality is nice to have, not the primary driver. Somewhere along the way, Apple has forgotten that. It’s not just about using high-end materials and outer design.
Why I returned the Airpods Max
The headphones look luxurious and beautiful. Seriously, they really do. But unfortunately, they are inferior when it comes to user-experience and technology.
Let’s unpack what’s inferior about the Airpods Max compared to Sony WH1000XM4 or the Bose 700:
- They are 50% heavier than Sony or Bose. For headphones, weight matters a lot more than build quality. If you use the headphones regularly, you will understand that lighter, means less weight on the head, resulting in more comfort. I often forget I am wearing the Sony or Bose and that’s how it should be. The high-quality materials in the Airpods Max make them a lot heavier.
- You can’t control the sound signature. I use headphones in different situations, listening to lectures, podcasts, music, and often just to cancel out the noise around me, so I can focus better. On the Sony, I can change the sound signature by using an equalizer. Apple decided this is too much power for me.
- You can’t control noise canceling. I use noise-canceling daily to focus on work. Having control over the level and type of noise-canceling is great. Both Bose and Sony support that. Apple decided I shouldn’t be able to decide that.
- You can’t turn them off. I want to be able to turn things off when I am not using them. So when I actually need them, they still have charge left. To me, this sounds reasonable. But Apple removed the power on/off button altogether. If you want to put them in sleep mode you need to put them in the Apple bra.
- Connection to multiple devices is buggy and limited to Apple devices. Both Bose and Sony offer perfect support for connecting to multiple devices at once, and it actually works flawlessly, letting me switch from my smartphone to my Linux computer to my MacBook. Airpods Max only connects to apple devices and even then it's buggy and I needed to disconnect from one and reconnect to another. This is so 2019.
And if that wasn’t enough, Apple decided to force me to put the headphones in a ‘bra’ bag, just to put them to sleep.
And yes, they cost twice as much as the Bose or the Sony.
What about all the Positive Reviews?
It’s the main reason why I wrote this post.
Online reviewers are the modern door-to-door salespeople.
The time that Apple didn’t have to spend any money on advertising is long gone. Today, they are just like any other company, using advertising, propaganda, and influencers to push their products. Most, if not all of the reviews are paid directly or indirectly. Take that into account when you listen to reviews.
Final Thoughts
We often become too attached to brands and stop even thinking of considering other choices. If you are inside the Apple ecosystem, you won’t look at Android, and vice versa. This is the way we, humans are wired. Once we make a choice, we stick to it subconsciously. We want to belong to a tribe. And once we do it's very hard to kick this habit. It’s like being addicted.
If Apple was the first to introduce noise-canceling headphones they could have dictated the features and the user experience, just like they did with the iPhone. But thats not the case. Bose defined that industry for business use and Sony extended it to the mainstream.
This whole experience made me rethink how I make purchasing decisions.
The most important takeaway is that you should look at use-cases and features of products, independent of brand biases, and not be fooled by reviewer nonsense and corporate propaganda.
