40 Macworld • March 2021AIRPODS MAX
wireless headphones, but that too is
mitigated by the fantastic ear pads.
Try to run or work out with these
on, or just turn your head quickly, and
you’ll suddenly feel all that weight. No
matter, as these are not at all sweat
or water resistant, so you shouldn’t
be doing anything more active than a
brisk walk in them anyway.
The controls are great, too. Apple
avoided touch controls (everyone with
a hoodie rejoice), opting instead for
a digital crown like that on the Apple
Watch along with a single button,
both on the top of the right earpiece.
The crown is thankfully much larger
than that on the watch and controls
volume and playback: click it onceto play/pause, twice to skip forward,
three times to skip back, press and
hold to invoke Siri. You can even
reverse the direction of the wheel if
you find yourself turning the volume
up every time you want to turn it down.
The button toggles between noise-
cancelling and transparency mode, or
turns noise cancelling off if you enable
that option in Bluetooth settings.
The controls are simple, intuitive,
unobtrusive and attractive; everything
you want in a pair of headphones.
Despite the excessive weight,
AirPods Max look great, feel great,
and have excellent controls. I wore
them for hours without discomfort,
with and without glasses, which is
more than I can
say for other
consumer wireless
headphones.
If there’s a
downside, it’s the
fact that these
headphones
charge only with a
Lightning connector
and have no 3.5mm
headphone jack
input (as with
many products,
Apple does not
include a powerAirPods Max are anything but compact. They don’t fold up
at all, only turn flat.40 Macworld • March 2021AIRPODS MAX
wireless headphones, but that too is
mitigated by the fantastic ear pads.
Try to run or work out with these
on, or just turn your head quickly, and
you’ll suddenly feel all that weight. No
matter, as these are not at all sweat
or water resistant, so you shouldn’t
be doing anything more active than a
brisk walk in them anyway.
The controls are great, too. Apple
avoided touch controls (everyone with
a hoodie rejoice), opting instead for
a digital crown like that on the Apple
Watch along with a single button,
both on the top of the right earpiece.
The crown is thankfully much larger
than that on the watch and controls
volume and playback: click it onceto play/pause, twice to skip forward,
three times to skip back, press and
hold to invoke Siri. You can even
reverse the direction of the wheel if
you find yourself turning the volume
up every time you want to turn it down.
The button toggles between noise-
cancelling and transparency mode, or
turns noise cancelling off if you enable
that option in Bluetooth settings.
The controls are simple, intuitive,
unobtrusive and attractive; everything
you want in a pair of headphones.
Despite the excessive weight,
AirPods Max look great, feel great,
and have excellent controls. I wore
them for hours without discomfort,
with and without glasses, which is
more than I can
say for other
consumer wireless
headphones.
If there’s a
downside, it’s the
fact that these
headphones
charge only with a
Lightning connector
and have no 3.5mm
headphone jack
input (as with
many products,
Apple does not
include a powerAirPods Max are anything but compact. They don’t fold up
at all, only turn flat.