Apple:

Apple today announced AirPods Max, innovative wireless headphones that bring the magic of AirPods to an over-ear design with high-fidelity sound. AirPods Max combine a custom acoustic design, H1 chips, and advanced software to power computational audio for a breakthrough listening experience with Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio. AirPods Max come in five gorgeous colors, including space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink, and are available to order starting today, with availability beginning Tuesday, December 15.

There is so much to unpack here.

First things first, these are some gorgeous headphones. They’ve got Active Noise Cancellation, as you’d expect, and they seem to me to fit into that high end category of headphones that are over ear, great for sound isolation, and designed to be an incredibly comfortable fit, perfect for the studio, perfect for a long airplane ride.

20 hours of battery life. Cordless, but able to plug in if the need arises (there’s a Lightning port, on device, for both audio and charging).

There are five different colors. As Rene Ritchie pointed out, the AirPods Max bands are the iPhone 12 colors, while the casings are the iPad Air colors. Brilliant observation.

Fair or not, I am assuming the audio quality of the AirPods Max will compare favorably to high end Bose, or even B&O headphones. Jury out on this last point, waiting for audiophile reviews to see where they land.

If you’ve not seen them, watch the two product videos embedded below. They do a nice job showing off the product elegance. Don’t miss the magnetic ear cup attachment. Presumably, if one gets lost or damaged, easy enough to replace (replacement AirPods Max ear cushions coming soon, priced at $69). And (as other headphones have done before them), don’t miss the woven “L” and “R” in each ear cup. So if one does need replacement, you’ll need to get the right flavor/color.

Note that you can engrave your AirPods Max. Right on the shoulder. Cap letters and emoji.

OK, so that brings us to price. At $549, these are high end product. There’s a lot of value here and, if the audio lives up to the billing, I’d imagine these will sell quite well. And, at that price, I’d imagine they’ll be envy inducing. And like Apple’s original wired EarPods, and AirPods, they will be easy to spot marketing for Apple’s brand.

I would love a pair for Christmas. Just saying, in case my family is reading.