AirPods Max 2 needs to be a major update – which features do you want? [Poll]

There’s so far been very little information on any Apple plans to launch an AirPods Max 2 – a new generation of its most expensive headphones – but it’s clear that a major update is needed.

Ming-Chi Kuo’s report back in January said nothing more than that an “updated version” is planned, and Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said only that new colors might be in the works.

But owners and would-be purchasers likely expect a lot more …

We’ve noted for some time that support for lossless playback, better battery life, and an improved case are all common wishlist items.

But last month’s launch of Beats Studio Pro significantly upped the ante, with our in-depth review concluding that they make the existing AirPods Max model impossible to recommend.

AirPods Max are incredibly long in the tooth right now. They were released in December 2020 and Apple still sells them for $549, even though they’re becoming increasingly dated and use the last-generation H1 chip. This means AirPods Max won’t get the fancy new AirPods features Apple announced at WWDC, including Adaptive Audio, the one-word “Siri” trigger, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness.

Beats Studio Pro also lack these features because they aren’t using an Apple-designed chip, but rather a custom Beats chip. Beats Studio Pro, however, come in at $200 cheaper and offer their own set of benefits over AirPods Max.

• They are significantly lighter than AirPods Max.
• They offer longer battery life.
• Beats Studio Pro have a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack (and both cables are included in the box).
• They use a more compact foldable design and include a better carrying case.
• Beats Studio Pro are $200 cheaper at $349.99 vs $549 for AirPods Max.

It was already really hard to recommend and justify AirPods Max because of the high price point and lack of new features. With the launch of Beats Studio Pro, however, it’s now impossible to recommend AirPods Max. As a loyal AirPods Max user since launch day, it pains me to say that… but it’s the truth.

A new Macworld piece draws similar conclusions. As with our assessment, weight is top of the list.

AirPods Max certainly look unique and recognizable with all that aluminum and steel. But these materials are just heavy, and at 384 grams they’re 40-50 percent heavier than competing wireless noise-canceling headphones […]

Apple really needs to make serious changes to the design and materials to bring the weight under 300g at a minimum, and closer to 250g would be better […] Many of the best wireless headphones fold for more compact travel, too.

I’d go further and say that a folding design is absolute table stakes for premium headphones.

The site’s Jason Cross also echoes our call for a better carrying case for an AirPods Max 2.

And speaking of the case, AirPods Max doesn’t have one. The “Smart Case” as it is so erroneously called is neither smart nor a case. It’s an origami folded-up sheet of plastic that doesn’t even cover the most sensitive parts of the headphones and provides no protection against crushing pressure. 

Wired usage also needs to be supported, he says, as well as an on-board DAC.

Wireless can’t match the high bandwidth and low latency of a direct wired connection […] AirPods Max should work as a USB-C audio device, input and output, at the highest quality Apple’s latest technology will allow. It should take direct digital audio output over USB-C and process it internally, rather than the current model’s limitation of only accepting analog audio over the Lightning port, which makes lossless audio useless.

He adds that LE Audio – which unlocks some cool experiences like unmuting TVs in bars – and LC3 codec support would also be good.

Finally, he suggests a feature idea I absolutely love!

Here’s a free idea: Use the external microphones to keep a small buffer of “transparency” sound, maybe 8 seconds or so, that we could play back at any time. If you missed an announcement over a loudspeaker or couldn’t quite make out that thing someone just said, you could say “Siri, rewind” and listen to the last few seconds of the real world.

I’d make it 20 seconds, but this is one of those ideas so good that it becomes obvious as soon as someone comes up with it.

9to5Mac friend Parker Ortolani also recently suggested a Vision Pro-inspired redesign, shown in the above render.

Given all the issues raised by our Beats Studio Pro review and Macworld, which features do you think Apple needs to include in AirPods Max 2? Please take our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Concept image: Parker Ortolani