Here they are folks. Apple's new $549. Air pods, max noise, canceling headphones. I got my hands on a unit before they ship next week. Dive right in and give you my first impressions, because I know you want to know. They compare to top noise canceling models from Sony and Bose. [MUSIC] Now when they were announced a lot of people were balking at their high price and there's no denying that it is high But lo and behold the initial batch of Airpods Max is already sold out. As I'm shooting this video, you're seeing them go for upwards of $850 on reseller sites like eBay, so apparently plenty of people are willing to pay $549 for them. But I'm gonna ignore that. That's all happening right now I'm going to try to answer whether they really are worth that price. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] I'll start by saying the first thing you notice and you open their boxes at their build quality is like nothing that's out there in the 300 to $ 400 range. When you first hear them well, I got to say they sound impressive, like high end headphones with tight bass natural mids, crisp highs and a relatively wide soundstage. For a closed back headphone, on top of that they're noise cancelling is arguably the best I've experienced edging out both Sony's and Bose noise cancelling. They don't completely silence the world around you but I was out earlier in the streets of New York and they did a bang up job muffling noise. Could barely hear the cars around me. Finally, they work quite well as a headset for making calls and seem particularly good at reducing wind noise. When you're in headset mode, you can hear your voice in the headphones, so you can modulate your voice and not end up shouting to be clear. I've only been using these for a day. So this is not a final review, but like, A lot of Apple stuff when it first gets revealed. You see yourself that looks good, but damn, it's expensive. And you get a little hands on time with it and suddenly you're like, Okay, maybe I will pay $549 for that. Crazy as it sounds. One thing people may have a problem with is the AirPods Max's weight is you're definitely heavy headphones wink, 384 grams, or actually 384.8 grams. I comparison the Sony, WH 1000 X Mark, four weighs 254 grams of the Bose noise, canceling headphones. 700 weighs 249 grams. So, pretty big difference there. Like I said, the iPods Max's build quality is impressive. They've got a lot of metal, got the stainless steel frame than aluminum on the ear cups and metal does weigh more than plastic. There are the swanky design touches like the telescoping arms. I also liked how they're almost jello like memory foam ear pads and here magnetically to cover 40 millimetre drivers. Apparently you'll be able to replace those ear pads for $69. They're nice they do have cloth on them as opposed to leather or full leather and so they breathe better in your ears. Don't steam up As much. [MUSIC] For heavy headphones they are quite comfortable but not necessarily super comfy. It'd be nice if they were about 20% lighter. But the way the headband is designed with its mesh canopy does take a good amount of pressure off the top of your head They might look and feel a little big for people with smaller heads, but they do seem to fit a good range of head times. I did find myself making small adjustments, sliding the headband forward on my head a bit to get a more comfortable, secure fit. If it sits right on the crown of your head at least on the crown of my head. Get a little bit uncomfortable. The controls are really well implemented only two buttons both on the right ear cup front button allows you to toggle between noise cancelling and a transparency mode that lets sound and makes you feel like you're not wearing headphones. Sounds very natural. It's very similar to the transparency mode on the air pods. Pro. The second button is a big version of the digital crown that you'll find on Apple watches, used that button to control volume and then you click it To pause your music, answering then calls, and then you can double click it. For instance, to the advanced tracks, it's smooth and it's responsive and cold weather. You don't have to worry about any touch controls that might not work, though the aluminum onto your cups. He is quite cold to the touch in cold weather. I'm not going to go into too much detail on the specs. You can read about all that on Apple's website. They do have a total of nine microphones two of which are on the inside the ear cups to assess how you're wearing them. say if you have glasses on are. Earrings they can tell that, and it will adjust the noise cancelling accordingly. They're also sensors that can tell when you have the headphones on your head, and they'll pause your music when you take them off. It's not a new feature for headphones, obviously these are other headphones. but Apple is certainly implemented in a high tech way. [MUSIC] Like the AirPods pro these have Apple's h1 shift allows for easy pairing with iOS devices and always on Siri, so you can issue voice commands without touching any buttons. Apple says that the H one has lots of processing power for that adaptive noise canceling and making your digital music sound better. These do pair with Android devices, but you lose some of the extra features like the always on Siri and Apple, spatial audio virtual surround feature. Battery life is rated at 20 hours with noise canceling on which is pretty good though not superb. The Sony for instance has better battery life and you do get 90 minutes of playback from a 10 minute charge via the lightning port and kind of wish it charged via USB C but that's a small group, Right. My bigger gripe is that no cables included for Wired use like Apple good with the Beats Solo pro device $35 lightning to 3.5 millimeter cable if you want to go wired to use with an in flight entertainment system. Headphones should sound the same for wireless learning Apple says, But the wire limits any latency, which might be a factor while gaming, but I didn't notice anything. Any latency issues with video watching, I always spend a little time watching movies like the AirPods pro these have Apple's aforementioned spatial audio virtual surround feature with head tracking. It's definitely an added bonus and a differentiator from Sony and Bose. These have more kick than the AirPods pro. So the virtual surround experience seems a little more visceral, but it's largely the same. I don't know quite what to say about the protective cover that comes with the headphones. The best part about it is that it's. Easy to get on and off to headphones and it adds almost no bulk to the headphones. Also, the magnet inside the class puts the headphones into a deep sleep mode that helps save your battery life. It does make your high end headphones look a little like a purse or futuristic Brawley probably seen the means on this, which is kind of bizarre, but someone might appreciate that vibe. I suspect we'll see plenty of alternative cases. I spent some time comparing these two Sony's wh 1000 x Mark four and Bose noise cancelling headphones 700 which aren't cheap but they do cost a lot less than airpots max. As I said the air pods max offer better sound and noise cancelling. They're just more particulat headphones Then both the Sony and the Bose with more refined richer sound is not a huge difference, but they do perform better overall. That said the Sony is still probably the best over here value when you consider that often sells for less than $300 and is dip to as low as $278 So warmer sounding headphone compared to the AirPods Max and is certainly lighter. So two are the AirPods pro a lot lighter in fact and for the majority of people, they are the better bet. But if you are looking for a high end experience, the AirPods Max certainly delivers one Just don't spend $850 on them, or even $600 $549 is enough. I'm David Carter for CNET. Thanks for watching and let me know what you think in the comment section.