Apple’s new AirPods Max cost more than buying an iPhone and a pair of AirPods together — here’s why they could be worth that price for some buyers

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Apple just announced its new over-ear headphones called AirPods Max, and they come with a massive $549 price tag. They’re available to buy now in a variety of colors, including space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink.

For a similar price, you can buy a $400 iPhone SE and a pair of $129 AirPods with wired charging case, and you’d have $20 left over for an iPhone case. Which raises the question, is it really worth all that money for just a pair of wireless headphones on their own?

We’ll have to get hands-on with the AirPods Max to know for sure, but based on what we know so far there’s certainly a disparity between the price and functionality of Apple’s new headphones and a less expensive combo purchase, like an iPhone SE and a pair of AirPods.

The AirPods Max cost more than an iPhone and AirPods combo

An iPhone SE runs your apps, communicates with satellites in space to help you navigate, takes great photos and video, streams video and music, and lets you browse the web — it’s a platform that lets you communicate with anyone in the world. And the AirPods can deliver the sound from that iPhone SE to your ears, and they can deliver your voice to anyone in the world via the iPhone. 

Not to diminish them, but the AirPods Max essentially do the same thing as the normal AirPods. The difference is that they’ll likely do that job a lot better. Plus, they have active noise cancellation, “Active EQ” that adjusts sound to how your ears hear, and spatial audio.

They also come with Apple’s H1 chip that helps you connect seamlessly with other Apple devices that have the H1 chip, like Apple’s recent Mac computers and iPhones. And, not to mention that Apple is using premium materials, like a stainless steel headband and “acoustically engineered” memory foam ear cups. A lot of design and engineering work also went into the earcup hinges for a comfortable fit. 

How much value you place on good sound quality, noise cancelling, an over-ear design, and premium materials will largely be up to you.

Is $549 too much for a pair of headphones?

Apple’s new AirPods Max aren’t the most expensive headphones we’ve ever seen, and our top over-ear headphones pick, the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro, currently sell for a similar price. That’s to say that $549 isn’t such a wild price tag in the grand scheme of things.

But, Apple is making such a price tag more “normal” than ever before, seeing as the company has such clout and power — more so than a lot of other companies making $500+ headphones. Plus, $600 audiophile-grade headphones like the DT 1990 Pro tend to be wired models that lack popular features like active noise cancellation. Apple’s attempt to reach out to wireless headphone buyers with such a high-end option could prove to be an interesting strategy. We’re likely to see more AirPods Max than Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro out in the wild. 

What are your other options?

Nevertheless, the AirPods Max are an option, at least for those with room in their budgets to buy $549 headphones, and they’ll likely be great. If $549 is a financial stretch, however, then you have plenty of other options. The $199 AirPods Pro are a great fit for good sound quality, portability, and noise cancelling. If that’s out of reach, there’s the $129 AirPods with wired charging case that will serve you well. 

And if you have a preference for over-ear headphone designs like the AirPods Max, the Sony WH-1000XM4 are highly rated for their sound quality and noise cancellation, and they can often be found for around $278. And there’s also the Bose 700, which deliver excellent sound quality and noise cancelling, and can often be found for around $340. 

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