Yesterday I wrote about a deal on the Nothing (1) Headset, an awesome pair of active noise-canceling headphones that compete with some of the best available options at a fraction of the price. For those who don’t feel like compromising, and already have Apple devices, I also found a juicy discount on the Apple AirPods Max. That’s right, Apple’s biggest and baddest headphones are marked down to just $400 at both Best Buy and Amazon.
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Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Even for the steep price tag, the audio quality on the AirPods Max is nothing short of incredible. When WIRED writer Parker Hall reviewed them initially, he called them “the best-sounding wireless headphones [he’s] ever heard, and by a significant margin.” Even when stacked up against the big hitters from Bose and Sony, they have an impressively open soundstage, letting details shine in every genre, from highly-produced pop to soft jazz. The active noise canceling is extremely potent as well, with a pass-through mode that’s sharp and clear.
As long as you’re in the Apple ecosystem, these have an impressive level of features and excellent coordination between devices. Like most AirPods, simply hold them near your iPhone or iPad and they’ll connect right away, no extensive pairing or app installations. Because they’re always running in a low-power state, you can remove them from their little case or put them on your head, and they’ll connect to the closest iOS device and start playing. It’s a neat trick, but one that’s always draining the battery slowly, so you may find them dead if you don’t use them for too long.
While there have been occasional discounts on the headset, to my knowledge this is the lowest price yet for the updated USB-C model. It’s matched only by a similar markdown on the older Lightning port version in July of 2024, just before the update, although this time there don’t seem to be any rumors swirling about another update. While your availability may vary by location, as I write this all five colors are in stock and discounted at Best Buy, but Amazon is sold out of the orange.
