The are a luxury item in every sense of the word. They offer one of the highest-tier listening experiences but are also one of the most expensive headphones you can buy. These headphones rarely go on sale and are normally over half a grand, but you can get them for $150 off on Amazon if you have to play with.
If that's still too much, keep in mind at the moment. When the AirPods Max came out in 2020 (yes, they're old now), there wasn't a lot of competition for headphones that could do (ANC) and ambient awareness and provide . These days, there's stiff competition in all of those categories, especially at this price point.
However, buying AirPods Max is a . Even though they don't have the Apple logo, you're paying a premium price for the recognition. If that's what you're after, these headphones are it.
When it comes to features, the AirPods Max aren't jam-packed. But the few they do have are very good quality (on-brand from Apple's minimalist standard). They are one of the best ANC headphones you can buy (they don't give you that weird pressure sensation when you turn them on), have very good ambient awareness to hear your surroundings well, have adaptive EQ and spatial audio which adjusts the audio automatically to you and your environment, and hands-free Siri, according to .
Some of the downsides are that they are heavier than regular headphones, at 13.6 ounces. This comes from the choice to use metal for the material of the design.
You also can't manually adjust the EQ to .