AirPods Max survey from Apple

I got an email from Apple inviting me to take a survey about the AirPods Max. I basically said they were great except for the crap case. :slightly_smiling_face:

An interesting thing is that one of the use cases they asked about was wearing the AirPods Max with the noise cancelling on, but without any audio playing. This is something that I do on occasion, but I’m a bit surprised that it’s common enough that they asked about it.

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I do the same occasionally. It helps me concentrate, especially when I am in WeWork as it cancels out a lot of distant conversations and office noise.

Discovered Endel recently and am playing with that as well. It adds special music to the mix using AI to get you in the right mood. Interesting concept!

I love both Endel and Brain.fm for procedurally generated music.

Also: everybody loves Dark Noise, but I find mynoise.net to provide more options for background noise.

The only times I find myself wearing the Max without playing anything are when I’ve got transparency mode on and I’ve forgotten I’m wearing headphones…

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I suspect that this was a use case they designed for and implemented originally and they wanted to understand how important it was as a consideration for future versions.

Of course they’ll have the actual usage.

I wish I’d get a survey like that. The lack of a power button is inexcusable (so very, very Apple, but inexcusable none the less :wink: ) Other than that and the case, I find them fantastic. They sound great (not an audiophile, but not undiscerning either) and their convenience with Apple products is wonderful.

I think the last firmware upgrade solved the power button issue. No longer you need the Bra case to let it sleep. It goes into sleep mode pretty quick when you take it off now.

The firmware update solved the drain overnight issue (I have a third party case that has the magnetic off function too), but I feel fairly strongly that I want my electronics to have an actual off state that I can control. The move away from this is (in my opinion) probably Apple’s worst design issue across their product lines. (But it’s not nearly enough to keep me from using their stuff :slight_smile: )

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That’s interesting. I really don’t miss turning devices I carry with me on and off (with the exception of a few children’s toys that really, really need an off switch, preferably controlled by a parent’s fingerprint, but I digress).

And I’ve been impressed by the degree to which Apple has managed to control battery drain when devices aren’t being actively used. My precious MBP would run down almost as quickly unused with the lid open as when in use; my current one uses almost no power unless the screen is active.

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This is my normal use case.
Just give me some quiet.

I don’t miss, nor want a power button. I also don’t use the case. I put them on, they are on. I take them off, they are off. Anything else would (IMHO) complicate things.

Edit to add: my one complaint is the connection sound is too loud.

I’M CONNECTED DID YOU HEAR THAT?! CONNECTED!

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My Bose 700 play an abrupt, loud noise when they have been paused long enough to go into sleep mode. Which always startles and annoys me. It’s as if they are saying:

“Fine… if you don’t need me anymore, I’m putting myself to sleep.” Harumph. Foot stomp.

And I’m like “Just do it quietly. You are supposed to be noise cancelling not noise adding!”


That being said, I am very grateful for them, as I think they helped preserve my sanity when all of us were in the house together for 18 months in 2020.

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It’s as bad as the Netflix sound.

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Since we’re talking AirPods Max, I’m (at this very moment) flying with them for the first time. The noise cancelling is great, but they’re too bulky to take again. I knew what I was getting into, but I wanted to try them out on a plane.

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