Apple AirPods Max 2 Review: The Best Over-Ears for iOS
Apple AirPods Max 2 Review: The Best Over-Ears for iOS
Apple AirPods Max 2 评测：iOS 用户的最佳头戴式耳机
On a recent trip, I accidentally booked my family to fly on a de Havilland propeller plane. If there’s anything I hate more than flying, it’s flying on a tiny plane sitting next to giant propeller blades that are, improbably, the only things that keep you from crashing into the ground. I immediately pulled out the AirPods Max 2 ($549) and put them on to block out the overwhelming buzzing whirr. When I looked up, three other people had pulled out their own pairs.
在最近的一次旅行中，我不小心订了全家乘坐德哈维兰（de Havilland）螺旋桨飞机的机票。如果说有什么比飞行更让我讨厌的，那就是坐在小型飞机上，旁边就是巨大的螺旋桨叶片——难以置信的是，这些叶片竟然是防止飞机坠毁的唯一保障。我立刻掏出 AirPods Max 2（售价 549 美元）戴上，以隔绝那令人难以忍受的嗡嗡声。当我抬头看时，发现另外三个人也拿出了他们自己的耳机。
Yes, the updated version of the 2020 AirPods Max is iterative. Yes, the only reason I knew the woman two rows ahead of me had the old version instead of the new one was that the new one doesn’t come in green anymore. But the AirPods Max design is instantly recognizable. Even the Sony WH-1000XM6, the best headphones, look more or less like every other pair. It takes a second—or third—look to see if someone really is wearing a pair of premium headphones or a pair of gorgeous cheap ones.
没错，这款 2020 版 AirPods Max 的更新属于迭代式升级。确实，我能看出前两排的那位女士戴的是旧款而非新款，唯一的原因就是新款不再提供绿色版本了。但 AirPods Max 的设计具有极高的辨识度。即便是目前最顶级的索尼 WH-1000XM6 耳机，看起来也和其他普通耳机大同小异。你往往需要看第二眼甚至第三眼，才能确认对方戴的究竟是高端耳机，还是外观精美的廉价货。
The Apple AirPods Max 2 will never require a second glance. This year’s iteration is basically stuffing the headphones with all the new software that landed in the AirPods Pro 3. They have Siri, Live Translation, head-based gestures, and more, along with some of the best noise-canceling on the market, deep bass, and shimmering highs. If you’re an iPhone owner with $549, there is just no reason to get another pair of over-ear headphones besides these.
Apple AirPods Max 2 从不需要你多看第二眼。今年的迭代版本基本上是将 AirPods Pro 3 上的所有新软件功能都塞进了这款耳机里。它拥有 Siri、实时翻译、头部动作控制等功能，同时还具备市面上顶尖的降噪效果、深沉的低音和清脆的高音。如果你是一位拥有 549 美元预算的 iPhone 用户，除了这款耳机，实在没有理由去选择其他头戴式耳机。
What’s Old Is New Again
温故而知新
I have the OG AirPods Max and yes, the two look exactly the same. They have the same milled aluminum casing, magnetic replaceable (and repairable) ear cups, the button and dial on the right ear cup, and the mesh headband (that Apple calls “the canopy”) that looks like a Herman Miller Aeron chair. Yes, they’re still two ounces heavier than every other headphone, but the canopy goes a long way towards making them feel lighter than they are.
我拥有初代 AirPods Max，确实，两者看起来一模一样。它们拥有相同的铣削铝金属外壳、可磁吸更换（且可维修）的耳罩、右侧耳罩上的按钮和旋钮，以及看起来像 Herman Miller Aeron 人体工学椅一样的网状头带（苹果称之为“穹顶”）。是的，它们仍然比其他耳机重两盎司，但“穹顶”设计在减轻佩戴感方面发挥了很大作用，让它们戴起来比实际重量轻得多。
And yes, they still come in the soft, magnetic, bra smart case. I understand why Apple uses this case. You can carry the headphones easily by just sliding the canopy onto your wrist; they’re easier to pull out of a bag. The canopy is tough enough to take whatever treatment you can dish out. I shoved the AirPods Max 2 into an overstuffed Wandrd Prvke Pocket ($245) and kicked it under airplane seats, and there’s no damage at all.
当然，它们依然配备了那个柔软的、带磁吸的“胸罩式”智能保护套。我理解苹果为什么要用这种保护套。你只需将头带套在手腕上就能轻松携带耳机；从包里拿出来也更方便。头带足够坚韧，能经受住各种折腾。我曾把 AirPods Max 2 塞进一个塞得满满当当的 Wandrd Prvke 背包（售价 245 美元）里，并把它踢到飞机座椅下，结果耳机完好无损。
Still, the case is related to the one major downside of these headphones. There’s still no power off button, so the only way to turn the headphones off is by putting them into the case and carrying it around with you. The headphones go into low power mode if you leave them alone for 5 minutes, but mostly the battery is constantly, slowly draining. I put them on at 3 pm when I boarded my flight, kept them around my neck, pulled them on and off to watch movies or listen to music in between taking care of my kids. By the time I got home at 8 pm, the battery was down to 50 percent.
不过，这个保护套也引出了这款耳机的一个主要缺点。它依然没有电源开关按钮，所以关闭耳机的唯一方法就是把它们放进保护套里随身携带。如果你闲置耳机 5 分钟，它们会进入低功耗模式，但电池电量基本上还是在持续缓慢地流失。我下午 3 点登机时戴上耳机，之后一直挂在脖子上，在照顾孩子之余，时不时戴上摘下看电影或听音乐。等到晚上 8 点到家时，电量已经降到了 50%。
I got about two days of battery life per charge, with about 15 hours of active listening that includes noise cancellation. This is the headphones’ most embarrassing flaw, when the Sony WH-1000XM6 have 30 hours of listening and a convenient power button that lets you extend the life of the battery by turning it off when, you know, you’re just wearing them around your neck.
每次充电我大约能使用两天，包含降噪在内的主动聆听时间约为 15 小时。这是这款耳机最尴尬的缺陷，相比之下，索尼 WH-1000XM6 拥有 30 小时的续航，并且配有一个方便的电源按钮，让你在只是把耳机挂在脖子上时可以关机以延长电池寿命。
This is an Apple problem, not unique to the company’s headphones. The Apple Watch and iPhone have also struggled historically with battery life, but that’s partly due to advanced mission creep. Aside from USB-C charging and the new H2 chip (that’s also in the AirPods Pro 3), the main upgrades to the AirPods Max 2 are software-related.
这是苹果的老毛病，并非其耳机产品独有。Apple Watch 和 iPhone 在历史上也一直受困于电池续航问题，但这部分归因于其不断增加的先进功能。除了 USB-C 充电接口和新的 H2 芯片（同样用于 AirPods Pro 3）之外，AirPods Max 2 的主要升级都集中在软件方面。
It’s All Inside
内在升级
You can’t really talk about the AirPods Max 2 without talking about all the ways that the headphones integrate with iOS. Yes, the noise canceling has improved (it blocked out about 80 percent of the propeller blade noise and 60 percent of my terror), but a ton of the new software that showed up in the AirPods Pro 3 is now in the AirPods Max 2.
谈论 AirPods Max 2 就离不开它与 iOS 的深度集成。没错，降噪效果确实有所提升（它隔绝了大约 80% 的螺旋桨噪音和 60% 的恐惧感），但 AirPods Pro 3 上出现的大量新软件功能现在也都集成到了 AirPods Max 2 中。
Live translation is still in beta and still working out of a lot of the kinks. (It was painful to watch my phone puzzle over the most rudimentary sentences when my son and I spoke in Spanish.) But many of the other new interactions are much easier to use. I can shake my head yes or no to respond to Siri’s questions or use the button as a camera remote to take selfies (as I did here!).
实时翻译功能仍处于测试阶段，还有很多问题需要解决。（当我和儿子用西班牙语交谈时，看着手机对最基础的句子感到困惑，那种感觉真是太痛苦了。）但其他许多新的交互方式要好用得多。我可以点头或摇头来回答 Siri 的问题，或者将按钮用作相机遥控器来拍摄自拍（就像我在这里做的那样！）。
Personalized spatial audio is enjoyable when watching movies on Apple TV+; I watched three Mission: Impossible movies on my iPhone 16 while traveling and developed a new appreciation for both exploding cars and Tom Cruise’s dry sense of humor. Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness are fast and fluid. I usually turn these on while I’m walking my dog. I’ve been able to respond quickly to my neighbors without the usual “What? What?” interaction that usually starts off every conversation with them while I’m wearing headphones.
在 Apple TV+ 上看电影时，个性化空间音频的体验非常棒；我在旅行途中用 iPhone 16 看了三部《碟中谍》电影，对爆炸的汽车和汤姆·克鲁斯冷幽默的欣赏又提升到了新高度。自适应音频和对话感知功能快速且流畅。我通常在遛狗时开启这些功能。现在我能迅速回应邻居，而不再像以前戴着耳机时那样，每次对话都要以“啊？你说什么？”作为开场白。
The Bluetooth connection has also been improved, from Bluetooth 5.0 to Bluetooth 5.3. As anyone who has ever experienced having 45 different strangers’ headphones pop up on your iPhone in an airport, the improvement in connection stability is the most noticeable in Bluetooth-heavy environments; I didn’t notice any dropouts. You can also now plug the headphones into your phone to reduce latency and for better sound quality, which is a bit useless for me since I’m one of the vast majority for whom lossless audio makes no difference.
蓝牙连接也从 5.0 升级到了 5.3。任何在机场经历过 iPhone 上弹出 45 个陌生人耳机设备的人都知道，连接稳定性的提升在蓝牙设备密集的环境中最为明显；我没有遇到任何断连情况。你现在还可以通过有线方式将耳机连接到手机，以降低延迟并获得更好的音质，但这对我来说没什么用，因为我属于绝大多数听不出无损音频区别的人群。
As far as the sound goes: These are some of the best-sounding headphones I’ve ever tried. (I compare…) 至于音质：这是我试用过的音质最好的耳机之一。（我对比了……）