Apple's AirPods Max are some of the finest on-ear headphones money can buy. They boast superb build quality, excellent noise cancelling and awesome sound quality. They also work seamlessly with Apple devices, bringing a range of cutting-edge features like spatial audio to the party.
But they're not the only on-ears around. Similar features can be found elsewhere, and often for less money. So if you're looking to save a bit of cash, you use Android but still want an excellent experience, or you just want a more interesting pair that doesn't mark you out as an Apple fanboy, this is the list of AirPods Max alternatives for you.
There's plenty to choose from, and most of them are much cheaper than Apple's over-ears. Even Bose's upcoming QuietComfort Ultra Headphones won't cost as much, and look like they could give the Max a run for their money.
Intrigued? Let's see what's available.
The AirPods Max are nearly three years old now, so could we see a follow-up model soon? Check out all the latest AirPods Max 2 rumours.
How to choose the best AirPods Max alternatives
Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.
Chief among the AirPods Max's skills are wireless connectivity and active noise cancelling (ANC). So any alternative you're looking at will have to offer both of those.
Wireless connectivity means the cans will need a battery, and ANC is a real battery drain. The AirPods Max manage 20 hours of run time before needing a recharge – look for a similar battery life from any alternative headphones on your shortlist.
While we're on noise cancelling, some pairs have gradients of noise cancelling (most notably the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700), and some just have two settings: on or off. What's best for you really depends on how much you'll use the noise cancelling, and in which situations.
As well as noise cancelling, Apple's on-ears offer a transparency mode, which allows in outside sound. It's handy if you'd like to hear a station announcement, or to have a quick chat with a friend or colleague, and don't want to take your headphones off. Lots of other headphones have the same feature, but it can come under different names (like talk through).
That's what to look for. Now here are some pairs to consider.
If you want superb sound quality and marginally better noice-cancelling than the AirPods Max while paying much less, you want the Sony WH-1000XM5. They're still not cheap, but in terms of value, they're the best noise-cancelling headphones around, which makes them the best AirPods Max alternatives. They're so good they won a 2022 What Hi-Fi? Award.
They also boast a natty new look, which is a complete redesign from their predecessor, the XM4 (lower down this list).
They might feel a little less premium than the XM4 – and hence a lot less premium than the super plush AirPods Max – but they sound much better than their predecessors. The sound is effortlessly musical, with a newfound precision when it comes to bass notes. The presentation is more open, with greater clarity. And the noise-cancelling is now more seamless, being optimised automatically as you move through different environments.
If you're looking for a pair of serious AirPods Max alternatives, start here.
Read the full Sony WH-1000XM5 review
Check this out – a pair of headphones that are even pricier than the AirPods Max. But the Px8 are worth every penny.
They offer superb build quality with real luxury flourishes, like the soft-touch Nappa leather elements on the headband, earcups and earpads. They're lighter than Apple's pair. And they feature a new cone material in the drivers, giving them more transparency and less distortion than the Px7 S2.
The 30-hour battery life is 10 hours more than the Max's, and they give you more runtime from a shorter charge, too. B&W's mobile app has been refreshed, and is now easier to use with more features. And it works with Android! Take that, AirPods Max.
But the real highlight is the sound quality. There's precision and clarity in spades, and it feels like a real step on from the AirPods Max. Not a sentence we thought we'd be writing any time soon.
Downsides? Sound quality suffers at low volume, and the wearer detection is a bit hit and miss. But otherwise these are standout – if expensive – headphones.
Read the full Bowers & Wilkins Px8 review
Focal’s entrance into the burgeoning premium Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones market isn’t surprising considering its presence at the premium end of the wired space. And nor is the success of its first effort. The gorgeous-looking Bathys are highly recommendable for anyone after the convenience of portability in a premium pair of headphones at this price.
The wireless headphone performance is among the most engaging we have heard at this level. And if you want them to double up as home headphones for longer listening stints, which they are more than comfortable enough to wear for, know that going wired via the built-in DAC/USB-C port does add a degree of refinement and tightness to the delivery.
Noise cancellation is fairly non-intrusive to the performance, too, and if you need it – as we did on two flights during testing – it does a decent job of diminishing distracting outside world noise from your music listening in ‘Silent’ mode.
Read the full Focal Bathys review
The S2 follow on from 2020's five-star PX7, promising better sound quality and typically excellent B&W build quality. And they don't disappoint.
The biggest cosmetic change from the PX7 is a shift away from smooth ovoid earcups to a less bulky, chamfered build that looks remarkably similar to the original PX headphones that were released in 2017. This shaves 3cm off the headphones' dimensions. It also means B&W can return to the 40mm driver after stepping up to a 43.7mm diameter for the previous generation.
The more luxurious arms are also new. But otherwise, the design is largely the same, with a moisture-repellent fabric covering the headband and outer shells and a C-shaped yoke that allows 180 degrees of horizontal rotation. Which is a very good thing.
The ANC is very effective, and the sound quality is marginally more polished, with the top end sounding sweeter and more refined. Some AirPods Max alternatives sound a little more exciting – namely the Sonys above – but at this price, you'll struggle to match such a combination of sonics and aesthetics.
Read the full Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 review
Sennheiser is known equally well for its superb sound quality as its classy headphone designs. So imagine our shock when we clapped eyes on the Momentum 4 Wireless. After the bundle of luxury that was the Momentum 3 Wireless, the 4 look positively cheap.
But maybe Sennheiser is being smart. The 4 launched with a lower price than their predecessors, and at a time of squeezed household budgets and soaring inflation, it may well have played a blinder.
Not that it's scrimped on the spec sheet. The Momentum 4 Wireless boast a staggering 60-hour battery life. That's twice what most market leaders offer. Support for aptX Adaptive – one of the highest-quality Bluetooth codecs around – also comes as standard, cementing their position as a premium pair of cans.
They sound like one, too. The presentation is clear and direct in a way that commands your attention. They sound sharp and sprightly, with an added leanness that doesn't come at the expense of substance across the frequencies. Stunning.
Read the full Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless review
The design of these high-end wireless noise-cancelling headphones might not be to everyone's taste, but their build quality and performance are nothing short of remarkable.
The Mark Levinson No. 5909 perform substantially better than the class-leading crop of cheaper competition – like the AirPods Max, to take an example at random – and wow us with their crisply detailed renderings.
A laptop feeding a Chord Mojo 2 DAC connected to Grado SR325x wired headphones offers greater all-round sonic sophistication, but there's no doubt that the No. 5909 are some of the best wireless headphones we've ever heard.
For anyone who is after the convenience of wireless without sacrificing too much sound quality, the Mark Levinsons are highly recommendable.
Read the full Mark Levinson No. 5909 review
How active noise cancellation works
It's all very clever really. Noise-cancelling headphones essentially use two or more tiny microphones on their outer housings to "listen" to the external noise around you and create a mirror image of the compression and rarefaction of the air that it detects.
We can think of the soundwaves around us like peaks and troughs, or ripples in a pond. Plane engine noise is an ideal example since the thrum you hear in the cabin is typically a soundwave of constant amplitude – the height of the peaks and the depths of the troughs are largely continuous.
If you produce another sound wave with the same amplitude but opposite phase – with a peak where the engine sound wave has a trough, and vice versa – you get something called antiphase. Added together, the two sounds cancel each other out. The result: silence. And – voila – you're listening to your music in peace!
- How active noise cancelation works – the in-depth answer!
Passive vs active noise-cancelling
Some manufacturers may say their headphones boast a "noise-isolating design" or "natural noise-cancelling abilities", but that doesn't necessarily mean they are 'proper' active noise-cancelling headphones.
Active noise cancellation is a technology; it's an electrical feature that requires power to work. When you're using it, you'll soon notice ANC will drain your wireless headphones' battery at a faster rate. Toggle ANC on and tiny microphones on your headphones pick up that irksome engine thrum. This is then quickly measured by the headphones' internal electronics to produce an opposite sound, which is fed into your ears. If the tech does a good job, all you'll hear is the chug of the train fading into nothingness.
Passive noise-cancelling – or noise isolation, as it's often referred – is, instead, a physical thing; a term used to describe headphones that block out external sounds and reduce the amount of sound leaking into your ears without the need for power. This is simply achieved through physical design elements.
Closed-back designs, leather earpads, a good in-ear seal, sizing up or down in eartips, a heavier clamping force in the headband (meaning the earcups fit tighter over your ears), dampening in the earcups and even the shape or material of the driver housings all contribute to passive noise isolation. But remember: it's not the same as the active noise-cancelling headphones we've listed above.
How we test AirPods Max alternatives
While we have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door, AirPods Max alternatives are different beasts that require use on the go in different environments.
We use them in an office, in amidst street noise, on public transport and, when we can, even on a plane. We judge a pair's portability, comfort, ease of use and battery life, and of course sound quality is also key in forming our verdicts and star ratings too. Any control apps are also evaluated to get a complete understanding of the features and flexibility on offer.
As What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, each pair we review is compared to the best in its price and style class – whether that's one standout pair or a few we favour the highest among the many models we listen to each year for reviews and What Hi-Fi? Awards judging. We keep class-leading products in our stockrooms so we can always compare new products to rival ones we know and love.
All review verdicts are agreed upon by the team rather than an individual reviewer to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we're being as thorough as possible, too. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for decades.
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