Apple doesn’t discount its products very often, so it’s exciting for consumers when their premium products like the Apple AirPods Max headphones are available on sale.
Apple’s first premium over-the-ear headphones were the the beautiful, and rather expensive, AirPods Max — noise-canceling headphones equipped with the same H1 chip as the AirPods Pro.
Apple Music with Spatial Audio works pretty well with the AirPods Max headphones but not lossless audio which is very frustrating.
Spatial Audio utilizes Dolby Atmos and some other filters to offer an immersive 3D audio experience, giving music listeners the ability to hear music coming from in front of them, from the sides, the rear, and even above.
In the case of music, Spatial Audio won’t offer head tracking support. But tvOS and MacOS will both support it this September in regard to movies, television, and most likely gaming.
The idea is to recreate the audio experience of a cinema or a live concert. Dolby Atmos presents each individual object (musician) in its own space in the soundstage; creating a better sense of depth and width.
Apple’s Spatial Audio takes 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos signals and applies directional audio filters, adjusting the frequencies that each ear hears so that sounds can be placed virtually anywhere in 3D space.
On a good pair of headphones, the increase in soundstage size and depth can be very beneficial to the overall sound. You should be abe to place musicians more easily and experience enhanced spatial cues.
It’s also worth noting that Dolby Atmos is only available on Apple devices launched since 2018. The AirPods Max are on sale for a limited amount of time so not a good plan to see how many are left in a few days — they will be gone.
Right now, Amazon has them for a 13% discount (which at $478 is the lowest price they’ve ever been).
