>Honestly, I don't understand why you would buy these when there are a lot of established professional audio companies offering better sound at a cheaper price.
Probably because most of these companies have been "upgrading" their headphones for years, but really just making tweaks and increasing the price. So much of it is just marketing.
I'm a former headphone addict who used to own a lot of expensive headphones. I saw the progression from when $300 was expensive (if you exclude the electrostatics), to suddenly $1k is the norm for a "High End" headphone. Then $1.5K, then $2000, etc.
I'm not planning to buy the Airpods Max, but I give kudos to Apple for finally stepping up with computational audio and doing more than just making minor tweaks and marketing the hell out of it. Apple might actually push the other manufacturers to get off their ass and do some actual innovation.
Probably because most of these companies have been "upgrading" their headphones for years, but really just making tweaks and increasing the price. So much of it is just marketing.
I'm a former headphone addict who used to own a lot of expensive headphones. I saw the progression from when $300 was expensive (if you exclude the electrostatics), to suddenly $1k is the norm for a "High End" headphone. Then $1.5K, then $2000, etc.
I'm not planning to buy the Airpods Max, but I give kudos to Apple for finally stepping up with computational audio and doing more than just making minor tweaks and marketing the hell out of it. Apple might actually push the other manufacturers to get off their ass and do some actual innovation.