AirPods Max 2, the second generation of Apple’s premium over-ear headphones, brings significant upgrades to active noise cancellation and sound quality, as well as a suite of intelligent new features, including Live Translation powered by Apple Intelligence, the company said Monday.
“With the incredible performance of H2, AirPods Max are upgraded with up to 1.5x more effective ANC for the ultimate all-day listening experience,” said Eric Treski, Apple’s director of Audio Product Marketing. “The sound quality is remarkably clean, rich, and acoustically detailed — and when combined with capabilities like Personalized Spatial Audio, AirPods Max 2 deliver a profoundly immersive experience.”
Apple AirPods Max 2 boost noise cancellation, AI features
The new headphones — the biggest upgrade since their original release in 2020 and a minimal change from Lightning to USB-C connector with new colors in 2024 — are powered by Apple’s H2 chip. It’s the same processor found in AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 (also the source of the new headphones’ new intelligent features). The new cans become available to order on March 25 starting at $549, Apple said in a press release.
The headline improvement is ANC performance. Apple says AirPods Max 2 deliver up to 1.5x more effective noise cancellation than the original AirPods Max, thanks to H2 and new computational audio algorithms.
That means better blocking of persistent low-frequency noise like airplane engines and subway trains. Transparency mode has also been refined, with a new digital signal processing algorithm designed to make the outside world sound more natural when listening through the headphones.
The new cans come in five colors: midnight, starlight, orange, purple and blue.
Upgraded audio quality
Photo: Apple
On the sound side, AirPods Max 2 feature a new high dynamic range amplifier intended to deliver cleaner audio without changing the headphones’ established acoustic signature. Spatial Audio has been improved too, with better instrument localization and more accurate bass response.
For the first time on AirPods Max, the headphones support 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio over the included USB-C cable. Apple is positioning this as a meaningful tool for music producers, noting that musicians can now create and mix in Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking inside Logic Pro — something Apple claims no other headphones can do.
Intelligent features arrive from AirPods Pro earbuds
Several features previously exclusive to AirPods Pro are coming to AirPods Max for the first time. Adaptive Audio automatically adjusts the balance between ANC and Transparency based on the surrounding environment. Conversation Awareness detects when you begin speaking and lowers music volume accordingly. Voice Isolation uses H2 to filter out background noise during calls.
Perhaps the most notable addition is Live Translation, which uses Apple Intelligence to enable real-time in-person translation across supported languages. The feature requires an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone running iOS 26.
Creator and convenience tools
Photo: Apple
Apple is also pitching AirPods Max 2 to content creators. It designed a new studio-quality audio recording mode to give podcasters, musicians and video creators cleaner vocal capture. The Digital Crown can also now function as a camera remote, letting users trigger photos or start and stop video recording from a distance on iPhone or iPad.
Other additions include Loud Sound Reduction, Personalized Volume and Siri Interactions. That last one lets users respond to Siri announcements with a nod or a head shake rather than speaking aloud.
Pricing and availability
AirPods Max 2 can be ordered beginning March 25 at apple.com and in the Apple Store app, with in-store availability and deliveries beginning in early April, Apple said. New Apple Music subscribers can get three months free with purchase. AppleCare+ coverage is also available, including accident protection and battery replacement service.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
