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2026 is here, and a new year is the perfect time to treat yourself. If you've been daydreaming about a pair of quality headphones, check out the AirPods Max (USB-C). These swanky headphones don't often see significant sales, and right now, Best Buy is selling them for $100 off. This is one of the better discounts we've seen on the cans in a few weeks, though we've seen better discounts during past Prime Day and Black Friday events.
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ZDNET editor Kyle Kucharski has previously highlighted the headphones when they went on sale during October Prime Day. Kucharski says though Apple's AirPods Max headphones have "been around since 2020 and haven't received a ton of design iterations since then -- but [are] still a competitive pair of headphones."
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Several features caused us to write about the AirPods Max headphones again and again, citing everything from their sleek and logo-less design to the device's Personalized Spatial Audio and eight microphones used for top-notch ANC. The form of the AirPods Max headphones is, as is Apple's signature, exceptionally polished.
Jada Jones/ZDNET
The headphones are built with stainless steel on the mesh canopy headband and aluminum on the earcups, but our expert say the AirPods Max aren't heavy. ZDNET writer Jason Cipriani says that the headband "doesn't apply hardly any pressure at the top of [the] head, and the memory foam cushions on each ear are even more comfortable."
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Another noteworthy aspect of the AirPods Max headphones is their improved 20 hours of battery life -- especially when you constantly use their ANC or spatial audio features. But according to Cipriani, the best and most impressive feature of the AirPods Max is the sound quality. Cipriani wrote that the headphones provide "a crisp sound for individual instruments," and former ZDNET editor in cheif Jason Hiner mentioned that the AirPods Max "are in the same league as the best headphones on the market, including the ones from Sony, Bose, and Sennheiser.
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