GoKawiilApple's AirPods Max 2 will be available to order starting March 25 in midnight, starlight, orange, purple and blue, and begin shipping in early April. Announced out of the blue on March 16, the new over-ear AirPods were greeted with mixed reactions on social-media platforms, with some pundits excited to see them finally getting a meaningful upgrade after several years. Others lamented that they cost $549 when Apple's new Macbook Neo -- a full-fledged laptop -- could be had for as little as $500 with Apple's education-pricing discounts.
The AirPods Max's high price was a source of contention when the original model launched in 2020, but that didn't stop people from buying them and helped set a new benchmark for pricing for premium noise-canceling headphones (top models from Bose, Sony and Bowers & Wilkins have all received price hikes in recent years). The list price for the AirPods Max 2 hasn't changed from the original, and neither has the design. But the new headphones are now powered by Apple's H2 chip rather than the H1, which brings the Max up to date with other AirPods models, including the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4.
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That appears to be the biggest difference between the Max 2 and the Max 1, which was updated with USB-C connectivity in September 2024 and USB-C audio in 2025 (with a firmware update). But it's a big difference, as the more powerful H2 chip brings a host of new features and some performance upgrades. And there are also a few other small but notable upgrades. Let's have a look at just what all those are.
What are the AirPods Max 2 performance upgrades?
Better active noise canceling (ANC) : Apple says the Max 2 offers 1.5x more effective noise canceling. Interestingly, that jump isn't as big as the jumps in noise-canceling performance that the AirPods Pro made when moving from the original AirPods Pro to the AirPods Pro 2 (2x better) to the AirPods Pro 3 (also 2x better or 4x better than the AirPods Pro's noise canceling).
: Apple says the Max 2 offers 1.5x more effective noise canceling. Interestingly, that jump isn't as big as the jumps in noise-canceling performance that the AirPods Pro made when moving from the original AirPods Pro to the AirPods Pro 2 (2x better) to the AirPods Pro 3 (also 2x better or 4x better than the AirPods Pro's noise canceling). Cleaner sound : The Max 2 has a new "high-dynamic range amplifier for even cleaner audio," according to Apple.
: The Max 2 has a new "high-dynamic range amplifier for even cleaner audio," according to Apple. Improved spatial audio : Apple says that spatial audio content sounds "better than ever, with improved localization of instruments, more accurate and consistent bass response and more natural-sounding mids and highs."
: Apple says that spatial audio content sounds "better than ever, with improved localization of instruments, more accurate and consistent bass response and more natural-sounding mids and highs." Even more natural transparency mode : Thanks to a new digital signal processing algorithm optimized for H2 and the microphone array on AirPods Max, Apple says the Max 2's transparency mode (which allows you to hear the outside world) sounds even more natural.
: Thanks to a new digital signal processing algorithm optimized for H2 and the microphone array on AirPods Max, Apple says the Max 2's transparency mode (which allows you to hear the outside world) sounds even more natural. Better voice-calling performance (maybe): While Apple didn't mention anything about upgraded microphones, voice-calling performance should be slightly improved, thanks to more advanced computational audio (powered by the H2 chip) that better filters out background noise while homing in on your voice during calls. That said, this is something I'll have to test. Apple's Voice Isolation feature exists for the Max 1, but the H2 chip does provide more processing power.
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