Apple hasn’t fixed the AirPods Max’s most annoying design flaw

There’s a revision of Apple’s AirPods Max coming, including new colors and (finally) USB-C charging. But the basic design of the AirPods Max isn’t changing, including one of the headphone’s most annoying flaws. 

Yes, I’m talking about the mesh that’s stretched across the curved metal bands that comprise the AirPods Max’s headband. (Other AirPods Max owners may nominate “condensation death” as their primary design complaint, or perhaps the infamous Smart Case.) 

The mesh-endowed headband certainly looks snazzy in photos and, in theory, promises greater comfort than foam or other, more traditional headband materials. 

But in practice, the mesh on the AirPods Max tends to sag over time, resulting in either an unsightly appearance (think saggy tube socks, while the mesh on my own AirPods Max looks only slightly wrinkly) or the loss of so much tension that the headband’s metal bands rest directly on your scalp—not a fun feeling. 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

The mesh may also get discolored as the months roll on. The white mesh on my green AirPods Max, for example, has started to turn a yucky shade of brown. (Apple does offer a support article that explains how to touch up the headband with a homemade cleaning solution.) 

And if you thought a darker shade of AirPods Max would save you from the discoloration issue, owners of the Space Gray model have reported what appear to be tiny, “white small cords” appearing within the mesh—likely a sign that the mesh itself has started to break down. 

Now, there’s a fair share of AirPods Max owners who say they’ve used the headphones for years (the Max first came out in 2020) without suffering any headband issues.

But for others, deficiencies in the AirPods Max’s headband seem to appear after about a year or so of regular use—right around the time Apple’s limited warranty expires, as Headphonesty points out.  

And while you can pony up the cash for extended AppleCare coverage, some AirPods Max owners say they’ve gotten static from Apple about repairs.

In any case, the new version of the AirPods Max unveiled at Apple’s “Glowtime” event Monday barely even counts as a revision—we’re only talking a few new colors, a USB-C connector (a welcome change, admittedly), and that’s pretty much it.

Also, rather than bringing over the newer H2 processor from the AirPods Pro 2, the new AirPods Max model will keep the older H1 chip from the original Max’s. That means (among other things) no Adaptive Audio mode, which blends noise cancellation and transparency mode depending on your surroundings. Adaptive EQ, an H1 feature that adjusts the audio according to the personalized fit of the headphones, will be carried over from the original Max cans.

Of course, no one was really expecting a major AirPods Max update during Apple’s event, with all the most recent rumors point toward only the light, USB-C-focused refresh that we ended up getting. 

Still, plenty of AirPods Max owners—myself included—were holding out hope that Apple would do something about the saggy, stain-prone mesh that makes our otherwise fantastic-looking Apple cans look like crap. 

Well, shy of a silent redesign on the headband’s mesh material, the answer appears to be “no.”

Updated on September 20, 2024 with a correction: The original version of this story incorrectly described Adaptive EQ, an Apple technology that’s supported by the AirPods Max. Adaptive EQ adjusts the sound of the audio according to the fit of the headphones; it does not (as Apple’s Adaptive Audio feature does) blend active noise cancelling and transparency mode depending on your surroundings. Also, Adaptive EQ is not new to the latest version of the AirPods Max. Our apologies for the error.