Apple’s AirPods Max 2 bring H2 chip, boosted ANC in April for $549

Apple announced the AirPods Max 2 today, following up the original AirPods Max , which were announced in December 2020.

The new model brings improved active noise cancellation (ANC) and other new features via an updated H2 chip.

The AirPods Max 2 are available in the same five colorways as their predecessor.

Credit:
Apple The AirPods Max 2 are available in the same five colorways as their predecessor.

Credit:
Apple introduced the H2 with the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) , which came out in September 2022.

The original AirPods Max released in 2021 with an H1, meaning the new over-ear headphones should be more in line with Apple’s AirPods series in terms of features.

Apple claims that the new chip, combined with new computational audio algorithms, makes ANC up to 1.5 times “more effective” on the AirPods Max 2 compared to the original AirPods Max.

Transparency mode, meanwhile, should sound “more natural” due to a new “digital signal processing algorithm optimized for H2,” Apple’s announcement said.

The H2 adds support for a slew of additional AirPods Max 2 features, including adaptive audio (which automatically adjusts levels in Transparency and ANC modes based on ambient noise) and Conversation Awareness (where the device automatically lowers the volume when someone starts talking to you).

The AirPods Max 2 also feature a small spec bump from Bluetooth 5.0 to Bluetooth 5.3.

Credit:
Apple The AirPods Max 2 also feature a small spec bump from Bluetooth 5.0 to Bluetooth 5.3.

Credit:
The H2 also enables the AirPods Max 2 to support live translation (which uses Apple Intelligence for real-time language translation) and voice isolation (which taps “advanced computational audio powered by H2 to prioritize the voice during calls, while blocking out ambient noise,” according to Apple’s announcement today).