Apple AirPods Max vs Noble FoKus Apollo: Headphone Battle

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Your favourite over-ear noise-cancelling headphones - GO!

[@stuclark4983]

Just purchased Sonos Ace today and they are great, not at the full UK price. But well worth the £359 I just paid.

[@markpettygrove7597]

B&O H95

[@fun-ghi]

Still Focal Bathys Nr. 1. Also like the B&W Px8 with some equalizer settings.

[@milkshakeplease4696]

driver technology pretty much peaked in the 90s with slight refinements since. apple is using top tier tech and there's not a difference between apple or even 1000 h95 as far as functional tech. it all comes down to tuning preference and signature and audiophile headphones from audio brands will already color people's perceptions because it is "audiophile" but apple's superior ANC, software, and whatever else is proof they have a tech edge because of their massive r&d budgets.

[@blueandwhiteeighttwo]

Bathys

[@cesarvarela5438]

Man your audio quality is always on point and your video quality is superb, I always come for the content but stay for the sound and video quality

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Means a lot - thank you!

[@sankreiiaGM]

Would be really interesting to see Apple Airpds Max vs Beoplay H95, I love your content and honesty

[@brianayee884]

I feel like you are in my head. This audio quality is insane. New subscriber.

[@henricopit]

I own the Soundcore Life Q35. I bought them two years ago, for €99,99. Still amazing.

[@stuclark4983]

Look at the size of those Noble things….like walking about out 2 Marshall Amps strapped to your ears

[@Bruceneuman]

From personal experience, if you are a iPhone user the Airpod Max is a great choice. It could still do with some updating and it is expensive but it simply works best with Apple products, sounds great, has great noise cancelling, great transparency when needed and super easy controls. If too expensive for you, look at the Bose Ultras, which you will find regularly on sale. If you are an audiophile, then I imagine you know what you are looking for and there are a number of offerings in that category from which to choose. Much more money, though.

[@GreenMeanie76-v1c]

Not being able to play higher quality audio on the Max is crazy at that price.. Wired connection is so much better.Even my new Beats Studio Pro can do that.

[@Richard_Bullwinkle]

How do the Apollo cans rate against the B&W Px8 ? I love these reviews. Thanks!

[@flappospammo]

I love the seamless way the max connects to all my apple stuff ... it all just works...

[@NipseyHussle1]

Noble Fokus Apollo is the best of the two.

[@SlopeRocker52]

Those Noble’s are HUGE. Deal killer…especially if you’re using them outside of the home or for travel..

[@kenstaroz1536]

Apollo wins hands down especially when it comes to sound quality. Not even a fair competition. Edifier S5 is also very very good. Blows the Apple max Pro out of the water period.

[@etiennela4870]

I feel a fairer comparison would be the B&W PX8 vs the Nobles, pricewise and for the target audience - They do look very similar too

[@adamnowak9556]

It's a very nice headphone and I believe sonically it's better than any other BT headphone that I've heard (including Bathys and Stax S5) - but it's far from perfect. ANC causes the sound to change significantly, probably more than in other headphones. And it's not a change for better. Also app, which is needed to control a lot of aspects, is at best in beta stage. I'll spend some time testing it and comparing to other headphones but I'm still not sure if they're worth the money Noble is asking for them (which is still peanuts compared to price of their IEMs)...

[@anthonyjavierramosmaldonad977]

Noble Fokus Apollo vs Bowers And Wilkins Px8 please!!!

[@plhikoum]

Just Quick question : Brand of your Headphones stands please?

[@charliefarley04]

God these videos are such a nice watch

[@House-Techno-Studio]

How do these compare agains Focal Bathys in terms of sound?

[@MrMarcyprada]

In fact there is one headphone which can compete with the transparency mode of the Airpods Max and that's the Bang & Olufsen H100. They are fantastic in this discipline (as in almost every discipline) but well...they cost 1500€ 😂

[@jonnymarkbeadle]

Thanks for this review. I was really interested to hear what you thought of the Apollos. I'm in an over-ear headphone dilemma. I sold my 1st gen AirPods Max in a deliberate gamble. I figured that, if the rumours came true and all Apple did was to add USB-C, it would free me to buy other comparable headphones: PX8, BeoPlay H95, the Noble Apollo etc, If Apple had released a proper 2nd gen AirPods Max then I'd have got those. So why then, given that the first scenario came to pass, am I wavering about going non-Apple for my next over-ears? I'm still drawn to all the Apple-y ecosystem functionality, even though I'm persuaded by your reviews (and others) that there are better sounding cans out there.

[@emilsecker7881]

Love my OG AirPods Max, I can even asleep with them

[@justperson3542]

So Bathys or Apollo ? 🤔

[@niione2]

Hi Mark, thanks for your reviews. Have you found ways to connect the new AirPods Max by wired audio cable yet? I would like to know what works. Thanks

[@MarkEllisReviews]

No problem! And I'm afraid you can't at the moment. We need Apple to provide a USB-C to USB-C cable with a built-in DAC for that to work.

[@XimeB98]

Hi, I am very deep in the apple ecosystem, I was going to buy the new AirPod Max but since they did not upgrade much, would you recommend I buy the lighting version at a discount? Idk if I would struggle with software updates down the line. I am also considering the Bose QC ultra, switching between devices is my only concern with those Help please 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@SlopeRocker52]

No…won’t impact getting upgrades. The Apple makes more sense imo if you’re deep into the Apple eco system. They work seamlessly between devices. As to connectors, if you’re transitioning to all USB C then go for the new ones. If you don’t mind carrying an extra Lightening cable go for the older ones. I like the fact that it’s easier to find a USB C cable in a pinch or emergency than a proprietary Lightening cable. But..YMMV..

[@mikeg5372]

@@SlopeRocker52IMO it would be silly to pay full price for APM just to get USB-C. I’m still on my original pair of APM’s and they’re still going strong . In fact I use them quite often for video conference calls and often I ask colleagues if they can hear lawn mowers outside my home office window, or other noise around me. Their answer is mostly “No, just your voice”.

[@SlopeRocker52]

@@mikeg5372it depends entirely on your threshold for convenience. There’s no right answer imo..

[@davidbirkhead1176]

You need to go to a higher quality source to get the best from the Apollo the codec was the limit in the test run a FLAC file wired from the Mac or a headphone DAC/ Amp and they will blow the Max out the water.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

This is covered in the video.

[@davidbirkhead1176]

@@MarkEllisReviews I didn’t think you made much off it at the time while it is a big point musically which for me is a headphones number one job, on reflection without having a pair in hand to run myself I am in the same boat as you so you are fully correct and I can’t shouldn’t really comment without doing it myself as I am guessing as much as you would have been on high end performance. I wanted to love these I love my headphones for audio and want the high end sound in the house and convenience, the Max convenience won me over originally and if Apple hadn’t showed so little respect for its customers as they did with the 2024 Max to not even put the H2 chip as a minimum in there £500 supposed flag ship product while arguable making there £140 product arguably better than them was a new Tim Cook low for me. If it’s any consolation a audiophile review has pretty much suggested you need the hardware to make these shine a Mac port is not enough as they are high impedance drivers so for many you probably are more correct than I ever was. So I. apologies and I’m back looking at Bathys or wait another year on my old Max I have to hope Apple is skipping a cycle of high end updates to bring something new because they seem to have closed all there product line gaps between pro and non pro models which doesn’t make sense.

[@Bruceneuman]

If I recall correctly you had an audiophile review the AirPod Max, who gave it a favorable review. Also, how about comparing the new Fokus with other audiophile brands like the Bang & Olufsen H100, which I think is priced at $1550 or so.

[@TheQuickyouknow]

That's a terrible comparison. Maybe the Bathys.

[@flappospammo]

Bno are not an audiophile brand at all , lifestyle more like , over priced with crap sw and poor backup

[@HenryDqly]

Hi

[@robsawalker]

Like the top, what is it?

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Gym Shark! Not sponsored!

[@hgr1989]

I’ll watch this only because I like your content. Airpods Max makes no sense at all.

[@truthteller2711]

The opposite 650$ headphones make no sense

[@hgr1989]

AirPods Pro 2 gets the job done. I would never buy the 4 years old AirPods Max just because of new colors and usb-c.

[@davidbirkhead1176]

@@truthteller27115 year old technology at £500 doesn’t make sense, if your into headphones £500-£800 is a beginners market, Apple showed Focal and Noble there is a higher price tolerance in the mass consumer market and there tipping there toe in the market. If you run a real source wired into these the sound will be night and day the fact you can unplug and still get the max from the headphone is a massive bonus to many or even run a portable headphone DAC and keep the quality on the move. Apple need to drop price or do work on the product or the market will swallow them up.

[@ChrisCanadianHusky]

AirPods Max are amazingly good and high quality. Maybe save up?

[@Lvnaticify]

They are by far the best headphone experience in that price range, IF you’re using an iPhone

[@erkanvural3621]

I'm owner of apple producsts iphone and macbook . but i could never ever enjoy with the sound quality of their headphones-earphhones. remember , those are headphones(or earphones) first things is to listen music and best audio quality i currently use headphone focal bathys, and bOSE QC ULTRA earbuds on the go. perfect set, meanwhile noble audio is very serious audio company. i owned previously some of their earbuds its insanely tunes and louder and cleanest, i'm sure fokus Apollo is very good. i couldnt get it tried yet but hopefull on my next trip to USA. its not selling in my country

[@drlessismore]

I have big ears. Have any recs?

[@Martinbeef]

AirPods Max are not good. I sold mine. They were not comfortable at all. Also, the sound was no better than my Sony XM4’s. The Noise cancellation on the AirPods Max was not very good either. I thought they were a waste of money. I love my AirPods Pro 2. The sound is superb, but the anc has got worse over time. I don’t know why.

[@денисСолодков-б7щ]

Certainly Noble You don't even have to think about it) Apple doesn't have the right sound They don't measure up to the level Noble

[@TheQuickyouknow]

I love the boom mic, but hate that it doesn't have low latency codec or aptx voice. Basically can't use it for conference calls with those laggy codecs.

[@TeofilBejan-lg2rt]

If you like so many products outside apple products, why don't you leave them?

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Because I love lots of Apple products and the Mac is totally irreplaceable for me.

[@DaiPad881]

Airpods Max really aren’t anything special nowadays and were they ever? I did try the Apollo against my Bathys and kept my Bathys, To me they sound better and with the added bonus of the dac function they’re just the best of the bunch as far as bluetooth headphones go

[@milkshakeplease4696]

driver technology pretty much peaked in the 90s with slight refinements since. apple is using top tier tech and there's not a difference between apple or even 1000 h95 as far as functional tech. it all comes down to tuning preference and signature and audiophile headphones from audio brands will already color people's perceptions because it is "audiophile" but apple's superior ANC, software, and whatever else is proof they have a tech edge because of their massive r&d budgets.

[@DaiPad881]

@@milkshakeplease4696 I understand what you’re saying but people like Focal and Meze and B&W will always produce better sounding headphones, Sadly the average consumer sees an Apple logo slapped on something and automatically thinks it going to be the best when in this case it is nowhere near, Not even top 10

[@mileshoogwerf3345]

Pity Noble looks terrible.

[@fun-ghi]

Well, the comparison is a bit off if you ignore the significantly better Bluetooth codecs (LDAC, aptX, aptX HD) that the Noble supports. It''s like a Porsche driving in 1st gear only.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Those codecs are noted in the video, as is my reason for testing without them.

[@fun-ghi]

@MarkEllisReviews That's right, you mentioned that. Nevertheless, it is not optimal that you use an iPhone with Apple Music to play music on an Apple headphone, since the AAC codec is optimized by Apple for Apple. Did you at least turn off Hi Res or were ALAC files played on the Airpods Max? In addition, the Airpods is already burnt in, the Noble out of the box, as you say yourself, also not ideal.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

No, mate, I just undertook the test like a normal user. This isn't the kind of channel that goes into the level of detail you're suggesting (and, regardless, there are plenty of contrasting opinions out there about headphone 'burn-in' - which kinda illustrates my point; I'd rather connect my teeth to the mains than go down any of those rabbit holes).

[@GarethHailes]

Get a FiiO BT11 adapter and your iPhone will have better quality bluetooth codec as well

[@leonorman9564]

First here yeah

[@coxyjmz]

So this is a rubbish video, fiio are releasing a wireless dac for iPhone. It will destroy air pods max in the fact you can get hi res wireless out of most other headphones.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

My video is rubbish because fiio is releasing a wireless DAC?

[@coxyjmz]

@ Nah, but you are only comparing a basic audio format. I think you should delve into headphones a little more because it seems as if your promoting a product that has had minimal change and atm seems like it’s also for the worse just because there apple and want control. Not being able to use a cable for lossless audio which is 1 of the biggest selling features is awful.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

@@coxyjmz right. You’re clearly very new to my channel, mate. If you fancy it, I’d have a dig into the archives.