AirPods Max 2 - Hackdot

Re:AirPods Max 2 by porphyra on Monday March 16, 2026 @07:39PM (#47406588)

It costs that much because people are willing to pay more for better sound, better noise cancelling, etc, even if the returns are diminishing. Perhaps a $500 pair of headphones only sounds 3% better than a $200 pair. But people will still shell out for better headphones. Sometimes they just think it is better even if it isn't actually measurably better. The existence of numerous successful products on the market is evidence that this is a niche where people are willing to pay for such products.

It's kinda like, who decided that TVs and phones should cost the same? Or who decided that a khinkali should cost 3 times as much as a xiaolongbao?

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by halayli on Monday March 16, 2026 @08:21PM (#47406946)

Reading your parent comment and the responses, I feel be missing the point others are trying to make. There's much less technology, components, and material in a headphone compared to laptops. The circuitry in the headphones is closer in complexity to a charger than a laptop.

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by porphyra on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @12:12AM (#47408516)

The cost of something doesn't always correlate with the technology, components, and material. A Hermes bag doesn't even have a single circuit in it compared to headphones and laptops. Yet it costs more.

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by neya on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @12:37AM (#47408686)

> people are willing to pay more for better sound, better noise cancelling

> The cost of something doesn't always correlate with the technology, components, and material

Doesn't this actually contradict what you claimed originally, though?

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by halayli on Saturday March 21, 2026 @01:44AM (#47464317)

This is false equivalence. You're describing the luxury market, a vertical that is built on decoupling the raw material cost from the price tag. And in reality it is more nuanced than just raw material as there is a lot of cost in r&d/marketing/operations etc. Nevertheless, products targeted to general consumers are much more sensitive to that deviation.

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by neya on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @12:35AM (#47408668)

> better sound, better noise cancelling

You just casually threw in these claims without backing them up, when it has been proven that the Sony model (and even the others) you listed outperformed the Airpods pro in those exact departments at the time of its launch.

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by porphyra on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @12:41AM (#47408716)

My comment literally also says "Sometimes they just think it is better even if it isn't actually measurably better."

I also have "etc" in my first sentence, which may include such things as: a stylish aluminum exterior, bells and whistles such as spatial audio, a more seamless bluetooth connecting experience with Apple devices, and so forth. These do not matter for everyone, but some people clearly care about that.

It seems that you are quite belligerent and trying to pick a fight across many of my comments. Why?

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Re:AirPods Max 2 by neya on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @01:26AM (#47408982)

> It seems that you are quite belligerent and trying to pick a fight across many of my comments. Why?

Sorry, this is not the case at all, I am just trying to understand the justification for your original comment on the justification of the price (and quality).

Apologies if it came out too aggressive.

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