So for a while I have been ranking the Airpod Max the best and then not the best. I have been going back and forth over them and the Bowers and Wilkins S2’s. It seemed like every day I woke I would get different results in sound from the AirPods Max that would change my view one way or another. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. This ironically started with the inclusion of Apple Music. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why I would get powerful sounds from the B/w S2 and very tinny and weak sounds from the AirPods max on their very own software.
And finally I know what happened. With Apple Music and the settings above …what you will get is Dolby Atmos tracks randomly and those track don’t play on the Airpod Max well at all. In fact some people try and justify it claiming it’s fine to play you music at 80% just to hear things. But if you turn off Dolby Atmos in your settings and only take advantage of lossless bitrates, you will get the sound you are suppose to get. The music is back to being clean, clear, defining, and having substance in its tones and volume levels. The gimmicky crap never justifies poor performance. So do yourself a favor and turn this option off if you want the full range of quality from your Airpod max using Apple Music. I almost made the mistake of selling my AirPods Max because I was thinking that the BW s2 was some sort of super tech over the Airpod max because when they played the same tracks (and they didn’t pick up the Dolby Atmos, only in lossless) and they smoked the AirPods Max like they were kiddy headphones. But now on equal terms, the advantage disappears almost for sound. Which makes this a completely different story all over again, only this time…it gives the true results.
AirPod max sound : 8.5
Bowers and Wilkins s2 sound: 9.0
I guess it’s up to you on the other things to determine which you want for yourself. Is the .5 scoring advantage enough to get over the phone quality and transparency modes the BW doesn’t equal to apple in? Or does the weight advantage and battery life give the BW S2 the win still? Up to you!! For me I think I will give my AirPods to my wife and stick with my BW S2’s, not because they are overall better but because I still feel they are better for me.
Tech-N-Things 