This audio engineer is a huge Apple fan. But he thinks you shouldn’t buy the AirPods Max.

“I could put them on my desk, and they’ll be dead when I go to pick them up,” Browne said, referring to longer periods without using the headphones, which offer up to 20 hours of battery life, according to the company.

After 72 stationary hours out of the case, the AirPods Max will be set to an even lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find Me. But the Smart Case — a unique design that some compared to a purse or bra — does not actually charge the headphones itself, which still requires a cord to charge it.

Apple did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

The headphones do have their perks

Browne and Stephens said that there are areas where the AirPods Max shines. Like the other AirPods, they said the AirPods Max offers an outstanding experience with active noise cancellation, spatial audio, and transparency modes.

“Personally, I think that their transparency mode is the best that I’ve ever heard in a product period,” Stephens said. “I definitely would describe them as class-leading for that.”

He said that one aspect of the transparency mode that is “particularly well designed” is its ability to pick up the direction of outside noise very well.

“It’s actually particularly easy, compared to others, to be able to tell in the transparency mode if someone is behind you is talking,” he said. “That the sound is coming from behind you, which is really cool.”

Apple’s top-notch active noise cancellation (ANC) similarly shines with the AirPods Max, they said.

“Its ability to silence noise from the outside is the highest of anything ever made,” Browne said.

But overall, Browne said that there are “so many better options for so much less.”

Try these alternatives

Browne recommends the Philips Audio SHP9500 as a great budget option that retails for under $100.

For a wireless option, he points to any of the Sony noise-canceling headphones, including the popular Sony WH-1000XM5, which cost $399.99. (Business Insider’s headphone reviewer, Antonio Villas-Boas, called the cans “the best wireless over-ear headphones you can buy” in his 2022 review.)

Stephens personally recommended the AKG N700NC (which are listed for $99 on the AKG website but sold out) or the Focal Bathys, a much higher-end option that will run you $699.

While much pricier, he considers the Focal Bathys to be “probably the best Bluetooth headphones on the entire market right now.”