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Apple's high-end, over-ear headphones may be a bit over the top, but they are one of the best pieces of audio gear for Apple enthusiasts. The catch is that you have to be willing to shell out quite a bit of cash for them, which is why we always recommend waiting for a sale like the one happening now ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. Apple's AirPods Max are $99 off at Amazon right now, bringing them down to $450. That's about $20 more than their record-low price, and most colors are on sale as well, making now a good time to buy if you've had your eye on them.

There's a lot to like about the AirPods Max if you get get beyond their price. They have a unique, comfortable design that's more attractive than most high-end headphones, and they have excellent audio quality. Those who like "natural" sound from their cans will appreciate what the AirPods Max bring to the table, and we like that they also support spatial audio. Active noise cancellation is similarly solid, and there's a button on the headphones that let you switch between ANC and Transparency Mode.

The AirPods Max also have Apple's signature H1 chip inside that enables features like hands-free Siri and a host of other iOS/macOs-specific features. If you work with mostly Apple gadgets, you'll get a lot of use out of the quick pairing and switching between those devices. Battery life is good as well: we had no problem reaching 20 hours on a single charge when we first reviewed these headphones, and that was with spatial audio and ANC enabled.

We'd be remiss, though, if we didn't acknowledge that the AirPods Max are not on our list of best wireless headphones, and that's mostly due to their high price tag. They're certainly a better buy when on sale like this, but if you'd rather invest in a better all-around option, Sony's WH-1000XM5 (our current top pick) is on sale for a record low of $348 right now.

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Apple's AirPods Max over-ear headphones are once again on sale. The price has dropped by $99 at Amazon, where they're currently $450. One important thing to note is that you'll only get the full discount with two of the color options. The silver and space gray versions have a $29 voucher that's applied at checkout. The other colorways are $479 for the time being.

While this isn't the lowest price we've seen for AirPods Max to date, it's a good deal on a solid set of premium headphones. The price was one of our biggest sticking points when we reviewed the cans in December 2020 and gave them a score of 84. They deliver excellent audio quality and have good Active Noise Cancellation. We found the battery life to be solid, while features like deep iOS integration are useful.

As with other AirPods, these headphones don't support Apple Music Lossless due to Bluetooth codec compression. They do, however, support Dolby Atmos spatial audio.