Sennheiser HDB 630: https://geni.us/GC-SennHDB630
AirPods Max: https://geni.us/GC-AirPodsMax
Sony WH-1000XM6: https://geni.us/GC-SonyWH1000XM6
Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2: https://geni.us/GC-BoseQCUltra2HP
I have always said that I think the AirPods Max are over hyped and they are for people that just don’t know any better. And the same thing can be said about the Beats Studio Pro, it is very hard for me to recommend these headphones. However I will admit that the AirPods Max sound really good, therye some of my favorite sounding headphones… but today we’re going to compare them the Sennheiser HDB 630 which are also a good option if sound quality is very important to you, but just like the AirPods Max, these might be a little over hyped.
Regarding pricing, the AirPods Max have a retail price of $550 which is a lot, and even though I like how these headphones sound, I think these are just status symbols for people that don’t know any better. Where as the Sennehsier HDB 630 have a retail price of $500 which I also feel is a lot, but I do expect these headphones to eventually go on sale like the Sennheiser Momentum 4. Nonetheless if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always watch some of the related videos in the description below.
So first we have to talk about the case, and this is one of my biggest problems with the AirPods Max, these headphones have a very premium price, but they don’t come included with a proper case… which I do feel is unacceptable. Where as with the HDB 630, these come included with a premium feeling case. But the problem is even though these headphones have good active noise cancelation and a super long battery life, for me it is hard to justify traveling with these headphones cause their case is just so big. Personally I feel that if you’re looking for a pair of headphones to travel with, then you’ll might want to look at either of Bose’s headphones or the Sony 1000XM6’s cause for starters, all of these headphones have smaller and more conviente cases.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Now the HDB 630’s try to give you the illusion of being premium… but they still don’t compare to lets say the AirPods Max. Now the ear cups on both of these headphones pivot and swivel a good amount so they are both going to rest very naturally on your head. But the ear cups on the AirPods Max are metal where as the ear cups the HDN 630 are plastic. Also both of these headbands glide in and out but more importantly I do want to point out that the arms on the HDB 630 look like metal… but they’re just painted plastic. Where as with the AirPods Max, this is a mix of chrome and silicon. Now when we move up the headband, the HDB 630 has leatherette on the top which feels premium and the bottom is padded silicon. However this padded silicon can still cause some hot spots on the top of your head. Where as with the AirPods Max, these have a net, and this net is very neat cause it feels like these headphones are just floating on the top of your head and hot spots are never an issue for these headphones.
But when it comes to overall fit, these headphones are fairly different from one another. When it comes to clamping force, the AirPods Max have a firm fit to them, I would say that they were still big head approved, but if you’re looking for something with a looser fit then you do want to go with Bose’s headphones. And with the HDB 630, these are also big head approved, but they also have a firmer fit to them. But then there are the ear pads on these headphones. Now the ear pads on the AirPods Max are a little cramped when compared to the HDB 630. So if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot, then you do want to go with these. But more importantly, with the AirPods Max, these earpads are fabric… now they’re very breathable and they do a great job of staying cooler for longer… but they can get itchy after awhile. Where as with the HDB 630, these leatherette ear pads don’t get itchy and they actually feel pretty nice cause they have a nice grain to them… but they can collect heat significantly faster. But another thing that I do want to quickly point out about both of these headphones is that you can remove their ear pads if you need to, however the earpads on the AirPods Max are magnetic where as I don’t think that you can remove the earpads on the HDB 630 or im just to afraid to try to pull them off. But honestly, I don’t think that its a huge deal to be able to quickly remove your earpads on a regular basis, so I do feel that Apple over engineered these ear pads for no reason. Increasing cost and weight.
And speaking of weight, this is one of my biggest issues with the AirPods Max, these headphones weigh in at 387 grams, which is a lot. Now I understand that they are using more premium materials… however these headphones are just way to heavy. Where as with the HDB 630, these weigh in at 310 grams which is okay cause most premium ANC Headphones weigh in between 280 and 300 grams. But for comparison sake the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2 weigh in at 262, the Sony XM6’s weigh in at 254 grams, the Sony XM5 weigh in at 250 grams and then there are the Bose QC headphones which weigh in at 235 grams. So overall, with both the HDB 630 and AirPods Max, you never forget that you’re wearing these headphones cause you do notice them shifting around when you’re walking around with them on and you never forget that you’re wearing them when youre sitting at your desk, in bed or while on a plane… the AirPods Max more so than the HDB 630.
So when it comes to overall fit, both of these headphones do have their issues. The AirPods Max are very heavy and their fabric ear pads do get itchy. And with the HDB 630’s their headband can create some hot spots and therye still a little heavy when compared to more main stream options. And like I’ve mentioned in the past, no matter how amazing your headphones tech specs are, if they don’t fit well you’re not going to want to wear them. So if you’re very concerned about fit then you do want to look at Bose’s headphones or Sony’s headphones. But also, we do need to talk about looks, with the AirPods Max, these headphones are actually super low profile, where as with the HDB 630, these ear cups stick out a lot, significantly more than the Meomtum 4’s so the HDB 630’s do give you a megaman effect.
But now lets talk about tech specs, the AirPods Max have an advertised battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on, which is a little bellow average… where as the HDB 630 have an advertised battler life of 60 hours with their ANC turned on, and with both of these headphones you can extend their battery lives by using them with their ANC turned off.
And to charge these headphones, they both charge via a USB C port as they should, and you can also use these USB C port as a wired connection, which is good if you plan on gaming with these headphones. However if you want to use an audio jack connection with your headphones, which I feel is important if you plan on flying with your headphones, then you do want to go with the HDB 630 cause they come included with an audio cable, where as with the AirPods Max, that’s sold separately which I feel is not okay given that these headphones already don’t come included with a proper case.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connecvity, these headphones are a little different. Now the AirPods Max are meant for people that are already super invested in the apple eco system. So if you have an iPhone, and a MacBook, iMac and or iPad, then you’ll be able to easily hot swap between any of your apple devices associated to your iCloud account. Which is super easy.
Where as with the HDB 630, these can be connected to any two bluetooth devices, regardless of eco system or iCloud account, so these will be better for a power user that might like to switch between an iPhone and PC on a regular basis, or maybe you have multiple iCloud accounts. But when it comes to watching videos, latency is not an issue for either of these two headphones, so that not going to be an issue, and when it comes to audio codecs both of these headphones have support for SBC and AAC but the HDB 630 also have support for APTX’s multiple audio codecs… but in order to use any of these higher quality audio codecs you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC, but regardless both of these headphones sound good with AAC.
However, something that make the HDB 630 special here is that they do come included with a USB C dongle, so you can plug this into any of your devices and you’re going to be able to use APTX… however don’t expect your audio to sound magically better cause you’re using this USB C dongle. I feel that with the dongle, your audio just gets a little louder. And you don’t need to use this dongle to connect your HDB 630 to your phone or laptop, it has its own built in bluetooth. Personally I feel that this USB C dongle is just a gimmick, and anyone that’s telling you that your music is going to sound automatically better is either lying to you or to themselves.
But now lets talk about sound, now both of these headphones sound good and they both sound better than your more main stream option cause both of these headphones have better instuemnet separation. However these headphones do sound very different from one another. The HDB 630 are a pair of very technical headphones, these try to give you a super neutral sound signature. So the mids and highs come through very strong and with very good detail… but the bass is very lack luster. Where as with the AirPods Max, these go for a more dynamic sound signature cause the vocals are a little more emphasized and the bass does have more kick to it. However the bass on the AirPods Max doesn’t muddy the rest of your music like with some other headphones out there that might have a lot of kick in their bass. Overall both of these headphones sound good… but with the AirPods Max, these headphones are more fun… where as the HDB 630’s these are going to be better suited for someone that is looking for a more neutral sound signature, something that isn’t going to emphasis something over everything else.
And when it comes to your media controls, the AirPods Max has its crown, so from this dial you can easily raise or lower the volume or you can skip through your music, its very easy to use. Whereas with the HDB 630’s theres a touchpad, and this touchpad works well, but it is a little overly sensitive. But you can play and pause your music, you can skip through your music and you can adjust your volume by swiping up and down and you can even adjust your ANC settings by pinching.
But also, both of these headphones have wear sensors, so whenever you take these headphones off they’ll automatically pause your music, and when you put them back on they’ll start playing your music again. And for the most part both of these wear sensors work well… but personally I don really care for wear sensors on my headphones so I just turn them off, but they’re there if you want them.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Just as you’d expect, both of these headphones block out an impressive amount of noise, but so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen, the AirPods Max block out a little more noise than the HDB 630. But honestly, the difference between these two headphones is very small. However I do prefer the ANC on the HDB 630 over the ANC found on the AirPods Max cause they have less cabin pressure. Cause with the AirPod Max, when they’re blocking out a lot of noise, they feel like therye pushing down on your ear drums, or you feel like you’re in an airplane. So comfort wise, I would go with the HDB 630… but in general, if active noise cancelation is very important to you then you do want to go with either the Sony 1000XM6 or Sony 1000XM5 cause both of these headphones will block out more noise with less cabin pressure and they will also outperform both of these headphones at cursing altitude thanks to their atmospheric pressure sensors.
Now when it comes to the ambient mode on these headphones, the Ambient mode on the HDB 630’s sounds good enough to get the job done, but it can sound a little artificial. But you can adjust how much noise they let in. Where as with the AirPods Max, their ambient mode is perhaps the best one out there cause it geniually sounds like you’re not even wearing headphones, its crazy. But something that I do like about the HDB 630’s is that if you have them set to pause your music when you turn on their ambient mode… then youll have a conversation mode where your headphones will lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to remove the headphones…
And when you double tap on the touch pad, they go back to normal again. And this type of feature is super useful for when you’re traveling with your headphones. And sadly the AirPods Max don’t have this feature, they just have their wear sensors so you’re still going to have to take your headphones off.
Mic AirPods Quiet
But finally here’s the microphone test, and I feel that both the AirPods Max and Sennheiser HDB 630 are in the same league.
Mixc HDB 630 Quiet
Now both of these headphones sound good enough to take phone calls with while in a quiet room and they both do a good job of focusing on your voice.
Mix HDB 630 Road Noise
Ands when it comes to noise pollution, I feel that the HDB 630 are doing a slightly better job of dealing with this road noise, cause it is reduced. Cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clealery hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the Sennheiser HDB 630 it is reduced.
Mix AirPods Road Noise
Where as with the AirPods Max, these are also doing an okay job of dealing with this noise pollution, but you can hear some more road noise in the back ground. And there is some interference going on with my voice.
Mic Sony XM5 Road Noise
But for comparison sake, here are the Sony 1000XM5’s and these are doing a much better job of dealing with this road noise with less interference going on with my voice.
Mic Sony XM5 chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter, these are doing a good job of dealing with this noise pollution without interfering with my voice .
AirPods Chatter
Where as with the AirPods Max, these are struggling a lot more when it comes to blocking out this chatter cause there’s both a notable amount of noise pollution and interference with my voice.
HDB 630 chatter
And with the Sennheiser HDB 630, you can still hear a noticeable amount of chatter in the back ground but there’s less interference going on with my voice. But again for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the Sennheiser HDB 630, it is reduced. So overall, the Microphone on both the HDB 630 and AirPods Max are okay but there are still plenty of other earbuds and headphones out there that have better sounding microphones on them like for example the AirPods 4’s or the Sony WH-1000XM5’s.
But with all of that being said, both the AirPods Max and the Sennheiser HDB 630 are great options for someone that is looking for a pair of headphones that sound better than your more main stream options. But these headphones are very different from one another. With the AirPods Max these headphones have a more dynamic sound signature with stronger mids and strong bass where as the HDB 630 sound more balanced and technical. But personally I still prefer how the AirPods Max sound cause they have more kick in their bass making them more fun. But in general, if you’re planning on traveling or flying a lot with your headphones, then personally I do recommend either of Bose’s headphones cause they are more comfortable and they have a smaller case… or you can looks at Sony’s headphones cause both the XM6 and XM5’s block out more noise… but the XM6’s have a smaller case than the XM5’s.