Apple announced its first-ever pair of headphones in the form of the AirPods Max for $549 in 2020. The price was high for a pair of active noise canceling (ANC) headphones for a mainstream market, as Sony’s and Bose’s flagship ANC models cost between $350-$400. At $200 more, the AirPods Max turned many heads. And luxury Italian brand Gucci has unveiled an even more atrociously priced case for the Apple headphones. The accessory is priced at $980 — almost double the price of the headphones themselves.
While you can always opt for the bra-like official AirPods case, there is a new expensive accessory in town that would allow you to carry your high-end headphones with more elegance. Almost a thousand bucks is a lot of dollars to pay for an accessory. Still, if you are interested, you can buy Gucci’s AirPods Max case on the company’s website.
There seems to be some doubt as to whether or not the Gucci case contains the magnets needed to switch off the AirPods Max, the way Apple’s own case does when you insert the headphones. If it does not, you’ll probably have to recharge the headset every 20 hours. You may also run into headaches as you try to answer your phone — if an iPhone believes a set of headphones is connected wirelessly, it will repeatedly try to route calls and music to that device instead of using its own internal mics and speakers.
As per the company (via 9To5Mac), its ‘Ophidia’ case for the AirPods Max is designed with vintage and contemporary design aspects. Coming to the design elements, the super expensive AirPods Max case is lined in neoprene and viscose, which is supposed to have a low environmental impact. You also get brown leather details with a snap closure button and a gold-tone ‘Double-G’ logo. Yes, you read that right — this insanely expensive headphone case doesn’t have a hint of real gold anywhere. The small luxury handbag case also has a shoulder strap to appeal to a wider audience.
Gucci says that its design brings “vintage and contemporary together through its archive-inspired design elements.” If that wasn’t enticing enough, it goes on to say that the case plays with the “contrast between past and present, the inside of the accessory is printed with ‘Hodiernum’ — a Latin word that means ‘belonging to the present day.’”
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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