I couldn't get my job done without the AirPods Max's amazing noise-cancelling — and they're $50 off in the Amazon Big Spring Sale

Apple AirPods Max Amazon Spring Sale event
(Image credit: Future)

Ah, it’s that lovely time of year when that little known company Amazon drops a surprise sales event upon us. I can already feel my horribly scraped bank card start to wince. Don’t worry, I promise I won’t do much damage to you this time out, little guy. That doesn’t mean I can’t still recommend some cool product deals that are popping up over at the Amazon Big Spring Sale 2024. And I’m about to point you in the direction of what I consider to be among the best over-ear headphones around. 

Right now, the Apple AirPods Max Wireless Over-Ear Headphones with Active Noise Canceling are on sale at Amazon for $499. Now, while that’s not the cheapest we've ever seen Apple's expensive but excellent over-ear audio efforts go for, you’re still looking at a decent savings of $50 compared to the normal $549 list price. Not too shabby.  

Apple AirPods Max: was $549 now $499 @ Amazon 

Apple AirPods Max: was $549 now $499 @ Amazon
The AirPods Max are Apple's premium, retro-style headphones. They feature large ear cushions, a digital crown, active noise cancelation and Spatial Audio. The latter feature uses head-tracking to offer a surround sound experience. In our AirPods Max review we said that the combination of cushy comfort, pristine audio quality and fantastic features like Dolby Atmos support is hard to beat. The Max also prove a doddle to pair with the best iPhones and the best iPads over Bluetooth. 

There’s a lot of tech jargon I could spit out at this point. Like how the Apple AirPods Max advanced Apple H1 chip helps provide higher fidelity audio. And I could certainly drone on about their personalized spatial audio that can really add a great sense of surround sound-aping immersion when I’m watching the best Netflix movies through my Apple 4K TV (2022) or on my iPhone 14 Pro

But screw that. I’d rather share a couple of anecdotes that will convey my passion for this product more than any overly techy factsheet could provide. 

Last year, I wrote about how the AirPods Max saved my dream vacation to Hawaii from becoming a disaster thanks to their impeccable noise-canceling. First they helped drown out the incessant droning of a fast food van’s generator that ran obnoxiously late into the wee hours that was situated directly beneath my hotel in Waikiki. 

Sound salvation

The AirPods Max saved me from noisy peacocks when I was in Hawaii.

Without my AirPod Max's noise-canceling button, this damn peacock and its constant screaming would have ruined my time at this Hawaiian resort.  (Image credit: Future)

Then they went one further and truly stopped my eardrums going kaboom on the beautiful island of Kauai. Turns out, I was staying at a resort with a bunch of peacocks and cockerels, and they’re continued cock-a-doodle-do cackling and general avian audio assault on my poor lugs who have spelled zero sleep for this already insomniac Scot without the AirPods Max's ultra effective noise-canceling.

They saved my bacon just this morning, too. When I got into the office this morning, the fire alarm decided to break. The resulting solid hour of high-pitched wailing would have turned me an even more rage-inducing shade of green than the Incredible Hulk if it wasn’t for my AirPods Max and my go-to running playlist. What could have been a work-ruining morning was purely salvaged by just how damn good the Max are at kiboshing distracting noises.

"When my dog starts barking while I'm working, it’s straight on with the AirPods Max, where their noise-cancelling features quickly kibosh my husky's howls"

I also regularly work from home with an excitable husky who occasionally goes into full on “wolf mode” and tries to howl hard enough that it’s like he’s trying to shatter the walls of my apartment. In these instances, it’s straight on with the AirPods Max, a quick click of the noise control button — handily placed next to the headphones’ Digital Crown — and those husky howls quickly wade.

So yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious you can tell I adore my Apple AirPods Max. They’re super comfortable, I appreciate their support for both Dolby Atmos and spatial audio and hot dang do I ever love these premium headphones' noise-canceling. So whether you work in a noisy office or own a dog with a bark like an agitated baboon, I’d recommend getting in on this deal before the Amazon Big Spring Sale closes on March 25.

Dave Meikleham
UK Computing Editor

Dave is a computing editor at Tom’s Guide and covers everything from cutting edge laptops to ultrawide monitors. When he’s not worrying about dead pixels, Dave enjoys regularly rebuilding his PC for absolutely no reason at all. In a previous life, he worked as a video game journalist for 15 years, with bylines across GamesRadar+, PC Gamer and TechRadar. Despite owning a graphics card that costs roughly the same as your average used car, he still enjoys gaming on the go and is regularly glued to his Switch. Away from tech, most of Dave’s time is taken up by walking his husky, buying new TVs at an embarrassing rate and obsessing over his beloved Arsenal.