New Bee Replacement Ear Cushions for AirPods Max with Protein Leather Magnetic Ear Pads for AirPods Max (Black)

I got these to have as a spare set of ear cushions, as I do wear my AirPods Max quite a bit, and after a while, the ear cushions can start to smell not too fresh, and when this happens, I like to wash them. When I do this, the ear cushions can take a couple of days to dry fully (due to the dense acoustic foam in them). I had looked at the original Apple ones, but was a bit put off due to their £75 asking price. I spotted these and seen they had pretty good reviews, so I thought I would give them a try.I put them on my AirPods Max while I washed the original ones that were on my AirPods Max. The comfort of these New Bee ear cushions is certainly a match for the original Apple ones, but I'm afraid that is all the good I can say about them.My major complaint is how these ear cushions degrade the sound quality of the AirPods Max. I'm very surprised more people have not complained about this in the reviews. A look at the reviews from the other countries does find people complaining about it. All I can say about the reviewers on Amazon UK, is that if they think these sound as good as the original Apple ones, then they obviously do not appreciate sound quality or appreciate the excellent sound quality that the AirPods Max can give.I listened to tracks that I have listened to many, many times and the degradation of the sound quality is like this. The bass lacks the depth that you get with the original Apple ear cushions, the mids lack sparkle and so do the high frequencies. I also found the highs a little on the harsh side. Again, not something you get with the original Apple ear cushions.The claim in the product description that mentions "retains the original sound of your AirPods Max headphone" is absolute rubbish in my opinion.Perhaps people may think that I was expecting too much for these to be near or as good as the £75 original Apple ear cushions, well I would say this. For getting on for nearly half the price of the original Apple ear cushions, I do not expect them to degrade the sound quality so much.If it hadn't been for the fact that I had torn the box for these New Bee ear cushions, then I would have definitely sent them back, but instead they are getting thrown in the bin. It's clear to see (or hear) that Apple use some of the best acoustic foam and materials in their ear cushions, hence the £75 asking price, and as such I have now got a pair of the original Apple ear cushions on route to me. I only wish I had just ordered the original Apple ear cushions in the beginning, and in the process saved myself £23.99.To sum up:If you appreciate excellent sound quality (which you obviously must do if you have paid the money that the AirPods Max cost) then do yourselves a favour and just get the original Apple ear cushions, if you are looking at getting a spare/replacement pair of ear cushions. You will be solely disappointed with these ones if you do get them!

The Airpods Max are an expensive headphone and owners will know that the parts most likely to wear are the headband and the ear pads. Replacement ear pads (or cushions as Apple call them) will set you back an eye-watering £75, so the availability of much better value alternatives is reassuring.These cushions from New Bee (newbie - geddit!) are a much more realistic price, but what do you miss out on? Well, on first glance they look very similar to the originals. If you've ever taken the original pads off - they're attached magnetically and come off easily - you'll notice that there's a centre plastic framework including a port (hole) for the bass. The New Bee's are practically identical in that respect. The differences are in the material for the cushion itself.The Apple originals have a cotton like feel with a grid texture. The New Bees seem to have the same but on closer inspection it's a printed pattern and they have a smoother feel like silicon. The Apple originals also have a 'springier' feel to them, bouncing back to their original shape, while the New Bees are memory foam and return to shape more slowly.The New Bees clip into place in confident fashion and fit exactly as you would hope, even down to the L and R pattern in the interior grid. I found when placing on my head that they felt slightly different. With the original cushions they lay vertically over my ears, whereas with the New Bees there was a tilt outwards from the bottom. The different material also feels slightly different around the ear.As it's simple to get them off and on, I was able to do A-B comparisons with a variety of tracks. There are no massive differences to the noise cancelling, but I found that music sounded more congested with the New Bees, particularly for complex recordings. Boogie Wonderland from Earth Wind and Fire has a lot going on and was clearly less enjoyable to listen to. Headphone companies pour a lot of research into choosing the right combination of materials and it seems this does have some effect here.I guess deciding whether to stump up for the Apple replacements or a budget version depends on what you use the headphones for. If it's mainly watching TV and films you may not notice much difference with the budget replacements. If it's for music that's a slightly different matter - some music I tried was fine but others were noticeably impacted. Like I said at the beginning, you paid a lot for the headphones, are you comfortable with the knowledge they're no longer quite as good, or happy that you've saved a fair amount of money.

Unlike others pretending to have these headphones for these cushions, I admit I do not.However, I had to ask a friend who lives in London for his opinion, which required me to send them to him.The general feedback I got from him was that they aren't as good quality as the ones Apple make themselves, but they certainly are not bad either.Very comfortable, no itching after a few hours of use and never felt like they were making his ears or face sweat.He told me that from a price point perspective, comparing to the official ones from Apple, these are significantly cheaper and almost just as good, so well worth the money.

My wife loves these - she uses her headphones for exercise and walking, so from time to time washes the original cushions which means the headphones are temporarily unusable. These replacements means that this is not a problem anymore, so she is happy.

Very easy to install (but that is thx to Apple).I don't think noise cancellation comes from the cuschions. Its more a software thing from the airpods so not sure we should rate this.The fabric is different. Less comfy I would say because more plastic/leathery vs. the Apple originals which are made of a cloth like fabric (like cotton)Most impotant is that overall they work.

I have a very pretty pair of AirPod Max pink/coral .. and I'm terrified to wear them on walks, etc. because I don't want to get them all sweaty and marked! Having a pair of these interchangeable ones means that I can just put these on and not worry about the original ones, and know that the coral ones are clean for home use.They are super comfortable, very easy to switch as they're just magnets, and very similar to the original Apple ones. I'll happily buy more when/if these get a bit over used!