Rumors continue to swirl around the idea of updated AirPods Max. 9to5Mac did a nice summary of the anticipated features with a new hardware version, including the H2 chip, Adaptive Audio, conversation awareness, and personalized volume. The current iteration of AirPod Max (now four years old) has been lagging behind some of the newer features in other versions of the AirPods.

I bought the original AirPods Max shortly after they launched, and I use them regularly. However, I rarely take them out of the studio. Sometimes I need really good audio as I edit screencasts and podcasts, and I am unable to or unwilling to use speakers. In these cases, they are excellent. (They’re also really good for listening to music louder than I want my wife to know I am listening to music.)

I went back and looked at my original impressions of these headphones, and most of it still holds true. I never really found the weight to be a problem. I sometimes have them on for two or three hours at a time, and it’s just not an issue for me.

Another use case for me with the AirPods Max is a backup set of podcasting headphones. I’ve had several occasions where I used them as monitors while recording shows, and they work just fine.

I don’t think I’ll rush to upgrade my original AirPods Max when the new ones come out, but some of those new features are tempting. Regardless, I hope we see the long overdue update to AirPods Max at the iPhone event next month.