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00:00All right, so a while ago Apple launched their AirPods Max, a pair of $550 wireless earphones.
00:10And the moment they came out with them, one of the first things I thought was like, there's
00:14going to be clones of this thing.
00:15There's going to be replicas and knockoffs of this product because it's so expensive
00:18and because it's a desirable brand, right?
00:21So I hop into Alibaba and I take a look around and there's so many, there are so many knockoff
00:27versions of the AirPods Max.
00:29But there's one thing I noticed, there's seemingly two tiers of this product.
00:33There's like an expensive $150 clone and then there's like these $30 or $40 clones that
00:38are also very popular.
00:40So I ordered one of each and that's what we have today.
00:44In front of you is a $30 knockoff version of the AirPods Max.
00:50We also have a $150 version of the AirPods Max.
00:56And then of course we have the original, a pair of $550 AirPods Max.
01:03Now the first thing I noticed when I got this thing in is that the boxes are so similar.
01:10Like the fake version has the same kind of design, print, like the shape, size, everything.
01:16That's easy to do.
01:17But they have this, it's embossed, it's raised and it's like they put so much effort into
01:25this packaging.
01:26It almost feels like the guys that made the original, like the company that made the original
01:28packaging also made the fake one.
01:31Even the back of it, like unless you were looking for differences, you could not tell
01:37them apart.
01:38Like you would think very convincingly that this was a real version of the AirPods Max.
01:43The one thing I would say that is noticeable to the eye is that the fake version has like
01:48this warmer color to it.
01:50It's like a orangey red version, whereas this is like a more natural color.
01:56But that's it.
01:57And this one, in case you're curious, the $30 version, this didn't have any packaging.
02:01This was in a plastic bag.
02:02It didn't even come with a charging cable, but we'll come back to this in a minute.
02:06Let's take a look at the inside of these.
02:08So I haven't even listened to these things.
02:10I have no idea what they sound like or anything like that.
02:14Okay.
02:15Now inside, the similarities just keep coming.
02:18So with the $150 fake, you get, oh my gosh, even the, like the pamphlet, they're not exactly
02:26the same.
02:27I don't think, but, well, the USB-C cable or the lightning cable doesn't come wrapped
02:34up like the real one, but it's convincing.
02:38I'm curious to see about the pamphlets though, because if they nail the paperwork as well,
02:45I don't even know which one was the real one.
02:47Okay.
02:48I assume that it didn't screw it up, but, so that's, oh my gosh, dude, look at this.
02:56Okay.
02:57I'm not going to go through every page or maybe I should, oh my God.
03:05Okay.
03:06At this point, you know what's running through my mind?
03:11It feels like they didn't make this product just for the sake of offering a cheaper version
03:16to people.
03:17It almost feels like there's like malicious intent here.
03:20Like for people to scam people and pretend like it's the real one, it's the same quality
03:25of paper, the same like quality of print.
03:30This is nuts.
03:31Okay.
03:32I don't even know which one's which at this point.
03:36It doesn't matter.
03:37Let's get to the actual products.
03:39All right.
03:40Fake one, real one.
03:42The only reason why I know this at this point is because of the color.
03:45I know that the real one is more of like a gray color.
03:47It's like a space gray product, space gray packaging.
03:49This is definitely like a black, it's clearly black.
03:54Also magnetic, like the carrying case.
03:57Yup.
03:59Maybe the magnet's not as strong, but we're looking at very minor differences between
04:06these two at this point.
04:07But the, I'm just curious about the back.
04:10Convincing, believable.
04:11Yeah, dude.
04:12At this point, I'm, this wasn't meant to serve a market of, you know, people that want a
04:18cheaper version.
04:19This honestly feels like they're trying to scam people.
04:21Like imagine someone that's trying to sell a secondhand or a used or whatever, right?
04:26An AirPod Max, but they're selling you these knockoff ones instead of a real one.
04:31You would have a tough time telling them apart.
04:34This one, the real one, metal, right?
04:37It's got the aluminum cups.
04:40And I've reviewed this product before.
04:41I'm just familiarizing myself again because we're going to go into the realm of fakes
04:46in a second.
04:47Okay.
04:48I remember how this feels.
04:50This is a little bit lighter on the fake.
04:53It's not metal.
04:54It's got weight to it.
04:56It's got, I don't know if they're like stacking lead on the inside of this thing or something,
05:00but it's heavier than you'd expect for a plastic device.
05:03But this is, I'm pretty sure this is plastic.
05:07Like the aluminum, it's got, yeah.
05:11This is plastic, but it's heavy.
05:14But the rubber, like the silicone, it's convincing.
05:17The mesh, it feels like, I mean, let me side by side.
05:25Okay.
05:26The real one is a firmer mesh.
05:29It looks like the knit is a little bit denser.
05:32The fake one, it's a softer, it's a softer push.
05:37But just to show you real quick, the $30 one, and this is plastic, like straight up, super
05:43plastic, very, very cheap feeling.
05:45And it's squeaky, dude.
05:49It's like creaky.
05:50Oh my God, the hinge.
05:52It's not even a hinge, man.
05:53This is like, what am I, what is this?
05:56Okay.
05:57This is in comparison to the other two.
06:00It's by far the cheapest, but it's very junky.
06:03But aesthetically, it's got the look, right?
06:08I mean, for a fake, for a knockoff, it's done a very good job of being convincing aesthetically.
06:16Now in terms of comfort.
06:18So let's see this.
06:19I'm curious.
06:22This is the real one.
06:24I'm familiar with this.
06:26They're heavy, but they're comfortable.
06:28For the weight, they do a really good job of making these fit nicely.
06:33Okay.
06:34These are heavy.
06:35For a plastic, the hinge is definitely...
06:41It's stiff, but it gets the job done.
06:49Okay, they're not as comfortable.
06:52There's a degree of like compression against my skull.
06:56I imagine over the course of an extended wear, that would be uncomfortable.
07:00Now, the cheap ones, the $30 ones, okay, these are garbage.
07:10They don't eat, like there's absolutely no isolation in terms of sound, and I just feel
07:15like they're bad.
07:18They're not spongy enough, like they're not comfortable, but again, for the look, if you're
07:28just going for the look, I'd say they're convincing, convincing enough, aside from
07:34that squeak.
07:35All right.
07:36I want to hear how they sound.
07:37So let's pair them up and let's get the audio test going.
07:41All right.
07:43So it's been a while since I've used this thing.
07:46I think the last video I did with them was like four years ago, but this will be a decent
07:51representation of what's going on here.
07:52So I normally don't use these in my videos because they're not accurate.
07:56They're not a proper representation of what the user actually hears, but it's all we got.
08:02And this is, this is the closest thing we'll be able to do for the purposes of today's
08:07video.
08:08All right.
08:21So those do not sound great.
08:22The audio quality is very mediocre.
08:25I mean, for 30 bucks and plastic headphones, I feel like that's what I would expect, but
08:28they certainly don't sound anything like AirPods Max's.
08:31One thing I did notice, they do not have any kind of active noise cancellation, like the
08:35real ones.
08:36I was messing around the software, turning it on and off.
08:37It seemed to have no effect on the actual noise cancellation, but that's what you expect
08:44for that kind of price.
08:45Now, I am more hopeful for this, the $150 pair, because these are, I mean, they got
08:51the, oh wait, is this the real one?
08:58Dude, it does the pop-up.
09:01Like the real ones have the pop-up, when it's a real Apple product pairing with the Apple
09:05phone, it'll do this thing, but they must have like a fake chip in here, like a chip
09:09in this knockoff version.
09:11Let me just double check to be a hundred percent sure here.
09:13Yeah, this is the real one.
09:17It's got, oh my gosh, it even has the animation, everything.
09:21The phone thinks that this is a real pair of AirPods Max's.
09:26Wow.
09:27Okay.
09:28And it's called the Pro Max, not an AirPod Max.
09:31All right, let's hear how this sounds.
09:47So those sound okay.
09:48I don't feel like they're worth the $150.
09:51Like if I was buying these and this was the sound quality I got for this kind of price
09:54point, I'd be very disappointed.
09:56Clearly you're buying it for the aesthetics and the fact that they've ripped off Apple,
10:00but in terms of sound quality, passable, but certainly not worth 150 bucks.
10:06I did test the active noise cancellation on this one.
10:08It does work, but it is very weak to the point where it was actually very difficult to even
10:13demonstrate its abilities.
10:15So it exists, but pretend like it doesn't because it's extraordinarily weak.
10:19Okay.
10:20Just to close this off, I want you guys to hear the real ones because these sound obviously
10:24the best of the bunch.
10:38So that's the AirPods Max and a couple of its clones.
10:41I feel like there's a couple of takeaways for me here.
10:43The first is that if you're going to buy a pair of AirPods Max, I would be very cautious
10:48purchasing it from anything else like other than a reputable store because it is so easy
10:53to be duped with these counterfeit products.
10:55It's strange how good they are in terms of how accurate the replicas are.
11:01The other thing though, for me is that I don't like seeing this stuff.
11:03I feel like, I mean, the reason why these things even exist is that the manufacturers
11:07are trying to trick people into thinking that it's the real one, right?
11:11Whether it's for malicious purposes or just like, you know, for a status thing, it's just,
11:15it feels so bleh.
11:17I don't like it.
11:18And clearly these things are nothing like the real ones.
11:21They don't sound like it.
11:22They're like, the quality is not there.
11:23It's not an Apple product, but there you have it.
11:26The clones.
11:27All right.
11:28Hope you guys enjoyed this video.
11:29Thumbs if you liked it.
11:30Subs if you loved it.
11:31I'll see you guys next time.