The first reviews of AirPods Max 2 dropped today, and I’m a big fan of the improved ANC, Adaptive Audio support, and sound quality.

In a new interview, Apple has shed more light on the engineering work behind AirPods Max, including the H2 chip and upgraded ANC.

Speaking to TechRadar, Tim Millet, Apple VP of Platform Architecture, said the goal of AirPods Max 2 and the H2 chip is to make sure they’re “only limited by physics,” not by the chip architecture:

“When we build chips at Apple, it’s always about the product. We don’t sell chips out in the open market, and this gives our team really the luxury of knowing exactly what they’re building for,” says Millet.

Millet also teased that AirPods Max 2 could get better with future updates thanks to the H2 chip. “H2 is this platform that continues to demonstrate that it has continued headroom,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eric Treski, Apple’s Director of Audio Product Marketing, elaborated on Apple’s claim that AirPods Max 2 have 1.5x better ANC than their predecessors. “We take that average at 1.5 times across an average of all frequencies. We’re not cherry-picking individual frequencies or a certain range,” Treski explained.

Treski also notes the gain is particularly notable when you remember the design of AirPods Max 2 hasn’t changed:

On AirPods Max 2, that gain comes entirely from processing speed and improved algorithms, all running on the H2. “ANC — getting those improvements to 1.5 times without changing the hardware — is incredibly difficult to do. That’s all thanks to the compute power and the improved algorithms with H2,” says Treski.

You can read the full interview on TechRadar. Be sure to read my AirPods Max 2 review for all the details.

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