Hicity V3 TB AirPods Max review (Starlight)

[warm remnant]

For me the V2s sounded cool since I love bass. For the gym they were perfect lol, but there were times when I wanted to just chill and the bass was too much. The V3s fixed that and again sound clear. Besides the bass compression I still really enjoy listening to the V3s. It’s only on certain songs so it’s not all the time. For reference my bother has an authentic pair and even he said he was surprised how crisp they sounded. My comparison for the V3s were going to be comparing them to my Studio pros since you can find them on sale for $169. My studio pros sound more refined, but I wanna say they are close. Bass on the studio pros is a bit cleaner but for reps they give them a run for their money. Bass on the V3s is still good. If they fix the bass compression I honestly would prefer the V3s over the studio pros.

Fixed Spatial Audio is where they struggle. For movies and videos they are fine and give you a more open soundstage. But I like listening to music with fixed Spatial Audio on and with the V3s you can’t really do that. The bass sounds distorted and I just end up turning it off for music. Head tracking works fine as well.

ANC: 7.5/10
ANC is good but not refined. I’m not sure if it’s my unit by there’s a very slight static like sound that comes from the left earcup. It’s very faint and honestly doesn’t bug me. If I play a video or song in a very low volume you can’t tell it’s there anymore. If they didn’t make that slight sound I would’ve given them a 8/10. The strength is similar to my Beats Studio pros just less refined due to the little sound. It does the job and anc actually works compared to the V2s. For reps I’m happy with the strength of the anc.

Transparency: 8/10
Transparency really surprised me and they outperformed my studio pros. I know the studio pros aren’t the best headphones out there but for reps to outperform an authentic product I think is impressive. I can hear everything around me clearly and have conversations without needing to take them off. Even though I’m spoiled with the transparency mode of my AirPods Pro 3 I’m still impressed on the transparency mode on the V3s.

Build/Comfort:
Overall the build and quality feels nice and premium. They are nearly identical and 1:1 to the real pair. The metal ear cups feel nice and the buttons feel nice as well. They are a big improvement over the Max v2TB(plastic). They do still make a slight sound when you press them compared to the originals but honestly they feel nice and they don’t sound/feel cheap. One thing I want to point out that nobody has talked about is the headband and the material it is made out of. The mesh is fine and feels nice but the actual headband (not the chrome pieces that slide into the top headband piece) is made out of a sort of plastic material with a coating that makes it feel a little like it would be hard silicone. My V2s headband is made out of actual silicone so when I received the V3s it threw me off. It doesn’t feel cheap or anything but I did wish they continued with the silicone material. I think they did this to make the headband more sturdy at the top. On the V2s if you slightly squeeze the headband there’s play/bend, and it was a tell that they were reps. The V3 headband feels firmer and there is no more play. So that’s why I think they went with this design to improve that. Not sure if I make sense but something I notice. It bugged me at first because again the headband for the real ones is made out of silicone. But tbh after like a day it didn’t bug me anymore lol. It still feels nice and solid just something i noticed and wanted to point out.

I also bought the original Apple ear cups for these and it did improve the comfort. They’re softer and noticeably comfortable for longer listening sessions. It helped with the clamping force. The clamping force is less than my V2s but after long periods you do still feel it.