I've found that most luxury items don't really impact your life. On a road trip, a minivan is more comfortable than a more expensive car. Cheap wine gets you just as tipsy as the premium stuff, even if you use nicer golf clubs.
A pair of high-end noise-canceling headphones could improve your life. These aluminum and leather cans provide a combination of solitude and sound that you really can't get for less.
It is not difficult to justify a pair like these if you wear them all the time at work, on public transit or to travel. These will last years longer, even though they are less expensive than an Apple device.
There are masters of Dynamics.
You can if you want to spend less on headphones. When it comes to high-end headphones, Master & Dynamic doesn't want to compete with Bose, Sony, or Apple. For less cash, all three brands offer the same tech-packed cans.
This Brooklyn brand wants to bring a touch more style and better sound quality. I have been a fan of its high-end earbuds for a long time, and not just because they look cooler than the California-designed equivalents. The offerings from Master & Dynamic are usually better than others.
When you compare the flagship models from the above brands, you can see that the material choices on Master & Dynamic headphones are higher-end. These are made of aluminum and lambskin leather, which is designed with the kind of timelessness you expect from a $600 accessory.
This isn't just down to higher-end material choices. At a few ounces less than the AirPods Max, the headband feels substantial on my head, with lots of padding on the earcups.
Behind the right and left earcup, there are controls for volume, play/pause, noise canceling, and transparency. Master & Dynamic did a good job of keeping the controls the same. When on the go, physical buttons make it easy to know what you are doing and the design team made them feel different on each side.