AirPods Max - Issue fix
So I have 2 pairs of the Max's - 1 for me and 1 for the GF. Both sets exhibited the same issues, after the warranty ran out, but despite scouring the internet for fixes, I found nothing that worked. I have since figured out a way to correct all of the issues I had and so am sharing this with you so you can hopefully avoid the same frustrations with these extremely expensive cans (as follows);
•Random disconnects
•Single-ear dropouts (for example if you attempt to scratch one ear under the cup)
•Unable to reconnect after disconnect/ reset
•Static/ buzzing from 1 ear
So to correct these issues I had and did the following.
You'll need;
•Small cotton buds
•Sim Eject tool
•Contact Cleaner (I used WD-40 Specialist Fast Drying Contact Cleaner)
•ear-detection failing
•other issues based on the above
How to:
•Remove each ear cup using the sim-eject tool, remembering which cup was on which side of the headband
• Soak a cotton bud with the Contact Clearer and rub the gold contact points on each end of the headband.
• Soak another cotton bud with the CC and insert into the hole where the headband inserts, rotate to remove any dirt and try to clean all the way up and out of the hole all the way to the outside 'collar' of the ear cup. *Im not certain this does anything as the cotton bud is far larger than the female contact within the hole of the ear cup, however I suspect the wear from the movement of the headband to the ear cups sheds dirt/ metal-wear into the female contact, making a poor connection, as when cleaning this part there will be dirt/ metal on the cotton bud. Be extremely careful inserting the cotton bud into the ear cup holes that it doesn't get stuck in there!!
• Reconnect the ear cups to the head band, but swap the cups over - so what was on the left, now gets connected to the right contact on the headband. I did this in so any wear on the contacts no longer corresponds to the potential wear on its original connection.
Now you should find all of the issues I have listed have been fixed and should behave exactly as you'd expect for a £500+ pair of headphones.
I hope this helps anyone with the same issues. After doing this, I now have excellent headphone I really love to use, rather than an endless and expensive lesson in frustration!. Note that you may have to repeat this process after a few months (like my GF's) or that they'll work consistently from that point on (like mine).
AirPods Max