Airpods are by far the best mass-market headphones in existence for apple device owners. The noise cancellation is unparalleled (which is huge if you use public transit or use them in the gym). The audio quality is also among the best you can get for a wireless headphone. This is true of both the Airpods Pros and the Max
Airpods are a joke. Apple killed the headphone jack for no reason, then sold the "solution", and people ate it up. Great business strategy for them to screw their customers for cash, but an abjectly terrible product. They are worse than wired headphones in every way except "they are wireless", which isn't actually a benefit.