Think AirPods Max are too expensive? This pair costs £80,000

When Apple launched its AirPods Max, lots of people complained about the price. For most of them, £549 / $549 / AUS$899 for a pair of noise cancelling headphones was far too much. But for a select few, the price simply wasn’t high enough. That’s why Russian luxury brand Caviar has created its own custom version: AirPods Max Gold. 

They’re slightly more expensive than the Apple version, and by “slightly more” we mean “a hundred and seven thousand four hundred and fifty-one dollars more”. 

The AirPods Max Gold are $108,000, which is just over £80,000. 

Delivery is free.

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AirPods Max Gold: headphones for the queen or king of bling

What do you get for your money? According to Caviar, its AirPods Max Gold are made of rare black or white crocodile leather and plated with pure 750 gold. The specs are otherwise identical to the AirPods Max, although we imagine the gold adds a bit of weight. But that’s probably not going to be a big concern for the people who buy them. After all, a solid gold crown is much heavier.

“It is impossible to look away from this innovative and splendid device created for those who value their uniqueness and want to always be on top,” Caviar says. The black set is for someone who appreciates “ sophisticated design, laconicism and innovation” while the white one “looks elegant, emphasising the status of the owners and their impeccable taste.”

As tasteful as a solid gold toilet

It’s easy to mock the “impeccable taste” bit – we immediately thought of gold plated sports cars and the solid gold toilet offered to Donald Trump by New York’s Guggenheim Museum – and let’s face it, the this gold version isn't ever going to make an appearance in our best wireless headphones guide. But Caviar knows what it’s doing. It makes very particular products for very particular people, and it knows what those people want: bling.

Not only that, but they want bling that nobody else can get – and the AirPods Max Gold are one-offs, limited to one white one and one black one worldwide. 

The sound of showing off

Caviar makes hugely expensive one-off designs that are designed for the most conspicuous kind of consumption. “Each new product becomes a loud premiere in the world of luxe-class accessories,” it says.

Its first project was a gold iPhone 4S, and it’s since made other extremely expensive iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods. It also made the world’s most expensive smartphone, the Caviar iPhone Solarus, a blinged-up iPhone 11 Pro. That was a bargain compared to the AirPods Max Gold: it sold for $65,380, and the Pro Max went for $65,850. 

Caviar also makes a range of hugely expensive non-Apple products including $15,000 Nike Air Jordans and a PlayStation 5 covered in eight sheets of solid gold. The price for that one is available on application, but is rumoured to be only slightly more expensive than a regular PS5 goes for on eBay.

The AirPods Max Gold will go on sale at some point in 2021.