I don't know if this issue is limited to AirPods Max 2, or if it's a coincidence and the issue is with iOS/iPadOS (I'm on 26.4.2), but I keep running into this issue where occasionally while starting up a video stream (or resuming from pause), the normally surround sound / Spatial Audio sounds like a terrible stereo track.
So instead of the person speaking sounding like they're coming from directly in front of you, the sound is more like they are forcing all audio to the extreme left/right side of the soundscape, and it's very thin sounding. If I then stop the video stream and restart it (E.g. back out of the current video and then restart it), the sound goes back to normal, surround with the center channel right up front as expected.
This has definitely happened to me on Netflix on iPadOS, but I'm pretty sure it's also happened in other video apps like HBO.
Anyone else experienced this? If so, is it only on AirPods Max 2?