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AirPods Max ANC unbalanced?

nattK

nattK

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 17, 2014
729
1,885
The Upside Down
I recently received my AirPods Max and it feels like the ANC in the left ear cup is weaker than the one on the right. I can still hear faint sounds from my surroundings through the left ear cup and there's less "pressure" compared to the right when ANC is on. It feels weird to have unbalanced pressure on my ears when wearing the AirPods Max. Also, if I turn my head slightly to the right, more sounds from my surrounding leaks into the left ear cup.

Is anyone else experiencing the same issue or could I just have gotten a defective unit? Mine's engraved too and I wonder whether they messed up left ear cup (which is where the engraving is) during the engraving process.
 
nattK said:
Tried that. I've even unpaired and re-paired to my phone but there hasn't been any noticeable change.
Click to expand...
Check the firmware version. If it's not 3C16, you may need to wait until that shows up. No way to force it - just have to leave it charging and let it happen.

For good measure, may want to restart your phone. I had some audio stuttering issues early on that required a cold boot.
 
alee said:
Check the firmware version. If it's not 3C16, you may need to wait until that shows up. No way to force it - just have to leave it charging and let it happen.

For good measure, may want to restart your phone. I had some audio stuttering issues early on that required a cold boot.
Click to expand...
Great idea - I might try that, thanks!
 
Same thing here. They sound great, but the left side is noticeably different when it comes to ANC - I can simply hear more outside noise on the left side. I'm on 3C16, and yes my hearing is fine and balanced. :)
 
More people have an issue where the ANC stops working (a bit) on 1 ear? I had this before and had to call Apple Support to fully reset the AirPods Max. Very annoying for a new product. It now happens every now and then again.
 
This exactly happened to me today, the left side has stronger ANC and transparency mode than the right side. It's as if the microphones on the right cup was not working. Luckily I found the instruction posted earlier on MacRumors and reset the AirPods Max as instructed. Now it's balanced again. Weird bug.
 
I only had it once related to transparency when it didn’t kick in in the left ear. I restarted them and that fixed it.
As for ANC, keep in mind that the mics are constantly listening to the noises around you to block them. Rotating the head would sometimes bring in more sounds. That usually changes as soon as the headphone is able to recognize and block them.
 
Last edited:
If a reset doesn’t work, reverse the APM on your head (left earcup on the right ear). If the issue persists on the same ear, then it’s a problem related to how the APM’s design interact with your own anatomy. Try fiddling with how you put them on your head. If the issue persists on the same earcup, we can start suspecting something is amiss on the APM.
 
I had to do another reset yesterday. It was frustrating. Didnt take very long though. Hope for a firmware update soon.
 
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