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AirPods Pro 2 Phone Call Quality Improvement?

Starfyre

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 7, 2010
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Just wanted to ask for AirPods Pro 2 owners vs AirPods Pro 1 owners… is audio quality for phone calls any better? I feel like with the Pro 1’s it is easy to tell if you’re on the road or in a windy area (from the other person on the phone with me)…. has any of this improved with the Pro 2 or is it pretty much the same?
 
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MiragePL said:
This is my question too. I don't need absolutely any improvement over Pro 1 except this. People that are talking with me, constantly say that they hear everything around me extremely loud.
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You took the words out of my mouth. This is my only annoyance with AirPods Pro. Whenever I talk on the subway I always have to repeat myself and basically shout. I always tell people I’ll call when I get home so annoying
 
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Most reviews report significantly improved call mic quality, even in noisy/windy environment.

It's not as good as talking directly to the iPhone speaker of course, but good enough.

You can hear the sound samples of both APP1 vs APP2 on many YouTube reviews.
 
luigi.lauro said:
Most reviews report significantly improved call mic quality, even in noisy/windy environment.

It's not as good as talking directly to the iPhone speaker of course, but good enough.

You can hear the sound samples of both APP1 vs APP2 on many YouTube reviews.
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Share a good example? I never thought direct to iPhone speaker would be better than the headphone… with all the hype on Bluetooth and quality… I would have thought the mics could be just as good if not better. If it’s comparable to the Pro 1’s I can hold off upgrading.
 
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Starfyre said:
Share a good example? I never thought direct to iPhone speaker would be better than the headphone… with all the hype on Bluetooth and quality… I would have thought the mics could be just as good if not better. If it’s comparable to the Pro 1’s I can hold off upgrading.
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Just think how close the iPhone mic is to your mouth compared to the AirPods mic — that’s why the quality is so much higher
 
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one if the first things I did when I got my APP2s was to do a test with Voice Message with both APP1 and APP2. I had TV noise in the background, I rank water in the kitchen sink, and I crumbled up a chip bag. Those things would all come across in the APP1s. They were very effectively suppressed in the APP2. I haven’t tried wind noise as there is no wind this weekend but I’ll try again if we have a windy day.

Overall I am pleased with the improved ANC on the microphones.
 
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I’ve been on work calls with mine all day, and have noticed a weird sound…almost like a a reverb or echo…when I’m speaking. I thought maybe it was the conferencing service on the first call, but it has happened on Teams, WebEx, and Zoom, plus a straight up phone call.

Not sure if it’s a weird setting thing or an issue-I came here looking for anyone talking about it.
 
ChrisBos said:
I’ve been on work calls with mine all day, and have noticed a weird sound…almost like a a reverb or echo…when I’m speaking. I thought maybe it was the conferencing service on the first call, but it has happened on Teams, WebEx, and Zoom, plus a straight up phone call.

Not sure if it’s a weird setting thing or an issue-I came here looking for anyone talking about it.
Click to expand...

OMG FINALLY, someone who has noticed it, also happens in recordings.
Here its the post!!
Plz comment it, lets give visibilty, i hope its a software issue.
 
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LionAlonso said:
OMG FINALLY, someone who has noticed it, also happens in recordings.
Here its the post!!
Plz comment it, lets give visibilty, i hope its a software issue.
Click to expand...

Ok, so not alone then. What you linked sounds about right re: calls, but toggling didn’t work for me earlier. I thought I maybe had transparency mode on so did end up toggling, didn’t solve the issue.

I’ll do some testing tonight and follow up here.
 
Nickjames said:
You took the words out of my mouth. This is my only annoyance with AirPods Pro. Whenever I talk on the subway I always have to repeat myself and basically shout. I always tell people I’ll call when I get home so annoying
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Yep, same as you both. Even if I‘m quietly putting dishes away it’s so loud on her end that it hurts her ears. Really, really hoping it’s been fixed with these new ones.
 
EastHillWill said:
Yep, same as you both. Even if I‘m quietly putting dishes away it’s so loud on her end that it hurts her ears. Really, really hoping it’s been fixed with these new ones.
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The APP2 does do as much better at noise reduction on the microphone. For me it blocked TV noise and chip bag noise. It mostly blocked running water in the sink but not completely. That might be how close I was to the faucet.

It does depend a bit on how far away from your face the sound source is. If those dish sounds are close enough to your face the APP may not know if it is you or some external noise. Just something to be aware of.
 
ChrisBos said:
Ok, so not alone then. What you linked sounds about right re: calls, but toggling didn’t work for me earlier. I thought I maybe had transparency mode on so did end up toggling, didn’t solve the issue.

I’ll do some testing tonight and follow up here.
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Yeah sometimes it doesnt work.
The thing is this issue is very noticeable,everyone who talks with APP 2 should notice it, and only you and me have talked about it.
So im starting to think may be a hardware issue with some batches?
Ill wait a bit and if it doesnt resolve via software update maybe exchange them in apple store….
 
LionAlonso said:
Yeah sometimes it doesnt work.
The thing is this issue is very noticeable,everyone who talks with APP 2 should notice it, and only you and me have talked about it.
So im starting to think may be a hardware issue with some batches?
Ill wait a bit and if it doesnt resolve via software update maybe exchange them in apple store….
Click to expand...
I have not heard that kind of sound problem
 
ChrisBos said:
I’ve been on work calls with mine all day, and have noticed a weird sound…almost like a a reverb or echo…when I’m speaking. I thought maybe it was the conferencing service on the first call, but it has happened on Teams, WebEx, and Zoom, plus a straight up phone call.

Not sure if it’s a weird setting thing or an issue-I came here looking for anyone talking about it.
Click to expand...
I got this yesterday when I was playing audio in one app, went to a different app, paused from control centre, then played audio in the new app. was all garbled and robotic. i think i force-quit and reopened the app to fix it, though not sure — i may have taken the airpods out of my ears and then put them back in. i expect it's software tbh.
 
Asthmatic Kitty said:
I got this yesterday when I was playing audio in one app, went to a different app, paused from control centre, then played audio in the new app. was all garbled and robotic. i think i force-quit and reopened the app to fix it, though not sure — i may have taken the airpods out of my ears and then put them back in. i expect it's software tbh.
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Yeah the thing is it happens in calls also, and sometimes u solve by doing that also.
But i expect it also may be a bug in hardware when mic “opens” that ANG bugs out…
 
Tagbert said:
The APP2 does do as much better at noise reduction on the microphone. For me it blocked TV noise and chip bag noise. It mostly blocked running water in the sink but not completely. That might be how close I was to the faucet.

It does depend a bit on how far away from your face the sound source is. If those dish sounds are close enough to your face the APP may not know if it is you or some external noise. Just something to be aware of.
Click to expand...
Maybe future AirPods Pro will have LiDAR built in to detect the source and distance of the sound to better determine whether it is coming from a distance and cancel it out.
 
Starfyre said:
Maybe future AirPods Pro will have LiDAR built in to detect the source and distance of the sound to better determine whether it is coming from a distance and cancel it out.
Click to expand...
They do use multiple microphones to generate a “stereo” model of the sounds to estimate distance to the source.
 
Starfyre said:
Just wanted to ask for AirPods Pro 2 owners vs AirPods Pro 1 owners… is audio quality for phone calls any better? I feel like with the Pro 1’s it is easy to tell if you’re on the road or in a windy area (from the other person on the phone with me)…. has any of this improved with the Pro 2 or is it pretty much the same?
Click to expand...
Have been using the AirPods Pro 2 for 10 days now. Sadly they need to be returned. They are horrible for calls. The receiver can’t hear as they keep cutting the voice in and out.

I did tests with AirPods Pro 1 and 2 and consistently the person on the other end of the line couldn’t hear me very well with the pro 2.

It’s a shame. This was also the result of the toms hardware testing.
 
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MiragePL said:
I don't think that's the case. Jabra's true wireless headphones are for example far better in terms of call quality.
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I had Jabra Elite 7 Pros and they were terrible for calls. People constantly complained about how muffled I sounded, even in a quiet room.
 
I was thrilled with the sound and vol control on the new APP2s but now... 3 callers mention the poor sound and 2 calls disconnected. I've had the left bud not connect several times, and now today I had a hard time re-pairing it to my phone and watch. It's glitcy... but when it works, they are better sounding than the 1st one. I don't use buds for calls much but wanted to sell my Airpods Max. As of now, I gotta keep the Max for phone calls...I use these for in home calls...
 
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Mixed results when driving on the freeway in my small car. In all cases, I'm referring to the same situation, freeway, same speed, similar weather, same car.

Sometimes the call quality is very good (for the other party) and sometimes it is bad (where I'm told that it sounds like very heavy rain hitting my windshield). Not as bad as my originals, but not much better either. At other times, it is quite a bit better. When it's good, it's still obvious that I'm driving, but not a hindrance.

Had the left earbud cut off yesterday with occasional loud crackling sound that was almost painful. Was fixed after I put them back in the case and called the person again. Not sure if this can be fixed by software or if it is a production fault. I'll contact Apple about it if it happens again. I'm sure some things will be fixed with software updates.

Hope this helps
 
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