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Bud_Spencer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2025
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Last night when it was quiet in the house, I noticed, that the AirPods Pro 3 have a rather loud active noise hiss (also known as “static white noise”). I only knew this kind of noise from my old Sony XM3.

The hiss/white noise is clearly audible in both ANC and Transparency mode.
The AirPods Pro 2 also have a hiss, but it is a lot much quieter, barely noticeable.

Before I go to the Apple Store to exchange them: could someone please double-check this?
Do you also hear a hiss in a quiet room, or are mine defective?

Thanks
 
I notice far less static than the APP2, but my guess is since everyone's ears are different, and ANC is frequency based, people will hear different things.
 
I'm not noticing the static in ANC, but in Adaptive there's a bit more static noise in my APP3 than APP2. I feel like something's not right with the APP3's Adaptive/Transparency modes — I noticed some very jarringly harsh sounds of cutlery clattering the other day (like that sound specifically was being amplified), which I'd never noticed on the APP2, and have seen other people mention too. Hopefully it's something they can fix in a firmware update.
 
I found some people talking about it on reddit as well, so probably a firmware thing rather than a problem with our specific hardware:
I checked going into “Off” listening mode, and there's no static there. So it's something to do with the microphones. Gotta imagine Apple will be able to fix this in firmware … just some teething problems.

Edit: Actually, mine seems much worse in the left AirPod compared to the right … so maybe it is a hardware thing 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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I found some people talking about it on reddit as well, so probably a firmware thing rather than a problem with our specific hardware:
I checked going into “Off” listening mode, and there's no static there. So it's something to do with the microphones. Gotta imagine Apple will be able to fix this in firmware … just some teething problems.

Edit: Actually, mine seems much worse in the left AirPod compared to the right … so maybe it is a hardware thing 🤷🏻‍♂️

For me the left one has also a louder static noise.
And I don't have the Off option.
Only Transparency, Adaptive, and Noise Cancel, but no OFF.
 
I haven’t heard that in mine. And I have the curse of hearing frequencies I’d rather not hear. Like I can hear electronics turning on, and off. It sucks.
 
Just spoke to Apple support about the issue and they're going to replace the AirPods. Was hoping they'd just replace the affected one (left), but they have to replace everything for some reason.

I hope the APP3 aren't going to have a host of hardware issues like the APP1 did — the 2s seemed so much more reliable in that regard.
 
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It's very strange, I would think it's defective, but it's on both ears?? You can switch ANC from on to off, clearly ANC is quieting down the lower frequencies, but the higher frequencies seem to actually get LOUDER in a quiet room when turning ANC on. It just sounds like I have a small fan on in the room all the time (I do not).

No, I do not have background sounds on, that's the first thing I checked.

WTH? Just me?
 
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