AirPods Pro hurts and call quality issues

[Gehree]

Hi everyone, first time posting here.
Got my new AirPods Pro about 1 month back and I noticed there were a few problems faced when using it, not sure if this also applies to others.

1. The left side always hurts the inside of my ear, this happens whenever I try to fit them well in my ear to get a good seal from the fit test. The pain typically occurs in less than 15 mins of usage.

I understand it could be because I’m pushing it too deep into my ear but sometimes when I loosen the fit, the pain still occurs. Also what’s to point of ANC if I’m gonna loosen the fit anyway, lol. I’ve used a couple of in ear earphones and none has actually caused pain in my ear even after using it for extended period.

2. Sometimes when I’m listening on my AirPods Pro, the audio gets cut and I can’t hear any sound but the song is still playing and my AirPods are still connected via Bluetooth. The problem goes away after I re-pair the AirPods Pro to my phone.

3. I’ve answered a couple of calls while on the AirPods and unless I’m in a super quiet environment, I always get told that it’s super noisy and the person on the other end of the call can barely hear what I’m saying. Is this because of the way I put on my AirPods Pro?

Anyone else face these issues before?

Thank you

 

[7thson]

1) This happens. For some it’s worse than others. Ears aren’t symmetrical and putting things in them sometimes isn’t conducive to comfort. Good news is you’re not alone. Not great news is there isn’t anything that will help other than not using the earbud on that side. You might have better luck with another brand.
2) I would call this a deal breaker. If Apple can’t offer a solution, send them back under warranty and hope they replace them with a pair that functions properly.
3) Again a dealbreaker. These are supposed to be hassle free. You either have a defective pair or these just aren’t the right fit for you.
The underlying issue of fit will not go away when the other issues of connectivity get resolved, so you may need to look at another style or brand.

 

[skiabox]

I have a pain in the right Ear when I am using the large tips at the small bone that touches the back of the airpod.
I am thinking of ordering the comply foam tips.

 

[zkap]

Thread bump because I didn't find a similar thread that has more than a few replies.

I'm having call issues that the OP described under 3., though it seems to be more severe if ANC or Transparency modes are on. The situation improves with those being off, though people still tell me they hear me poorly and this hardly ever happened with the original Gen 1 Airpods (people complained of hearing me poorly only in strong winds and it's understandable you'd have issues then).

It has to do with being outside in a noisy environment, because it doesn't happen when I'm inside the house. It's super-duper annoying because I'm dropping business calls now. Anyone with an idea/fix? Do I change eartip size, remove the eartips or what? Is there any solution?

Otherwise I love the Airpods Pro, they fit me, I don't have pain, I like how they sound with the ANC and all that. It'd be a shame if I couldn't find a way around this.

Thanks for any help and thanks Apple.

 

[Gehree]

Hi all, thank you for the replies!

@7thson, thank you! I took your advise and went to get a replacement unit although I'm not sure if it's any better, maybe just slightly?

@skiabox, I tried that as well, bought a set of comply foam tips off Amazon and was hoping that it'll help cushion but for some odd reason, it made it worse so I reverted back to using the normal tips, I'm using the largest one provided. I think I'm about 2-3 months in to using the AirPods Pro and as strange as it sounds, I think I've gotten used to the pain hahah

@zkap, I tried switching around all 3 sizes for the eartips, none helped. It's not a matter of how good the seal is for you, it's an issue of how much background noise is the mic picking up. Hence, if you're in a quiet environment, there'll definitely be no issues.

In the end, I decided to get a 1 to 1 replacement with Apple and like I mentioned earlier, I can't tell if the new one is any better. So now, what I do is, when I answer a call with my AirPods pro on, I take 1 side out so that I can hear my own voice better. If the other party still thinks it's too noisy, I'll just project my voice louder, within reasonable level. I think a part of the issue is because when I put both AirPods on with ANC activated, I end up talking a lot softer because I can't really hear myself and I'm worried that I'm talking too loud.

However, I am still facing the issue #2 mentioned in my original thread but maybe less frequent? They ran a test on it, I think they also updated the firmware on it and advised me to upgrade the firmware on my phone as well then re-pair the AirPods.

Hope things work out for y'all!

Cheers.

 

[zkap]

Alright, did some testing today so here it is, maybe it will help someone. (spoiler: turned on Mono sound)

Went outside, called my wife and changed modes several times, talked continuously so she could hear the differences, asked repeatedly about sound quality, clarity, background noise.

First she reported that the sound coming from my end had intermittent interruptions, as if there was a fraction of a second every few seconds that the sound would be cut off but then immediately turned back on. This got me thinking it's a software issue and that something is tripping up the APP, as if the software cannot decide where the sound is coming from, like it's constantly switching between microphones and that small delay is what she hears on the other end as lots of little breakups in sound.

I tried all three modes (ANC, Transparency and Off). Transparency was the worst, Off was the best and anc muffled my voice slightly. She also reported that the sound was gaining and dropping in quality from one moment to the next, very erratic, even though I hadn't changed anything, I was just walking along the street with the same level of noise throughout. It seemed very random when she'd say the call quality dropped, and then right the next moment she'd ask what I did because the sound is great all of a sudden. So, it's software.

I messed around with some settings and ended up going to Accessibility --> Airpods Pro --> then something about adjusting Airpods (I don't know what it says in English as my settings are in a different language). Anyway, there's a blue option to tap under the Airpods Pro settings in accessibility, which is where I turned on Mono sound. After that the call quality was very good and the random oscillations in quality stopped. I had several calls afterwards, all while outside, I asked if the other person hears me and they all said they hear me fine. There were no interruptions to the conversation, no drops whatsoever and no one reported that they couldn't hear me (this was a given for any call I'd have outside).

So there you go, for those who have issues with call quality, try enabling Mono sound and see if that stabilizes the experience. It did for me and for the first time since buying the APP, I had several successive calls while outside and all of them were fine, no problems, and I heard the other person very well.

Hope this solves it for someone.