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AirPods Pro microphone scandal - edit: PROOF
- Thread starter Phwoar
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Did a quick test here by recording with voice memos and compared no background to noise to modest background noise. As soon as there was modest background noise, it became unusable. The sound of microphone was heavily suppressed and sounds an awful lot like every single conversation I have with my spouse while they are on their AirPods.
So... This got buried in all the news on Election Day 2020. Definitely relevant to this conversation:
Also
According to the info provided by Phuz01:
“Apple notes that affected “units were manufactured before October 2020”,
it seems clear that APPs with production dates after Oct 2020 are free of ANC not working problem. My APP was manufactured in Dec, 2020 and thus is a good unit.
So if you have a bad unit, replacing it with one that is manufactured after Oct 2020 as Phuz01 had suggested, you won’t have the problem anymore.
Once and for all, this is an hardware issue and firmware update won’t fix it.
“Apple notes that affected “units were manufactured before October 2020”,
it seems clear that APPs with production dates after Oct 2020 are free of ANC not working problem. My APP was manufactured in Dec, 2020 and thus is a good unit.
So if you have a bad unit, replacing it with one that is manufactured after Oct 2020 as Phuz01 had suggested, you won’t have the problem anymore.
Once and for all, this is an hardware issue and firmware update won’t fix it.
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So, updates from me after not posting for a while:
On the Apple Store replacing my AirPods Pro 5 times, (only the left AirPod replaced the last time):
Thanks everyone for participating!
- Booked a Genius Bar appointment (2 weeks in advance).
- They took my AirPods Pro for 2 hours and tested them.
- When I returned 2 hours later (around closing time) they said they had found a problem with the left AirPod Pro, but the right side AirPod Pro was in perfect working order.
- They replaced for free the left AirPod Pro.
- I went outside to test the AirPods Pro.
- Result: Same problem, with any passing car noise or moderate wind shutting off the microphone, tested setting the microphone left or right – no change.
On the Apple Store replacing my AirPods Pro 5 times, (only the left AirPod replaced the last time):
- I think it was definitely worth the time and the wait to see if Apple has fixed the problems with the microphones on the AirPods Pro. Clearly, with so many exchanges and the problem still existing, there is a manufacturing defect.
- I cannot complain about them replacing the left AirPod Pro for free this last time – I thought that was good.
- My money is tied up in the AirPods Pro purchase, no way to get a refund, only endless returns of the faulty product.
- Despite the disappointment that this product is faulty, I will go forward and hammer the hell out of listening to my AirPods Pro, enjoying the great sound quality – super expensive sound quality so I want to enjoy that.
- I will use my AirPods Pro now when out running, since I now can't use them for calls with any level of confidence – I don't need to care about them getting wet or damaged or falling on the ground, I will just use them as headphones then throw them away once they break as they are otherwise useless.
- For business calls, I will purchase a competitor's bluetooth product based on best quality for least price (I'm guessing about US$40.00), while I wait to see what the yet-to-be-released AirPods Pro 2 are like.
- YES but only because we all now know what to look for, AND because Apple's AirPods Pro (as a future concept) fit well in MacOS/iOS ecosystem, AND I would purchase ONLY because there is a 14 day full refund window on Apple products. So sure I'll buy them. BUT...
- But this time, on the day I purchase the yet-to-be-released AirPods Pro 2 I will go outside the Apple Store onto the street, use Voice Memos app on my phone, and test the microphones of AirPods Pro 2 against street noise and wind.
- If on testing there is still the same problem with the microphones cutting out? Straight back into the store, full refund, and I'll use the same money to go and buy a competitor's product.
- Over 6,400 people on Apple's own support forum have indicated they have this problem: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250813242?page=30
- Most customers are only discovering the microphone cuts out with background noise and wind noise after the 14 day full refund window. That means you are tied into a faulty product line, with your money already tied up, facing endless returns (5 returns of AirPods Pro for me).
Thanks everyone for participating!
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Hello @Phwoar, I am so sorry that your swapped AirPods pros still does not work when phone calls are made when there is noise due to either passing cars or moderate wind.
Some members (including me) reported that their APPs seemed to work (though not perfectly) under the conditions you mentioned. So there appears to be some APPs do work. I am on your side. If the product is defective, Apple should replace it with one that is not defective. After putting in so much effort, if I were you, I would not give up now. (It would shed some light on the issue if you could check the manufacture dates of your APP.)
It seemed that the Genius Bar and you were talking two different things —- Genius Bar was talking about your APP met specs according to their tests and you were talking “when there is noise due to either passing cars or moderate wind”, your APP noise cancellation function not only did not work, but also made the quality of the voice signal at the receiver unintelligible.
I believe the evidence needed to show to the Genius Bar are two recordings of voice spectrum as a function of time of the same speech, one recorded with the AirPods Pro with noice cancellation on, while the other recorded noise free by speaking directly to the phone without going through the APP. This was demonstrated convincingly by Felix von Drigalski(youtu.be/LSy-mserlGE).
An easier way to provide this evidence by using just one phone is suggested below:
Select a short speech. Turn on Bluetooth, put on AirPods Pro with noise cancellation mode on.
1) The noise-free recording: record this speech on voice memo in a quiet place;
(or turn off Bluetooth and record this speech on voice memo in a quiet place using the iPhone’s microphone as input. Speak directly to the microphone.)
2) The noisy recording: record the same speech on voice memo “when there is noise due to either passing cars or moderate wind.”
3) Next, compare the speech spectrum of both recordings as well as listen to the sound quality of each speech.
Some members (including me) reported that their APPs seemed to work (though not perfectly) under the conditions you mentioned. So there appears to be some APPs do work. I am on your side. If the product is defective, Apple should replace it with one that is not defective. After putting in so much effort, if I were you, I would not give up now. (It would shed some light on the issue if you could check the manufacture dates of your APP.)
It seemed that the Genius Bar and you were talking two different things —- Genius Bar was talking about your APP met specs according to their tests and you were talking “when there is noise due to either passing cars or moderate wind”, your APP noise cancellation function not only did not work, but also made the quality of the voice signal at the receiver unintelligible.
I believe the evidence needed to show to the Genius Bar are two recordings of voice spectrum as a function of time of the same speech, one recorded with the AirPods Pro with noice cancellation on, while the other recorded noise free by speaking directly to the phone without going through the APP. This was demonstrated convincingly by Felix von Drigalski(youtu.be/LSy-mserlGE).
An easier way to provide this evidence by using just one phone is suggested below:
Select a short speech. Turn on Bluetooth, put on AirPods Pro with noise cancellation mode on.
1) The noise-free recording: record this speech on voice memo in a quiet place;
(or turn off Bluetooth and record this speech on voice memo in a quiet place using the iPhone’s microphone as input. Speak directly to the microphone.)
2) The noisy recording: record the same speech on voice memo “when there is noise due to either passing cars or moderate wind.”
3) Next, compare the speech spectrum of both recordings as well as listen to the sound quality of each speech.
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Thanks @dai-leung for your helpful comments - at this stage, after five AirPods Pro exchanges, I will just accept that it is a faulty product.
Best wishes and thanks again for the contributions to the thread!
Best wishes and thanks again for the contributions to the thread!
I cannot comment on the airpods pro, but after a year of use the microphones on my airpods became wonky and sometimes people could not hear me. That got worse and eventually the microphone stopped working entirely. I played around with the automatic mic settings and found out that the left mic was not working and if I set it to right only everything was fine, so I used it like that for a few months.
Unfortunately the right mic then stopped working properly and my voice would be muffled and very quiet. I played around with the settings once again and I have found that now, for some bizarre reason, left only mic setting works again and the right only is indeed muffled on the iPhone. The kicker is that neither setting works on my iPad pro. The right is muffled, just like on the iPhone, and the left does not work at all.
You can play around yourself using the voice memos app to test your airpod mic issues. In my opinion the automatic mic detection is not working correctly.
Unfortunately the right mic then stopped working properly and my voice would be muffled and very quiet. I played around with the settings once again and I have found that now, for some bizarre reason, left only mic setting works again and the right only is indeed muffled on the iPhone. The kicker is that neither setting works on my iPad pro. The right is muffled, just like on the iPhone, and the left does not work at all.
You can play around yourself using the voice memos app to test your airpod mic issues. In my opinion the automatic mic detection is not working correctly.
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Last week I had both of earbuds replaced by Apple for free, purchased August 2019, which has resolved the crackling issues when in ANC or transparency mode. I don't know if it's just me or not, but I have noticed a massive improvement in sound. Just wondering if anyone has experienced the same?
Similar story but my replacements (now 6 months on) have dropped from great to muffled again.
Congratulations, this might be the worst understanding of how statistics work that I've ever seen.
Be careful of ad hominem attacks as they can often backfire. If you are into statistics, you might have been better to say why, statistically, you disagree, and set out some logical steps and numbers supporting your argument.
Regardless, you obviously mean well and have taken the time to read the thread, so thank you.
So @TopToffee what do you think of AirPods Pro?
1) It wasn't ad hominem at all - I said nothing about YOU, just about the statement you made.
2) 5000 (or even 6000 or 7000) is a TINY sample of the number of people who have bought AirPods Pro. Apple has sold a total of ~140m pairs of AirPods in 2019 and 2020 alone. If only 1% of those were Pros, then your 5000 represents about 0.3% of all AirPod customers. If a much more reasonable 10% of those sold were Pros (could in fact be significantly higher) then you're talking about 0.03% (or less than 1 in 3000). (Of course here we're also assuming that EVERYONE who clicked that button actually has the issue, and that no one has clicked it twice (eg on different devices.) Neither of which we have any proof of.)
Is this enough to say that there's some sort of issue? Probably. Is it enough to say that there's a *widespread* issue? Perhaps (though not definitively). Is it enough to say that "we can confidently say it's all users, all batches of Apple AirPods Pro ever produced"? Not even remotely CLOSE.
As for what I think of them, that's not really relevant, but since you ask... I bought some, I love some of the features, and the call quality was a significant plus. That said, I couldn't get on with them, simply because (due to a quirk of anatomy I guess) I've never been able to get along with rubber tipped "bud" type headphones. These were significantly better in that regard to any others I've tried, but still not as comfortable to wear as standard AirPods for me.
Yes I think the standard AirPods by all accounts are a little bit more comfortable, and don’t have the microphone problem.
Over on the Apple support forums, I just checked it is now 7,330 people who have indicated they have the AirPods Pro microphone issue! Sample size is good to be able to generalise across the population of users. It is likely that all AirPods Pro have a microphone issue.
You can repeat it as much as you like, it doesn't make it so.
?all good, have a great morning and thanks for contributing.
Any other feedback (if you pardon the pun) on AirPods Pro microphones not working is welcome!!
ALSO—> new AirPods Pro likely on their way, fingers crossed no microphone issues, see news item here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpods-3-mass-production-said-to-kick-off-in-august.2304945/
Also context for new readers, the issue with the microphones is all outlined on Apple’s support forums on this long thread here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250813242?page=32
Any other feedback (if you pardon the pun) on AirPods Pro microphones not working is welcome!!
ALSO—> new AirPods Pro likely on their way, fingers crossed no microphone issues, see news item here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpods-3-mass-production-said-to-kick-off-in-august.2304945/
Also context for new readers, the issue with the microphones is all outlined on Apple’s support forums on this long thread here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250813242?page=32
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I am wondering if iOS 15 has made any changes to the microphone quality, since the feature called ‘voice isolation’ was announced. Anyone got experience with the new feature? https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/use-voice-isolation/
pop up the thread to make someone with ios 15 beta to test this.
I think that problem may be solved with a specific firmware update, but so far no releases addressed this.
tried it, useless.
Another chance: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-beta-adds-conversation-boost.2306535/page-2