APP3 woshing ANC noise on airplane depending on proximity to engines?

[texasstar1981]

flew on the A321 twice this weekend. Same carrier, same configuration. But going in row 1 and *zero issues*… APP3 worked like a charm and cancelled all unwanted noise nicely. Going back in row 10 and right next to the engines… once at cruise altitude the APP3 become unusable for me. Constant woooooosh woooosh noise oscillating up / down with ANC on. So noticeable that it kinda gave me a mild headache. It appears to me that the current FW struggles with cancelling out the engine noise which has slight changes in frequency due to auto-throttle at cruise speed and overcompensates or whatever. Row 1 is probably to far removed from the engines but right next to them the ANC goes wonky….

Hope apple will fix this with a new FW update ….

 

[Heiner030]

Have same happened to me with AP4ANC. EXACTLY SAME

 

[texasstar1981]

Have same happened to me with AP4ANC. EXACTLY SAME

Yikes. For how long? I do fly a lot and not being able to use the APP3 as planned kinda sucks

 

[200OK]

This happened to me, exactly as you described, on a 5hr flight yesterday. It drove me crazy, to the point I am considering buying another set of ANC headphones for my return flight later this week. 737-900, sat in exit row directly over wing/engine.

I had them in before boarding and stayed in until the first service at altitude, and didn't notice anything strange during that time. I put them in the case for a few minutes, then when I put them back in, I noticed the oscillating low frequency noise only in my right ear. I tried switching between all the different noise modes, it seemed to be noticeable with both Adaptive and Noise Cancellation. It was super disorienting with that noise happening in one ear, so I put both AirPods back in the case for about 20 minutes. When I tried again later, it was doing it in both ears 😵‍💫

 

[texasstar1981]

This happened to me, exactly as you described, on a 5hr flight yesterday. It drove me crazy, to the point I am considering buying another set of ANC headphones for my return flight later this week. 737-900, sat in exit row directly over wing/engine.

I had them in before boarding and stayed in until the first service at altitude, and didn't notice anything strange during that time. I put them in the case for a few minutes, then when I put them back in, I noticed the oscillating low frequency noise only in my right ear. I tried switching between all the different noise modes, it seemed to be noticeable with both Adaptive and Noise Cancellation. It was super disorienting with that noise happening in one ear, so I put both AirPods back in the case for about 20 minutes. When I tried again later, it was doing it in both ears 😵‍💫

We either do First or exit row / extended legroom in economy… unfortunately that is typically right next or near engines. I’m honestly shocked that a company the size of Apple doesn’t test ANC from multiple positions in the plane to perfect it. I’m bringing my over-the ear Sony’s next time as backup as the wooosh woooosh made the headset unusable for me and would have been a major annoyance had it been a 10hr transatlantic flight….

 

[200OK]

Agreed, hopefully they figure this out quickly, I bought these primarily for flying. Unfortunately I'm long past my return window. I filed a feedback report.

I thought it was interesting that it didn't start happening for me until the airpods went into their case and back out while at altitude. I'll play closer attention on my next flight (same seat & plane) and see if that's repeatable, or just coincidence. I wondered if they are doing some sort of calibration when they get put in the case, and the loud environment throws it off - I've noticed the sweeping calibration chime as noted in this thread more frequently on the APP3 compared to my APP2, maybe it's doing that calibration when it's supposed to wait until it's quiet and still? 🤷‍♂️ That doesn't completely explain the difference between front and middle of the airplane though.

The auto-throttle frequency variation theory makes a lot of sense. The problem did go away for me completely as soon as we started descent.