I’ve had the update since it was released a couple of days ago, and have had the opportunity to test it under various conditions. Here are my subjective findings on the AirPods Pro, for those who might be interested.
First of all, the overall sound seems to be a little better than with the last firmware. To me the sound seems a little “clearer”, with a little better soundstage and better separation of the instruments.
The sound is quite balanced, with bass, midrange and tremble nicely adjusted to each other, and none of them too emphasized.
The noise cancellation is either the same or a little weaker. I’ve used my AirPods Pro walking on a busy street, on the bus, at the mall, but also at home - both in total silence and with running water/coffee machine etc in the background.
To me, it seems like it lets in a little bit more noise now than it used to, but no drastically reduction of the NC. But, for those hoping for an improvement of the NC, I think you’ll be disappointed. At best, it’s the same as it was on the previous firmware.
Using the APPs as a hands free for making phone calls, is still almost impossible, unless you’re in a very quiet room. I know that not everybody has this issue. But, I’m now on my fourth set of APPs and they have all had the same issue (my recent pair was bought in 2021). And judging from other people on this forum (and over 6.000 comments - or “me too” - on the official Apple discussion forum), I’m not the only one with this issue.
The problem is that, as soon as you’re outdoors, the microphones will pick up chirping birds, traffic and wind, and your voice is almost impossible to hear for the listener on the other end. I’ve made about 5 phone calls since updating my APPs, and every time, I’ve had to put my AirPods back in the case and hold the phone up to my cheek, like in “the old days”. Very frustrating. Mind you, the much cheaper AirPods v.2 does not have this problem. The person you’re talking with on the phone, might hear that there’s some background noise, but your voice is still coming in loud and strong.
So for you who have this issue, it has not been fixed with this update.
Other than that, I can’t really find anything new to write about this firmware update.
I wish Apple would increase the NC (they could add a new noise cancellation setting, “weak”, “normal” and “strong”, to give the user the opportunity to choose for themselves) and that they would increase the call quality - especially outdoors.
First of all, the overall sound seems to be a little better than with the last firmware. To me the sound seems a little “clearer”, with a little better soundstage and better separation of the instruments.
The sound is quite balanced, with bass, midrange and tremble nicely adjusted to each other, and none of them too emphasized.
The noise cancellation is either the same or a little weaker. I’ve used my AirPods Pro walking on a busy street, on the bus, at the mall, but also at home - both in total silence and with running water/coffee machine etc in the background.
To me, it seems like it lets in a little bit more noise now than it used to, but no drastically reduction of the NC. But, for those hoping for an improvement of the NC, I think you’ll be disappointed. At best, it’s the same as it was on the previous firmware.
Using the APPs as a hands free for making phone calls, is still almost impossible, unless you’re in a very quiet room. I know that not everybody has this issue. But, I’m now on my fourth set of APPs and they have all had the same issue (my recent pair was bought in 2021). And judging from other people on this forum (and over 6.000 comments - or “me too” - on the official Apple discussion forum), I’m not the only one with this issue.
The problem is that, as soon as you’re outdoors, the microphones will pick up chirping birds, traffic and wind, and your voice is almost impossible to hear for the listener on the other end. I’ve made about 5 phone calls since updating my APPs, and every time, I’ve had to put my AirPods back in the case and hold the phone up to my cheek, like in “the old days”. Very frustrating. Mind you, the much cheaper AirPods v.2 does not have this problem. The person you’re talking with on the phone, might hear that there’s some background noise, but your voice is still coming in loud and strong.
So for you who have this issue, it has not been fixed with this update.
Other than that, I can’t really find anything new to write about this firmware update.
I wish Apple would increase the NC (they could add a new noise cancellation setting, “weak”, “normal” and “strong”, to give the user the opportunity to choose for themselves) and that they would increase the call quality - especially outdoors.
