Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I’m surprised by the amount of complains about noise cancellation on the AirPods Pro. While I do not endorse anyone in doing this, I do use my earbuds while I’m at work - I do work in the industry: lots of compressed air, motors and valves making noise left and right. And I have to say, I can comfortably listen to music if I want to, with volume levels shy over halfway volume.

I have not noticed any significant drops of performance since when they first came in about 2 years ago. They still block the same amount of noise, be it on my noisy environment, be it on an airplane. Maybe you need to try different silicon fits sizes, or take an hearing exam. Don’t get me wrong: the tech hasn’t changed much and a lot of the NC comes from an accurate fitting.
 
Mine finally updated but iPod pros not working with iPhone XR. It says they are connected but no sound. Restarted iPhone connected to AirPods but no sound. AirPods work with M1 iMac but "spatial audio not available"

Suddenly for no reason everything working again on iPhone. Still no spatial audio on M1 Mac.

Ok I guess what's happening is if the website has audio that is not spatialized you will see the message; "spatial audio not available"
 
Last edited:
My APP received the update. This apparently broke ANC on my left one, with static and crackling making it unusable. Works fine in normal mode though. Tried resetting, didn’t helped.
 
I finally found what changed in the firmware update:

I can confirm, that "find my" works much better with the new firmware. I tested 3 times now. And it is working as advertised now. Connection establishes within 1 minute and you can find it.

Tip/hint:
When you to try to play a sound to find the Airpods Pro you almost can't hear them because the lid is shut. I put a little sticker under the lid so there is a tiny gap now. About 0,5mm. Thats enough for high frequency sound waves to escape from the Airpods Case.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BobSmith1
Finally got the update.
No variation on ANC, can’t understand if the mics are better
 
I’m surprised by the amount of complains about noise cancellation on the AirPods Pro. While I do not endorse anyone in doing this, I do use my earbuds while I’m at work - I do work in the industry: lots of compressed air, motors and valves making noise left and right. And I have to say, I can comfortably listen to music if I want to, with volume levels shy over halfway volume.

I have not noticed any significant drops of performance since when they first came in about 2 years ago. They still block the same amount of noise, be it on my noisy environment, be it on an airplane. Maybe you need to try different silicon fits sizes, or take an hearing exam. Don’t get me wrong: the tech hasn’t changed much and a lot of the NC comes from an accurate fitting.
I agree. The ANC has been great for me throughout multiple firmware updates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aries81 and srbNYC
Since i got this update my right AirPod started rattling to the point I cannot use it anymore ??
 
Mine just updated. Though this rattling sound people speak of. You sure its cause of not having the airpod in the ear? I notice when mine are not in the ear properly is the only time I hear a rattle sound. Once I push it back in. No more Rattling sound.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aries81
Mine just updated. Though this rattling sound people speak of. You sure its cause of not having the airpod in the ear? I notice when mine are not in the ear properly is the only time I hear a rattle sound. Once I push it back in. No more Rattling sound.

I get that sometimes. Though it's not really a rattling sound, more like a short crackle every now and then. Pushing it in properly does fix this.
 
This makes sense. When I was listening to music today the highs were terrible, almost nonexistent. All music sounds flatter than before this update. I tried adjusting to no avail. Guess I now have earbuds that sound as good as a $15 pair. Anyone else notice this?
 
This makes sense. When I was listening to music today the highs were terrible, almost nonexistent. All music sounds flatter than before this update. I tried adjusting to no avail. Guess I now have earbuds that sound as good as a $15 pair. Anyone else notice this?

nope.
 
This makes sense. When I was listening to music today the highs were terrible, almost nonexistent. All music sounds flatter than before this update. I tried adjusting to no avail. Guess I now have earbuds that sound as good as a $15 pair. Anyone else notice this?

Is it possible this update reset equalizer settings you might have had configured? I didn't notice any change to the music quality, but I did notice better ANC isolation of lower frequencies (e.g., train rumbling).
 
My APP received the update. This apparently broke ANC on my left one, with static and crackling making it unusable. Works fine in normal mode though. Tried resetting, didn’t helped.
If that’s cracking sounds, maybe it’s eligible for a free replacement. Mine had the same issue. Got a new pair in minutes.
 
The most plausible reason for what might appear as hardware degradation over time, would be that the microphones that sense outside noise become dirty & get clogged with microscopic dust particles like PM2.5 & smaller, therefore causing the monitoring circuit to detect lower levels of background noise, than when they were new, causing the NC to run at lower levels.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xpxp2002
Since some months ago they made a change in the internal mics. There many picture of that change; the mic grills are more indent now. I can witness that change 5 months ago I request a replacement due to crackling and actually the new pair has this difference.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.