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BigMcGuire

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jan 10, 2012
10,336
14,574
Went on my first 2 mile run since getting my AWU3 (yes, I need to exercise more) - and noticed immediately that the music was significantly better in my AirPods (downloaded offline) - clearer - than my AWU2. It was as if the bitrate was identical to my iPhone (I had just gotten done listening to music on my iPhone for an hour when I started my workout - for reference).

I remember my AWU1 - it seemed accepted that songs were around 64 HE-kbps. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/audio-streaming-quality-on-apple-watch.2301211/

My AWU2 had a bump - it seemed. Bappy159 here (scroll down for their comment) says that it looks like the AWU2 did 188kbps.

My AWU3 is now identical to my iPhone in audio quality. I also notice that the same offline Apple Music Exercise album I've had for years now is 5GB vs the 3.6GB it was on my AWU1/2. (Apple Watch Storage).

Anyone else notice audio quality difference or just me?
 
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