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Very low quality playback on macOS (good on iOS)

JippaLippa

JippaLippa

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 14, 2013
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Hello.

I recently got a pair of Airpods Pro as a gift and while I use different and better sounding equipment when I'm listening to music, they're very convenient to be used in other instances.

The Airpods Pro work perfectly on iOS, but unfortunately they sound horrible when used on macOS; they connect well to the computer (an M1 Ultra Mac Studio in my case), but the playback quality is extremely compressed.
They sound very bad, like if you were watching a 114p video on youtube or listening to music via an old cheap car speakers, and I personally don't know how to fix this...
I'm on macOS 12.5; any ideas?

Thank you very much.
 
Sheepish-Lord said:
Have you checked the settings?
Click to expand...
Screenshot 2022-07-31 at 23.06.34.pngScreenshot 2022-07-31 at 23.06.47.png
 
When the microphone of the Airpods is used on the Mac, it switches to HFP (Hands Free Profile) where the audio codec (even for playback) sounds horrible.
If you have another mic available (USB-webcam etc), select that as input instead of the Airpods.
If you have no other possible input sources, close all apps that could be accessing the microphone. After some seconds, the Airpods should automatically switch to the better codec.
 
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arw said:
When the microphone of the Airpods is used on the Mac, it switches to HFP (Hands Free Profile) where the audio codec (even for playback) sounds horrible.
If you have another mic available (USB-webcam etc), select that as input instead of the Airpods.
If you have no other possible input sources, close all apps that could be accessing the microphone. After some seconds, the Airpods should automatically switch to the better codec.
Click to expand...
So let me get this straight...
Whenever I want to switch between listening to music and talking I have got to do this procedure?
Hardly the so called "plug-and-play" experience apple boasts about.

Does the same happen with airpods max? I'm asking because I'd be interested in getting a 2nd gen, eventually.
 
JippaLippa said:
So let me get this straight...
Whenever I want to switch between listening to music and talking I have got to do this procedure?
Hardly the so called "plug-and-play" experience apple boasts about.

Does the same happen with airpods max? I'm asking because I'd be interested in getting a 2nd gen, eventually.
Click to expand...
Not manually. When the Airpod's microphone is used, they automatically switch to the "crappy" mode.
When the mic is free again, they switch back and music sounds great again.
Speaking from experience as I have the Airpods Max.
I even prefer plugging in my old wired Earpods for calls as they sound way better.
I agree - pretty poor implementation.
If you have the Apple Studio Display (or any other display with integrated mic) you can select this one and just use the Airpods for playback - then they shouldn't switch.
 
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arw said:
Not manually. When the Airpod's microphone is used, they automatically switch to the "crappy" mode.
When the mic is free again, they switch back and music sounds great again.
Speaking from experience as I have the Airpods Max.
I even prefer plugging in my old wired Earpods for calls as they sound way better.
I agree - pretty poor implementation.
If you have the Apple Studio Display (or any other display with integrated mic) you can select this one and just use the Airpods for playback - then they shouldn't switch.
Click to expand...
I am actually soon receiving my studio display, so that's not a bad idea to be fair.
I don't even use the airpods pro that much to be fair; I just think it's poor implementation.
 
JippaLippa said:
So let me get this straight...
Whenever I want to switch between listening to music and talking I have got to do this procedure?
Hardly the so called "plug-and-play" experience apple boasts about.

Does the same happen with airpods max? I'm asking because I'd be interested in getting a 2nd gen, eventually.
Click to expand...
This is the case with all bluetooth headsets and a key reason as to why Apple among others have expressed interest in getting something higher-bandwidth to use moving forward. When the mic is on on your phone, you're usually in a crappy voice call so you don't think about it, but the same limitations apply there. Just make sure your laptop makes as little use of your airpod's mic as your phone does.

In the wireless gaming headset space, all good ones use their own dedicated wireless dongles instead of bluetooth so that gamers don't get to listen to crap audio during their sessions, as the mic is usually on all the time.
 
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Go into Audio Midi Setup and see if your sample/bit rate somehow got changed lower than 44.1k/16bit
 
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rhaezorblue said:
My left Airpod is currently being used for the mic - its set to 1 ch 24hz but theres no drop down to change anything.. any advice?
Click to expand...
The above only works if the mic is not in use (and the automatism failed to switch back to the higher playback quality).
Your only choice is to use another mic input so that the Airpod ones becomes released.
Then the drop-down should become available.

edit: If you switched the mic and it's still not available, make sure you selected the Airpods in the left column that show the "Output" tab. (my Max are displayed 2 times, first entry is input, 2nd is output)
 
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arw said:
The above only works if the mic is not in use (and the automatism failed to switch back to the higher playback quality).
Your only choice is to use another mic input so that the Airpod ones becomes released.
Then the drop-down should become available.
Click to expand...
Thank you I'll try this
 
arw said:
The above only works if the mic is not in use (and the automatism failed to switch back to the higher playback quality).
Your only choice is to use another mic input so that the Airpod ones becomes released.
Then the drop-down should become available.
Click to expand...
Weird - even when I am in the Midi setup, I click on the MacBook Air's microphone and select "Use this device for Sound Input", then go back to the AirPod's it still doesn't have a drop down.
 

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rhaezorblue said:
Weird - even when I am in the Midi setup, I click on the MacBook Air's microphone and select "Use this device for Sound Input", then go back to the AirPod's it still doesn't have a drop down.
Click to expand...
This is the INPUT section. Check the Airpods below them - they contain the output.
 
In my screenshot you can see how the AirPods are selected, I'm viewing the Input/mic section, but the drop down is just not there for raising the quality of the input/microphone - even after I changed the Macbook mic to be the main input
 
rhaezorblue said:
Right - I'm trying to modify the Input (microphone is input) - the output quality is fine (listening)
Click to expand...
Ah, sorry I thought we were still talking about the plain output quality.
AFAIK in HFP-mode you're stuck with bad (mic and output) quality by design (probably due to the Airpods bluetooth bandwith/latency limitations).
Apple: If sound quality is reduced when using Bluetooth headphones with your Mac
This happens because Bluetooth has two modes: one for listening to higher-quality audio, and another for both listening and speaking through the microphone. When Bluetooth switches to the second mode, the quality of the audio that you're playing is reduced until the microphone is no longer in use.
Click to expand...
My AirPods Max are even limited to 8 kHz in & out in HFP-mode 🤮
 
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Monterey seems to have some sort of bug that breaks the auto-switch back, especially when Discord is involved. Usually I have to move the AirPods to my phone, then back to the Mac to get it unstuck. I'll be trying the ToothFairy program linked above to see if it helps.
 
GMShadow said:
Monterey seems to have some sort of bug that breaks the auto-switch back, especially when Discord is involved. Usually I have to move the AirPods to my phone, then back to the Mac to get it unstuck. I'll be trying the ToothFairy program linked above to see if it helps.
Click to expand...
Now that you mention it, my issues are also when I'm using Discord. People say that I sound like "phone quality" instead of gaming headset quality lol. Over the last couple weeks or more, when I'm listening to others speak I'm hearing some distortion as well. Wondering if the latest MacOS makes bluetooth worse on the M1 Macbook Air
 
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