Although I'm not even sure if that's how sound waves work, and recently there was Bose's investigation into their firmware update that didn't actually reduce their ANC despite user perspective. It's a fun theory up there with the fake existence of Finland.
The patents violated expire in 2021 so it is likely they are holding out.
Couldn’t Apple or Bose just fall back on these methods which should work closely enough to whatever fancy method is patented? Or is the method I’m describing patented?
The only difference in my day to day was the Airpods Pro and biking to work with them.
And before I get asked about tip size, I've tried all of them and done fit tests on all of them. Fit tests always pass, and the pods always fall out. I even tried different sizes on different ears over time to compare the two but they seem to fall out at the same rate. I just (like as in 2 hours ago) broke down and bought some foam tips from Amazon to see if that helps.
It's really disappointing because my original AirPods were so magical and now I kind of don't like wearing the Pro's. I've considered more than once just buying AirPod 2's and giving up.
I wear them with the stalks pointing forward at around 45 degrees.
It’s not perfect. But it was a big improvement in my case. And it’s non-permanent.
But my biggest disappointment is the mic quality with my MacBook. Apparently some limitation in Bluetooth or something? No idea but mic sounds like crap. Works great on the phone but I hardly talk on my phone ...
They also seem to take longer to disconnect/switch to different devices.
I think this problem is pretty far down the list of World’s Top Problems
It's not about pressure as having something tucked into your ears, but related to the noise cancelling: "You may notice a pressure-like feeling in your ears when you first put noise-cancelling headphones on, like when you want to 'pop' your ears. This is caused by your brain perceiving the lack of low low-frequency sound as a pressure differential between your inner and outer ear, just like when you ascend in an airplane." If you search for Airpods and pressure, there are also comments on Reddit etc. I did not investigate if those are referring to this phenomenon.
Something like this could explain why Apple would like to tweak with the noise cancelling.
[1]https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know-technology/no... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/technology/personaltech/0...
When I first tried the Bose headphones, I immediately felt an uncomfortable pressure on my ear drums. I can only wear them in airplanes and have to take breaks. I tried other headphones and none are perfect for me but I did buy the Sennheiser ones. It has okay noise canceling with only minimal pressure for me and with stellar audio performance. The noise canceling is noticeably worse than the Bose's but at least I can wear them longer. I also tried the AirPod Pros when they came out and felt very little pressure so from that angle I would have been comfortable with wearing them for an extended period. (I can't say for sure but it might not have been the launch firmware) As with all Apple headphones they just don't stay in my ears so sadly I passed them up.
Sounds like the author hasn’t ever used any other good ANC cans? Both the Bose and Sony pose the same hazard.
My lack of faith in humanity can see #4. Another great thing nerfed by dumb people.
Regardless, the firmware releases are an embarassing fiasco that demonstrates a lack of coordination and communication within Apple.
Did anyone else notice this?
One firmware update has even rendered one of my AirPods Pro practically unusable due to a strange clicking noise that would occur whenever I was walking/running with ANC enabled, likely due to accelerations acting upon it. I was convinced it was a hardware fault and was ready to return them until another firmware update fixed the problem (until now at least).
I would assume wearing earplugs you have the intent of reducing the sound coming in. AirPods you are blocking external sound and replacing it with audio of some sort.
With earplugs you could still hear things but at a reduced level. AirPods you’re covering up and external sound that could come through.
I am just absolutely fed up of the battery situation. By the time the devices are broken in and you are comfortable, it's time to buy another pair. I am not that rich.
However, about 1 month later I noticed that noise cancelling (and passthrough as well, which was even more annoying) wasn't really working on one side. I tried factory-resetting them, tried everything I could think of, and nothing helped. So I scheduled an Apple Store appointment. To Apple's credit, they replaced the one on the side that wasn't working, for free, with very few questions asked.
However, that's when things got weird.
Now the older one wasn't cancelling/passing-through as well as the brand new one. It was doing something, just not as much, which led to a really distracting audible asymmetry. This was confirmed by the fit test not working in just that one ear. Again I tried updating the firmware, factory-resetting, etc.
Eventually I found this thread on MacRumors: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpod-pro-ear-tip-fit-...
tl;dr, it seems that some of the meshed gaps/microphones the Airpods Pro use to calibrate their various special audio features get very easily clogged by ear wax, skin oil, etc. And they're extremely sensitive to this, to the point where you have to clean them out very frequently to prevent degradation. I went through and rigorously cleaned them - rubbing alcohol, cotton swaps, etc. - and even then mine still have problems. The only way I can prevent the asymmetry it is to turn off the "active sound" features altogether. But this means that not only don't I get full noise-cancelling, I can't even safely use them just to listen to music in any spaces where I need to be able to hear my surroundings. They are now worse than the regular Airpods that I gave up when I got them.
This is completely unacceptable for a product that costs $250, but at this point I'm exasperated. I'm tired of going to the Apple Store, and it's presumably not even open right now with the virus going. I wish I could just turn them in and get a refund, but I think it's been too long. If I could do that I'd probably even buy a new pair of the regular ones and just go back to those; mine had worked mostly without problems for over a year. At this point I don't know what to do about it all except hope there's a recall-like process like they did with the butterfly keyboards.
