I have just had my AirPods Pro changed under the Apple service program related to crackling sounds from the earbuds when in Active Noise Cancelling mode.
I didn’t realise how bad my old pair was, I would get crackling and popping sounds when ANC was turned on and there was ambient sound. Also, I could not use them with ANC for calls as my voice sounded funny.
I have just tried the new pair and the ANC is a world apart. Calls now sound as they should.
It was really easy to setup the exchange. i used Apple’s online chat to raise the ticket, they ran me thorugh some troubleshooting options and then said that I could either bring them into an Apple store (these are closed in the UK at the moment) or they can ship a new set of buds to me and I need to send the old pair back. I selected the second option, this mean that I had to authroise a no-return payment of £157 on my card in case I did not return the old buds.
I set this up yesterday, today UPS delivered the new pair and will be picking up the old pair later today.
The reason for the post is to say, if you have AirPods Pro, it is worth testing them to see if you are suffering from these issues. I didn’t realise how bad it was until I got the new pair so you may just be used to a sub-par user experience.
If you do have an issue, get them exchanged free of charge.
I suffered from those exact same issues and started that topic back then. Fortunately, Apple did acknowledge the issues later on and started the service program. As of now, my replacement AirPods Pro work fine. I had the left one replaced in early summer of 2020. The right one failed in November and was replaced back then.
The thing is exactly like you described: the AirPods Pro experience degrades slowly. First, I did not realize how everything went downhill step by step… When I received my replacements, it was exactly like you said: worlds apart from the bad ones. I read somewhere that replacements units from October 2020 and later do not develop this issue any more. I am knocking on wood and hoping the best for my left AirPod Pro that had been replaced before October.
Just did this. After a bit of ‘is it really that bad, or is it my bad ears’, it had clearly become that bad. I really like these, so hopefully the new pair will last a while.
1st gen issues… One reason I don’t have an M1 yet. The other being that I want a bigger screen. And yet, I’ve but a new Air in my cart about four times…
