AirPods Pro firmware 2B588 reduce the noise cancelling capability

Ah, did they only give you replacement AirPods themselves? I got an entire brand new set when I swapped out the first time but they actually had me "return" and repurchase my AirPods because of issues with stock and demand at the time.

Yeah that’s a big fear for us early adopters - those of you who just got them aren’t gonna understand how much better the ANC was with the first few firmwares and this complaint will get ultimately ignored because the reduced ANC is the new normal.

@kellyNYC, Maybe we can do a little test. For example, I have a pretty ordinary fan in my bathroom (in the ceiling like most bathrooms have). Before 2B588, with that fan on and the door OPEN, even about 2 feet away from the fan, the sound of the fan was entirely eliminated. It was a feeling like I was in space -- like in a vacuum. No sound. Nothing. Literally no background noises of any kind.

Now on 2B588 and 2C54, if that bathroom fan is on, even if I CLOSE the bathroom door, I can still hear the humming of the fan... and that's how I noticed this issue to begin with.

Also my typing now, I am wearing the AirPods with ANC on and I can hear my typing as if the ANC was OFF. Before this, the sound of typing sounded more like it was in the faint distance (or in another room) if that makes sense.

Sounds of people talking were like muffled like as if I were underwater before 2B588... Turned on Transparency Mode and then I could hear them perfectly. Now, voices are pretty normal.

Subways and busses -- sounds were almost 100% gone... No engine sounds. No tires. No brakes... Almost 0 sound. Now all of these are clearly audible.

The sound of my OWN voice talking or singing, before, I could literally sing along to a song and it would eliminate my voice (I was shocked by this). Now, there is no such thing. It just turns the volume of my voice down about 20%.

When I would turn on ANC, it would really feel like I was in a space vacuum. Total silence. It was almost eerie... I've never experienced silence like that. Now it's just... meh.

Maybe this might help you kind of imagine it. Also, the first time I turned on ANC was in the LOUD Apple Store itself with about 200 customers in there and a Keynote presentation going on. When it turned on... I was speechless... Of course it didn't eliminate EVERYTHING but it was ridiculously loud in there... But it eliminated it so well that when I put on music on a low-medium volume, even the loud Apple Store was entirely silenced to me. That's not so anymore :(

Maybe you can let me know how some of these sound to you (like a bathroom fan or car traffic)...

That reminds me.. Before the update, walking down the street... there was almost no sounds of cars... now it's barely different between ANC and Off... Again maybe a 20-25% difference in the sounds of traffic. Before it was really crazy good.

@TabsAZ, Yeah... I just wrote a pretty long explanation of how the ANC was for me before the update. Maybe it will help the newer owners imagine and compare... I guess that's really all we can do. But there were SO many people that used these before the update that Apple kind of can't ignore it? I hope.

Have you ever tried to "integrate" a shape memory tip? It is a little better but it is clearly not normal to have to hack like that ... And still, I hardly get a better result than my other helmets, the Jabra 75T when they only have the passive noise reduction. It's just not normal, and I confirm that during my 1st purchase of airpods pro, the noise reduction was much better than today. And in addition I can never pass the tip test again ......

@shanesnh, I’m actually on a bus right now and it’s insane how little of the road and tire noise is getting cancelled - there’s almost no difference between ANC and off. I have to crank the music way up to get over the noise, which goes 100% against Apple’s recent focus on noise level in the OS with showing you the dB level you’re getting exposed to etc. It’s supposed to be a major selling point of the Pros to not have to blast the volume to get over the noise while traveling.

I bought my AirPods Pro after Christmas and came with the firmware 2B588. Ever since then I didn't get the recent firmware update so is it possible that Apple has pulled the recent firmware update? I saw a recent reddit post with a source saying they pulled it. (German Article)https://www.iphone-ticker.de/airpods-firmware-2c54-offenbar-von-apple-zurueckgezogen-151650/

Although the ANC is somewhat passable, I saw a lot of users saying the firmware 2B584 was the true ANC Apple wanted to deliver. I recently purchased AppleCare since there's so many bugs and issues surrounding it so if the firmware can't be fixed, I may want to return these back or swap it out with a newer batch.

Perhaps the 2B588 firmware didn't have the same effect for everyone. On my AirPods Pro the difference in ANC being on vs off is enormous. I live in NYC and ride the subway daily and I hear virtually nothing with ANC activated. In any event, I hope the next update fixes your problem.

It's very similar to the truth. A lot of people say that now their new Pro headphones have upgraded to 2B588, but not to 2C54. If Apple decided that 2C54 was a bad firmware, then this is a good sign. We can hope that the ANC level will be fixed in the next firmware. If not, I'll try to return the headphones and get the money back since ANC is the main reason why I bought it.

So now my question is this. Does new/updated firmware addressing the ANC concerns people are having get released before the holiday return period ends on January 8th?

I may return on that date because no guarantee when or if it will be addressed. Once mine updated to 2B588 the ANC has not been the same.

Actually had the same issue. Called the Apple support that weren’t able to help me. Always an amber light flashing. Tried in every way to pair it, holding the pair-button for 10 seconds, delete it from every unit, nothing helped and Apple support were very confused.

Finally I got them to pair, for me the problem was that I tried to pair both my replacement AirPods at once. And when I did pair them (one by one, like u described, only one in the case) I noticed that they had different firmware (5B288 and 5B284) and I thought that maybe that was the problem.

So I paired one of the replacements with one of my old AirPods (ex. First new left AirPod with original right AirPod, the one that I were go to send back). When that worked I deleted the pairing, and paired the new right with the “new” left (that I paired in the first step). When that was completed, the both worked like a couple again. When the pairing was completed the firmware had been updated on both AirPods to 2C54.

I got pairs with 2B588 right out of the box. The noise cancelling is not as good as the Apple store demo with 2B576. The engine sound of the public transit is not diminished and found no difference between ANC on/off. Please fix it or give us control over the Level of ANC like the Sony’s.

So I finally went to the Genius Bar after this whole ANC issue and they've replaced my individual AirPods Pro after running an in-store test but left me with the same charging case and it will not connect to my devices now — the case only flashes amber and I seem to have tried every combination of charging, removing AirPods,

holding the setup button etc but they just will not trigger the on-screen connection process.

Update - managed to get them to pair when doing so individually — so right AirPod Pro and then left.

annnnd now they’re added to my phone as separate AirPods BUT I can confirm that these brand new replacements are using the following firmware

left: 2B576

right: 2B588

Although I can’t test properly as they’re running separate connections to the phone, the ANC is still bad.

So I’m guessing because each has a different firmware, I can’t sync them as a pair. The charging case light just will not go white.

@LowGun84

I would highly doubt a new update would be out in 4 days... I'd be surprised if they get it out by the end of the month... But since this is blowing up a bit, they might try to rush or fast track an update but it would be a gamble wondering if they'd push one so soon.. My guess would be no :(