AirPods Pro firmware 2B588 reduce the noise cancelling capability

rtings Had already talked about the second update. Ready carefully the whole AirPods Pro review.

they wrote:

Update 12/04/2019: After receiving multiple reports of the ANC being worse than before after the 2B588 firmware update, we retested the Apple AirPods Pro's noise isolation performance and didn't get noticeable test result differences. Apple might have tweaked the ANC, but not enough to noticeably impact the overall performance.

That's not their final word. After that, on December 20, they replied someone with "We took a quick look and did see some variation in ANC performance but we’ll need to look into it further. We’re going to be off for the holidays for a bit but we’ll re-test their ANC, along with FR, once we’re back in January." and then today "Expecting to have them by the end of week, will keep you all in the loop!".

_andyy wrote:

That's not their final word. After that, on December 20, they replied someone with "We took a quick look and did see some variation in ANC performance but we’ll need to look into it further. We’re going to be off for the holidays for a bit but we’ll re-test their ANC, along with FR, once we’re back in January." and then today "Expecting to have them by the end of week, will keep you all in the loop!".

In the same thread comment they wrote

We re-tested on firmware 2B588 and didn’t find any noticeable results in ANC performance

Honestly, I do not put all my hopes on rtings response.

Don't get me wrong, I'm the first one who hope the ANC will get better :)

Today I returned to the Apple Store after they replaced my first APP individual left and right units last week following the ANC and yellow seal fit test result as they wouldn’t sync as a pair in my original charge case.

I spent an hour in store while they trouble shooted and supposedly updated the firmware but nothing changed so they gave me a brand new sealed set running firmware 2B588. I’m getting a green good seal again and the ANC does sound better than my original pair did after this whole fiasco but definitely not as good as at launch!

Let’s see if they release a firmware with the ANC reverted back to the original, otherwise I might have to return.

While my APP were out of order I was using Air Pods and damnnn the fit sucks! So I kind of want to keep the APP despite ANC no longer being what it was buuuuut who can really justify $400 of the main feature fails to work.

FYI its been edited... 

Posted 19 hours ago by Ian McPhail (RTINGS.com)

Jan 06, 2020 12:25 PM By Dush 

37

Thanks for that link - glad they finally recognised the issue. Ian - any change on getting those measurements posted? Will be very interesting now to compare different firmware versions since Apple are working on the issue themselves.

Expecting to have them by the end of week, will keep you all in the loop!

Edited 17 hours ago: typo

Bought Air Pods Pro when a couple of months ago.

Very happy with NC then.

Now I noticed it is not nearly as good as before, especially when driving a car, keeping out engine, tyres and low frequency noise.

I have model A2084, hw version 1.0.0

Firmware 2C54 right now.

It is like a completly different product now, I will start using my Bose instead and hoping this will be resolved soon with a better firmware.

I am waiting to hear back from my rep again to see if they will collect my device. I will update you guys if I learn anything about this.

Did anyone have their device collected from them or only people swapped out at a Genius Bar? I don't really know how this process works when Apple wants to actually collect hardware to directly to troubleshoot .

memories_of_green wrote:

It is like a completly different product now, I will start using my Bose instead and hoping this will be resolved soon with a better firmware.

Exactly the same situation! It will soon be a month since Apple took away my headphones as a result of a failed firmware 2C54 update! I just can't use them and I don't take them with me anymore. I am a musician and I know very well what the perception issue is. This is definitely not the case. Before update, when ANC was enabled, I used the volume level of 70%. Now at the same volume level I clearly hear my footsteps while walking. And it's very annoying. I tried to increase the volume level to 85% in order not to hear my footsteps, but it's too loud and can damage my ears over time. So I just stopped using them at all. Thanks Apple :(

I called with Apple Netherlands yesterday (call-back appointment) and explained the situation with the badly functioning NC. The employee asked me a lot of questions about the situation and whether I had already used the different ear tips and whether I had already reset etc. He finally came to the conclusion that it had to be the air pods themselves and he sent me a new pair. I will receive them tomorrow.

Yep, I’m on 2C54 and I am experiencing worse NC than the day I purchased. Sometimes I toggle it just to check that NC is actually on, since I can hear so much.

i also heard a slight static noise in the right hand side, perhaps I should get them swapped...

Today I had the opportunity to try 2 different demo unit and they where slightly better than mine in terms of ANC.

The voice of the girl talkin in front of me was a bit more muffed with the demo unit. But in the rush and few minutes you have to do the comparison i don’t know how much my words are objective.

Both the demos had the 2C54, exactly like mine.

So it’s not software related issue guys.

I didn’t swapped because don’t want to play the lottery (battery, mic quality and so on) and honestly I didn’t find a day/night difference with the demos.

I have 11 day more to make the return, so I will see: in the meanwhile I’m using the modded version, that have the strongest anc ever tried.

Can you clearly understand what someone’s talking to with the ANC turned on? It’s like a whisper or something louder than that? I mean, I know it’s going to be lower than hearing someone with no ANC, I just want to know how strong is the voice of someone when talking in front of you with the ANC.

My Apple advisor sent me a new pair and plan was to send my originals (purchased from big box retailer) to them. Unfortunately, new pair were on updated firmware out of box and there was no difference in NC. Since I was still in return window, the replacements were sent back instead. While my advisor didn’t come out and say it, I feel like he thinks that I’m expecting too much from them. He said having 2 pairs with identical issues is virtually unheard of as well as everyone has the Pros there and raves about them. I tried to stress how different it was from when I first bought them but not sure he believed me. Current state “NC” is absolutely abysmal- I can hear my dog’s nails clicking on hardwood floors, I can hear myself walking on snow. That is completely unacceptable.

Agree. Every experience I've had going to the Apple store frustrates me even more since they never want to admit fault/issues.

I'm hoping it's a firmware fix at this point but worried, based on my conversations with my adviser (who won't call me back now), Apple chose to do this intentionally.