AirPods Pro firmware 2B588 reduce the noise cancelling capability

I think it’s asinine software design AirPod users DO NOT have the ability to:

1) Force an AirPod firmware update. It seems 2C54 may be a step in the right direction vs 2B588. My AirPod 2s did it within 2 hours of the update being released.

2) Enable or disable auto updates

As someone who was inconvenienced by the whole HomePod 13.2 firmware bricking debacle, Apple is far from infallible. Props to Apple for handling it reasonably quick, but it highlights the quality issues people have experienced with iOS 13.x and shortsighted planning and lack of understanding of user needs. At least I can now disable or force a firmware update on my HomePod.

The amount of time I’ve wasted trying to update my AirPod Pros to 2C54 from 2B588 is RIDICULOUS. About ready to return them and buy some Sony or Melomanias. Oh and now one of my AirPod Pros isn’t being detected when it’s in my ear.

My Apple rep has told me it is being forwarded to a high department and Engineering. They might not know about it on a wide-scale mass basis yet but each individual case is being looked into. The rep emailed ME citing my comments on THIS thread and wanting information about it. So they have to be aware if I was sent an email asking for more information about my comments on this thread.

It is most certainly not a hardware issue. It happened after and only after the FIRMWARE was changed. So unless the FIRMWARE caused HARDWARE damage (extremely unlikely), the problem lies within the changes made for the firmware.

Millions of units have sold -- a very slim amount of people are signed up for the Apple Communities here... They'd likely call Apple or go to the Genius Bar on their own accord if they thought there was an issue.

Also possible that millions were shipped WITH the new firmware (at least 2B588 as it's over a month old now) and/or the firmware updated by itself without users having a chance to NOTICE a difference. The early adopters are the ones who noticed a major change.

I agree. There should be ways to allow the updating of firmware similar to how Apple Watch is handled but Apple considers these to be firmware and not software updates (which is true but it's still something happening over the air and in the background automatically)... which leads to the next point about disabling updates or searching for an update.

Some rude members on this forum were yelling at another person for saying it was "hard" to update to 2C54... I defended the person saying that it took my AirPods about 3 days (each time charging wired while connected to the iPhone) for them to update randomly.

Apple rep said they do not push out these updates all at once to every device and that they are done in batches (similar to how iOS updates are "requested" and not everyone gets it instantaneously otherwise the servers would die in a second).

They still have to fix this or it will turn into one of the many "scandals" Apple had before (AntennaGate, BendGate, whatever). It's just not cool to sell a product based around ANC, have it out for 3 weeks and then remove 50-75% of the ANC's effectiveness behind our backs w/o explanation or a changelog. They could always introduce a feature in a newer iOS that allows control over the ANC but why they'd change it to levels that are far below-par of their competition (Sony, etc.) doesn't make sense...

My rep is still working on this for me and I advised him to please forward this thread up the chain but he already had this URL when he initially emailed me...

If anyone else has any first-hand information from their Apple Support rep, please post it here.

Or perhaps please as your AppleCare rep if they are aware of both this forum (please email them the URL) and if it is being forwarded to Engineering. I think that is our best bet to get this fixed quicker.

I’m still planning to go to the Genius Bar if only to spread information and see whether they’ve heard about it themselves. My AirPods Pro seem to make like a glitch noise at loud sounds or when I adjust them in my ear. And whenever it’s windy, I still hear wind noise, unlike when I first got them at release — they’d literally block any sign of external wind noise. Such a shame the ANC has been reduced.

I'm the one who is very upset about worsened ANC after 2C54 firmware upgrade. I have a question for those who bought an AirPods Pro with old firmware 2B584. I know that you have noticed a degradation of ANC performance when upgrading from 2B584 to 2B588. But, after that, did you notice any changes in ANC when upgrading from 2B588 to 2C54 ? Could it be that ANC breaks down during any firmware update because the hardware or firmware bug ?

Also, there is a Russian forum where is this problem discussed:

https://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=792523&st=8380

And a lot of people there noted the degradation of ANC after 2C54 firmware update. People are just waiting for the new firmware update in hope that Apple will fix it back.

Im Brazilian and I’ve just chatted with the local Support. Since AirPods Pro were released here just two weeks ago, I though they wouldn’t know much about this problem, but the guy who supported me told they’re already aware of this issue and that Apple’s working on a solution.

does anyone know how long we have to wait for the bug to be fixed and the new firmware version of the headphones?

There is also a question whether apple will not leave us with a problem considering that this level of ANC mute is sufficient? I read somewhere that apple could deliberately weaken ANC because some users reported headaches.

There were no changes that were noticeable between 2B588 and 2C54. 2C54 just retained the same ANC configurations that 2B588 had (which causes this issue). So if someone went from an older firmware (2B584, etc.) straight to 2C54, they would have the same issue as 2C54 and 2B588 seem to have nearly exactly the same configurations for ANC -- I can't read the code myself but the issue has not changed between the two. It's just whatever code they wrote for 2B588 need to be fixed and patched for a new update. Why the code was written in the first place is beyond me but they have too many unhappy customers now.

Hi _andyy, thanks for sharing. This is important for everyone to know. Apple is aware of this. Not every staff is going to be aware like someone above tried to insinuate. Likewise, millions of units will have this issue (if they are on 2B588 or 2C54) but most of those people will either not know there is a problem (if they never heard the original ANC) or they will handle the problem on their own (and will not post in this Community)...

My Apple Rep called me today and confirm where I am located as I think they also want my hardware (although they will find nothing wrong with it besides that it's indeed just another normal pair of AirPods that are on 2C54)...

Nobody knows. We are all just playing the waiting game and seeing what Apple does for us. I think they want to collect my headphones to take a "closer look" which they did to others in this forum but they will find nothing wrong with them hardware-wise... It's all firmware... If they give me a new pair running an older firmware, they will of course work until they update to the new firmware... At which time I could tell them again, "Hey, the new ones were working on the old firmware fine and then auto-updated to the 2C54 and now we have the same problem that 2B588 caused to begin with)...

Yeah, there is speculation about that but this level of ANC is NOT sufficient imo. The way they worked before was superior. I've never seen Apple deliberately make their product worse... and make it worse than their competition. That's just not normal. If someone gets a headache from ANC... then... I feel like that's an issue to discuss with a doctor... not to change the firmware of every device ruining the device to begin with. Also, the product was so new that I'm not sure how Apple would have had enough time to receive enough reports about this. Doesn't sound right. They wouldn't just release an update that quickly to lower the ANC's levels to 20-30% of what they were before.

If that was the case... they should be well on their way to fixing this problem showing that it's the most popular thread here and AppleCare in multiple countries are aware of it... There was no such thread about headaches on the Community here. And even if there was, it is not popular like this problem is.

And a simple solution for the future is to add a slider to change the amount of ANC to iOS! They can also make an Android App if they wish to do the same thing like the Sony's. That's more down the line but seriously, there's no reason to totally destroy their own product this way.

I had a similar, but slightly different problem with Bose 700 headphones purchased about 2 months ago. There was a problem that turned off after 1 hour of inactivity. In the application it was not possible to turn it off. people were furious because some people because of the good ANC slept in them, and in the middle of the night they were awakened by the annoying sound of turning off their headphones. Fortunately, Bose quickly responded to a very extensive forum thread (https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/Bose-700-Headphones-Auto-Shut-Off/td-p/222337/ page / 12) and immediately introduced the ability to turn off the detector in the application. I wish you and Apple would respond just as quickly to its problem.

Today I will receive a replacement so I can test A/B the old and new units with proper white and pink noise.

If they run the same firmware revision and the new ones do ANC correctly, then this whole discussion will have to be archived.

Good example. Thanks for this.

Currently, in this situation, what Apple has done is take a flagship product that matched or beat its competitors in many ways (subject to opinion of course) and then totally dumbed it down to where Bose and Sony easily beat it... I can't imagine why they would do it so I have to hope it was a bug or a mistake.