AirPods 3 High Pitched noise.

Same issue here. When not connected to any devices, connected to an iPhone 13 pro, or connected to a MacBook Pro I experience this high pitched crackling sound in the right bud.

The noise stops as soon as music is playing or I’m on a call.

I also have the same issue, also in the right earbud.

When first putting them in my ears, there is no audible noise. Then after about 15 seconds I begin to hear a faint, steady, high frequency ring. Wait another 15-30 seconds or so and the steady ring changes to a "chirp".

Goes away when playing music or removing the right earbud, but always returns if they're in my ear and idle.

These are my first AirPods, but another thing of note is that the right earbud's battery is draining significantly faster than the left.

Same issue here on the right earbud, just got them today. I noticed some high pitched noise on the original AirPods but nowhere near as loud as in the AirPods 3. It has a pattern like one of those automatic grass sprayers that moves back and forth, except the noise is high pitched. It’s only present when music or sound is not playing and gets rather annoying. Hoping apple will fix this. The only thing I don’t like is when you call them and nobody in support knows nor do they have models to test and agree to give you some validation for the issue as a consumer. But nevertheless I’ll talk with apple support if it doesn’t go away in a few days.

I have the exact same problem unfortunately...

Just called apple support and they offered a service. I am not so happy for a "service" on a product I bought 20 minutes ago, I then want a replacement..

I would like to tell you about the results of the examination. Since it has not yet passed 14 days, I was approved without any problems to replace with new headphones. There was no such obvious crackling in the new earphones. But unfortunately I can still hear in complete silence, when nothing is produced, background high-frequency noise. This is very disgusting! The money is spent, and already the second pair of headphones does not work as it should! Again, I see no reason to change, because many write that, like mine, new ones also turn out to be defective. Apple, please fix the problem soon!

Has anyone received a pair that doesn’t have this issue? It seems like they are all faulty. I am on my second exchange with the same issue. Apple wants me to go to the store to check them but honestly this is looking like a waste of time and very likely that a new one won’t will fix it. I really hope apple does not ignore this issue.

Oh man ya don’t waste your time. Every pair I got when I returned my other ones were in a brand new box. All four pairs had the same issue with no fix. Getting them checked at the apple store will be a complete waste as a replacement will not fix this. Also if apple support and the senior advisor as well as the engineering team can’t find a solution when I called except to return and get a replacement or exchange for a new pair as they on,y were ever a couple days old isn’t good enough. That will not fix the issue at all and will just frustrate you even more. Apple is fully aware of this issue and I wish they would just let customers know that this can or can’t be fixed through a firmware update. If not are they just faulty in general and a definite no buy product. I wish that there is going to be a solution and soon so I can use them without the high pitched humming in my ears.

I totally agree with you, I got my 3rd pair, all of them of the high pitch noise like you have and the last time, what I did was waiting in the apple store for 20 min and have the new airpods 3 firmware updates and then give a try in the quite place and still the noise is there. As this is the third time, then the staff in the apple store said maybe it is "My problem" and I was the first one locally report this problem to the store..... So I gave it up and return it. I just do not want to keep waisting time and go to the store everyday, unless I accepts they mail to me and then I will pass the 14 days for free return.

Same here.

I did have a friendly chat with Apple Support. They went through the obvious trial and error with reset - firmware, etc. Nothing really worked so they offered me to send it in, which I did.

Feedback: They tested it and could not find any issues with my AirPods 3. This to me is just wrong as there obviously is a high pitch noise in these very expensive EarPods. It's not some cheap stuff and I expected Apple quality and most of all service.

Hopefully this will get fixed in the future, but I can't accept spending 200 € and just live with it.

Manual book's response.........

200 euro for a faulty production AirPods is no joke!!

Where does apple leave its great quality standards and high interest and care for their customers...?

I cannot believe this issue left the bug and issues group at apple, and how they haven't got in touch with AirPods 3 customers...

This issue occurs when the AirPods are connected to a Bluetooth device, when there is not a Bluetooth connection it is completely silence (also when it is playing sound or 0 volume media)

Yeah this is what gets me. Apple is leading the market in true wireless since they invented AirPods. We know they have incredibly advanced suites dedicated to testing their audio equipment which they have shown off during some events such as for the HomePods. But they release the 3rd gen and this issue pops up and when you call, nobody knows anything about it? Nobody caught this? I have a feeling they rushed the software development because of the pandemic so it’s not quite up to par yet. The software engineers probably know and management probably made a decision to go through with it anyway but it hasn’t quite trickled down to the service areas. What baffles me though is that the technical service teams don't have demo devices available to test issues. Grab an iPhone and AirPods, it takes 10 seconds, connect and listen without audio playing. Bam problem identified as not just one person. When I returned mine to Apple they were actually very concerned in the store and asked if engineering could contact me. They never have. This thread and folks returning their AirPods because of this are doing work Apple should have done. Here we are talking on a thread proving how extensive a problem this is and has anyone from apple responded? No. My pros and the first gen are fine so I really don’t get how the 3rd gen have this. Who can’t hear this glaring noise? I don’t know how the YouTuber reviewers like Marques Brownlee ignore this. I mean tons of them make videos on how they sound. I don’t know how they didn’t, at least for a moment, have them in their ears with no music playing during their tests. I have a feeling they’re paid to say things. In fact I haven’t seen a single video online talking about this. If someone can find one, link it please! But at this point we may as well call it #WhineGate! Waiting for apple to release a statement about this but as per usual, they ignore until the last minute.

Same for me. I had a chat + a call with Apple support, neither willing to help. I then had two replacements from the store I bought them and ended up just asking for a refund.

Really disappointed by Apple on this one.

Same for me, I have exchange 3 times and end up refund in 14 days. I got a pair of Airpods pro afterward, when there are discounts, turns out even cheaper than the price I got with Airpods 3 and no bugs anymore, with noise cancelation, I am quite happy about it

Hi everyone, I responded at the start of this thread so wanted to report back because I figured Apple would fix this in due time. I recently got AirPods 3 again and am also happy to report that the high pitched noise problem is not there. They sound great, work great, and are dead silent when in my ears with no music playing. I’m unsure if older models would still have this out of the box and it has just been a software bug thus far but rest assured if you buy a set they will very likely not have this problem now as I bet Apple is preloading the new firmware and/or has sold through all the old stock at this point. Take care all and enjoy your AirPods!

Apple can identify the batch by the serial number but they will never tell you this.

I can confirm that now, even using the background "noise" hack the problem is not fixed. I can hear the high pitched noise even during a call.

Today I'm sending my airpods back to Apple service as they told me to do. I hope they will replace my airpods with a new working kit. I hope they won't tell me that "there is no problem" or I'll put a high sensitivity microphone near them and I'll record the noise after turning on the proximity sensor :-D