New Gen 3 airpods won't let me adjust settings?

Hi there

I'm sorry to hear that your AirPods aren't working as they should

First off, None of the AirPods Gen 1,2,3 have Noise cancellation or Transparency Mode, those features are only available on the Pros and on the Max versions of the AirPods lineup, second the AirPods 3 and Pro (I don't know about the Max's) have a different style of how to change music and skip and play and pause, on the steam on the AirPods they have a force sensor instead of the double tap feature that was used on the older generations. With the double tap you could change what it did, but because there are more options with the force sensor there's no need to change what it does, here's a link to information about how to use the force sensor on AirPods 3 and Pro : Pause, skip, and adjust volume with your AirPods and AirPods Pro - Apple Support

I Hope this helped!

You can try taking the Airpods out of the case (once they’re connected/paired) and see if the options show up. Click the info button on the AirPods name in the Bluetooth menu with the AirPods out of the case and you should see more options

There is no noise cancelling or transparency mode for Airpods 3.

You can't change the actions of the force sensor for the individual Airpods.