Airpods Pro 3 - low frequency sound leak in noise cancellation mode

After heavy testing on my side, it seems to be fixed for me in 98% of the time.

My initial post is this: Airpods Pro 3 - low frequency sound leak … - Apple Community

But as stated: I got replacement buds from another factory, which still had the issues, BUT new firmware helped.

On 8B34 in public transport I had ZERO low frequency leaks (surface level, underground trains, cars, taxi) WHEN the airpods were properly set in the ear and sealed good.

If you wear a hat or beanie or such thing, and on airpod slips just a little bit, resulting in not properly sealing THAN I have VERY little low frequency leak.

But if they were in correctly it was fine for me.

In the office they worked as intended, only if you remove them on by one and put them back in the ANC seems to get "confused".

popping them in case and back on fixed it every time.

Even at home with a big 3d printer besides me in homeoffice or my portafilter for espresso (lelit bianca v3) or my espresso mill (eureka mignon libra) which all produce a lot of deep rumble, were filtered perfectly.

I hope it stays that way or even gets improved.

I managed to return and replace my original app3 pair which i got on launch day, and the new pair seems to behave a lot better. it still seems to have the occasional slip up but it only lasts a few seconds before clearing up. I cant be certain if it is because of the latest firmware 8B34, or if the old ones were truly part of a bad batch which we are all part of. This new pair has behaved in every ambient noise condition that the old ones would fail in. Office, Planes, street. It even feels like the ANC is stronger than before. Also, going from adaptive to anc no longer triggers the leakage fault as it used to. All in all, whatever the issue was, at least for me, is not 95% fixed. Really hoping that they dont f it up with another update, and instead fix the last 5% without making ANC worse.

I've had the same issue, but the the recent firmware update (8A358) seems to have fixed it for me.

for those having this issue, if you pay for applecare try getting replacement buds—on 8b30 with my replacement buds its gone. i think it was a hardware issue present on units manufactured earlier and i got mine on launch day.

Went to store to report the issue and try to get a replacement and after a test the guy said the left one indeed wasn’t working correctly. Which was the one that had this problem most often but the right also has the issue, but wasn’t detected during the test. Fingers crossed

I travel daily by train for about ~2 hours (to work and back).

Had the problem since release of AirPods Pro 3, using them together with iPhone 16 Pro Max on newest stable iOS 26.2 release.

Mine were bought through Amazon Prime (Germany) and made in China.

I installed EVERY beta Firmware by using the Developer Betas on iOS (using an old iPhone SE 2nd gen as beta device) and nothing helped.

Contacted Apple Support (I have Apple Care) and got a complete replacement seven days ago from I think Poland or Czech Republic.

They were made in Taiwan and came with firmware 8A356.

Still same issues, EXTREMELY disappointing.

Yesterday, firmware 8B34 was released and is on my AirPods and case.

Traveling to work today, I had no problems, but the problem is sporadic.

Will test and update thread maybe next week Wednesday or Thursday after excessive testing.

Update one today:

Used the AirPods for pure ANC without playing anything in office, pure for ANC reasons.

Used them for about ~1:05 hours, removed the right bud to scratch ear, put the right bud back in, the ANC leak started appearing, hearing my colleague talking the deep bass of the voice from him besides me.

Removed right bud again, placed it back, still the issue.

With both buds still in my ears, I removed the left one and put it back, the bass leak was gone.

So it seems, that the leak still exists but can be (temporally) fixed by removing one bud from ear, put in back in ear then the same with other side, and it's "fixed" for some time.

Currently on firmware 8B34. Got a replacement unit once, but the issue persists.

I’m 100% sure it’s a sensor issue. When the modes are switched from "Off" or "Transparency" to "Noise Cancellation," the ANC works fine for a few seconds, suggesting it’s definitely not a fit/seal problem. Then the issue starts on one of either side with bass frequencies from outside(bus engines, outside music, ..) being gradually introduced, eventually getting to the point it’s louder than/more amplified from the actual sound.

I might have some weird ear canal, but I am pretty sure a sensor is constantly trying to "rebalance" the ANC when it’s already working fine, only to screw it up. If not being even able to properly engineer the product for different ears, why just already don't give us the option to disable the (atrocious) balance sensor?

It’s been months with plenty of community reports, yet Apple seems to be trying to sweep this under the carpet from the $250 earbuds' customers. They need to address this properly now.

Yesterday I installed 26.1 PB2 hoping for the yet unreleased AirPods firmware but it hasn’t yet installed. However, I’ve been using them all day today in the office where this issue would manifest regularly with and repeatable and so far I haven’t encountered it. Despite the AirPods being on the 8A358 firmware as they were before. Weird. Maybe coincidence or maybe it was iOS forcing them to screw up.

Same issue, I thought it's a hardware defect and exchanged them, but the replacements are doing the same thing. Sounds like a low frequency feedback loop. Hoping for a software update to fix it.

My new AirPods Pro 3 were flawless for the first three days, but then things went downhill. On a long train ride, I noticed the left bud suddenly started leaking sound out of nowhere.

Every time I take it out and pop it back in, the issue disappears for about two minutes. Just as I start thinking it’s fine, the low drone creeps back in.

I tried a hard reset, which fixed it for about two days. But earlier today, I noticed the ANC performance slowly declining again. It was manageable at first, but just a few minutes before writing this, the rumble became way too distracting.

For context, the issues resurfaced while I was on a train this afternoon. Now I’m on another (longer) ride, and about 20 minutes in, the problem flared up again. It really seems like prolonged exposure to low frequencies trips up the software somehow.

The funny part? Now it’s the right bud acting up while the left one has gone back to normal. 😂

Really hoping a firmware update drops soon, because this is getting pretty annoying. Haha.

I'm having the exact same issue. Feels like it is leaking in/amplifying low frequency sounds, such as bassy music in a cafe, noise in public transportation, vehicle engine noises from a crowded road etc.

Mostly happens in my right bud only.

My airpods are running firmware 8A358, and the device paired to the airpods doesn't seem to be a factor as the issue presents itself when paired to any of my iphone/ipad/mac, running beta/non-beta software.

Putting the airpods in the case for around 30 seconds doesn't seem to fix this. Resetting the airpods only temporarily fixes the issue.

I’ve been able to reliably trigger the problem by switching from adaptive to noise cancelling modes. Each time, the low freq noise comes through when doing this. When switching from transparency to noise cancelling this doesn’t happen. However it still happens on its own after some time when in anc mode. This is just another new bug. Losing hope for this being fixed tbh…

Getting the same problem with firmware 8B25. Absolutely atrocious experience, it’s unbearable when it’s happening. I managed kick it off for a while by disabling personalised Spatial Audio but the problem came back some time later.