[Soundizer]

Ah, as it relates to the word fracture I assume. The silicone would definitely help with that.

When I refer to better quality, I tend to mean the actual mastering work itself rather than how it is with respects to file format (lossless vs lossy). At the end of the day, it'll get sent over as AAC 256. Granted some people on this thread have said they can hear the difference between Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. I'm not playing out of Tidal though, so I can't really comment on that.

I can easily hear difference between Tidal HIFI vs Apple Music/Spotify even with Bluetooth headphones.
it is currently £4 in total for 4 months for full HIFI version in uk.

when you mean mastering - yes i agree. I tend to only select music/sound tracks which is mastered well based on my hearing/processing. That’s why I hardly ever listen to pop which is mostly badly mastered whereas movie soundtracks are on average much much better.

 

[MayaTlab]

That’s exactly my experience with Bose 700. I returned the first pair as thought the ear pearcing treble and non existent low end at high volumes must have been due to a fault. Only after the second pair and having read about the poorly thought out DSP decisions when increasing volume - where low end is tamed like a lion tamer allowing treble to screatch out.

Honestly my issue with the Bose 700 is at all volume levels . Its audio over bluetooth is also very poorly implemented (easily audible spurious tones / noises when playing high or low frequencies, regardless of codecs or sources), but that's the case for a lot of BT headphones I've listened to this or last year, particularly the ones using Qualcomm's chips (M3, A50, Bose 700, etc.).

 

[nunomeneses]

Honestly my issue with the Bose 700 is at all volume levels . Its audio over bluetooth is also very poorly implemented (easily audible spurious tones / noises when playing high or low frequencies, regardless of codecs or sources), but that's the case for a lot of BT headphones I've listened to this or last year, particularly the ones using Qualcomm's chips (M3, A50, Bose 700, etc.).

When you say a50 you referring to shure aonic 50? Because I have Bose 700 and sa50 and I get those tones on Bose but not on shures...

 

[MayaTlab]

When you say a50 you referring to shure aonic 50? Because I have Bose 700 and sa50 and I get those tones on Bose but not on shures...

Yes. Perhaps they fixed it or lowered their incidence / prevalence in a firmware update after I tried them. Sennheiser did so with the HD3/450BT recently - albeit not perfectly (but not the M3 yet if release notes are to be believed). That being said this is a sort of "edge case" test, it's less a test of how music playback is affected than a convenient proxy to test for how much care went into the audio over bluetooth implementation engineering. The main problem I had with the aforementioned headphones' sound quality - and the APM for that matter - is related to their frequency response curve.

 

[nunomeneses]

Yes. Perhaps they fixed it or lowered their incidence / prevalence in a firmware update after I tried them. Sennheiser did so with the HD3/450BT recently - albeit not perfectly (but not the M3 yet if release notes are to be believed). That being said this is a sort of "edge case" test, it's less a test of how music playback is affected than a convenient proxy to test for how much care went into the audio over bluetooth implementation engineering. The main problem I had with the aforementioned headphones' sound quality - and the APM for that matter - is related to their frequency response curve.

Well at least on iOS on latest firmware there’s 0 artifacts. Is this happening on apm?

 

[MayaTlab]

Well at least on iOS on latest firmware there’s 0 artifacts. Is this happening on apm?

I have yet to find a way to make the APM's audio over bluetooth implementation fail in any way by playing single tones through them. The AirPods Pro, K371BT and Y600NC were also pretty well behaved IMO. The worst offender I tried so far is the Bose 700. It's even worse than my ex-P7 Wireless that was released more than four years ago !
When it comes to electronics-related noises in general (noise floor, pops / hiss / cracks, audio over bluetooth implementation, etc.) I've been a lot, lot more impressed by the APM and APP than other BT headphones. Well at least until they fail (there's a reason Apple took the rather exceptional decision to make a silent hardware revision to the AirPods Pro ). And some people in this thread have mentioned phenomena to the contrary, so your impression may vary.

 

[AlwaysForward]

I have yet to find a way to make the APM's audio over bluetooth implementation fail in any way by playing single tones through them. The AirPods Pro, K371BT and Y600NC were also pretty well behaved IMO. The worst offender I tried so far is the Bose 700. It's even worse than my ex-P7 Wireless that was released more than four years ago !
When it comes to electronics-related noises in general (noise floor, pops / hiss / cracks, audio over bluetooth implementation, etc.) I've been a lot, lot more impressed by the APM and APP than other BT headphones. Well at least until they fail (there's a reason Apple took the rather exceptional decision to make a silent hardware revision to the AirPods Pro ). And some people in this thread have mentioned phenomena to the contrary, so your impression may vary.

Can you elaborate on the silent hardware revision? I googled for it and didn’t see anything

 

[MayaTlab]

Can you elaborate on the silent hardware revision? I googled for it and didn’t see anything

It's related to this :
https://support.apple.com/airpods-pro-service-program-sound-issues
The older earbuds have a serial number that ends in JQH3/4. The newer ones, manufactured after October 2020 (you can determine that by looking at the fourth and fifth digits of the serial number), end in 0C6J/K.
The main visible difference from the outside is that the mesh for the back volume vent is now recessed :

It's unknown whether that is the only difference or not. My guess would be that Apple took the opportunity of revising the hardware to make other internal modifications (perhaps to address or reduce the occurrence of crackling sounds which seems to rather be a mic issue).
At least as far as ANC performance is concerned, Apple won't admit it publicly but all JQH3/4 buds are susceptible to experience a degradation of ANC performance. The mesh is flush with the body of the AirPods Pro and some people's ear anatomy makes their skin touch the mesh. Over time it gets clogged up with oil / wax and ANC and SQ is degraded (you can simulate that with tape over it). The 0C6J/K's recessed mesh makes them a little bit less likely to get clogged up over time.
Apple still has a lot of old APPs in stock apparently and unless you go through that program they may send you the older ones. In which case the trick is to accelerate the degradation by gathering ear wax with a Q-tip and then rubbing it against the mesh to clog it up in a jiffy, and have them replaced again through the proper program .
Apple probably has incurred a net loss on my pair of AirPods Pro given how many times I've had to exchange them but it's well deserved. Locating that mesh in that position and even worse making it flush with the body of the buds is just plain stupid. But I still absolutely adore this product (I'm guessing that's what Stockholm syndrome feels like). It's just that it's serving me Apple 1st gen product realness like they haven't done in years .
The APM gives me a not too dissimilar feeling...

 

[tinyman392]

Can you elaborate on the silent hardware revision? I googled for it and didn’t see anything

It's possible that they were manufactured incorrectly. But it likely relates to this and it only affects the ANC and internal mic system.

 

[Vips]

It's related to this :
https://support.apple.com/airpods-pro-service-program-sound-issues
The older earbuds have a serial number that ends in JQH3/4. The newer ones, manufactured after October 2020 (you can determine that by looking at the fourth and fifth digits of the serial number), end in 0C6J/K.
The main visible difference from the outside is that the mesh for the back volume vent is now recessed :

It's unknown whether that is the only difference or not. My guess would be that Apple took the opportunity of revising the hardware to make other internal modifications (perhaps to address or reduce the occurrence of crackling sounds which seems to rather be a mic issue).
At least as far as ANC performance is concerned, Apple won't admit it publicly but all JQH3/4 buds are susceptible to experience a degradation of ANC performance. The mesh is flush with the body of the AirPods Pro and some people's ear anatomy makes their skin touch the mesh. Over time it gets clogged up with oil / wax and ANC and SQ is degraded (you can simulate that with tape over it). The 0C6J/K's recessed mesh makes them a little bit less likely to get clogged up over time.
Apple still has a lot of old APPs in stock apparently and unless you go through that program they may send you the older ones. In which case the trick is to accelerate the degradation by gathering ear wax with a Q-tip and then rubbing it against the mesh to clog it up in a jiffy, and have them replaced again through the proper program .
Apple probably has incurred a net loss on my pair of AirPods Pro given how many times I've had to exchange them but it's well deserved. Locating that mesh in that position and even worse making it flush with the body of the buds is just plain stupid. But I still absolutely adore this product (I'm guessing that's what Stockholm syndrome feels like). It's just that it's serving me Apple 1st gen product realness like they haven't done in years .
The APM gives me a not too dissimilar feeling...

It has been a few months since I had mine replaced. They appear to be the new hardware version, but the ANC seems to be getting progressively worse. Have them replaced again?
Apologies for tagging onto this AirPods max thread.

 

[tinyman392]

It has been a few months since I had mine replaced. They appear to be the new hardware version, but the ANC seems to be getting progressively worse. Have them replaced again?
Apologies for tagging onto this AirPods max thread.

Do you actually have a revision that was produced later than October? If not, then you still qualify for replacement. I know both pairs I've had (both well before Apple announced the issue publicly) did what you describe (ANC getting progressively worse until it kind of just plateaued. I was never sure the first time around if it was due to the firmware upgrades over time... The second pair I was more sure it was likely something up with the internal mic (at the very least) causing some issues.

 

[Vips]

Do you actually have a revision that was produced later than October? If not, then you still qualify for replacement. I know both pairs I've had (both well before Apple announced the issue publicly) did what you describe (ANC getting progressively worse until it kind of just plateaued. I was never sure the first time around if it was due to the firmware upgrades over time... The second pair I was more sure it was likely something up with the internal mic (at the very least) causing some issues.

May I ask how I go about checking their production date? My serial number ends in LKKT if that’s of any helps. I’m quite certain that the ANC is worse than when first received. Perhaps I’m getting too used to the max?

 

[SparkOnShore]

It's possible that they were manufactured incorrectly. But it likely relates to this and it only affects the ANC and internal mic system.

What do you mean only??? It’s a rather serious issue which has affected most APP users. You could not speak on phone or move your head because there was a loud static noise. Many Apple products face production issues at their first iteration which get fixed later on. APM is the same i guess with the droplets issue.

 

[tinyman392]

May I ask how I go about checking their production date? My serial number ends in LKKT if that’s of any helps. I’m quite certain that the ANC is worse than when first received. Perhaps I’m getting too used to the max?

So this is good until 2021 production dates (which we are in now). But it's the 4th and 5th characters in your serial number. Use the table from this link here. Note that if your model was created post 2021, this won't work anymore. My APP is a ---ZF serial number so it would be September 2019 while my APM (received Dec 2020) is a ---DQ serial number which means November 2020.

 

[tinyman392]

What do you mean only??? It’s a rather serious issue which has affected most APP users. You could not speak on phone or move your head because there was a loud static noise. Many Apple products face production issues at their first iteration which get fixed later on. APM is the same i guess with the droplets issue.

If I shut off ANC I don't get any of the weird issues that occurred. I did notice that bone conduction (more or less any sort of internal ANC vs external) got considerably worse with time and that was the major issue I had with them. I did eventually start getting "clicking" noises eventually which prompted me to ask for a replacement. But if I shut off ANC and transparency that clicking issue went away entirely. I think the primary issue was that the internal microphone that is used for ANC and AdaptiveEQ got loose or something so movements which changed the air pressure in the ear pressing up against it caused it to click similar to a pair of IEMs that have a very bad driver flex.

So yes, it affected all APP owners, but was only had audible issues while ANC or transparency was in use in my experience. If you shut off both ANC and transparency, the issue went away.