I took my APP to the Apple Store today because at first I started to hear a clicking in the left and then right in ANC mode, that might have been the internal microphone picking up my heart-beat pounding in my ear and feeding it back to me. Then it would start clicking with other kinds of movement.
But then they got so bad that anytime I talked with transparency mode on that both earpieces would feed my voice back into the earpiece with it sounding like I was a robot, or talking through a Kazoo or had a piece of tinfoil stretched over a comb in front of my mouth (I'm dating myself there). I called Apple and they sent me a link to get an appointment, but I could not make an AirPods Pro appointment via the support app, so I went in.
This was my first trip out of the house to go to a store in ages, armed N95 mask, Clorox wipes, and sanitizer - all things that I've kept around for ages due to my lung disease. I know, stupid to leave the house. I waited 3 hours for my appointment, much of it outside with 95 degree heat and a non-functioning left lung, trying to suck air thru a mask; so I had to go to Best Buy and the grocery store to get out of the heat while trying to avoid getting CoVid-19 in those places.
Once I got in I explained everything and mentioned the threads on macrumors.com, and demonstrated that the issue didn't happen with their demo set + my tips. When I got the robot voice hear-thru audio one time it triggered my ASMR reflex and made me shiver and yank them out of my ears in front of them (goosebumps).
The "Genius" admitted it sounded (no pun intended) like both sides were bad, but he tried to tell me that a single bad one could make both act up, and since the left was worse that we should try replacing that first. He gave me a story about how they treat each ear earpiece plus the case as 3 separate pieces, and they can only do ONE exchange at a time. They wanted to replace just the left earpiece and I wasn't having it. With the left earpiece out and on the table, and the music paused, the right one still acted up while I was there.
I told them I'm too high risk to do this all over again, that I live on the farthest other end of town, and I'm going out of state next week for my daughter's birthday (she is self isolating too), and that I simply could not return in the next day or two and go through all of this over again and be exposed more, just to get the other earpiece replaced (I was happy to keep my battery pack). I kindly asked for the manager.
He went to get her but came back 5 minutes later with a new sealed AirPods and no manager, and he did a "late exchange" for the entire thing, including another 2 years of Apple Care. I had brought in my box, unused charge cable, and unused tips, of which they kept all but the tips that I had actually used and gave me a new sealed package with a new 2 yr apple care warranty!
I thanked them profusely and told everyone to stay safe and went home very happy.
At the store they were acting fine, but they were still on firmware 2D15. I knew that when I put them in the case and charged the case that it will likely update to 2D27, and hoped that would not cause any new issues. But my old ones on 2D27 sounded a little warmer and fuller, more solid and enjoyable. I was still worried that I didn't have the "clicking" and the "buzzing/rattle" until after 2D27 was applied, but peep on the forums were sure it was not the firmware.
IMPRESSIONS: The background clicking in ANC mode is totally gone with the new set, and so is the rattle with talking while in transparency mode. Also, they did update to 2D27 and I do think that the bass increased again, like it did when my first set updated recently (my first set was from Nov 2019). I also think that the ANC got quieter with 2D27.
I actually feel the ANC "suck" again, felt best after dropping from transparency mode to passive noise blocking and then dropping down again to ANC. I can tell I have a great seal and passive isolation with the active modes off, and then when I go to ANC mode from there the vacuum sensation is real, like it was when I received my first pair last November.
With 2D27 the sound is definitely better with the active modes off, where before it was more bland and basic sounding with just passive noise mode and now they seem more powerful and punchy without having to use transparency or ANC mode to get that EQ-like punch. It still improves a little with the active modes turned on.
, having a pair of TWS isn't so important - I can wait a month or two. The Buds + tick all of the boxes, except no aptX, and no ANC, so I am hoping the new Buds are perfect for me.
Not bad
