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desiapollo

macrumors newbie
Nov 9, 2022
2
1
India
I don't want to jump the gun here; but the issue seems to be solved for me with iOS 16.2 Beta 2 (20C5043e) and Airpods Pro 2 Firmware 5B58 - no more crackling or deep dying echos.
 
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shady16

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2019
847
725
im on 16.2 beta 2 with firmware 5B58 and i still have audio crackle in discord, in fact it seems to be worse at times
 
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Trixs

macrumors regular
Mar 26, 2008
164
101
I'm having similar issues, mostly just on my macbook pro it seems, when connected to my iphone it's ok. I'm on the latest firmware.
 

Kola91

macrumors member
Mar 16, 2022
30
17
Same issues: Weird little skips when I stream from my iPhone 13 mini (iOS 16.1.1) to my AirPods Pro 2 (5B58). There’s also distorted sounds / crackling for a similar duration. Everything less related to the actual audio (be it a music app or a phone call), but more randomly. Sometimes it feels triggered by activating the screen or another action.

I also don’t get these issues when connecting the AirPods to my 2021 MBP 16“.

At the Apple Store, no hardware problems (like possible Bluetooth issues) have been detected. And I didn’t want to leave my AirPods there for testing purposes, since the problems are apparently rather tied to the iPhone and not the AirPods.

The genius guy suggested to me to wipe my phone, but I will not go through that with all the apps that won’t backup properly and the outlook of not having success with that. I’ll wait for Apple to patch that.
 
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jonnysods

macrumors G3
Sep 20, 2006
8,624
7,183
There & Back Again
I'm having an issue similar to this, except the airpods seem to work fine on my phone, but when connected to the Mac its like if there is a static clipping type sound during listening to audio, quiet or not, transparency on or off.

My Mac is on Monterrey but I don't think that should be an issue as its a M1 MBP.
 

Kola91

macrumors member
Mar 16, 2022
30
17
I'm having an issue similar to this, except the airpods seem to work fine on my phone, but when connected to the Mac its like if there is a static clipping type sound during listening to audio, quiet or not, transparency on or off.

My Mac is on Monterrey but I don't think that should be an issue as its a M1 MBP.

Oh yeah, forgot about that, same in my end. It doesn’t matter if I’m using ANC, transparency or nothing.

… is this really necessary, Apple? I already went through the popping issues with the 2021 16” MBP and now your dedicated sound-devices have similar issues too? Unbelievable…
 

jonnysods

macrumors G3
Sep 20, 2006
8,624
7,183
There & Back Again
Oh yeah, forgot about that, same in my end. It doesn’t matter if I’m using ANC, transparency or nothing.

… is this really necessary, Apple? I already went through the popping issues with the 2021 16” MBP and now your dedicated sound-devices have similar issues too? Unbelievable…
Does it do it on the phone? It feels like it’s just on my MacBook, I need to test it further.

I enjoy the ANC, and the sound quality is massively improved - but I got AppleCare this time because I just had a feeling I’m going to need it, and it looks like you and I have a couple of duds.
 

Kola91

macrumors member
Mar 16, 2022
30
17
Does it do it on the phone? It feels like it’s just on my MacBook, I need to test it further.

I enjoy the ANC, and the sound quality is massively improved - but I got AppleCare this time because I just had a feeling I’m going to need it, and it looks like you and I have a couple of duds.

Yeah, solely on the iPhone for me, no issues when I'm using my AirPods Pro 2 on my MacBook Pro. Yes, same. Excellent earbuds, but these sound issues are a no-no. Today I updated to iOS 16.2, lets see if it improves things.
 

jonnysods

macrumors G3
Sep 20, 2006
8,624
7,183
There & Back Again
Yeah, solely on the iPhone for me, no issues when I'm using my AirPods Pro 2 on my MacBook Pro. Yes, same. Excellent earbuds, but these sound issues are a no-no. Today I updated to iOS 16.2, lets see if it improves things.
I'll let them have one more firmware update, and I'll update to Ventura and see if it still persists, as I'm having the opposite issue to you (MBP instead of iPhone)
 
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Kola91

macrumors member
Mar 16, 2022
30
17
So far I didn’t hear any issues after updating to 16.2 and listening for about an hour. Let’s see in the next days.

Edit: There we go, heard my first sound skip / crackle again. But it seems like it’s less frequent.
 
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Phronk

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2021
7
5
I’m having a similar problem. I get popping / crackling on any audio whenever the mic is active. It can be a phone call, Zoom call, anything. Happens on both iOS and macOS. Settings make no difference. I can reproduce it any time by going to the Mac audio input settings (which turns the mic on) then playing any audio, or starting a Zoom meeting on iPhone.

Same thing on a replacement pair, so I guess it’s software, firmware, or I’m unlucky. I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this, because it’s super annoying and not intermittent or subjective.
 
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Sephiroth0

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2011
40
16
Did anybody find a fix for this issue? I'm having the same issue on the right earbud of my APP 2 (FW 5B58, iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 16.2). The problem seems to disappear when I turn off ANC or transparent mode.
 
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Inariel

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2023
10
4
I’m having a similar problem. I get popping / crackling on any audio whenever the mic is active. It can be a phone call, Zoom call, anything. Happens on both iOS and macOS. Settings make no difference. I can reproduce it any time by going to the Mac audio input settings (which turns the mic on) then playing any audio, or starting a Zoom meeting on iPhone.

Same thing on a replacement pair, so I guess it’s software, firmware, or I’m unlucky. I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this, because it’s super annoying and not intermittent or subjective.
I had the same issue on mine four different pairs of AirPods Pro2.
They are perfect listening audio, watching video, netflix, etc… but each time I do a phone call there was a echo/reverb of my voice as static/distorted noise.
Any pair exhibits the same behavior. I waited two month between the third and the forth pair in order to check if I was very unlucky with some stock and/or latest firmware change things but it is the same.

Any noise disappears if I turn off ANC or switch to Trasparency, so it seems to be relate to the new ANC but I was very surprised that is something basically absent in any review/forum since I experienced it consistently, during each phone call/audioconf and on each pair.
There is just a small topic on Reddit about it.

I returned also the last pair and I switched back to the old APP1 that have a worst ANC but no noise/echo/reverb during calls.
 
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Phronk

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2021
7
5
I had the same issue on mine four different pairs of AirPods Pro2.

Yikes. I guess I won't try replacing mine a second time. Thanks for the additional info. Strangely, for me it happens regardless of settings, not just when ANC is on. Off and Transparency still go pop pop pop when the mic is on.

Did anybody find a fix for this issue? I'm having the same issue on the right earbud of my APP 2 (FW 5B58, iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 16.2). The problem seems to disappear when I turn off ANC or transparent mode.

One thing that maybe resulted in less (but not zero) crackle for me was going into Audio MIDI Setup on my Mac and turning every device's settings to the lowest setting. Some settings just changed themselves back, but I'm hearing less glitchiness, so maybe it did something, or maybe it's a temporary or placebo thing.

I'm also thinking of trying this: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/enable-aptx-aac-bluetooth-audio-codecs-macos/ . However, I would think that if better settings were available, Apple would just ... use them. This is all super weird.
 

Sephiroth0

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2011
40
16
I think the problem started with FW 5B58. The APPs were working fine but then I didn't use the for some weeks. A few days ago I charged them again and started to use them and since then the problem occured. I think the new FW was loaded while I was charging them.

@Phronk As mentioned in my firt post I'm using the APPs with my iPhone, not mac.
 

jrolson

macrumors member
May 15, 2011
54
7
After hearing all these problems with 5B58, Im glad my airpods never updated from firmware 5A374...
 

Inariel

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2023
10
4
After hearing all these problems with 5B58, Im glad my airpods never updated from firmware 5A374...
I had the same issue with all three firmware releases: the first three pairs tested with 5A374 and 5A377; the last one with 5B58 (I waited the update before testing my “new” APP2).
 
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Sephiroth0

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2011
40
16
Short update: I finally got my right earbud replaced and the new one does not crackle anymore. Interestingly the diagnosis SW did not find any issues but then I convinced the Apple employee to really use the right earbud. Based on the SW only they wouldn't have replaced the earbud.
 

RagingHamster

macrumors member
Sep 28, 2022
45
50
Any updates on this issue? I'm still too afraid of updating beyond iOS15.7, which has really zero issues. Other than some missing APP2 support (no Find My).
 
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