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piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
Is it anything more than marketing language for “noise canceling off”?
 

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
Since the new APP are in-ear-style headphones the outside sounds are still muffled with ANC off. Transparency mode uses the mics to amplify everything around you a little bit ;)
Thank you! According to Apple’s page, it seems that there is a third mode called Off that can only be activated with one AirPod in?
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
1,060
499
Thank you! According to Apple’s page, it seems that there is a third mode called Off that can only be activated with one AirPod in?
You can toggle between all three modes (ANC, off, transparency) with both AirPods in.
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
1,060
499
What am I missing out on by not using 13.2? I thought it was just the calibration tool and the hearing assistance mode.
I don't know for sure which features will be missing if you're not on 13.2. I just read here (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/10/apple-reveals-new-airpods-pro-available-october-30/):
"AirPods Pro require Apple devices running iOS 13.2 or later, iPadOS 13.2 or later, watchOS 6.1 or later, tvOS 13.2 or later, or macOS Catalina 10.15.1 or later."
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
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I don't know for sure which features will be missing if you're not on 13.2. I just read here (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/10/apple-reveals-new-airpods-pro-available-october-30/):
"AirPods Pro require Apple devices running iOS 13.2 or later, iPadOS 13.2 or later, watchOS 6.1 or later, tvOS 13.2 or later, or macOS Catalina 10.15.1 or later."
It's my understanding the Pro features won't be enable and it will act as "dumb" ear buds.
Yup, presumably the "ANC" and "Transparency" mode will be missing so you would be stuck with the "Off" mode (so no smart features).
 
Last edited:

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
Yup, presumably the "ANC" and "Transparency" mode will be missing so you would be stuck with the "Off" mode (so no smart features).
This is simply not true. Noise cancelling certainly works, and I’m also able to turn it off or switch to Transparency. Not sure which it is, which is why I started this thread.
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
1,060
499
This is simply not true. Noise cancelling certainly works, and I’m also able to turn it off or switch to Transparency. Not sure which it is, which is why I started this thread.
Ah okay, so you can switch by pressing the stem but not via the software, right?
 

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
Ah okay, so you can switch by pressing the stem but not via the software, right?
Here’s what I can see on iOS 12.
830A0423-69E4-4D98-BB84-0124C81CA54F.jpeg
 

Atiumite

macrumors member
Sep 29, 2013
38
18
That’s what I see as well; I think what’s missing is true “transparency mode,” which I believe is different than just “off”... but I’m holding off on ios 13 for all the ongoing reasons thoroughly covered elsewhere. Upgraded because my gen 1 died, and am still pretty happy and impressed with the pros even without the pro features.
 

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
I have no plans to update and am just glad that the noise cancelling works. I’m just curious to know exactly what functionality I’m missing out on.
 

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
What’s strange is that my iPhone shows the two modes in the screenshot above on iOS 12, but I don’t have the “Listening Mode” options on my iPad Pro, which is on iOS 13 (but not 13.2).
 

Boardiesboi

macrumors 601
Sep 3, 2013
4,612
10,690
Sydney Australia
Transparency amplifies the ambient sound.
Off means you just have the AirPods in your ear with no software processing through the AirPods. It would sound as if you have ear plugs in your ears.
 

symphony

macrumors 68020
Aug 25, 2016
2,232
2,641
Is it anything more than marketing language for “noise canceling off”?
No. There is a legit button for ‘noise cancelling off’ its in the center of the selection menu.

Sound passes through the microphone with transparency mode. You can hear your own voice with it and it sounds kinda robotic.
[automerge]1572833118[/automerge]
Transparency mode is really great though, I used it on the train and it let through the noise and voices around me unlike if the features were just off.

The noise and voices definitely overpowered my music on 60% on train, but with noise cancelling on I can hear only the music, which is such a cool contrast, cuz I don’t have to turn up the volume.

Transparency mode sounds like you’re not wearing earphones. If you disable that and noise cancelling, then what you hear is plugged up muffled sounds.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

piblondin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2009
181
32
To close the loop here, I convinced my wife to update to 13.2 and was able to test out the different modes. So, if you’re not running the latest OS, you don’t have access to the fit tool and the only available listening modes are noise cancelling and transparency, which is to say that you don’t have the Off mode available, as far as I can tell.
 
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