What's up with AirPods losing significant volume, all the time?

[MXBY]

I've been having many frequently occurring problems with my AirPods losing significant volume, as described in this Ask Difference question. I'm now on what I think is my fourth pair of replacement AirPods (crazy but true!)

The problem is that the volume suddenly falls to become drastically lower, causing a very unpleasant difference between the left and right AirPod. This can be partially countered by panning the system audio to L or R, but the result is not perfect because something seems to be slightly off with the frequency range (I think tops may be weak and bass remains quite okay).

The latest replacement AirPod I've only had for about 4–5 days, and it has already lost approximately 20% of its volume (judged by how much I have to pan the MacOS L/R balance) in System Preferences > Sound.

The only thing I can think of that could have had an external effect on the AirPods is that I dropped the case when the AirPods was inside from a slight elevation, but still not far. So if the AirPods are extremely sensitive to fall impact, that could be the reason. But this link seems to suggest that they are robust: https://bgr.com/2016/12/20/airpods-drops-and-waterproof-tests/

I've been in contact with Apple so many times now about this issue, that it's starting to feel embarrassing. I'm therefore wondering if anyone else has this experience, and indeed what is really up with AirPods losing volume?

I should however mention to anyone having this problem, that so far Apple has agreed to replace all units and acknowledged their repair status, so it might be that this indeed is a known issue.

 

[menace3]

WOW. Never heard of this. However, I have noticed volume has dropped if other apps that talk are open. The Nike app does this when i start a run as it has voice to start me off. Will keep my eyes open.

 

[Ingster]

i've had this occur to me, but - and i'm not saying this is your fault or is relevant to you it's just what i've found.

Wax - i've a condition similar to eczema where i get a lot of itching in my ears resulting in me wiggling fingers on the outside of my ear canal which in turn leads to a build up of wax (eugh i'm sorry!). I clean my ears every other day but still find small amounts of wax in the groove between the mesh and the groove of plastic next to it, now i usually swab that/blow it out and it's fine but every once in a while I lose volume, what I seen is that small amounts of wax build up on the mesh and reduce sound output (try listening through the hole that's mid way along the bud - is it normal volume?) what I have to do is use a clean toothbrush to scrub the grille of the headphone and voila sound back to normal.

As I said might not be your fault but that's the most common fix for reduced sound in an airpod

 

[BigMcGuire]

Haven't had this problem with my AirPods but like the above poster mentioned, I have had this happen on other headphones and Ingster is spot on - it was wax that got into the speaker holes and plugged the volume. In one case, one set of headphones had a paper mesh on top of the speaker opening that solidified with wax and reduced volume output until I removed it. I didn't see it till I removed the fuzzy outer part (LG Bluetooth headphones).

AirPods are fairly visible in that department. I exercise with mine and haven't had this problem with them.

 

[ActionableMango]

No problems here, and I even sleep with the earpods overnight every night. So they are in my ears for very long periods of time daily.

However, I do keep my ears clean.