I have been an AirPods Pro owner since they came out. I also bought the AirPods Max when they came out, and have just received my AirPods Pro 2, as soon as they were available.
Like others, I noticed a reduction in my AirPods Pro active noise cancelling over the past month or two. I even went so far as to clean them under my stereo microscope – before seeing other people also complain about the same issue, with the suggestion being that it was a firmware update that changed them.
Seeing people complain about the AirPods Max as well, I have just checked mine, and although I probably now have a bias, it does seem to me that my AirPods Max ANC is not as good as it was (it is absolutely not as good as my new AirPods Pro 2).
This is extremely annoying. I am an avid Apple supporter, and have bought almost every cool device they have made for decades. However that they may be reducing the capability of products that I have paid for when introducing new ones is abhorrent. I know they did this with iPhone batteries a few years ago (reducing performance to save battery life) but they were admonished for it, and when forced to, they then gave us a choice of better performance, or protected battery life.
This is different because the headline feature that makes the earphones and headphones ‘Pro’ and ‘Max’ is the noise cancellation. To take that away, even if only by some fraction of its original ability is an outstandingly dickish move. C’mon Apple…
So my question is this. Is there a way to very carefully measure the ability of the ANC function on the new AirPods Pro 2 now – while they are still new and have their ANC turned up to the max, and then if they lose that ability after a future firmware upgrade, test again. If we can put some actual numbers on it, I expect there could be a proper legal complaint against Apple, and at least force them to return lost functionality to older ones? I remember when the first Pros were released, it wasn’t long before they had a change in ANC through a firmware upgrade, so this is something we probably need to test sooner rather than later.