I had this issue and I «solved» it by cleaning the tiny microphone at the bottom with a toothprush. It’s a small slit that can get stuffed with dust etc and it impacts how well it can do noise cancellations.

Yes, same thing happened to me. The hardware failed over time and now the noise-cancellation feature causes audio to be very scratchy, making them awful for listening to music. I think mine lasted a little over a year of occasional use.

I went to an Apple store to see if I could get them replaced since I knew there was a recall on one version. They refused since mine was the version that came out after the recalled version.

That soured me on AirPods. Luckily it was a work-issued pair, so they were free.

A little over a year is exactly how long my previous 3 pairs lasted. It's almost like Apple designs them to only outlast the warranty...

I’ve ended up with a few pairs and found them quite unreliable after the first year.

I have one pair where the left bud doesn’t connect until I put it back in and take it out of the case a few times.

One where one bud doesn’t charge properly.

And one with declining noise cancellation.

They are great when they work properly, but I do think quality is slightly lacking for a relatively expensive product.

In Vietnam, you can find people to do repairs like this super cheap and easy. Just had the back glass on my iPhone 13 promax replaced cause I dropped it and it cracked, $40. In the US, it is $200+.

I’d be very surprised if repairs on AirPods circuitry were possible or cost effective. Just swapping the battery requires basically soldering iron surgery and permanent damage/removal of all adhesive that keeps it together.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/AirPods+Pro+Battery+Replacement...

You'd be surprised what they can do in Vietnam. Airpods are assembled there. If you have a local connection, You can find people who have worked in the factories.

Beyond that, the whole culture is to repair things because there isn't an official Apple store. They can also import parts from China and elsewhere.

Here is pricing to get parts from Singapore... most expensive repair is $100...

https://cares.vn/en/dich-vu-airpods/

That was a known issue with the 1st-gen AirPods Pro (Apple had a 3 year replacement program for them) but I've heard fewer issues with the 2nd-gen.

One of my AirPods is weirdly quiet. I know it still has the potential to be loud, as I’ve gotten it to be at the same level of noise as the other, but it’s hardly consistent. I’ve tried cleaning it and it didn’t seem to help, but I may just try again. Definitely a shame, but I got them for free so I won’t complain too much though. (If they were fully repairable this wouldn’t be a problem though.)

Similar thing happened with my airpods too. To compensate for the obviously diminished volume I was cranking the volume up. And even with that podcasts were barely audible when in anything but absolute silence. To add insult to injury the os was constantly “warning” me that I was “damaging” my hearing by listening things too loud. Of course in reality no such thing was happening.

After that terrible experience i couldn’t justify the expense of buying an other apple airpod.

I had an AirPod pro (2nd gen) become weirdly quiet. Still under warranty, Apple replaced it. It's some weird device failure.

I spent a few days wondering if I had just lost hearing in that ear, but no.

I own a pair of AirPods and AirPod Pros; I bought the former in 2019, and was gifted the latter in 2020. The microphone on the AirPods died after about 18 months of use, but they otherwise still work perfectly (perhaps with slightly degraded, but still quite serviceable, battery life), and have survived a wide range of abuse (multiple trips through the washing machine, repeated drops onto pavement, in some cases from a bicycle moving at decent speed, etc).

The Pros, on the other hand, in spite of me generally being quite careful with them (in contrast to the basic AirPods) had their noise canceling crap out at about the 2 year mark, and currently are slightly louder in one ear than the other (but the microphone still works, so they remain in service).

So, overall, I think I’ve had a similar experience to you with the Pros, but have been quite impressed with the non-Pro model.

I had the same thing happen to my Pros, with one being much louder than the other and the noise cancelling barely working, and it turns out they just needed cleaning. A couple years of gunk and dust getting in the vents and speaker grill and one of them was noticeably worse than the other. After cleaning it turns out both were quite degraded and are now much better with fully functioning noise cancellation. Worth a try if they're otherwise good and you want to keep using them.

Embarrassing really when you consider the wider market. I have a 10 year old set of mdr v6. Still reference quality sound today albeit with a few ear foam replacements in the years since. I think they cost $70 at the time.

Some crazy stuff in these replies. I am coming up on 5 years and while I do get a slight crackle in one from wind sometimes running, they’re still going strong. Guess I finally ended up on the up side of a distribution

My AidPods Pro became unusable after ~2 years. NC had some overcorrection issue I guess, created this loud crackling sound when it tried to cancel out a noise.

There was a recall for symptoms like this: https://support.apple.com/airpods-pro-service-program-sound-...

I remember some theories around 2021-2022 that Apple had modified the ANC in AirPods Pro/Max via a firmware update. If I recall, the thought was this was in response to some patent infringement.

Anecdotally, I think I noticed a difference, but I also chalked it up to prematurely-degrading hardware...

I wore mine while riding a hardtail XC mountain bike (on safeish trail segments) and the transparency mode failed after 7 months. After that, the non-ANCed speaker and microphone worked fine. Weirdly durable for nonathletic purposed hardware.

Same AirPods, after a couple years the left one’s speaker sounds like it’s blown: any louder sounds played have a crackle and if I turn on the NC just brushing it with a finger makes it crackle like crazy.

Not relevant to parent's case but for anyone else who stumbles on this:

Use some blue tack to gently clean out the microphone grate(s) periodically. As it becomes obstructed noise cancellation suffers.

Yes, Airpods aren't very durable. I'm on my 4th pair of Airpod Pros. One pair I got replaced by Apple due to a known problem in the Pro 1st gen, the other two both failed right outside warranty.

The noise cancellation is the weak part. The microphone or related hardware breaks and then you get all kinds of plops and squeals unless you turn noise cancellation off. Somehow they tend to do that about 3 to 6 months after warranty...

Fwiw, the batteries will degrade in that period. I’m not saying that’s okay, but you should prepare for airpods to have a 3 year lifecycle regardless.

I have the Airpods Pro 2nd Gen, and after 2 years they are as good as useless. Both Noise control and Spatial sound are dead. There is a buzzing there. The battery is surprisingly good, though. They could still last 2/2.5 hours on a charge. But I don't think I'll be buying Apple pods again (even though when they functioned, they were actually pretty decent).

This, combined with how easier they are to lose, is why I didn't buy Airpods, but rather the $20 Chinese bluetooth earpods on Amazon.

I was surprised at the quality, and they've lasted a couple years already at almost daily use.

The nice part is, if I lose them, no big deal. I bought a 2nd pair as a backup.

Same. I bought mine in 2021 and now have to use it with noise cancellation off because otherwise there's a very persistent crackling noise. Meanwhile my Bose QCs are still operating like new after like 11-12 years of regular use.

No

Even new, they had nowhere near the noise cancellation of my old Bose QC20i.

AirPods are disappointing, but convenient. I guess that's why we buy them.

I’ve had some old Bose noise cancelling headphones for approaching 20 years which are still going well!