Earbud sound quality played via Macbook Pro

[snerkler]

I've just bought some Airpods Pro 2nd Gen USB-C earpods and when I connected them to my M1 MBP running Ventura I wasn't that impressed with the sound, they sounded a little bit muddy. I was going to return them but then I played music via my iPhone 15 pro and the earpods sounded much better. I went back and forth listening between my MBP and iPhone and there is a marked difference. I checked the EQ's and both are turned off, ie a flat profile.

I read that the USB-C version of the Gen 2 Airpod Pros have had a software update via iOS 17, or iOS 17 has something in the software that makes the Airpods sound better, is there something similar for the Mac to imrpove the sound, or is there something coming in the future?

 

[MrGunny94]

Check your settings with the Pods connected to the Mac and try to see which codec are you using, could be some sort of wrong configuration. Mine sound great between the Mac and the iPhone, but haven't tried to compare since iOS 17

 

[lemonkid]

You could indeed check your settings, and as far as I understand you are right that these things may sound better with an iPhone. But all in all Apple does not seem to make good sounding earphones. Read about the shortcoming:

Apple Music lossless: which devices will (and won't) play lossless and Spatial Audio

 

[snerkler]

Check your settings with the Pods connected to the Mac and try to see which codec are you using, could be some sort of wrong configuration. Mine sound great between the Mac and the iPhone, but haven't tried to compare since iOS 17

Thanks, I’m not sure how to do that so will look into it.

You could indeed check your settings, and as far as I understand you are right that these things may sound better with an iPhone. But all in all Apple does not seem to make good sounding earphones. Read about the shortcoming:

Apple Music lossless: which devices will (and won't) play lossless and Spatial Audio

I’ve been round the houses with earbuds, and I’ve always stayed away from Apple in the past as they’ve been nothing short of appalling. However, I read that the Gen 2 airpod pros were very good, and the USB-C version better still. They are way better than my Sony WF-1000XM3, and for me they even have the edge over the Bose Quiet Comfort 2 and so I’m returning the Bose. The Bose did sound a tad better for some music, but for the vast majority of my Music the Airpod Pro 2’s sounded better, much fuller. YMMV.

 

[snerkler]

OK, so I've not found how to check the codec however looking at the Sonoma update it does say that it has improvements for the airpods, it's just a question of whether I want to risk Somoma with all of my Logic Pro Plug ins

 

[iMacDragon]

Make sure the microphone isn't activated as input, that forces crap quality.

 

[snerkler]

Make sure the microphone isn't activated as input, that forces crap quality.

Thanks, how do I check for that please?

 

[iMacDragon]

setting/sound/input, stick it to macbook microphone if set to airpods

 

[snerkler]

setting/sound/input, stick it to macbook microphone if set to airpods

Sorry for sounding a complete numpty but which settings? If I go to system settings on my Mac there is no option for sound in the left hand menus.

If I go to the Audio MIDI setup it does look from here that the microphone is being used on the airpods, however all options are greyed out when I right click the items from the list.

 

[iMacDragon]

The regular system settings app

 

[snerkler]

The regular system settings app View attachment 2359112

Thanks very much, I checked it twice and didn't see it, I must be going mad 🤣 It's set to the MBP Mic.

Based on my post earlier I am tempted to try Sonoma, although I might hang on to see if they roll out a similar update for Ventura.

 

[iMacDragon]

Fair, worth a check as it's done that to me before and set it as the input automatically.