In December, Apple released a firmware update for its excellent AirPods Pro true wireless earphones. While this is not usually big news, it may be the cause of the deteriorating quality of noise cancellation now being experienced by both professional reviewers and the general public.

According to Rtings (via The Verge), the site that first reported the news, retesting the AirPods Pro after the 2C54 firmware update (Apple has since stopped updating to the AirPods, for no apparent reason), something was evident that something had changed. According to this repeated review, while bass performance and frequency consistency have improved, the update notes in the noise isolation section state that "isolation performance, primarily in the bass frequencies, has decreased quite significantly," and thus the AirPods' performance in general, such as airplane and bus travel, is situations, the AirPods perform poorly.

Complaints from Reddit users say much the same thing. However, there is disagreement as to when the problem began: some have noticed the ANC issue since the December update, while others believe it was caused by an earlier update, 2B588, in November.

Apple does not give users the option to ignore AirPods firmware updates. You can check the firmware and software version that your AirPods are using in the "About" tab of the "General" section of the "Settings" menu.The AirPods Pro's ANC is designed to be either on or off, so there is no There is no way to manually adjust it. So if you believe you have been affected by this update, there is sadly nothing we can do about it.

Hopefully Apple will release a new update soon that fixes this issue. If this news has dissuaded you from purchasing these earbuds, please see Best Wireless Earbuds for other products we like in this category, and Best Headphones if you want something in a different form factor.