If the problem goes away, it's the AirPods. This would be easy to diagnose - test you MBP with other BT headsets. This is not an issue with your "bluetooth chip" as per the comments. Personally, I would have returned them and/or opened a support case with Apple as they are the best ones to solve this issue. Given that Apple "silently" released the last update, don't expect too much fanfare with the next one.
There may be a fix in a future update to macOS or the AirPod firmware, but only Apple knows when they will issue an update. My advice is to return the unit to Apple. Other than the workaround to use your internal mic, no. Voice sounds muddy or that they barely hear you at all. Understand the other person when video-chatting with apps likeįaceTime, Hangouts, and Skype. Particular, when the mic is used, the AirPods’ audio is very lowįidelity and sound quality. Many of our readers are letting us know that their AirPods areĮxperiencing a lot of challenges while using them with macOS. On the discussion post you referenced, there was 217 other people reporting that they too had this issue.Īlso from a May 6th Apple Tool Box article: The mic from the AirPods mic to the internal microphone. they are aware of the issues and a temporary workaround is to switch
I found this on the Apple Discussion boards: Input and Output devices can be selected in System Settings > Sound or by ⌥-clicking the Volume icon in the macOS Menu Bar, and selecting devices there. Current best practiceĬurrent best practice is to use the Internal Microphone for Recording, and the AirPods for playback when conducting calls. But for the time being, I'd say that the benefits of making calls and so forth with AirPods on Macs are quite limited. It's just very unfortunate that SCO – low-quality as it may be – upon AirPod microphone activation is not only limited to doing recording, but also displaces AAC and audio playback.Īpple Support claims that Apple is looking at this issue, and that improvements might be coming in future firmware updates, but I did not interpret that as a promise to be honest. The AAC codec is normally used when just listening to playback on the AirPods.
This is supposedly "expected behaviour" when trying to use the AirPods and other Bluetooth headsets together with a computer, according to Apple.
ExplanationĪpple claims that the poor Mono 8kHz quality which affects recording and indeed simultaneously playback on Mac when the AirPod microphones are activated, is because the SCO codec then gets employed over the entire Mac audio system.
OP here – I'd just like to add to the answer below, that I've been in contact with Apple Support. I had to attempt AirPod unpair/re-pair, and even a charging case reset to fix the latter situation. Output quality drops from the standard 2 ch 24-bit Integer 44.1 kHz → 1 ch 16-bit Integer 8.0 kHz.ġ It has happened that the Mac got permanently stuck in low quality until system reboot, or even whenever the AirPods were connected afterwards. I have tried resetting the Mac Bluetooth interface, tried resetting the AirPods, and so forth.įYI: Using the macOS native application Audio MIDI Setup, I attempted to observe what's happening when AirPod recording is activated. I don't have this problem when using the AirPods with an iPhone.
I have this issue with several Macs of various recent models. The thread offers possible explanations but no definitive solution or suggested course of action. The issue appears to be identical to the one discussed in this Apple Support Forum thread.
Any mic audio recorded to a file will however be in the poor quality which is why I interpret the issue to affect both recording and playback qualities. After the recording is done, audio playback quality usually goes back to normal 1. When activating the mic to record audio, it seems that both the recording quality AND audio playback quality severely drops to a substandard level (Mono 8.0 kHz).įor example, if I invoke Siri on the Mac, whatever is being said and recorded by me, AND the Siri/Mac/AirPod audio response will be in poor quality. Ever since I purchased the AirPods (1st Generation), they demonstrate extremely poor quality while activating the AirPod mic, whilst they are connected to a Mac.