Adaptive Audio: A Smart Way to Talk to People without Removing Their Earbuds, Or How to Make Your iPods Silent
The biggest announcement at Apple last week was the change tousb-c in theiPhone 15 and the switch from Lightning to a port upgrade in theAirbats Pro. You can pre-order the new second-gen AirPods Pro withusb-C at Best Buy for $199.99, which is $50 off the official retail price.
Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging is helping to bridge the gap between the new and old models of the device, even if it will be a pleasure for many. One of the best multi-chargers you can get for home or travel, the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe, is selling for $119.96 ($30 off) at Amazon and Anker — one of its best prices to date.
The new AirPods software add convenience and control on calls with press of the button, and also significant improvements to the Automatic Switching experience, according to Apple.
Adaptive Audio is meant to be a set-it-and-forget-it mode that blends active noise cancellation and transparency, canceling loud distractions where needed while also helping you stay present in your environment. I would prefer it if this feature canceled my surroundings to the same degree as full noise cancellation, but it still reduces the outside sound enough that it doesn’t take away from my music. To my ears, it is an even smarter version of the adaptive transparency that Apple brought to last year’s AirPods Pro.
If you’re regularly wearing your AirPods Pro on busy city streets, you should give Adaptive Audio a try. This is something Apple will keep tweaking and honing as it collects feedback from customers about what sounds they do and don’t want their earbuds to let through.
It is possible to talk with people without removing earbuds, thanks to Conversation Awareness. Start speaking, and your music volume will instantly get dialed way down while transparency mode activates to help you clearly hear whatever’s being said back to you. Apple says the feature reduces overall background noise while enhancing the voices of anyone you’re talking with. I have been very impressed with Conversation Awareness so far. It’s smart enough to avoid being triggered by a cough or other non-speaking noises. But if you’re like me and have a habit of quietly singing along with your music, that’ll quickly become a problem if you keep this setting on.
Personalized Volume is the new trick that I’ve experimented with the least so far; I’m someone who just prefers manual control over how loud my audio is instead of letting software make random adjustments based on my past preferences. I will give it a try over the next few weeks to see if Apple can figure out what I want, or if I will have to use a manual override.
Automatic Switching has been so unpredictable for me that I normally stop the feature altogether on my devices. The update seems to improve things when you switch from one Apple product to another. Just keep in mind you’ll need to have installed iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma on their respective devices to experience the more reliable automatic switching. The concept has always been great, but nothing’s more frustrating than earbuds that have a mind of their own and switch to the wrong device at the worst possible time.