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I have been able to trigger it when fumbling around with adjusting the fit. If I run my finger over the top of the body I can get a brief squeal out of them. Happened just a few seconds ago. I also have noticed on multiple occasions that if I take them both out of my ears and cup them in the same hand, they squeal audibly enough to hear faintly from a couple feet away. The skin contact sensor is very sensitive.

However, unlike a lot of other commenters in this thread, I feel like the APP3 are a huge leap forward from the APP2 and have had zero regrets with the upgrade (other than the forced iOS 26 upgrade, but I feel like that's inevitable anyway.) They stay in much better, the fit is more comfortable, the battery life is better, the ANC probably drops background noise another 10db subjectively, and most of all, the sound quality is absolutely stellar. I have owned several midrange headphones and a portable DAC and I find myself preferring the AirPods over them. I haven't worn my Sennheisers since I got the APP3.

Just curious, which Sennheisers did you give up on in favor of APP3?

I have over-the-ear Momentum 3 and love it, but if APP3 provides better sound quality and better ANC I might consider switching as Momentum 3, while I love it, is bulky, heavy, and started to wear off and break down.

Drop x Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee through a Qudelix 5K. Both are great pieces of kit, the Qudelix especially. The onboard parametric EQ combined with AutoEQ is fantastic. However, after running a hearing test and enabling Hearing Assist, the EQ on the Airpods is incredible and everything sounds very natural. I have no idea how they managed to get this much soundstage and bass out of these things. I also have a pair of Grado SR 80, and have a soft spot for Koss KSC 75.

FWIW I got mine at Costco and their return policy is top notch, and I believe they include AppleCare+ with the purchase. I had bought my APP2 fairly recently before the APP3 were released, experienced buyers remorse, but had kept them in like new condition with the box and accessories, and had no problem exchanging them.

I have an HD450 BT pair and they’re my first ones that have ANC— I’ve found it a game changer for long flights. The only bummer is that wearing cans interferes with a neck brace like trtl; on that basis alone I’d be interested in trying ones that were in-ear style.

What parts are breaking down on yours? The earpads are of course replaceable, and if you had the awful loose yoke problem I’m guessing you wouldn’t be so calm.

Cushions (yeah replacable but not super cheap), the cable that connects one earpiece to other, the bit connecting the earpieces, the hinges around the earpieces.

Literally everything. The sound is still great and battery is awesome. But I doubt it will last long.

(Just to be clear: I've used it A LOT over the years, and is already worth every penny I spent on it)

Huh. For what it’s worth, the Chinese lambskin (not generic “leather”!) pads that you can get for ~$15 from Aliexpress, Geekria, etc. work as well as the official ones in my experience. (For other headphones, you can’t always get generic replacement pads made of the same materials.) The only difference I’ve been able to discern is the L/R labels are printed using a different technique.

Let me have a look. Do you think the material is of good quality and healthy (no weird questionable materials for wearing/skin contact for long time with sweat etc)?

I’ve spent a few weeks with mine and, as best as I can tell, they’re indistinguishable from the original ones, except the dye of the L/R markings is on top of the cloth rather than inside it. These ones (black lambskin, currently 14 USD): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005961714330.html.

> (other than the forced iOS 26 upgrade, but I feel like that's inevitable anyway.)

I'm using my Airpods Pro 3 with iOS 26 yes, but I stayed on macOS 15 (THANK GOD!) and I saw nothing unusual about using the new Airpods there except for the missing artwork.

On macOS there were some issues but I can't say exactly because I returned my AirPods Pro 3.

Other than the missing artwork and label, with AirPods Pro 3 on iOS 18 you also can't see the battery level, you can't take a Hearing Test, and more. After iOS 18.7.1 was released and didn't address any of these issues I reached out to Apple who said they wouldn't be adding any further support to iOS 18. So I returned my AirPods Pro 3, an easy decision. Just not worth the hassle for me.

What about iOS 26 kept you away? I was hesitant when I got APP3, but was pleasantly surprised by how many longstanding issues with responsiveness and functionality it fixed for me (iPhone 15 Pro Max user).

I assume it's because of Liquid Glass. It's absolutely undercooked as a design system, but Apple knows which way its bread is buttered. So Liquid Glass on iOS is where it's the least bad, and I switched there knowing that. It was exactly as I thought: a regression in most places, but still manageable because Apple is laser-focused on the iPhone.

I didn't upgrade my Mac and at this point I'm wondering if I'll ever be tempted to update until I see what they do with macOS 27.

I guess you could ask "what about iOS 26 would make me want to upgrade?" My answer: nothing. Definitely not to get a slower and bugger UI, nor to get full support for headphones I could simply return for a full refund. I'm using iPhone 16 Pro.

Yep, I have the same exact story with the 2. Most times I move my right to fit in my ear it squeals.

The horrible thumping is purely a fit issue. The solution to the thumping when running is to either size down the tips or to slightly dislodge the tips from your ear.

It’s not ideal, I’ll grant you that.

While we may have some overlap in issues, I would say that the Airpods Pro 3 are incredible. I’ve ditched my Airpods Max entirely. The noise cancellation works too well, the sleep detection is a godsend, and the battery life is so good. I use my airpods to sleep. before, i’d always wake up to dead airpods. now, they have like 70% batteries when i wake up, because the sleep detection kicks in.

Seems odd to call it a fit issue when the solution is to make the fit worse by dislodging them from your ear. If it's a fit issue then improving the fit should make it go away!

I’ve tried with every set of tips except for the xs, same thumping with all of them. Zero issues running almost daily with the second gens for several years. I think it’s more than fit—either oversensitive ANC or something with the composition of the tips themselves. Oddly enough, it’s not present in both ears every time. Sometimes both, sometimes just one, rarely neither. I’ve stopped gathering data because I switched to a different set of headphones.

I’ll grant you that the ANC in the third gen is fantastic. I just felt like the second gen fit themselves into my routine, whereas I have to fiddle and futz with the third gen to get them just-so so that they don’t inhibit my routine.

Personal preference ofc but I'll never understand how people run with in-ear buds...

What you mean? How people are manage to run with noise cancelation? Or how it works that they don’t loose them?

I run with my AirPods Pro 2 and have no issues. I have some other in-ear buds where fit is also no issue but thumping sounds while running make them unusable.

Years ago I was a convert to open ear bone conduction by Shokz (then Aftershokz) but the band was a little annoying and now I use the Huawei Freeclips which I am very happy with. Bose also have an open ear product.

My priority with exercise is peripheral awareness so I would never compromise that with in-ears anymore

I understand. I think it very much depends on the environment. I usually run in parks not on the street. I also trust my eyes more than my ears when doing runs on more trafficked routes. The Apple AirPods have a great transparent mode. I tried bone conducting headphone and it wasn’t for me. I know that the new models are kind of hybrids now. But I also love the fact that I can listen to myself. I had tons of headphones over the years. And I think for me the AirPods Pro 2 are just the most versatile.

Weird POV considering your ears do 360 degrees which your eyes will never be able to do.

Well in a big city sounds can be deceiving. Also depends how trained your hearing is. I guess I would have a hard time in case I end up going blind. In any case, what I meant is, that I use my eyes, and by that also turn my head, to look over my shoulder to check for cars etc. In most cases it’s best to have eye contact with a car driver who currently takes a turn to make sure their actually seeing you.

I am blind. So no eye contact with drivers. And I am still alive, despite usually going alone as pedestrian. However, I guess I benefit a lot from the austrian "Vertrauensgrundsatz", which basically translates as "principle of trust". When acquiring a drivers license, you are drilled to take extra care of disabled or obviously incapacitated pedestrians. That basically means, if you hit a blind person, or even an obviously drunk person, you are at fault, no matter what.

I mean people have different degrees of hearing.

It’s hard to argue with you about that. I think you’re right about the tip composition being the issue. Also, there’s definitely an alien feel to APP3.

> incorrectly identifying vibrations from heel strikes as loud noise

You should be thankful you get a free reminder to stop heel striking

/uj figured a little running BS hear could be fun

YOU WERE A HEEL STRIKER TOO BEFORE I FOUND YOU! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNZ_6rQvaq0

Ha, I figured someone would give me shit for that. I blame my comically oversized feet and comically undersized hamstrings.

Heel striking is fine, most pros do it, I do too. It is great joke fodder, though!

I find it interesting you describe the issue like that. I had my airpod pro 1st gens go out on me in a way that was very similar to that, with the popping noises as you walk and move around. I figured out that when I put them in “normal mode” i.e., totally disabling the noise cancellation microphone, it mostly went away. I just figured something had happened to/with the external microphones and/or the noise cancellation processing was not happening correctly. It was basically impossible to test this theory I had, but I wondered if it was an update that introduced a bug.

I can’t recall now at this point, but I do recall the feeling that the different ways I played with and tested to understand the cause and symptoms of the noise, left me with a feeling that it was not a physical/hardware issue.

I suspect Apple even knows, with as many problems they’ve had with the AirPod pros; but that’s another story… when they had to replace mine one bud at a time, about 6 complete sets, i.e., over about 10 replacements or so… during the pandemic nonsense.

The consistency of the complaints across different units really suggests it's not a manufacturing defect, but something fundamental

>I have this happen outside of flights. Cupping your finger over the ANC mic is enough to trigger it.

It's some kind of feedback. For some reason though I don't remember the first model having the issue.

You’re holding them wrong.

You’re poking your ear wrong.

I've been able to get this same issue when I am laying in bed and lay on my side where my APP rub against the pillow. I've been able to reliably make the screeching sound by putting one airpod in my hand and tumbling it around or opening and closing my hands.

I still love my APP3, and still have my APP2, but have not made a change back to them. I think they feel so much better in my hear with the new tips, and sound way better.

I have the high pitched noise with the 2nd gen pros when I sleep on my side. It's not just an issue with the 3's.