AirPods Pro quieter on the right than on the left - or vice versa

AirPods Pro left / right quieter than on the other side

Over the past few days I've had an unfamiliar problem with the AirPods Pro: Whenever I listened to music or podcasts, the right earbud was quieter than the left. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but if you turn the balance control completely to the right and left, you can clearly see that one is quieter than the other.

Adjust the balance of the AirPods Pro

A quick excursion into the balance guide for the AirPods Pro:

  1. Settings
  2. Accessibility
  3. Audio / visual
  4. there the fourth point "balance"

Resetting the AirPods Pro unsuccessful

My first attempt at solving the problem was that Reset the AirPods Pro. After I did that and re-paired the AirPods Pro, it was clear: that wasn't it.

Furthermore, one AirPod Pro was louder than the other. So again on a research tour and this time it looked like I had found the solution: A membrane inside the AirPods Pro headphones could be dirty and thus be prevented from vibrating and generating the sound waves. That sounded understandable and would also explain why the AirPod is only quieter and not completely off.

So detached the ear insert from the AirPod and blown everything through with your mouth. Assemble and test AirPod: same problem as before.

The AirPods Pro come with silicone tips that you can choose to fit your ears. Obviously, these can be damaged and affect the sound (Photo: Apple).
The AirPods Pro come with silicone tips that you can choose to fit your ears. Obviously, these can be damaged and affect the sound (Photo: Apple).

Cause: Defective ear insert

After loosening the tip to clean it, it occurred to me that maybe it could be the tip itself. After all, with the AirPods Pro these are not just silicone plugs with a hole in the middle, but they have a cover in the hole, which could have been damaged during my previous cleaning under the tap.

To test that, I got two other ear tips from the AirPods Pro pack and put them on. The result: everything sounds normally loud again. Unfortunately, the other size (S) did not seal sufficiently, so I have to get new "medium" size ear tips.

A set of 2 with a total of four silicone ear tips costs nine euros bai Apple - including shipping.
A set of 2 with a total of four silicone ear tips costs nine euros at Apple - including shipping.

Get new ear tips directly from Apple

A brief review of the offers on Amazon and Apple shows that the bottom line is that buying from Apple is even cheaper and free of shipping costs. Both Ear tip sets on Amazon You can have all three sizes for about 12 euros, but I know that I only need the medium size and for that I pay 9 euros at Apple - and I save the environment nonsensical plastic waste.

I'd rather play it safe and get them Silicone plugs directly from Apple.

If you also have the effect that one of your AirPods Pro is quieter or louder than the other, then hopefully my instructions will help you. If you have any more AirPods Pro tips, I look forward to your comments.

Did you like the article and did the instructions on the blog help you? Then I would be happy if you the blog via a Steady Membership would support.

6 Responses to “AirPods Pro quieter on the right than on the left – or vice versa”

  1. It's interesting that the silicones can influence it that way.
    My right hand has a much more permeable noise cancellation, so I'll try tomorrow to see if that could be because of that.

    Thank you

    With kind regards,

    Sven

    1. Hi Sven! Do you have the "Fit test for ear tips" made? Maybe one of them doesn't close properly? About the water damage: It could also be that I dried them too “roughly”. I thought they were pure silicone tips like other headphones. You can knead them through a towel. But the inserts on the AirPods Pro still have hard plastic parts inside... maybe something broke or buckled. I couldn't see anything, but it must be something along those lines. I'm looking forward to your feedback!

  2. Hello Sven, it would never have occurred to me that the ear tips could affect the sound so much. The change of the inserts immediately corrected all inequalities in sound and volume on the right and left.
    Thank you!
    Olaf

    1. Yes, I was also amazed how that can happen, but it also helped for me. So the eartips seem to be kind of more than just rubber plugs that hold the earbuds in place. 😂

  3. Hi all,

    In the meantime, I've tried all the combinations for myself.
    Large inserts with and without silicone on the left and right.
    Middle inserts with and without silicone on the left and right.
    I even swapped the small silicones for the big ones.
    I am now back to medium size without silicone, because everything else seals better, which, however, causes an uncomfortable sucking feeling in my ear.
    You could say they are too tight. 😂
    In any case, that's the best compromise for me.
    That with activated noise suppression, noises like traffic on the right side are allowed to pass significantly more than on the left side, however, still bothers me.
    But that's just motivation enough to avoid routes where there are a lot of cars. Also has something for itself.

    With kind regards,

    Sven

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