Apple quietly improves call quality on AirPods 3/AirPods Pro

The latest report claims that when Apple launched the AirPods 3 last year, it also optimized the sound quality of calls specifically for the AirPods Pro. A sentence hidden in the AirPods 3 announcement indicates that the new Bluetooth earphones support AAC-ELD, an “excellent voice codec that provides full HD voice quality.” According to one developer, the codec update is also available for AirPods Pro.

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The full name of AAC-ELD is Advanced Audio Codec-Enhanced Low Delay, which is translated into Chinese as Advanced Audio Coding-Enhanced Low Delay. It is a variant of the AAC standard used on most streaming media services. It also includes better audio quality to reduce latency in calls, developer Marco Pfeiffer wrote in a Medium post.

While Apple said the AirPods 3 received the AAC-ELD codec, Pfeiffer was able to confirm that the company added a new Bluetooth profile to the AirPods Pro as well. The result should be improved audio quality when the user answers the phone. This is because the AirPods automatically switch to the two-way profile when answering a call, which often results in a drop in audio quality.

It’s possible that the AAC-ELD codec was added to older models of AirPods, but Pfeiffer can only confirm that the profile is supported on the AirPods Pro. Pfeiffer noted that the new profile is an improvement, but not perfect. The inherent limitations of Bluetooth data rates still pose problems when using two-way audio profiles.

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