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Pillutla Radha Krishna
Original Poster
Mar 30, 2023

ANC Issues after the recent March Feature Drop update for Pixel Buds Pro

Everything was fine until the march feature drop update arrived. After the update, the sound is fine. But I feel ANC is unreliable now. For instance, earlier it used to cancel noises like passing by cars or trucks and all I could hear was a whoosh sound which is normal and bearable most importantly because it doesn't interfere with your music in any way. But now, I could clearly hear the car passing by and the truck and their engine sound too, to some extent. In a heavy traffic area, it's worse, I feel like ANC is turned off, and to my surprise when I turn on Transparency mode, it allows way more sound than before. So the transparency mode is now better (because it allows better noise from outside), but ANC is taking up more noise from outside and not canceling it. I reset my buds entirely to make sure it's not a software issue, but unfortunately, even after resetting I am experiencing this issue. To restate, I was happy with the ANC performance earlier, as I use it daily to travel by bus and metro, but now commuting by bus is not so good and the metro is definitely not recommended, with way too much noise. I also tested it with another phone (Pixel 4 XL, but I have the same issue, my current phone is the Pixel 7 Pro).

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?? Mine is still under warranty, but I guess I will wait for some more days to see if there could be an update on this situation. 

Cheers,
Pixel Lover
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Device Performance,Android device,Google Pixel Buds Pro
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Last edited Mar 30, 2023
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codesplice
Product Expert Alumni
runtimeterror.dev/how2ask
Mar 30, 2023
Hi Pillutla Radha Krishna,

I'm not aware of any widespread complaints with ANC following the March update, and it still seems to be working as well as it always has for me.

Dirt and buildup on the Pixel Buds (particularly around the microphone openings) could have a negative impact on ANC performance, and cleaning the Buds might help with that. You can learn how to do that correctly here:

Have you factory reset your Pixel Buds lately? That can help to clear up all sorts of issues, and it's probably a good idea to do it at least once following each firmware update:

Let us know how it goes,
cs
Last edited Mar 30, 2023
Pillutla Radha Krishna
Original Poster
Apr 6, 2023
Hey, codesplice:
I do use transparency while cycling, it depends on the timing of cycling. I usually do it in the early morning like 3 AM, in that case, I needn't use transparency as the traffic is minimal, but anytime past 5 AM, I set to transparency for safety. But the high-traffic scenario I explained was while walking and I use ANC naturally to cut out all the noise. Yeah the ANC at work is perfectly fine for me too, although my work is not noisy, I am an academician. Yeah, I will send the feedback to the Pixel Buds Team after I have cleaned my buds. Thanks for the message and I shall keep you guys posted regarding this. 

Cheers,
PRK
Harry McIntyre
Apr 6, 2023
Noticed all of this after the update as well. Better sound quality and transparency, noticeably worse ANC with things like traffic noise and voices. Google have (by mistake or design) made the ANC performance noticeably worse with the March update. 

It is hardly surprising, nowadays. Bose, Apple, Sony; no-one seems happy or able to leave the performance of noise cancelling alone post-release. Every one of these companies (and now Google, too) have made updates for some of their products that have negatively impacted how well it functions in real-life scenarios. 
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