New 3rd Gen AirPods Are Here With Adaptive EQ Technology
October 18, 2021Apple’s new 3rd gen Air Pods have just been launched, featuring an improved design and better battery life. They make use of the H1 chip and an in-house built acoustic system to deliver better sound with adaptive EQ. Compared to the 2nd gen device, they have a shorter stem but utilize the same force sensor of the AirPods Pro for media control.
The new AirPods feature a custom driver and high dynamic range amplifier to produce powerful bass and clear high frequencies. The microphones are covered in a type of mesh that reduces wind noise to improve call quality. The AirPods also have AAC-ELD, a speech codec that offers HD voice quality for more natural communication via FaceTime.
These earphones incorporate the same computational audio that’s available with the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max which include adaptive EQ and spatial audio with head tracking. What’s special about adaptive EQ is that it tunes the sound coming from the speakers to best suit the fitment on a user’s ears.
The inward-facing microphone monitors for sound, then the adaptive EQ tunes the lows and mid frequencies to compensate for sound that may have been lost due to fitment issues. If it works as intended, this could be the groundbreaking technology that could push the appeal of earphones closer to that of actual over-the-ear headphones.
Spatial audio built into the AirPods are supposed to help deliver a 3D theater-like experience. This will allow movies to seem more real, better music listening experience and improved FaceTime calls. The tech works by using spatial audio algorithms and directional audio filters that adjust frequencies of what each ear receives. In theory, users will feel the sound coming from all around them.
AirPods also feature a new skin-detect sensor that can tell when the earphones are in your ears and when they’re left in your pocket or on a table. Playback is paused once it detects that they are no longer in your ears. Beamforming mics built into each earphone clocks ambient noise to ensure the wearer’s voice is given priority during a call.
Apple says that these 3rd gen AirPods offer 6 hours of music playback on a single charge and 30 hours when coupled with the carrying case. When left to charge for just 5 minutes, you can expect to receive about an hour of battery life.
AirPods (3rd generation) will be available for RM829/$179(US) starting Tuesday, October 26th 2021. The second gen AirPods is now available at RM589/$129(US).
