My AirPods Pro made me wonder if I was going nuts over the holiday break. For a couple months, I loved the way they delivered me from the cacophony of San Francisco’s rush-hour trains and buses. Then suddenly they were no longer doing the trick. Hearing the roar of the train itself was bad enough (compared to what I’d gotten used to), but now the chatter of skateboarders and those annoying wearable speakers were more easily muscling their way into my eardrums as well.
I briefly considered trying Federico Viticci’s memory foam mod for better sound isolation. I took to cranking up the volume on my music all the way—as I used to do with the regular AirPods—even though the noise cancellation alone used to grant me peace. I wondered if I just been over-enchanted by a new Apple product in those first few weeks.
