You can do this from Spotlight Search (⌘+ Space) and typing Sound or opening the System Preferences app and clicking on Sound.

The first step is opening up System Settings on your Mac.

Instead of using the AirPods microphone (which automatically becomes the input after connecting them to your Mac), you need to switch the input to your Mac’s built-in microphone. After scouring multiple forums, talking with Apple Support, changing my Mac’s Audio MIDI settings, putting my AirPods back in the case to see if they’d connect differently, and even resetting them, I’ve found a much easier fix.Īs previously mentioned, your AirPods get stuck in the 16kHz codec due to the microphone and sound settings of the Mac ecosystem. I’ve dealt with this issue quite a few times when switching my AirPods from my phone to my Mac.

The Fix As annoying as this is, there’s an easy fix. Bluetooth can’t support high-quality input and output streams at the same time, which leads to your AirPods producing poor quality sound when connected to your Mac. The reason your AirPods end up stuck in the SCO codec is due to Bluetooth’s bandwidth support. The codec, which provides the pristine audio you're used to, is known as AAC. This sometimes means your AirPods can get stuck producing poor quality audio. This codec is used to transmit audio via your AirPod’s microphone and is the default codec throughout the entire Mac ecosystem. What you’re hearing when this happens is the AirPod’s active 8–16kHz (SCO) codec.

Fix microphone on macbook air