Some of the Apple AirPod Pro’s in-ears appear to be faulty; the manufacturer exchanges them for free if you have an affected set.
Apple has launched a service program for the AirPod Pros. A small percentage of in-ears, according to the manufacturer, have hardware problems. This is reflected in crackling noises from a lot of ambient noise, for example. Active Noise Canceling (ANC) can also be too active, so it seems. Well: they are active in both cases. And the one does not seem to rule out the other. In the first case, it looks like an override somewhere in the ANC circuit.
Free exchange for new
Either way, as a customer you can apparently do nothing about it. A firmware update does not offer a solution here. If you have AirPod Pro’s that are annoying, you can exchange them at Apple for a new and decent working set without any hassle. It is possible that the caps were manufactured in the period before October this year. So in fact all copies made during the introduction in October 2019.
Fear not: if you have Apple AirPod Pro’s, that does not automatically mean that there is something wrong with them! But once a good and critical listening can’t hurt. Pay special attention to the behavior of ANC, because that seems to be the cause of the problem.