Using Reaper with AirPods Pro forces 16kHz sample rate

[mustgroove]

AirPods Pro support only 2 sample rates - 48kHz and 16kHz. When using them with a Mac you can switch between these sample rates in Audio MIDI Setup, but in some DAWs (at least in Ableton Live) you're forced to use 48kHz, which is fine, and I've been using them without problems in other DAWs and with other apps on my machine in general.

When using them with Reaper however, they seem to get forced into 16kHz for some reason, regardless of whatever the sample rate is set to in Reaper. Any reason why this would be the case, or any possible workarounds?

[bear0328]

Yes. I have the same issue.

[Kristey]

Hi, I tried work with mu AirPods Pro too. But the sound was so bad....

Any why too this issue?

Thank you so much!

[sonictim]

You’re wondering why when you take a full audio signal and compress it and then degrade it to send over a wireless protocol to a pair of minuscule speakers, your audio sounds bad?

I hope you are only using this method to check your mixes for compatibility/translation issues

[Kristey]

Originally Posted by sonictim

You’re wondering why when you take a full audio signal and compress it and then degrade it to send over a wireless protocol to a pair of minuscule speakers, your audio sounds bad?

I hope you are only using this method to check your mixes for compatibility/translation issues

Hi sonictim, how are you?

I understand what do you men but... I use my AirPods with Ableton for example without any problem.
I refer reaper to edit audio but the quality on my AirPods is very bad.

I'm sure that by talking we can discover the problem and improve the sound quality.

[mustgroove]

The issue isn't just related to Reaper, but there is a workaround.

MacOS sees the Airpods as 2 separate devices with the same name - an input device which supports only 16khz, and an output device which supports 16khz and 48khz.

Create an aggregate device in Audio Midi Settings which contains only the output device, and use this as your Audio Device in Reaper. Now you can get 48khz playback in Reaper

[Kristey]

With this tutorial I can improve a little bit the audio quality.
https://www.osirisguitar.com/get-blu...operly-reaper/

[mustgroove]

Originally Posted by Kristey

With this tutorial I can improve a little bit the audio quality.
https://www.osirisguitar.com/get-blu...operly-reaper/

Basically the same as I posted above - use an aggregate device which doesn't include the Airpods' microphone.

[tenstairs]

Thanks so much for the tip, @mustgroove! This worked wonders. Sounds fantastic now at 48kHz 32-bit.

The reason it switches to 24kHz 16-bit is due to having to conform to the bluetooth protocol for two-way streaming, i.e. speakers + mic.

[gsbe]

My aggregate device is only showing 1 output channel and the panning doesn't work in Reaper as expected (Left side is active, right side mutes).

Any ideas on how to deal with that?

[ferropop]

Following, just grabbed the Beats Fit Pro.

[bregana]

Same thing happening on my Sennheiser Momentum (these ones https://productz.com/en/sennheiser-m...less-2/p/2g911). Hopefully, someone will find a fix.

[iiimonfire]

I'm having the same issue, only that my major pain point is that this forces mono.

[Catesby]

Before selecting "AirPods" or "System audio" in REAPER, create an aggregate device of just the 2ch output version of the AirPods. I found if I first connected to REAPER it forces one AirPod to be an input and one AirPod to be an output for reasons unknown to me and I had to disconnect them from my Mac, reconnect them, create the aggregate device, and then select the aggregate in reaper. otherwise they force mono for both reaper and the rest of my system audio. no idea why.

[ferropop]

Yup, aggregate device with just the earbuds as output works here! Been doing this for a few months.

[Justin]

You can also set REAPER to use separate input/output devices, then enable the airpods for output only and set the input to "disabled", that should allow full quality.

[hanswurst123]

Originally Posted by Justin

You can also set REAPER to use separate input/output devices, then enable the airpods for output only and set the input to "disabled", that should allow full quality.

It works! Thank you so much for posting the solution