Google's Pixel Buds A-Series first arrived about a year ago, and the earbuds have held up pretty well, thanks to features like IPX4-rated water/sweat resistance and "Hey Google" hotword detection. A December update for the earbuds introduced a host of new additions, including a loudness compensation toggle and a bass slider. Unfortunately, that slider's been a bit messed up for a while now, but Google is finally getting around to remedying the problem with the help of a new firmware update — we think?
A convenient slider to control bass levels seems like a good idea, but the feature's been partially broken since the update. While it displays the bass level accurately, it doesn't remember settings when you reconnect to your earbuds later on. The only workaround is to manually adjust the slider around each time, and choosing your preferred bass level.
Complaints have been piling up in the months since, but recently a Google partner shared word on the Pixel Buds support page about this new update (via 9to5Google), pointing users to another support document for more details on the fix — a page that has since been taken down.
That leaves us in a bit of a stalemate — Google claims to have developed a fix, but has mysteriously backtracked from that position. If that might mean that the fix didn't work for everyone, didn't fully resolve the issue, or introduced some other new problem, we can't say. We've reached out to the company in the hopes of clarifying the situation, and will update this post with any statement we receive.
While it may seem like a minuscule issue, this is one annoyance that probably should have been fixed months ago. We're still hopeful to see it resolved soon, but with this quick tease and immediate reversal, Pixel Buds A-Series users are likely to be more irritated than ever right now.