when pairing airpods with a mac, the sound quality is poor due to the fact it also uses them for microphone by default...
when I switch the audio input (microphone to internal), then quality of the airpods sound is excellent.
I don't want to do this step each time I pair airpods, is there a way to make the default microphone for mac is the internal one.
Ok, here is a script that would select Internal Microphone..
Copy Paste following in the Script Editor in Utility folder.
Run it, if you like it we can make it a keyboard short cut.
tell application "System Preferences" to activate
tell application "System Preferences"
reveal anchor "input" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
tell table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window 1
delay 10
select row 1
tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end tell
end tell
delay 1 (1 second) works fine -- 10 seconds delay is probably overkill.
If you're willing to spend $5, get ToothFairy.
Not only does it make it much easier to pair with your Mac, but it has a feature to do exactly what you're asking for under Settings » Advanced:
Check that box at the top and voilà!
UPDATE: ToothFairy is now also part of Setapp.
My working solution is:
Open the standard “Audio MIDI Setup.app” utility, and click the "+" at the bottom to create an Aggregate Device. Then select the Internal Microphone as the only component in this aggregate device and select it as the default input. For some reason this prevents Mac OS X from selecting the Bluetooth Microphone from now on and it will stay on the internal one when you reconnect.
After creating that aggregate input, go to your usual System Preferences -> Sound -> Input (tab)
Taken from: How to Force Bluetooth Headphones to Use Internal Microphone in macOS
You can use this program: http://milgra.com/airpods-sound-quality-fixer.html
It's open-source project: https://github.com/milgra/airpodssoundqualityfixer
And it allows you to automatically switch to a built-in MacBook microphone, then you don't have to do anything, after connecting your AirPods to your mac.
Anyway, it should be fixed by Apple, it's ridiculous, to automatically decrease audio quality to such a bad level. And it's not so obvious, to go to settings and change the source of the microphone. In the begging, I was struggling to just recognize why this sounds like a ... so bad
Nowadays you can also use this Tool for Macs with M1/2/3:
https://github.com/Gaulomatic/AirPodsSanity
It automatically switches to a defined input source.
If you have trouble running it check in Settings/Privacy and allow it to run.
I am using Mac High Sierra (10.13.6). Here is another suggestion suggested by a user at http://ssrubin.com/posts/fixing-macos-bluetooth-headphone-audio-quality-issues-with-hammerspoon.html#comment-4018174387:
"Hi, I found another way to "fix" this without using scripts or apps. Open the standard "Audio MIDI Setup.app" utility, and click the + at the bottom to create an Aggregate Device. Then select the Internal Microphone as the only component in this aggregate device and select it as the default input."
This is because you opened some app in the background that consistently uses your microphone while you are playing audio in other apps. Check what app or tab is using the input and shut it down. Then, the quality will be excellent even if the input is still your Airpods, which is the default setting.
