Got new AirPods from my dad for Christmas

First the version you posted is actually the firmware version, not the AirPods version. The AirPods 4 that I'm using right now are on 8B21 which is the latest for this model, the AirPods Pro 3 that I take outside with me are on 8B25 so I may have to force an update as 8B30 is already available, and since according to what I'm reading there was no 8B28 for AirPods Pro 3, which are jumping from 8B25 straight to 8B30, I suspect that the model that you have is AirPods Pro 2, whose latest version is 8B28 according to Apple. In any case there's little functional difference between AirPods Pro 2 and 3, other than the ability to measure your heartbeat rate by the latter, since they are both powered by the H2 chip.

Now for your questions:

• The stems should be pointing down;
• The flat part on both stems of the pro models is a touch sensor that you can use to adjust playback volume by gently sliding your finger up and down on either of them;
• The flat surface on both stems also contains a pressure sensor on all modern AirPods models, which is used to control calls and media playback, with a single press controlling play / pause / answer calls / switch between multiple callers / mute microphone, double-tap controlling fast forward / hang up call, triple-tap controlling rewind, and long-press activating Siri / looping over transparency, adaptive audio, active noise cancellation, and passive noise cancellation modes, all depending on context and configuration;
• Ear tips should be the largest set that fits in your ear canals without getting too constricted from squeezing (on AirPods Pro 3 this is much easier to find out since the tips har harder);
• Adaptive audio intelligently applies noise cancellation to mask unwanted sounds, selectively lets the human voice pass through, and lowers audio playback volume when you speak;
• AirPods Pro models can act as hearing aids but I've never tried that since my hearing is still above normal range at 43;
• You can take a hearing test with AirPods Pro 2 and 3, and the resulting audiogram is clinically valid in some jurisdictions;
• The ear tips on AirPods 3 are positioned at a slight angle to better fit your ears instead of being straight like on previous pro models;

AirPods Pro 2 and 3 perform a lot of audio probing inside your ears in order to adjust themselves to provide what Apple considers the best personalized experience, and this probing may actually end up making the experience worse if your ears are clogged according to what I've been reading online. When you put them in their case and close the lid, if your hearing is good enough, you should also hear 3 faint high pitched tones played twice after a couple of seconds, which are the AirPods probing themselves in order to gage whether they might be clogged with any kind of debris that could affect listening experience.

I'm not sure you can control the heartbeat monitoring feature on AirPods Pro 3, it's likely only used during workouts, unless you have an Apple Watch, in which case I think that the functionality isn't even used because the watch does it better. I believe that the monitoring uses infra-red lighting to watch for small changes in light reflection inside your ears and gage how blood is pumping through your body. Apple watch does this on your wrist in addition to also measuring your blood oxygen and even looking for signs of high blood pressure, and the Ultra models can also perform a limited electrocardiogram.

The probing inside the case is high pitched and relatively faint, but is perfectly possible for anyone without hearing loss to hear in a silent room even from a moderate distance, as I usually hear the tones quite well from over a meter away from the case. The tones play some frequencies in arpeggio increasing in pitch for a short duration, followed by a short pause, and then repeat it a second time, which I attribute to the pair of AirPods taking turns testing themselves. When you wear them, they use whatever audio is already playing in your ears to do the probing so the only thing you might notice in those conditions is the firmware adjusting equalizer settings to the geometry of your ear canals. Someone on reddit posted a video with the aforementioned tones with amusing paranoid comments from other people in reply, and from what I read around, this also happens on AirPods Pro 2, though very few people actually notice. Originally I mentioned 3 tomes, because that's what I remembered, but after listening to the video I realized that it's actually 5 tones, so my memory was failing.

You can find out what model of AirPods you have by looking up the model reference in Bluetooth Settings -> AirPods Pro or whatever you named your AirPods on iOS or macOS. Mine are A3063, but Apple also documents other two variants A3064 and A3065 for AirPods Pro 3, and I have absolutely no idea how they differ. It is possible that they might be region-specific, or that new revisions were released since launch as mine are a launch day acquisition.

I’ve heard these tones for years, but never knew what they were, or if they even were, to be honest, I thought I’d hallucinated them. Thanks again, Goes to show there’s always someone who knows better than you. One oughta be mindful of the fact that one learns new things every day.

I have the airPods 4 with noise cancellation. Of the features described above, which are also features of the airPod 4 models? In particular, I'm confused about how to turn noise cancellation on and off, and how to tell which setting is currently active. What do the different sounds mean?

The AirPods 4 that I've been using at the computer since returning my AirPods Max for repair / replacement last week are the baseline variant, without active noise cancellation, among other missing features like the case speaker and MagSafe or even just standard wireless charging, so I cannot really tell which features are exclusive to AirPods Pro 3 that are not available on AirPods 4 ANC. I do believe that the touch sensors that make it possible to control playback volume from the flat side of the stems is missing on AirPods 4 ANC, and the heart rate monitor is also likely missing as well, but have no idea about any other features. I could obviously check Apple's documentation, but everyone can do that so I wouldn't be adding any useful information here if I just based my comment on that content.

As for the sounds, AirPods produce plenty of them, so without being more specific I don't think that I can offer much help. Both the cases and the AirPods produce a plethora of different audio icons in specific situations like charging, rebooting, resetting, and pairing from the case, as well as pairing, changing volume, registering a squeeze or touch gesture, changing audio modes, and reporting low battery from the earbuds themselves.

Is it better than AirPods Pro 3? Obviously the noise cancellation will be far worse, but good transparency is very valuable.

The ones I have are the Airpods 4 ANC, not the airpods 4 pro. I really like them so far, especially the seamless nature on the mac. They work on the mac way better than other bluetooth earbuds. I did turn off the switching, because I don't need them switching to my mac mini, they're primarily for my macbook. Is it even possible to use airpods on an android? I'm just curious, because I have an android device, which I use as my main portable media player, (poweramp is better than any music player I've found on iOS, and absolute volume can be disabled on android, but that's not relevant), but anyway, I'm just curious. Oh, and one thing to know, if you have multiple iOS devices, macs, iPhones, etc. and you don't want the airpods to switch to one or multiple of them, it can be turned off by disabling connect to this device automatically, but you have to go in and do it on each device. And I also find it quite cool that you can make it do ANC with only one earbud in. I can't figure out how to turn the volume up and down though. And the stem should go facing down.
Hope at least some of this helps, lol.

John Dyer, from Blind Android Users podcast, sometimes talks about using his AirPods with his Samsung device. 🤷🏻‍♂️

https://support.apple.com/guide/airpods/pair-airpods-with-a-non-apple-device-dev499c9718b/web

I got some as well. Pro 3s for me. I also have some questions even though I'm a long time APP user. Maybe it's placebo , but my APP 3 sound noticeably better than my App 2, even just reading with Eloquence. I know Apple redesigned the APP 3, but to me the biggest difference in the buds themselves, not the tips, is that the connection point for the tips are on a slight angle. I wouldn't think that would make as much difference in the sound that I'm hearing.

Does anyone know what each of the openings in the AirPods do? I don't think they're all mics for the ANC/transparency modes.

Can a blind person easily clean them to keep them performing optimally? Since I started using my App 3, I've noticed how much the quality on my APP 2 has dropped. I think one of them may be blocked with ear wax, because it's noticeably quieter than the other, almost like the sound is panned slightly to the right and it's just enough to be annoying. And no, changing the balance in accessibility settings doesn't do anything. The audio balance on my old MB used to get shifted a bit so I'd have to reset it to 50% so it was worth at least looking into. There's also no difference between ANC and transparency on my App 2 anymore. I don't hear any feedback when I rub my finger over the openings on the back of the AirPods, which is where I think the mics for ANC are.

I want to keep my APP3 sounding awesome as long as I can. I'll probably just get Apple to recycle my APP 2; Apple Care+ long expired on them, but I tried cleaning them as best I could following their officially documented procedure but didn't notice a difference. The all-knowing Reddit has a lot of suggestions for cleaning the mesh on AirPods, but they all sound like things that a blind person wouldn't be able to do -- some of the posts have photos taken under a microscope. Anyone here been able to restore sound quality to AirPods that have become clogged with use? How did you do it?

I caught a sale on airPods 4 without ANC, so I picked up a pair for use specifically with my Windows laptop computer. I can testify that they work great with it. It wasn't as easy to pair with my computer as it is to pair with an iDevice, but it wasn't really difficult either. I found it interesting that you just double-tap the front of the airPods case to put it in pairing mode. I'm absolutely blown away by the amazing sound of these airPods. The smooth bass is unbelievable. They sound so, so much better than the built-in laptop speaker.