but we wonder if voice pickup would have been better with the microphones pointed out of the bottom of the stems. Wonder no more, it would not. This arrangemen

but we wonder if voice pickup would have been better with the microphones pointed out of the bottom of the stems. Wonder no more, it would not. This arrangement (aka beamforming array) is common for improved noise reduction. The downward-facing microphone has made its return [...] could the downward-facing mic deliver better audio quality? The 3rd gen AirPods have no active noise canceling, hence one mic arrangement. So, nope.