AirPods Pro 2 Gets Custom EQ Control in iOS 27 Beta

Apple has pushed a second round of AirPods beta firmware to developers, covering the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4, and AirPods Max 2. The build number is 9A5304b, an increment from the earlier seed that first tied these headphones to iOS 27’s feature set.

The headline additions are a redesigned AirPods interface and support for custom EQ, both arriving as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate. Custom EQ is the more practically interesting of the two: Apple has historically offered a fixed set of preset sound profiles, so giving users direct frequency control would be a meaningful departure from how AirPods audio has worked since the product line launched.

The firmware also brings compatibility with the new Siri AI, which connects these headphones to the broader Apple Intelligence push Apple has been building across its platforms. That said, macOS Golden Gate’s Siri rollout carries a notable geographic asterisk that applies across Apple’s ecosystem, not just the Mac.

Beta delivery has changed

The less obvious story here is how the firmware is actually reaching developers. Since iOS 26, Apple has included a beta firmware installation toggle directly inside AirPods settings when the headphones are connected to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Developers enable beta downloads from there, which replaces the older passive process where firmware updated silently in the background with no user control.

That infrastructure change matters more than any single firmware build. It means Apple can now iterate on AirPods software on a developer beta cadence similar to iOS itself, rather than pushing updates through a slower, opaque channel. Whether that pace translates to more polish at launch is the real question.