Any one notices the cracking/popping sound of new 16 inch MBP?

[MengkeMary]

Update 12/10/2019

It seems that Catalina 10.15.2 has fixed all the popping sound issues for me, including Youtube playing using Safari/Chrome, video playing using iina/mpv, although others have reported conflicting results on this. Given that the wide spreading issue with 10.15.1, it might be worthwhile upgrading to 10.15.2.

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Although there are only a few votes, we can confirm that this issue is widespread. It may not be as severe as the vote says, especially considering the survivorship bias, but we can infer with high confidence that many machines are affected.

As people are starting to receive their units, for the benefits of others, anyone went to Apple store please post/update your response from Apple. Thank you.

Please also submit your issues in the apple thread
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250879269

You can play any silent audio to mitigate this issue for the moment.
Another temporary fix suggested by macrumor user @Macintosh101:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ound-of-new-16-inch-mbp.2211902/post-28012328


Original post:
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I just got my new 16 inch MacBook Pro and I absolutely love it. However, after one day of usage, I noticed some crack sound while doing 5s forward watching a Youtube video. I don't know whether it is a software issue (Catalina related?) or hardware issue.

Attach is a 30s test sample. I keep press right arrow every one or two seconds while playing a YouTube video. I can clearly hear the crack sound, although not every time.

Anyone owning a 16 MBP could test yours? Thanks.

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Update 1:

The same sound can be heard when you close a tab that is playing some video. This is easier to test.

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Update 2:

I tried the same using Chrome, and there seems no issue with fast-forwarding. But I did hear the same cracking sound when closing a tab that is playing a video.

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Update 3:

Someone posted on reddit, suggesting that this could be due to the aggressive shutdown of speakers. One walk around is playing some sound in background and turn the volume to minimum, then this pop sound goes away.

 

[bevsb2]

I'm getting some cracks when closing a video.

 

[fokmik]

Is not related with Cataline..Mojave has this also and the OS pre it
These issues are since the 2018 model came out
There is a long thread about it
If you fast forward youtube in safari NOT in chrome, you will get that...if you close video/youtube you randomly get that...if you watch youtube and you get notification , there are 50% chances you get that

 

[bevsb2]

I just upgraded from a 2018 MacBook Pro. I'm aware of the crackling speaker issue and long thread about it, but never experienced it on my 2018. I don't remember seeing any resolution to the problem. It is sad to see this problem on a computer which has such great sound otherwise. I guess I can live with it if it is only on closing a video or randomly on getting a notification. I was listening to music for several hours this evening while on the computer and didn't hear any cracks.

 

[fokmik]

Is happening only on youtube while fast forward on safari only
So you can listen for hours with no issues if you dont fast forward
Since mojave at least apple fixed crack sounds on apple music

 

[MengkeMary]

Is not related with Cataline..Mojave has this also and the OS pre it
These issues are since the 2018 model came out
There is a long thread about it
If you fast forward youtube in safari NOT in chrome, you will get that...if you close video/youtube you randomly get that...if you watch youtube and you get notification , there are 50% chances you get that

Thanks for the info.

The thing is, I did not find this issue with my 2015 13" MBP on Mojave. I also tried a 2019 13" MBP and everything is fine. Is this issue specific to 15/16 inch model?
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I just upgraded from a 2018 MacBook Pro. I'm aware of the crackling speaker issue and long thread about it, but never experienced it on my 2018. I don't remember seeing any resolution to the problem. It is sad to see this problem on a computer which has such great sound otherwise. I guess I can live with it if it is only on closing a video or randomly on getting a notification. I was listening to music for several hours this evening while on the computer and didn't here any cracks.

Thanks for your input.

So you're saying your unit does not have this issue at all so far, even randomly closing some tabs or fast forwarding?

 

[bevsb2]

Thanks for the info.

The thing is, I did not find this issue with my 2015 13" MBP on Mojave. I also tried a 2019 13" MBP and everything is fine. Is this issue specific to 15/16 inch model?
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Thanks for your input.

So you're saying your unit does not have this issue at all so far, even randomly closing some tabs or fast forwarding?

It is my 15" 2018 MacBook Pro that doesn't have the issue. My new 16" does make a cracking sound on closing videos or tapping the arrow key. I didn't test fast forwarding but I clearly have the issue and am a little concerned. I can deal with cracking on closing videos, but am worried that this could get worse or cause speaker damage later on. At this point I will either keep this device or return it and go back to my 2018 and wait until another time to update. I love this computer and would hate to return it.

 

[MengkeMary]

It is my 15" 2018 MacBook Pro that doesn't have the issue. My new 16" does make a cracking sound on closing videos or tapping the arrow key. I didn't test fast forwarding but I clearly have the issue and am a little concerned. I can deal with cracking on closing videos, but am worried that this could get worse or cause speaker damage later on. At this point I will either keep this device or return it and go back to my 2018 and wait until another time to update. I love this computer and would hate to return it.

I have the same feeling. I love this machine. So probably I will go and swap it for a new unit to see whether this issue persists.

 

[MengkeMary]

I noticed the same cracking sound when playing a video locally using IINA player. This also happens when you hit right arrow while playing, and a noticeable cracking sound can be heard almost every time the key is pressed.

I found a thread discussing this issues for previous models, and it seems Apple does not care too much, or at least they have not fixed it yet. If there are some lucky ones with no issue at all, then I might visit the Apple store to get it swapped. But I really do not want to go through all the hassles of installing all softwares and transferring data.

I hope everybody with a this new machine could test your unit, which can be done in one minute. I would appreciate it if you could post your test results in this thread. Thank you.

 

[TimothyB]

Heard about this before buying and confirmed with the 16" I got today. Especially noticeable when you use the Touch Bar to skip to around on a YouTube video.

I assume it's just a software issue.

 

[bevsb2]

I noticed the same cracking sound when playing a video locally using IINA player. This also happens when you hit right arrow while playing, and a noticeable cracking sound can be heard almost every time the key is pressed.

I found a thread discussing this issues for previous models, and it seems Apple does not care too much, or at least they have not fixed it yet. If there are some lucky ones with no issue at all, then I might visit the Apple store to get it swapped. But I really do not want to go through all the hassles of installing all softwares and transferring data.

I hope everybody with a this new machine could test your unit, which can be done in one minute. I would appreciate it if you could post your test results in this thread. Thank you.

Thank you for posting this. I too would like to know how widespread the issue is. I love this computer but don't want to keep it if defective (or has more of an issue than most), but not anxious to return it and keep trying for better.

 

[foldpages]

I have the same issue. Happens in Chrome (YouTube) when closing tabs and particularly bad in FCPX when hovering over clips.

It does sound like this is not an isolated issue and many users are reporting this issue with the 16-inch MBP. I really would like to avoid exchanging my laptop for another unit with the same issue.

There are posts on Reddit and also on Apple Support:

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/dy7c9l https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/dy7hz4

MacBook Pro 2019 Speakers are making pop … - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[anticipate]

Yes, I get it too. I don't think it's an issue though, just odd. Like the speakers are being slightly overdriven for a moment like it was powered off to save juice.

 

[MengkeMary]

I have the same issue. Happens in Chrome (YouTube) when closing tabs and particularly bad in FCPX when hovering over clips.

It does sound like this is not an isolated issue and many users are reporting this issue with the 16-inch MBP. I really would like to avoid exchanging my laptop for another unit with the same issue.

There are posts on Reddit and also on Apple Support:

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/dy7c9l https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/dy7hz4

MacBook Pro 2019 Speakers are making pop … - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Thank you for providing these links. The discussions are quite informative. I will talk to Apple and update this thread once I get an answer.

 

[MengkeMary]

Yes, I get it too. I don't think it's an issue though, just odd. Like the speakers are being slightly overdriven for a moment like it was powered off to save juice.

The weird thing is the variation. Someone get it, some doesn't. Some units are pretty obvious, while others are barely noticeable. That's why there is a conjecture that this has something to do with supplier of chipset/speaker.

I also have a 2015 MBP 13" and 2019 MBP 13" at hand, so I could test both. Surprisingly, none of them has this issue. Both of them are running Mojave. But since people are reporting the same issue from 2018/2019 MBP with Mojave, I suppose it's less likely a OS issues, maybe the audio drivers of 15 inch or even the speakers. Anyway, it's very loud on my unit and it's really annoying while watching videos.

 

[fokmik]

Try with volume at 50% or higher, a Music video on youtube using safari
Hit play and start going in random timeline quickly (again ,with sound) high pich sound will occur ,this is an t2 driver speakers “issue” since 2018 and so on..macbook pro or macbook air
I dont have this specific issue,pop sound even wheres no sound like in those videos
So there are 2 speaker issues kind of different but i guess if 1 is fixed then the other will be as well

 

[dan9700]

This is because of the T2 chip it’s a major issue with sound drivers and because YouTube doesn’t use Safari codecs correctly you get this, I thought Apple would fix this for new MacBooks but obv not

 

[MengkeMary]

This is because of the T2 chip it’s a major issue with sound drivers and because YouTube doesn’t use Safari codecs correctly you get this, I thought Apple would fix this for new MacBooks but obv not

Thanks for you input. The thing is, I have an 2019 MBP13" which also has a T2 chip, but I have no issues with YouTube watching using Safari. I suppose it's not affecting every T2 machine, probably something specific to 15/16 inch model.

I just started following this issue one day ago, so I'm not quite sure whether this is reported on 13" model. If it is, it seems pretty random to me as I got a 2019 13" without this issue.
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Try with volume at 50% or higher, a Music video on youtube using safari
Hit play and start going in random timeline quickly (again ,with sound) high pich sound will occur ,this is an t2 driver speakers “issue” since 2018 and so on..macbook pro or macbook air
I dont have this specific issue,pop sound even wheres no sound like in those videos
So there are 2 speaker issues kind of different but i guess if 1 is fixed then the other will be as well

Oh my god, this is getting complicated. I only got the pop sound issue. Just tried the thing you said, and I didn't notice any high pitch sound.
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I created a poll in this thread to see how widespread this issue is. Please cast your vote if you have a new 16 inch machine.

My idea is, if it affects a small percentage of units, then we have hope to exchange it for a non-defective one. But if it is universal, then exchanging is meaningless and we have to think about other possibilities.

 

[foldpages]

This is because of the T2 chip it’s a major issue with sound drivers and because YouTube doesn’t use Safari codecs correctly you get this, I thought Apple would fix this for new MacBooks but obv not

But I'm getting the pop sound in Chrome and Safari. I can also replicate it just by going into the Audio MIDI console and running the test sound on the left and right speakers. It will always create A pop sound.

 

[MengkeMary]

But I'm getting the pop sound in Chrome and Safari. I can also replicate it just by going into the Audio MIDI console and running the test sound on the left and right speakers. It will always create A pop sound.

I didn’t notice this issues when forwarding a video in Chrome, but I did get the pop sound when closing a tab. In safari both give me pop sound. I’m confused now. I doesn’t give a consistent clue of possible reason.

 

[fokmik]

Also watching youtube,when you receive an notification you have 50% chance to have a millisecond cracking sound

 

[bevsb2]

I went to the Apple store today where they have 3 of the 16" models on display. I looked at Youtube on all three and only heard the pop/crack on one model, but it was so noisy in the store I can't rule out the possibility that I missed a soft pop on the other two. A sales person came over and verified that he too heard the pop on the machine I was testing, but of course had never heard of the issue. I'm still undecided about what to do with my 16" but am leaning against the hassle of exchanging right now. At least I have until 1/8 to decide whether to keep and live with it or return and go back to my 2018.

 

[foldpages]

I went to the Apple store today where they have 3 of the 16" models on display. I looked at Youtube on all three and only heard the pop/crack on one model, but it was so noisy in the store I can't rule out the possibility that I missed a soft pop on the other two. A sales person came over and verified that he too heard the pop on the machine I was testing, but of course had never heard of the issue. I'm still undecided about what to do with my 16" but am leaning against the hassle of exchanging right now. At least I have until 1/8 to decide whether to keep and live with it or return and go back to my 2018.

Is Apple's holiday return policy already in effect? Or why do you have such a long return policy? I'm in the same boat. Not sure what to do and I'll be traveling starting Saturday.

 

[MengkeMary]

I went to the Apple store today where they have 3 of the 16" models on display. I looked at Youtube on all three and only heard the pop/crack on one model, but it was so noisy in the store I can't rule out the possibility that I missed a soft pop on the other two. A sales person came over and verified that he too heard the pop on the machine I was testing, but of course had never heard of the issue. I'm still undecided about what to do with my 16" but am leaning against the hassle of exchanging right now. At least I have until 1/8 to decide whether to keep and live with it or return and go back to my 2018.

Thanks for this info. Glad to know there are machines without this issue. I share your unwillingness to go the exchange path, which can be a great hassle.

I bought my machine on Nov 15, so in theory I should be able to return until 1/8. Let's see how it develops.
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Is Apple's holiday return policy already in effect? Or why do you have such a long return policy? I'm in the same boat. Not sure what to do and I'll be traveling starting Saturday.

Some Macrumor users have posted their receipts, saying that starting Nov 15, the holiday return policy takes effect. But I'm not 100% sure since my receipt doesn't shown return period. Anyone can confirm?

 

[foldpages]

Some Macrumor users have posted their receipts, saying that starting Nov 15, the holiday return policy takes effect. But I'm not 100% sure since my receipt doesn't shown return period. Anyone can confirm?

I got mine on the 16th and it does not state a return by date...

ok .. confirmed with Apple:

Items purchased between November 15 and December 25, 2019, may be returned through January 8, 2020. All purchases made after December 25, 2019, are subject to the standard return policy. Note: Extended return policy excludes: • Contracted iPhone or iPad devices • iPhone Upgrade Program devices • Devices purchased with consumer loans