Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Does your 16 inch MacBook Pro have pop/cracking sound issue?


  • Total voters
    379

Passingby

Suspended
Dec 17, 2019
115
166
Interesting. How do you explain people saying the issue has improved or vanished if its unifixable via firmware.

Some content won't produce it, some will. There are sometimes mitigations that reduce the issue, but then it comes back in the next update. Create a series of standard tests that always reproduces popping. If people post anecdotes without evidence then it's a waste of time for everyone.
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
Some content won't produce it, some will. There are sometimes mitigations that reduce the issue, but then it comes back in the next update. Create a series of standard tests that always reproduces popping. If people post anecdotes without evidence then it's a waste of time for everyone.
I've tried the command q test on quite a few demo units with pretty mixed results, but it exist on all T2 models I tried. I guess my biggest contention is that given the quicktime fix workaround, I find it hard to believe that it couldn't be fixed by firmware updates.
 
Last edited:

Passingby

Suspended
Dec 17, 2019
115
166
I've tried the command q test on quite a few demo units with pretty mixed results, but it exist on all T2 models I tried. I guess my biggest contention is that given the quicktime fix workaround, I find it hard to believe that it couldn't be fixed by firmware updates.

We had around 20 firmware updates since T2 based MacBook Pro came out. Each OS update since High Sierra has had a firmware update and each interim beta also had firmware updates.
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
We had around 20 firmware updates since T2 based MacBook Pro came out. Each OS update since High Sierra has had a firmware update and each interim beta also had firmware updates.
If its in principle impossible then why does the quicktime fix work? It's possible Apple is just not very good at making software and didnt feel this had enough attention to warrent fixing.
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
That's not really a fix and doesn't work for every example where the audio is corrupted. This 'fix' shouldn't be used during professional audio workflows.
Sure I just meant that the software can at least mitigate it so we don't have enough info to say for sure whether a firmware update could fix it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: fokmik

fokmik

Suspended
Oct 28, 2016
4,909
4,688
USA
We had around 20 firmware updates since T2 based MacBook Pro came out. Each OS update since High Sierra has had a firmware update and each interim beta also had firmware updates.
you can have 1000 firmware updates for something else...but if none is for this particulary issue, is irrelevant...Apple is aware of this now, after more than 1 year...so lets see from now on
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sanpete

Passingby

Suspended
Dec 17, 2019
115
166
you can have 1000 firmware updates for something else...but if none is for this particulary issue, is irrelevant...Apple is aware of this now, after more than 1 year...so lets see from now on

18 months of Apple being aware. 18 months of Mac faithful praying to the Apple Gods to deliver them to the promised land. Then the T3 MacBooks will come out and the same Mac faithful will just buy the new machine without fixing the previous model. Great business model for Apple. Not so good for your long term life savings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmstasinos

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
18 months of Apple being aware. 18 months of Mac faithful praying to the Apple Gods to deliver them to the promised land. Then the T3 MacBooks will come out and the same Mac faithful will just buy the new machine without fixing the previous model. Great business model for Apple. Not so good for your long term life savings.
I think the T3 will probably just introduce new headaches and am okay with this potentially not getting fixed provided the demo units are a good gauge of the problem.
 

fokmik

Suspended
Oct 28, 2016
4,909
4,688
USA
18 months of Apple being aware. 18 months of Mac faithful praying to the Apple Gods to deliver them to the promised land. Then the T3 MacBooks will come out and the same Mac faithful will just buy the new machine without fixing the previous model. Great business model for Apple. Not so good for your long term life savings.
18 months?? Get real.. apple didnt know until now..or didn’t care because the reports were slim with the 2018 models
Dont trust those who told you 18 months ago that apple is aware..probably those are the ones who want not to return or not to buy the mac because of this issue
[automerge]1576745136[/automerge]
I think the T3 will probably just introduce new headaches and am okay with this potentially not getting fixed provided the demo units are a good gauge of the problem.
T3 if it will come..is far away..since even the mac pro has the t2 now and i wonder if the MP has this with the built in speaker
 

Ifti

macrumors 601
Dec 14, 2010
4,041
2,605
UK
Received my new MBP16 yesterday.
Had the popping issue.
Updated OSX and tested again, and I cant hear it at all now. Even had my ear right down at the speaker to check, and I cant hear it, so I'm happy.
 

Ries

macrumors 68020
Apr 21, 2007
2,330
2,918
If its in principle impossible then why does the quicktime fix work? It's possible Apple is just not very good at making software and didnt feel this had enough attention to warrent fixing.

The error: Every-time I need water or not and use the valve to control it, it makes a horrible sound.

The quick time fix: "Start Quicktime so you always need water", qucktime fixes the issue because the valve is never touched and always on and you're using a lot of water.

When ever I use the quicktime fix non stop for a day or two, the audio starts to **** up in other ways, like out of sync. It properly cycles it when no audio is needed, to reset the audio controller.
 

am2am

macrumors regular
Oct 15, 2011
223
103
I've tried the command q test on quite a few demo units with pretty mixed results, but it exist on all T2 models I tried. I guess my biggest contention is that given the quicktime fix workaround, I find it hard to believe that it couldn't be fixed by firmware updates.
Funny.
I've just tried "command q" on my old solid MBP 15" from 2013. There is a POP! Exactly the same as on my 16" (I have it only with cmd Q - no problems with YouTube or FPX after 10.15.2 update on my 16 MBP)
 

de.ke

macrumors newbie
Dec 13, 2019
10
4
The command + q method is a killer :) it works nearly on every mac laptop. Dont forget the hissing sound when you start playing audio. Press pause and listen careful for 10 to 15 seconds. I had this problem since 2016 but nobody was interested. Nobody of the apple staff in Germany was "aware" of this problem.
 

morze

macrumors member
Jun 17, 2019
89
79
Yeah, the suggested is CMD+Q is not a suitable test. Ignore that test suggestion. But the issue remains.
 

garrel

macrumors member
Dec 9, 2019
70
37
The command + q method is a killer :) it works nearly on every mac laptop. Dont forget the hissing sound when you start playing audio. Press pause and listen careful for 10 to 15 seconds. I had this problem since 2016 but nobody was interested. Nobody of the apple staff in Germany was "aware" of this problem.
I've just made a topic about that... is there a fix?
 

Passingby

Suspended
Dec 17, 2019
115
166
18 months?? Get real.. apple didnt know until now..or didn’t care because the reports were slim with the 2018 models

Strange that you said that because I have just read a very very very long discussion topic about the popping and crackling sounds and you were in that thread for 18 months. Throughout the whole thread, lasting 18 months, many people said they were sending feedback and bug reports to Apple and were receiving replies from Apple Support. You were in that thread posting many times, and now today after 18 months you're saying Apple didn't know.

A reminder in case you forgot the last 18 months...


Please note, if this is how you are going to behave as a user, consumer and customer, you will get what you deserve from the company you religiously trust too much. If you want make excuses for broken hardware that forces you to buy new hardware then that's exactly what will happen to you....again....and again...and again.

Until you have no money left when you retire and the wealthiest Apple shareholders will be laughing.
 

fokmik

Suspended
Oct 28, 2016
4,909
4,688
USA
That is a thread,forum ....that doesnt mean APPLE knew about it...
At least now, they publicaly said they heard about the issue and Apple is investigating...even to the resellers sent a letter regarding the audio popping sound
Apple support.......that doesnt mean apples engineers or something OFFICIALLY...again that sending back report is just for you to keep the mac and not return it. Even I, tested for the so called apple support all night...and still nothing. So dont trust what apple support is telling you..
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: dspdoc and g75d3

dmstasinos

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2019
81
99
Actually Apple didn’t make any “official” statement about this. That was just an internal memo to resellers so that they stop replacing these machines.

Again, my senior advisor knew about this almost 6 months ago. The only reason that this issue is more popular now is that the popping is significantly louder on the 16 inch model due to speaker redesign.

No clue so far can exclude or either point to the T2 chip as the main cause. With more information coming into light every day i can say that T2 is the main suspect here.

And last but not least. We don’t even know if Apple is actually trying to fix this. Maybe that 10.15.2 update is considered as a “fix” by Apple. Let’s not forget that it’s the same company that marked those machines as “ready to ship” without even testing them so i wouldn’t be surprised if the story ends here with that semi-fix.
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
The error: Every-time I need water or not and use the valve to control it, it makes a horrible sound.

The quick time fix: "Start Quicktime so you always need water", qucktime fixes the issue because the valve is never touched and always on and you're using a lot of water.

When ever I use the quicktime fix non stop for a day or two, the audio starts to **** up in other ways, like out of sync. It properly cycles it when no audio is needed, to reset the audio controller.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. I'm not saying the quicktime fix is optimal just that it indicates this very well could be a software issue and not an unfixable hardware issue like the butterfly keyboard.
Actually Apple didn’t make any “official” statement about this. That was just an internal memo to resellers so that they stop replacing these machines.

Again, my senior advisor knew about this almost 6 months ago. The only reason that this issue is more popular now is that the popping is significantly louder on the 16 inch model due to speaker redesign.

No clue so far can exclude or either point to the T2 chip as the main cause. With more information coming into light every day i can say that T2 is the main suspect here.

And last but not least. We don’t even know if Apple is actually trying to fix this. Maybe that 10.15.2 update is considered as a “fix” by Apple. Let’s not forget that it’s the same company that marked those machines as “ready to ship” without even testing them so i wouldn’t be surprised if the story ends here with that semi-fix.
Interesting. What info is coming to light to make it look like the T2 chip?
 

Sanpete

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2016
3,695
1,665
Utah
The popping is a chip design fault and also randomly occurs on the iOS devices released in the last year, especially if you have some sounds playing when taking an incoming call. It only happens on the built in speakers and not when connected to external speakers or headphones. Either the chip designers of the T2 and Bionic screwed up or Apple deliberately did this to pressure users to buy AirPods.

They may find more software mitigations but this issue was introduced with the T2 and existed in High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina, and all the beta builds between each software update. There have been more firmware updates to these affected Macs than any Macs or any computer in the history of computing (this isn't an exaggeration).

I predict this will never be fully fixed. Never has an issue had so many attempts to fix it and remained unresolved after 18 months. The same goes for the BridgeOS crashes. I wouldn't touch a new computer with a T2.
There's no reason to think this issue has been a priority for Apple until now.

As for the association with the T2 chip, there's conflicting information about that, but even if it's true, it doesn't imply it's a hardware issue, as there is plenty of software connected with the T2.

Haven't seen complaints about Bridge OS crashes lately, so that rather works against your point.
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
There's no reason to think this issue has been a priority for Apple until now.

As for the association with the T2 chip, there's conflicting information about that, but even if it's true, it doesn't imply it's a hardware issue, as there is plenty of software connected with the T2.

Haven't seen complaints about Bridge OS crashes lately, so that rather works against your point.
Given that it took 4 years for apple to release a laptop with a non broken keyboard design, I think this is probably a software issue they've been incompetent to fix.
 

Ries

macrumors 68020
Apr 21, 2007
2,330
2,918
I'm not sure what you're getting at. I'm not saying the quicktime fix is optimal just that it indicates this very well could be a software issue and not an unfixable hardware issue like the butterfly keyboard.

Quicktime doesn't fix anything, it avoids the issue by forcing the audio system to be continuously on.
 

Passingby

Suspended
Dec 17, 2019
115
166
There's no reason to think this issue has been a priority for Apple until now.

As for the association with the T2 chip, there's conflicting information about that, but even if it's true, it doesn't imply it's a hardware issue, as there is plenty of software connected with the T2.

Haven't seen complaints about Bridge OS crashes lately, so that rather works against your point.

18 months, about 20 firmware updates and three operating systems later.

Article from summer 2018

'Apple did not respond to a request for comment.'


61 page thread prior to this thread we are in...


But keep putting on the blinders, make excuses, shuffle words around, make distracting replies, and pray to the Apple gods.
 

dmstasinos

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2019
81
99
Interesting. What info is coming to light to make it look like the T2 chip?

Actually when someone suggests that T2 may cause these audio issues this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a hardware problem.

Since T2 takes care of multiple tasks it could be related to both Bridge OS and the design of T2. It’s a new element (and a very complicated one) that has been recently introduced and almost every piece of data passes though it, including audio.

I still believe that this has to do with the original speculation that we all had in the beginning: the audio interface is being switched on and off to to save power.

But in the same time i believe that a simple issue like this, that 3 years ago could be resolved with a few lines of code (again, this happened with a script called AntiPop), is now harder to address since there is a new stage added to the audio path.

I guess we will never know what’s happening inside T2 since it’s a security chip and Apple is planning to use this in many different ways. Louis Rossmann has some valid points regarding T2 (i trust him more than Apple technicians by the way).

One way or another if this gains even more attention and stays unresolved i can see an official statement like "we did this to protect your privacy" coming. Nah i still regret my purchase.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: g75d3
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.