Apple denied my hardware repair for coil whine on the Mac Studio

[jbehrmusic]

Recently purchased a Mac Studio M1 Max (base model) and it came with AppleCare+. Upon turning it on, I noticed the coil whine instantly, and started to do some research. Come to find out, it's more common than expected, with YouTube videos showcasing the whine and it's odd high frequency tone (separate from the fan noise).

I recorded the noise, brought it to the Apple Store and showed the noise (recorded on my phone) to the Apple rep. He agreed and said it is not normal and he started a repair request. I had to wait for some parts to come in, but when they did, I dropped off my item at the Apple Store. A few days later they call me (today) and tell me they do not hear any noise. They apparently ran "testing" and do not hear any coil whine at all, and that they are denying my repair.

I picked it up today and tested it again, only to find the noise still exists. I tried to tell the Apple Technician over the phone, it's possible they don't know what to listen for, since the sound can be mistaken as part of the fan. And since I make music and my room is acoustically treated, the sound is very obvious and very annoying. You can clearly hear it on my phone as well, but she stated that they need to hear it for themselves. And since they didn't hear it, they are denying my request to replace the Fan and Power Supply.

Things I have tried:
- Different power strip
- Different wall outlet
- Different room in the house
- Different power cord
- Plugged directly into a UPS (Cyberpower 1500 VA)
- Plugged directly into the wall outlet

The issue exists, despite all my testing. But according to Apple, it doesn't. Anyone have any advice? I've read in multiple forums that people have had success replacing the fan/psu and the repair eliminated the coil whine. The Apple near me isn't willing to do that...

 

[Mr.Fox]

Recently purchased a Mac Studio M1 Max (base model) and it came with AppleCare+. Upon turning it on, I noticed the coil whine instantly, and started to do some research. Come to find out, it's more common than expected, with YouTube videos showcasing the whine and it's odd high frequency tone (separate from the fan noise).

I recorded the noise, brought it to the Apple Store and showed the noise (recorded on my phone) to the Apple rep. He agreed and said it is not normal and he started a repair request. I had to wait for some parts to come in, but when they did, I dropped off my item at the Apple Store. A few days later they call me (today) and tell me they do not hear any noise. They apparently ran "testing" and do not hear any coil whine at all, and that they are denying my repair.

I picked it up today and tested it again, only to find the noise still exists. I tried to tell the Apple Technician over the phone, it's possible they don't know what to listen for, since the sound can be mistaken as part of the fan. And since I make music and my room is acoustically treated, the sound is very obvious and very annoying. You can clearly hear it on my phone as well, but she stated that they need to hear it for themselves. And since they didn't hear it, they are denying my request to replace the Fan and Power Supply.

Things I have tried:
- Different power strip
- Different wall outlet
- Different room in the house
- Different power cord
- Plugged directly into a UPS (Cyberpower 1500 VA)
- Plugged directly into the wall outlet

The issue exists, despite all my testing. But according to Apple, it doesn't. Anyone have any advice? I've read in multiple forums that people have had success replacing the fan/psu and the repair eliminated the coil whine. The Apple near me isn't willing to do that...

Impregnate the transformer with molten compound (temperature 120-150 C) with air pumping. I did it to all my friends when they asked me to do it, only they had PC power supplies. Whistling, squeaking, humming and other sounds are not heard at all.
Look compound in specialized stores for electricians.
No wonder they didn't hear it. And they won't. This frequency, of course, can not hear, the ear can hear up to 20kHz. The whistling frequency is between 6-15 kHz.

 

[wdhpgx]

See also earlier threads about the noise; in my case it seems to be dust related (in the rear air holes), where vacuuming it makes it go away (until it returns):

Poll: Mac Studio whistle noise or not?

Mine (studio max, bought at launch) did not, for about the first year, then a couple months ago it developed a noise that sounded to me like "coil whine". Doing a search for it at that time, to see if anything new had been discovered since the original reports, I found one site...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Feek]

It's not coil whine.

If it was, changing the air flow (by blocking some of the vents) wouldn't make it change.

This frequency, of course, can not hear, the ear can hear up to 20kHz. The whistling frequency is between 6-15 kHz.

The reported 'whine' coming from the Mac Studio is around 2.4 kHz.

My eighteen month old M1 Mac Studio Ultra still shows no sign of this noise.

 

[Shazaam!]

The only thing to do: take the CPU to a friends house or take it back to the Apple Store — plug it in and listen. If you can hear it, then they can hear it. If you can't hear it, then the whine is related to the AC power in your home. My coil whine was eliminated (bypassing surge protectors that connected various components) by plugging my M1 Max directly into the wall outlet. Plugged back in to the surge protector — my whine returns every time.

Postscript: We normally think of AC power as having a closely regulated voltage with a nice pure sinusoid but often other household devices having motors (refrigerators) or arcing lighting fixtures and relays that introduce noise and voltage fluxuation into all the connected wall outlets. Apparently Apple's Studio relatively small power supply (and draw) makes it sensitive to these local conditions.

 

[Plutonius]

If it's still within the return window, return it and get your money back,