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iPad Pro iPad Pro M4 Speakers
- Thread starter Gelam
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They crushed all those musical instruments, no wonder that the sound is tinny.
Oh man that’s really bad news….the iPad Air2 was almost as thin as the new M4 and the screen vibrated like crazy when tapping around if music was playing it was awful.
The 2018-2020 pros were incredible and had little to no vibration. They made less speaker holes on the M1/M2 models and it caused very very mild vibration on my M2 Pro. But these new ones seem to be similar to the old Air2 which was super thin as well and vibrated like CRAZY when you touched the screen
I remember when an older gen of iPads were released with vibrating screens. Was really annoying.
A deal breaker for me.
I haven't heard in person but from a I video comparison the 13" air is very similar to the 13" M4
Yeh likewise i‘m not a fan of it either, I’m surprised there are not more posts about this either.
Just went to Best Buy to mess around with the 11 M4 and the speakers do sound a bit more “hollow”. But not terrible compared to the M2.
The vibration is slightly more felt on the back than the M2 but it’s BARELY noticeable on the screen when tapping around. Like nearly non existent.
Hope this helps peeps.
The vibration is slightly more felt on the back than the M2 but it’s BARELY noticeable on the screen when tapping around. Like nearly non existent.
Hope this helps peeps.
I a/b'd my M2 air against my 2017 10.5" Pro, which has excellent speakers considering their size, and I would say the Pro speakers have a bit more clarity. The Air speakers sound a tad "crunchier" and crowded in the midrange, but they are not bad!
Neither holds a candle to excellent headphones, which I have generally used a lot more than the built-in speakers.
Coming from a 2018 pro and now regretting having bought the new M4 one because of the extremely poor sound quality. Too bad I didn’t know before and none of this reviewers mentioned it.
It sounds like a 10 year old air instead of a M4 state of the art device .
It sounds like a 10 year old air instead of a M4 state of the art device .
Came back from the Apple Store, the 12.9 2022 iPad Pro is definitely louder and has more bass. This is difficult, the screen on the 13 inch is great (don’t get the nano version) but the sound is just not Pro. Don’t know if I will upgrade. You might as well get a 14 inch MacBook if you are a musician
True, I want to see them opinions =)
85-90% feels not that large but still a bummer.Subjective - if 12'9 M1 was 100%, 13 M4 is 85%-90% for me.
@Gelam thanks for confirmation, so it's also hardware change on drivers. The price for thinner form, in the end I believe everyone will get use to it with time. Unless you gonna use older 12,9 iPads to remind you
Yeah I have a theory that the driver that is now circular has a larger surface area in an attempt to compensate the thinner driver chamber. But that was not enough. Or they might have not adjust the EQ optimally yet (hopium here).
Since I have no iPads ever, can you subjectively tell which Mac is this iPad 13" M4 sound profile similar to?
MacBook Air M1, MacBook Air M2 13" or 15"?
Yeah the consensus appears to be the same everywhere.Oh man this reddit thread is so much full of infos compared to this MacRumors thread. That's very disappointing, apparently speakers on both models were downgraded, even compared to the 2018/2020 models. In the 12.9 the M1 has been a clear upgrade in speakers, and now it's even worse than the 2018.
I was still tempeted, I saw this morning they are 10% at a retailer, but for me speakers are extremely important...
From the consensus here the new M4 variants are 15%-20% worse than the old generation (plus the different scaling you mention). I think it is due to the different shape of the new drivers as well.
I am very curious to which MacBooks you find this M4 13" to sound similar to? (You seem to think its similar to a 16" with lesser bass?) What about the 15" MacBook Air or others?
Yeah I was reading that post before making this discussion. Most recent comment said their iPhone sounded better! That is very strange. Does thinness loose more air chamber volume than a smaller but thicker speaker?
I have never owned an iPad as well so I think I am coming in with no expectations. But at least I want it to sound as good as my M1 MacBook Air. Would be good if it sounds as good as an M2 15" MacBook Air though.
Do the M4 13" sound as good as an M2 13" or 15" MBA?
Do you think this worse sound quality is solely due to the thinner speakers or can Apple kinda mitigate that with a more efficient EQ? (Considering they kinda use a different driver shape in the teardown video to maybe compensate?)
Do you think this can be better with EQ from Apple?
Also which MacBook do you think your 13" M4 is comparable to? And what does your iPP 12.9 2021 is comparable to (MacBook)?
IMHO, the 13” M4 speakers do have a little bit less bass and mid range compared to their M1\M2 predecessors. It’s also likely due to physics. Having a physically smaller chassis means less room for air to move which results in lesser bass and mid range.
That said, the speakers do not sound bad, heck they sound better than 95% of the laptops out there. The dude on Reddit that said his phone speakers sounded better needs to check himself on that opinion though, that’s a real stretch.
I do wish that apple would allow us to EQ the speakers on our own.
If the M1\M2 12.9” iPads were 9.5/10 in terms of speaker quality, I’d say the 13”m4 is an 8.9.
That said, the speakers do not sound bad, heck they sound better than 95% of the laptops out there. The dude on Reddit that said his phone speakers sounded better needs to check himself on that opinion though, that’s a real stretch.
I do wish that apple would allow us to EQ the speakers on our own.
If the M1\M2 12.9” iPads were 9.5/10 in terms of speaker quality, I’d say the 13”m4 is an 8.9.
I have stuff running in my home office most of the day, I don’t want AirPods in my ears for that long, or even wearing my Bose over ears.
So yeah when you spend $1700Aud for a base model 11” I would like at least the same quality speakers as my M1 that was $500 bucks cheaper lol.
Yeh I have both and compared them, so yes the 13” is better, I guess it might have bigger speakers but still not as detailed as my 11” M1 iPad. And of course the 13” vibrations are worse that the new 11”
In many ways, the speakers are better on the M4 iPads Pros. In a small number of conditions, they can deceptively sound worse to the previous model. The sound is cleaner and more robust on M4, these subtle improvements may seem negative to those who like dirtier sound.
That’s your option of course but it’s subjective, to me and others it’s definitely not as detailed, especially in the mid to highs.
I haven't noticed what you describe and I'm a professional sound engineer with 50 years of experience.