Mac Studio Max - it's not that quiet

[Puonti]

I cannot, decibel x is free for me. There is a premium subscription but I can take sound readings without that subscription.

Ah - either it wasn't mentioned in the app description or I missed that basic sound readings are not tied to a subscription after the free trial. Thanks ?

 

[-narcan-]

I can hear my Ultra's fans constantly going. Sounds like a distant air conditioner in the next room is the best way I can describe. This is listening in a completely silent room / house at night.

 

[AdamSeen]

I can hear my Ultra's fans constantly going. Sounds like a distant air conditioner in the next room is the best way I can describe. This is listening in a completely silent room / house at night.

Thank you - is it possible to get your rooms ambient noise level in db?

 

[Jongstar]

I have found that reducing the fan speeds (with macs fan control) to 1220 rpm reduces the noise significantly.

They can go as low as 1100 rpm, but putting them at that lowest speed creates a different higher pitched noise.

This little tweak might save the whole thing for me.

 

[AAPLGeek]

Intresting. Maybe is this spotlight indexing?

"Spotlight indexing" has become a meme at this point. Every thread about heat and fan noise gets at least one person saying that its spotlight indexing when in reality indexing has negligible effect on modern multi-core Macs.

 

[Grilled Cheese]

And even if the iPhone is not a perfect tool for the task, there's likely more useful information to be gleamed from "iPhone model + app used + ambient reading / above vent reading / operator position reading" (plus whatever notable details you can share about the room) than "I stuck my ear near the rear vent and couldn't hear anything".

We don't know how someone really hears things and interprets what they hear, after all, and people's personal assessment of their own hearing and how they experience sound is generally biased if it's even shared.

I agree that personal assessments can be biased, and I really do wish that iPhone+app db measurements were more informative than “I stuck my ear near the rear vent and couldn't hear anything". Unfortunately they are not.

I don’t know how else to say this. Below 35db, any data obtained will be so wildly inaccurate that it’s completely worthless. Even dedicated spl meters worth over $500 usually bottom out at 30db. Below that, it doesn’t matter if a noise is 5db or 25db, the meter will just say “error”.

So for anyone thinking about buying an spl app, keep this in mind. They are decent for measuring various day to day sounds, such as your hairdryer or the noise of the traffic on your street. For accurately measuring low volume sounds they are useless. Not “below average” or “slightly unreliable”, but completely useless.

 

[flygbuss]

I think people should be a little more careful with terms like ‘dead silent’.

The 6,1 is really quiet at idle but the fan is always running, just at a very low rpm. So there is actually noise coming from the machine.
Same goes for the m1 mini.
I think the m1 mini is the most quiet desktop Mac I experienced until now.
If you have a spinner running in close proximity to the mini or the 6,1 it’ll be louder then the computer (at idle).

But if you work in a studio in music or sound post production, your rooms have acoustic treatment and are really quiet. It’s much easier to hear and locate any noise.
Even tho computer became much more quiet in the last years, in such an environment it’s better to keep the mac or computer in a separate room, hence the Mac Pro rack.

In pretty much any office environment those macs appear inaudible.

 

[Pressure]

I agree that personal assessments can be biased, and I really do wish that iPhone+app db measurements were more informative than “I stuck my ear near the rear vent and couldn't hear anything". Unfortunately they are not.

I don’t know how else to say this. Below 35db, any data obtained will be so wildly inaccurate that it’s completely worthless. Even dedicated spl meters worth over $500 usually bottom out at 30db. Below that, it doesn’t matter if a noise is 5db or 25db, the meter will just say “error”.

So for anyone thinking about buying an spl app, keep this in mind. They are decent for measuring various day to day sounds, such as your hairdryer or the noise of the traffic on your street. For accurately measuring low volume sounds they are useless. Not “below average” or “slightly unreliable”, but completely useless.

If you can't hear the Mac Studio when putting your ear next to it you might want to visit the doctor heh.

It's very audible, constant humming.

I just tried using Mac Fan Control and put both fans at 1100 RPM and that lowered the noise floor / background "whooshing" significantly.

 

[WBB85]

Im coming from the M1 Mac Mini and just got the Mac Studio M1 Max yesterday. Very disappointed by the constant fan noise / humming. The two fans are running at around 1322 RPM at idle all the time and are very noticeable. With fan control app I can reduce them to 1100 RPM, which helps alot, but I can still hear them. Im considering a return and switching back to Mac Mini, which was dead silent always.

 

[Apple2GS]

I'm calling it, my base studio has coil whine. I'm going to try moving it to different power outlets before returning it.

 

[Grilled Cheese]

There is point and it does work. Once you see the correlation between users reported results and loudness you will change your mind. Decibels are a logarithmic scale, inaccuracies aren’t going to make much difference. Also it’s 100x better than having no readings.

I’m not sure what you are saying. Can you explain the purpose of measurements that are completely inaccurate? A phone app cannot tell the difference between a sound that is 5db and 25db for example. So how is it useful?

 

[haruhiko]

I think for Max owners if they are really bothered, just use one of the temperature sensing apps with fan controls, create your own fan curve to turn off the fans until the machine gets hot to a certain degree.

From user reports we have seen so far, this is as quiet as pretty much all desktop PCs that has a fan in it. I don’t know what computer all you guys came from, as long as it isn’t a fanless M1 MacBook Air then this Mac Studio is no worse than what you had or would have. (but mine hasn’t arrived yet so maybe I will change my mind when I hear it.)

Hmm the fan on a 2021 MacBook Pro doesn’t turn on until the CPU reaches 70’C or above.

 

[Chancha]

Hmm the fan on a 2021 MacBook Pro doesn’t turn on until the CPU reaches 70’C or above.

Someone speculates the Studio needs to cool the internal 370W PSU as well, thus the fans need to be always spinning even just when idling, despite the same M1 Max chip is cool with passive cooling on the MBP without fans on until you push the machine.

 

[haruhiko]

Someone speculates the Studio needs to cool the internal 370W PSU as well, thus the fans need to be always spinning even just when idling, despite the same M1 Max chip is cool with passive cooling on the MBP without fans on until you push the machine.

Makes sense. Thanks

 

[Vaibye]

I bought a Mac Studio Max. It’s replacing a mid 2010 iMac running off an external SSD (a real trooper) and joining forces with my MBP 16 inch. Let me start off by saying that I've been so excited for the Studio. It's what I have wanted from Apple for a long time. From what I had read in the lead up to the Studio’s release, I knew there was going to be some potential fan noise. But I’ve got to be honest, at first I thought there was something wrong with my unit because its a constant, pretty annoying whirring sound even when under the most basic of use (using Notes with no other applications open). I'm finding it hard to gauge whether or not I'm being overly sensitive to the sound and noticing it more and more because of it, so I would love your thoughts on your own experiences with the Mac Studio Max fan noise.

Of course all of this is completely based on personal factors like the environment and surrounding noises, sound sensitivity, etc. I will add that my office is very quiet and that my Studio also has plenty of space around it to breathe. I’ve spent the last few hours doing some light web browsing and watching Youtube in Safari, and the fan noise has been apparent the whole time. To add to this, I didn’t think that when I lay on the couch 3 metres away from the Studio and watch a video on my iPad that I would still hear the the Studio in the background (whilst running no apps).

I don’t think we’ve heard from a lot of the big Tech YouTubers about this as they all mostly bought Ultras, of which use the copper heat sink over the aluminium found in the Max. I’ve heard a number of the tech YouTubers with the Ultra say that their units are near silent. I’m having a very different experience with my Max. I just really did not expect it to make more noise than my 2010 iMac (yes, the iMac could sound like a fighter jet occasionally under load but at least it wasn't a constant high pitched whirring sound)

I've seen a few people tweet about the Max and its fan noise and found this one interesting "Bought a Mac Studio this morning, but I ended up returning it in the evening as the continuous “whistle-quiet” fan noise was too much for me in my quiet room, compared to the virtually inaudible Mac mini. I didn’t realize that I was more interested in silence than in performance."

I understand the design but his thing is always blowing quite a decent amount of cool air out the back and it almost seems unnecessary to me personally, given the amount of noise it makes. Other than that I love the Studio. Just curious if others have experienced the same thing?

Received my mac studio max yesterday and it obviously has fan noise. I've never experienced this kind of noise on any m1-based Mac. Even louder than a 2015 iMac. It starts with the fan running even in idle state. It's definitely quiet compared to other desktop systems, but this is beyond my expectations and I'm considering returning it

 

[George Dawes]

Hopefully there’ll be a software update to fix this issue

 

[gfiore]

I have had the base Mac Studio (Max) since yesterday and I can confirm the same experience as others in this thread.

Spotlight is not indexing, I did migrate data from my previous, *silent* M1 Mac mini, and yet the fans are constantly running (albeit very quietly) under minimal load (I'm talking a few chrome tabs).

Macs Fan Control reports both fans running at about 1330 rpm each.

Hopefully this smoothes out in a software update because surely there is enough cooling in this machine and efficiency in these chips that the fans do not need to be on while I'm ranting on MacRumors lol.

 

[patrick.a]

I have had the base Mac Studio (Max) since yesterday and I can confirm the same experience as others in this thread.

Spotlight is not indexing, I did migrate data from my previous, *silent* M1 Mac mini, and yet the fans are constantly running (albeit very quietly) under minimal load (I'm talking a few chrome tabs).

Macs Fan Control reports both fans running at about 1330 rpm each.

Hopefully this smoothes out in a software update because surely there is enough cooling in this machine and efficiency in these chips that the fans do not need to be on while I'm ranting on MacRumors lol.
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I don't think Apple will be able to change that in a software-update since the constant cooling is most likely needed for the integrated power supply.

 

[smartbot]

Just got mine (Ultra version) and I can barely hear it. It's very similar to the iMac Pro (very quiet).

 

[vddobrev]

As per the specs, Mac Studio (Max) and Mac Studio (Ultra) have different cooling system - one is aluminum, the other copper. It is also quite possible to have different exhaust system, i.e. the fans could be different design.

I am really looking forward to someone comparing the sound level of both Mac Studio (Max) and Mac Studio (Ultra) in the same environment.

I have MP6,1 at the moment - it sits on my desk a meter away and I cannot hear its fan running at 800 RPM.

 

[B.A.T]

I have my Mac Studio Max located in a small refrigerator next to my computer desk. I drilled a hole in the side of the fridge and I can't hear the Studio at all.

 

[saulinpa]

of course, that is what diagnostic does, testing the hardware, meaning the fan/fans as well from 1200rpm to the max allowed. This is since 2014 for sure since the new diagnostic was released

The test demonstrates the maximum fan noise the Studio can produce. It shows that the system is not designed to be quiet when stressed.

 

[AdamSeen]

I’m not sure what you are saying. Can you explain the purpose of measurements that are completely inaccurate? A phone app cannot tell the difference between a sound that is 5db and 25db for example. So how is it useful?

That statement is completely ridiculous. The app is far far more sensitive than that for ambient background noise. But obviously you haven’t tried it.

 

[Abbas]

Got the base M1 Max model and I really don't hear anything unless my ears are right next to it.

 

[greenbreadmmm]

Im coming from the M1 Mac Mini and just got the Mac Studio M1 Max yesterday. Very disappointed by the constant fan noise / humming. The two fans are running at around 1322 RPM at idle all the time and are very noticeable. With fan control app I can reduce them to 1100 RPM, which helps alot, but I can still hear them. Im considering a return and switching back to Mac Mini, which was dead silent always.

If fan noise defines your machine choice, I’m not sure you really needed a studio?