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Mac studio v1 fan noise - it's going to be one of the loudest Macs at idle.
- Thread starter AdamSeen
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So finally, it's being talked about amongst the jutubers. 😃
Finally, Max Tech is listing it in number one issue, so that's something. Apple, take notes.
It's painful how clueless he is about any of this. Just barely passable surface knowledge. It's like weather girls in the 70's.
"We trolled the forums for random problems being experienced by a tiny number of people, barely understood them, then made a click bait video about it, yay!"
Despite what he says the sound is coil whine, from the fan motor which is a very common affliction for fans. Furthermore, lowering the RPM makes it sound much worse, not better. Given how wrong he is about this issue, I assume he's wrong about everything else he says. To assume otherwise would be to commit to Gell-Mann Amnesia knowingly. I really hate this type of youtuber; even worse is seeing them repeatedly promoted around here.
I’ve made more measurements.
1 - iPhone mic installed at 15 cm from the Mac Studio rear for both fans, two fan speeds tested (1100 and 1330 rpm) nothing special.
2 - Same as 1 but directed to the left fan instead of both, nothing special for 1100 and 1330 rpm.
3 - Same as 2 but directed to the right fan, nothing special at 1330 rpm, at 1100 rpm there is a permanent peak around 2,7 KHz.
Could 1100 rpm be destructive for right fan ?
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The Max Tech YouTube boys have very little credibility, but we live in an era in which critical thinking is an endangered species.
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Maybe it's time to start emailing Tim Cook about it. Although doubtful he personally reads them, if his executive assistants get a flood of emails about maybe they'll push the engineers to look at it.
I hope that anyone who has the whine/whistle issue has already reported it to Apple. Several forum members have mentioned Apple engineers wanting to analyze their returned units.
Apple knows how many units are being returned, and I imagine there is a threshold for the percentage of returns they consider normal versus “too many” indicating there is an issue.
My Studio is already ready to be send back and I can’t take any measurements, but I can confirm the same issue on mine. The noise was clearly coming from the right fan motor (not from the blades or the air).
BTW: Max/24GPU/64GB/4TB, Made in China. Delivered via NL to DE.
you're looking at the 2.5 kHz one-third octave band. that covers roughly 2.2 to 2.8 kHz.
all the energy between those two frequencies get power summed into a single estimate.
if you resample with a narrow band analyzer (or RTA), most point to the peak ~ 2.1 to 2.2 kHz. if the fan is running ~ 1300 rpm, a peak in that neighborhood is ~10th or so harmonic of the fundamental fan frequency (~ 21 or 22 Hz).
it could be an interaction between the rotating fan blades and the fixed blades or internal supports that form the internal fan housing. one of the ways that vacuum cleaners were made quieter was be changing the number of fixed vs rotating elements in the fan assembly. those changes shifted where the dominant peaks occurred.
one of the take apart videos showed that the max's had several fins sticking into the airflow path while the ultra's did not.
My Ultra Whistling. So other cooling has no effect on this.
That Noise. Can't stand it. Cuts right through me. No matter where I put the Mac Studio its just always there
I know sending an email is easier, but why wouldn't you call Apple tech support? All those tech support tickets, and computer returns, will be noticed more than your email.
Honestly I got absolutely nowhere on 3 of my 4 units calling Apple Support. And by nowhere I mean went backwards. Over 10 calls between the 3 and I'm on my forth and called and all they said is to reset the SMC. If you have an M1 computer this can't be done. Just bad advise and a waste of time. Out of the 5 techs one was an absolute ass to me. Just rude. Basically said I should have kept my M1 iMac. Made me feel really nice about the purchase.
Yes. But now there are like five trouble tickets about the issue in Apple's system as opposed to one email which will likely be ignored; and that was my point. Unfortunately it looks like the gen 2 Studio is the one to wait for because I doubt there is a fix without redesigned internal components; maybe Apple will do a silent upgrade in the gen 1s. Just gotta keep returning them. Sorry that the computer you want is afflicted with such an annoying issue.
Not really cause Ive returned them all to apple and one got captured unsure about Mac Studio 3 even though I requested the return note not to say buyers remorse.
I've been obliged to change the software since it was not offering more than 1 octave and 1/3 octave that I was using.
So now I've made a measurement showing 1/24 octave, here under is the graph for the right fan (rear view) running at 1100 rpm :
Ok here are some graphs, the first is the Fletcher-Munson curve which shows the responsiveness of human hearing.
The highlighted point is 2500hz, which corresponds to 26 dB. This is basically where the whistle on my Mac Studio sits. It happens to be basically the frequency that human hearing is most sensitive to.
This graph shows that a 2.5kHz tone at 26dB is actually basically equal to a 10 kHz tone at 45 dB, or a 100 Hz tone at 55+ dB. Those are not sounds that most people are going to be able to ignore.
Here are two spectrograms, both recorded from fairly close to the machine. The one on the left is my fairly beefy gaming PC with a 3900x and 2080ti, the one on the right is my M1 Ultra Studio.
The gaming PC has a very smooth "white noise" pattern, with no individual frequencies poking through. The Mac Studio however has a definite tone at ~2.6 kHz and then another higher up at about 14 kHz.
I'm pretty sure those tones are the ones that make MY Mac Studio sound like a dog whistle, and at this point I'm fairly sure it must be defective.
I've tried really hard to like this machine and to just live with the noise, but I think I'm going to return it.
The highlighted point is 2500hz, which corresponds to 26 dB. This is basically where the whistle on my Mac Studio sits. It happens to be basically the frequency that human hearing is most sensitive to.
This graph shows that a 2.5kHz tone at 26dB is actually basically equal to a 10 kHz tone at 45 dB, or a 100 Hz tone at 55+ dB. Those are not sounds that most people are going to be able to ignore.
Here are two spectrograms, both recorded from fairly close to the machine. The one on the left is my fairly beefy gaming PC with a 3900x and 2080ti, the one on the right is my M1 Ultra Studio.
The gaming PC has a very smooth "white noise" pattern, with no individual frequencies poking through. The Mac Studio however has a definite tone at ~2.6 kHz and then another higher up at about 14 kHz.
I'm pretty sure those tones are the ones that make MY Mac Studio sound like a dog whistle, and at this point I'm fairly sure it must be defective.
I've tried really hard to like this machine and to just live with the noise, but I think I'm going to return it.
Bottom line the end user should not be required to come up with solutions. The manufacturer should chime in and say its either normal or not normal. That it can either be fixed or not be fixed. To leave your users in the dark at this point is unfair to the ones like you and me who would love nothing more then to keep their examples, slightly flawed or not. And there is no denying the HFS is perceptible even while trying to fill my space with other audible noise.
Yes. The good news for recording studios is you can move it far away or in a iso box. Just like almost every other cpu with enough power to be in a recording studio.
This is not really going to be an issue for the video guys. The noise levels for recording studio control rooms is CRITICAl.
This is not a matter of “it doesn’t bother me” or “ just get used to it. The fan noise and the whine are not allowed in a control room where you also record and mix. I cant stress this enough because it’s called the MAC STUDIO !
For those not working in a pro or prosumer level studio… you simply dont get it.
The matter is further complicated by the fact that there seems to be a wide variance in the different noises and levels of those noises.
I’m already building my iso box about 8 feet away from any speakers or possible mic placements.
So , it’s kinda interesting that the folks who actual need this thing to be quiet are not the ones who are going to pressure Apple into dealing with it. We are used to not having a cpu near the gear.
The latest m1 mac mini was a tease. Its is completely silent! But it can’t handle the workload for large sessions. We were all hoping the max STUDIO ( see the name there?) was going to be silent , or at least quiet enough to have nearby. It is not. This particular run will never be.
If you are unlucky enough to also have a “whiner” the. You have grounds to return the unit.
The fan noise alone, I’m afraid, will not be grounds for claiming a defect.
This is not really going to be an issue for the video guys. The noise levels for recording studio control rooms is CRITICAl.
This is not a matter of “it doesn’t bother me” or “ just get used to it. The fan noise and the whine are not allowed in a control room where you also record and mix. I cant stress this enough because it’s called the MAC STUDIO !
For those not working in a pro or prosumer level studio… you simply dont get it.
The matter is further complicated by the fact that there seems to be a wide variance in the different noises and levels of those noises.
I’m already building my iso box about 8 feet away from any speakers or possible mic placements.
So , it’s kinda interesting that the folks who actual need this thing to be quiet are not the ones who are going to pressure Apple into dealing with it. We are used to not having a cpu near the gear.
The latest m1 mac mini was a tease. Its is completely silent! But it can’t handle the workload for large sessions. We were all hoping the max STUDIO ( see the name there?) was going to be silent , or at least quiet enough to have nearby. It is not. This particular run will never be.
If you are unlucky enough to also have a “whiner” the. You have grounds to return the unit.
The fan noise alone, I’m afraid, will not be grounds for claiming a defect.