Mac studio v1 fan noise - it's going to be one of the loudest Macs at idle.

[simacc]

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That's with an iPhone placed behind it...as I said it want's to go to G...it's literally going to leave you hanging all day.

I'm having a few beers...but I'll post some more scientific stuff over the next few days...

One thing I will say is, once I clock it down to 1100rpm it really is a non-issue...even late at night...no way I could live with it without that though...

 

[OpenSource03]

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Exactly like my unit

 

[OpenSource03]

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That's with an iPhone placed behind it...as I said it want's to go to G...it's literally going to leave you hanging all day.

I'm having a few beers...but I'll post some more scientific stuff over the next few days...

One thing I will say is, once I clock it down to 1100rpm it really is a non-issue...even late at night...no way I could live with it without that though...

The whine will develop at 1100 over time, don't worry

 

[simacc]

The whine will develop at 1100 over time, don't worry

That's where I'm at now...the 14 days are ticking away...is it coil whine, or airflow whistle...airflow whistle all I have to do is keep it clean; coil whine no dice....I'd love to take it apart and get to the bottom of it; but no way...

 

[OpenSource03]

That's where I'm at now...the 14 days are ticking away...is it coil whine, or airflow whistle...airflow whistle all I have to do is keep it clean; coil whine no dice....I'd love to take it apart and get to the bottom of it; but no way...

Mine is shiny and clean and whistles on daily bases. Note that you can’t keep it clean without opening it. I believe you should simply return it if you can’t live with it. Mine was extra silent for the first week, after which it developed the whine. So I changed the rpm and it was fine until eventually it developed whine on every single rpm level. If yours has any whine at all, rest assured it’ll become worse and appear at every rpm.

For me, I don’t care even if it whines a little as long as it works. I love macOS and m1 and either way I’ll use it, but of course I’ll do my best to try to replace it and pray this doesn’t happen again.

 

[npjnpj]

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That's with an iPhone placed behind it...as I said it want's to go to G...it's literally going to leave you hanging all day.

Love your whine+piano there... Sounds like Trent Reznor.

I've got a MS coming in a week or so... My musician ears could not handle that tritone all day... Even if it's quiet... To make it worse for me, I work in a very quiet room 😬

With the amount of people that say they hear no noise at all... There must be some units that are fine... Hoping I get lucky.

Will be getting AppleCare so hopefully I'm taken care of if the problem arises after the return period.

 

[simacc]

Love your whine+piano there... Sounds like Trent Reznor.

I've got a MS coming in a week or so... My musician ears could not handle that tritone all day... Even if it's quiet... To make it worse for me, I work in a very quiet room 😬

Haha thanks, love Reznor!

I really just wanted to drive the point home that they're the two tones that one is looking for...I've heard them to an extent on every single recording of the unit I've found on the interwebs...

My conjecture is that they all have this dual-tone whistle, but to varying degrees, and that it's caused by airflow...if you look at any of the tear-downs, it's a tight fit and there's plenty of stuff in there you could get to whistle...also the fans are essentially pulling air through all that...(of course I could be wrong, it could be coil whine)...

That and that people who can't hear it either have (at least minor) hearing damage, or it's being masked by other sounds in their room, placement etc...for example, yesterday I had some brief ringing in my ears from vacuuming the house, as often happens, and for about an hour after I couldn't hear it from listening position, but it was there once I put my ear to the back of it...if I'm listening to music or mixing I genuinely can't hear it...now that all applies to manufacturer settings, idle at 1340 or so rpm...(again I could be wrong, "there are silent ones in the wild", and it just so happens that every recording I've came across has it)...

But once you clock it down to 1100rpm it is very hard to hear it (but for FWIW the pitches are then Eb (1232ish) and A (although the top note is a bit distorted)...

With the amount of people that say they hear no noise at all... There must be some units that are fine... Hoping I get lucky.

Will be getting AppleCare so hopefully I'm taken care of if the problem arises after the return period.

I was betting on the same thing...I was aware of these threads before I ordered it TBH, although I had done less research than usual for me...anyway please come back to the thread let me know how yours pans out!

I think Applecare is a good idea, there's reports of it getting worse, and that could be a real nightmare in a year or two...I'm still on the fence regarding returning it...if I keep it I'll definitely buy Applecare.

 

[simacc]

Also I wouldn't count on Apple to recognise this any time soon...any fellow 2011 Macbook Pro users remember the GPU debacle...bought new off Apple in 2011, happened to me in 2014, fobbed me off with out of warranty BS...by time they brought out the recall (2015) I had already got it fixed by some BGA repair dude...he did a good job in fairness, said he replaced the chip, not just reflow (held up until 2019)...

 

[deejaymrmack]

I’m suffering from the same problem as well. I can also hear the noise and that stopping me from enjoying that amazing machine. I can’t understand if everyone has that sound but some of them can hear it. There are so many different factors that someone can’t hear the noise. So I’m afraid to ask for replacement. I’m afraid to not take another machine with whine or even something worse. Also because I’m my country there is no Apple only authorised resellers it will be difficult I think to pursue a replacement.

 

[lcubed]

I can’t understand if everyone has that sound but some of them can hear it. There are so many different factors that someone can’t hear the noise.

one factor is that not everyone has the 'sound'. if you measure with an Real Type Analyzer, and the tones don't show up above the current ambient, it's not there. that's definitely a large part of why some can't hear it...

do a measurement and let us know

 

[deejaymrmack]

one factor is that not everyone has the 'sound'. if you measure with an Real Type Analyzer, and the tones don't show up above the current ambient, it's not there. that's definitely a large part of why some can't hear it...

do a measurement and let us know

No, I wasn’t clear maybe. I have that sound. I can track the sound without even an analyser. It’s really annoying. But yeah I aLao tried to put analyser and I have a high pitched sound at 2.1 kHz. Sometimes there are more frequencies not just one. And it’s completely annoying.

 

[deejaymrmack]

Although I think it would be interesting some people that they don’t have the sound to post an image of an analyser to see if they actually don’t have these frequencies or they just cant hear them.

 

[lcubed]

Although I think it would be interesting some people that they don’t have the sound to post an image of an analyser to see if they actually don’t have these frequencies or they just cant hear them.

quite a few have done that in the proceeding 1000 or so posts!

 

[simacc]

Although I think it would be interesting some people that they don’t have the sound to post an image of an analyser to see if they actually don’t have these frequencies or they just cant hear them.

I've come across zero evidence of a silent one...every single recording I've heard of one has the whistle, same frequencies always...I've gone through about 50 videos and sound recordings...and every page on this thread...

Images from an analyser can be totally deceptive...the mic could have high self-noise, preamps etc., the room could be noisy otherwise etc...few people know how to do tests correctly.

All those people using phone apps (or cheap meters) to take SPL measurements, none of those are accurate...(now you can calibrate them to be kinda accurate, but even if I calibrate the internal mic on my iPhone XS using a Class 1 system (which I have), it's still only about +/-3dB...

 

[PianoPro]

Images from an analyser can be totally deceptive...the mic could have high self-noise, preamps etc., the room could be noisy otherwise etc...few people know how to do tests correctly.

Well, I've had my Ultra since the 1st day they went on sale, and there is no whine, none.

So what do you think is deceptive about these images, both taken with the same microphone, in the same room, seconds apart. So where is your "high self-noise, preamps etc., the room could be noisy otherwise etc"?

Repost of my comment #415 from this thread (that you said you looked through completely):

(The only thing I would change from the original comment below is that I suspect it is equally likely, or in fact more likely, a problem with components on the power supply board since we know more about the power supplies now.)

I played your recording through a speaker and the first image clearly shows the 2.2 kHz "whistle" about 30 dB above the noise floor.

The 2nd image is my Ultra (made in Malaysia) with the same mic 2" from its rear, in fact facing its rear - not a good idea in general, but I didn't want to miss a higher frequency whistle if it was there. There's nothing around 2.2 kHz that's above the noise floor.

I'm simply trying to show the "whistle" is not a "feature" of every unit - likely faulty fans.

 

[McBain2]

I understand there are people who legitimately have defective units that make an unacceptable level of noise, but we're to the point of over-analysis, I think.

 

[Killerbob]

Guys - I absolutely believe that there are some people who have received Mac Studios with a “whining” problem. But I know for certain I do not have of these troublemakers. My MS sits on the table next to my monitors, max. 75cm away from me, and it is SILENT. Even when I put my ear all up next to it, I hear nothing except for the very quiet hum of the fan, and that is ONLY when I really want say I hear it. I turn on my Sonnet Echo Express PCIe expansion box, which has two active cooler fans, sitting on the floor under my table, and I immediately hear that.

There is no doubt in my opinion that the grief is real, but not everyone is affected by this!

 

[Paul Cordingley]

Mine was delivered this morning - on a Sunday of all days. I have spent the last few hours setting up - with no problems. Very smooth. As of now, it's completely silent in every respect as far as I am concerned. Caveat being that I am 50 and this room has a lot of ambient noise with a couple of Synology NAS' running along with a Windows laptop.

 

[simacc]

Well, I've had my Ultra since the 1st day they went on sale, and there is no whine, none.

So what do you think is deceptive about these images, both taken with the same microphone, in the same room, seconds apart. So where is your "high self-noise, preamps etc., the room could be noisy otherwise etc"?

Repost of my comment #415 from this thread (that you said you looked through completely):

(The only thing I would change from the original comment below is that I suspect it is equally likely, or in fact more likely, a problem with components on the power supply board since we know more about the power supplies now.)

I played your recording through a speaker and the first image clearly shows the 2.2 kHz "whistle" about 30 dB above the noise floor.

The 2nd image is my Ultra (made in Malaysia) with the same mic 2" from its rear, in fact facing its rear - not a good idea in general, but I didn't want to miss a higher frequency whistle if it was there. There's nothing around 2.2 kHz that's above the noise floor.

I'm simply trying to show the "whistle" is not a "feature" of every unit - likely faulty fans.

Yes I saw that. What proves the second image isn’t just the noise floor from your mic or your preamp etc…or air con in the background…or all of the above and others…it doesn’t…the whistle could be masked.

Make a decent quality recording…try get the room as quiet as possible…mic level to the exaust vents…30mm or so from the rear…just post the recording.

I just used my iPhone XS and voice memos set to lossless…but the room was dead quiet, at about 2am…like you could hear pin drop outside…so you don’t need to pull out any fancy gear…

 

[PianoPro]

Yes I saw that. What proves the second image isn’t just the noise floor from your mic or your preamp etc…or air con in the background…or all of the above and others…it doesn’t…the whistle could be masked.

Unbelievable.

Never argue with idiots.

 

[simacc]

Unbelievable. Never argue with idiots.

I was hoping for that kind of response...you're clearly not an audio engineer...although a sound clip would have been better...of course now that you're emotionally invested, I can't trust you won't doctor it.

You played another sound clip through a speaker, at unknown SPL...is that your evidence?

 

[Argoduck]

Well I’m done with this thread.

 

[simacc]

Here's an example of how masking works. So I have a Sonarworks XREF20 30mm from the rear of the Mac Studio, fans at Auto (1350rpm)...it's a decent measurement mic for the money, but it has a known high noise floor...

(BTW that peak at 685Hz is actually my 10G switch about 600mm away...first time its fan came on actually, Zyxel XGS1250-12)

Anyway, as you can see the 2.1k sound that you could hear in the other post of mine is completely masked, and not showing up in the measurement...that's Smaart 8 BTW, so don't question the analyser's accuracy.

 

[simacc]

And now with a Earthworks M30 in the same position, same gain, and I turned off the 10G switch...we can see the frequencies of interest again...the fans in my Intel Mac are actually very loud from running Smaart and it's 27c in here...aurally the Mac Studio is totally masked in here at the moment, and I haven't turned on the air conditioner yet...I'll try get a lower noise measurement later.

 

[simacc]

So here's some Class 1 measurements...Earthworks M30, calibrated with a B&K Class 1 Calibrator...Smaart. Mac Studio at normal fans (1340 or so)....room as quiet as possible, most equipment powered off, no noise outside.

1. 30mm 42.7 dBA
2. 1000mm 25.6 dBA (at operator position).
3. Verify calibrator (94dB)
4. Mic plugged out. At calibrated level, i.e. for 94dB. Preamps at same gain as for previous measurements. So you can see the affect of the noise floor of my interface/cable on previous measurements.
5. Mic plugged out. dBFS scale. As you can see, very close to theoretical limit of 24bit, i.e -144dB..the dummy load at 68ohm is to mimic the M30's impedance.

Unfortunately the 1000mm one isn't totally accurate as by that stage the Intel Mac's fans (which Smaart is running on) were in the game...but 25dBA ain't bad...I'll try this again and see if I can get the noise floor lower...it isn't easy to do these kind of measurements accurately, as you're getting into the noise floor of even high-end audio equipment...

Anyway in fairness to Apple, they're not lying saying it's quiet...if you look at the 1000mm measurement, most of that is under 0dB...even the 2.1k whistle isn't showing up at 1000mm...and the 1.5k one is only about 5dB.