MacBook Pro 14" speakers rattling at some frequencies

[Asthmatic Kitty]

Noticed that while listening to some tracks on spotify that the shell of the MBP will rattle audibly, e.g. with the song "Kissing the Ambience" by Mind Explorer. With most music it seems to be OK, but it seems to struggle at some frequencies.

Think it happens more when I have the laptop in my lap rather than on a table, and more noticeable at higher volumes (say 70%).

Could anyone else with a new 14" or 16" MBP try it out and see if it happens to theirs please?

Audio file attached with the rattling sound.

Spotify song link here:

 

[Asthmatic Kitty]

This track seems quite bad for it as well. Most tracks seem ok though, maybe it's sub-bass that's causing the issue? Hopefully somebody can confirm it happens on their 2021 MBP as well.

 

[Sanpete]

Noticed that while listening to some tracks on spotify that the shell of the MBP will rattle audibly, e.g. with the song "Kissing the Ambience" by Mind Explorer. With most music it seems to be OK, but it seems to struggle at some frequencies.

Think it happens more when I have the laptop in my lap rather than on a table, and more noticeable at higher volumes (say 70%).

Could anyone else with a new 14" or 16" MBP try it out and see if it happens to theirs please?

Audio file attached with the rattling sound.

Spotify song link here:

No rattle on my 16" from either sample.

 

[Magnus Maybach]

Noticed that while listening to some tracks on spotify that the shell of the MBP will rattle audibly, e.g. with the song "Kissing the Ambience" by Mind Explorer. With most music it seems to be OK, but it seems to struggle at some frequencies.

Think it happens more when I have the laptop in my lap rather than on a table, and more noticeable at higher volumes (say 70%).

Could anyone else with a new 14" or 16" MBP try it out and see if it happens to theirs please?

Audio file attached with the rattling sound.

Spotify song link here:

yes! I have a MBP 14" and I noticed the rattling in certain yt video.

I noticed the chatter in some yt videos. I played the same videos on another MBP 14" in an Apple Store and it had the same problem.
Some people doesn't hear it, including the employee who looked after me at the time. Therefore, they could not help me with my problem.

The rattling bothers me a lot and I didn't notice it on older MBs. Do you know more about the problem? Is it a recognized problem that can be fixed by taking it to an Apple Store?

Thanks for your two examples, which illustrate the problem well. Tomorrow I'll visit the Apple Store again.
I'll take my MB 14" with me and try to demonstrate the problem another time. Maybe this time they can help me.

Do you have more cases/examples in which the speakers rattle?

 

[Asthmatic Kitty]

yes! I have a MBP 14" and I noticed the rattling in certain yt video.

I noticed the chatter in some yt videos. I played the same videos on another MBP 14" in an Apple Store and it had the same problem.
Some people doesn't hear it, including the employee who looked after me at the time. Therefore, they could not help me with my problem.

The rattling bothers me a lot and I didn't notice it on older MBs. Do you know more about the problem? Is it a recognized problem that can be fixed by taking it to an Apple Store?

Thanks for your two examples, which illustrate the problem well. Tomorrow I'll visit the Apple Store again.
I'll take my MB 14" with me and try to demonstrate the problem another time. Maybe this time they can help me.

Do you have more cases/examples in which the speakers rattle?

I took mine into the store shortly after posting this thread, and the Apple employee tried playing the audio files on an Air they had lying around, which exhibited the same rattling (probably even worse, in fact).

He suggested taking the bottom plate off and reattaching it, which I thought sounded worth a try. I think although that's probably not completely got rid of the issue, it has made it a hell of a lot better — I rarely, if ever, notice the rattling now when playing music through the speakers. Doing this also almost completely removed the creaking I was hearing from the case a lot of the time.

So yeah, definitely recommend asking them to reattach the bottom case and hope that fixes it. It made a big difference on my machine. Good luck!

 

[aoaaron]

No rattle on my 16" from either sample.

I'm getting this on my 16''.



I am so surprised more people don't talk about this issue on MBP. I'm an audiophile and the praise these speakers get is a bit confusing re:bass. It's clearly DSP over-drive on the bass drivers causing this distortion. It can make some things sound great but distortion and compression like this sounds awful.,