MacBook Pro 2018 - Speakers Crackling

[M.Rizk]

But the REAL question is: why isn't this around the Apple/Tech news?
Tried to google it just now with 0 results.

The issue does not seem to be this common. I know that many here have exchanged their devices a few times and they all had the same issues, but I have seen many YouTubers reviewing the speakers and they all called it the best one to date, even when compared to other premium laptops as the XPS 15. No one complained about an crackling :/

 

[Knuckleheadz]

Just had another chat with Apple and this time they want me to wipe my MacBook and test as a new account. I refused to do this, it's too much of a pain.

They're going to call back this evening and try a few more things. I've already done the typical SMC/VRAM resets and reinstalled macOS.

Not sure what we're doing tonight, think they want to create a new admin account and run more tests. I'm doubtful any of this will be anything more than a waste of my time. However, I'll let them try nonetheless.

A way to do that is to install an OS on an external USB drive and boot from that.... this allows Apple to test with a fresh OS but keeps your original OS intact
[doublepost=1533641569][/doublepost]

The issue does not seem to be this common. I know that many here have exchanged their devices a few times and they all had the same issues, but I have seen many YouTubers reviewing the speakers and they all called it the best one to date, even when compared to other premium laptops as the XPS 15. No one complained about an crackling :/

I'll be calling Apple tomorrow... the more people that report the issue the more likely Apple will sit up and take notice

 

[AdamA9]

A way to do that is to install an OS on an external USB drive and boot from that.... this allows Apple to test with a fresh OS but keeps your original OS intact
[doublepost=1533641569][/doublepost]

I'll be calling Apple tomorrow... the more people that report the issue the more likely Apple will sit up and take notice

I will suggest we do that then. I have a spare USB here to do that. I will report back tonight with my findings.

I also refused to go into the store to let them take the laptop. I would only exchange it and hope for the best, but given I have a solid Touch ID button and a uniformed screen, I don't want to risk running into another issue.

 

[SBruv]

The issue does not seem to be this common. I know that many here have exchanged their devices a few times and they all had the same issues, but I have seen many YouTubers reviewing the speakers and they all called it the best one to date, even when compared to other premium laptops as the XPS 15. No one complained about an crackling :/

Kinda odd, then, that the problem is clearly widespread yet all the YouTube reviewers didn't get a single bad model between them.

Surely… no, it couldn't be… could it? Dare it be suggested that the YouTube 'reviewers' aren't actually reviewing it that deeply..? Nah, what am I thinking – their editorial integrity is beyond reproach.

 

[ServeLife]

There may be another solution to try. If you disable Siri completely especially Hey Siri - you might find the situation mitigated. I haven't been able to reproduce the error since my first instance even watching YT and iTunes etc. I have to decide if I am returning mine or just go for it .... i9, 32gb, 1TB

 

[Florent]

But the REAL question is: why isn't this around the Apple/Tech news?
Tried to google it just now with 0 results.

An article has been published on a french Apple News website : https://www.macg.co/materiel/2018/08/les-haut-parleurs-de-certains-macbook-pro-2018-craquent-103237

 

[felixroqu3]

There may be another solution to try. If you disable Siri completely especially Hey Siri - you might find the situation mitigated. I haven't been able to reproduce the error since my first instance even watching YT and iTunes etc. I have to decide if I am returning mine or just go for it .... i9, 32gb, 1TB

Yup! This also helped stop the crackling. I completely disabled Siri and it seems to have fixed the issue.
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An article has been published on a french Apple News website : https://www.macg.co/materiel/2018/08/les-haut-parleurs-de-certains-macbook-pro-2018-craquent-103237

And yet, Macrumors hasn't posted anything about this.

 

[Mark_94]

So I had this issue too with my brand new mbp 15" 2,6ghz/1tb/16gb/560x when in first opened it and set it up, then I noticed the update for the processor issue in the Mac App Store and installed it... since then no crackling sound anymore

 

[Ideanj]

I received my replacement MBP yesterday afternoon and started the restore process (Such a pain as I like to restore everything manually. iTunes and iCloud Photo Library take forever to download!) Haven't noticed the issue as of yet, however before setting up the machine as new I did wipe the hard drive and install a fresh copy of MacOS. I did this because when running first aid on the SSD, a bunch of crypto_val warnings generated which was concerning - happened on my original 2018 MBP as well. After a clean install of MacOS, the crypto_val warnings disappeared. Not sure if this correlates with anything, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[CreeptoLoser]

There’s a new Mojave beta. I’ll stress test audio again for you.

 

[UBS28]

So how many people who got their MBP replaced, have a new unit doesn't have this crackling speaker issue anymore?

And reviewers are really a big joke that they cannot even point out big flaws like these in the 2018 MBP's. I bet if that David Lee guy never said anything, all reviewers would have ignored the limited performance.

 

[AdamA9]

So I've been stressing my machine as much as I can ahead of my call in 15 minutes and typically, cannot replicate the issue. It usually happened like clockwork.

Awkward...

 

[Lesser Evets]

Hey! I called up about this a week ago, but it was more bizarre. I thought I blew a speaker somehow, but restarting solved it...

For a day.

Came back with buzzing and skipping getting worse and worse over an hour until audio became farty gibberish.
Restart... your later it began again.
And again, and again, and again.
Called Apple; they got me to clear SMCand NVRAM, etc.
It worked!!
...for a day.
It got so bad that I had to try everything online.

Terminal—sudo killall coreaudiod
That would fix it instantly.
For an hour.
I had to kill coreaudio every hour!
A day later I returned it.

New one comes tomorrow.

 

[AdamA9]

So I've just come off the phone again.

They've asked that I record the issue when it happens again, with me also killing coreaudiod to show it stopping. They'll then send it to the engineers again.

Apparently, in the UK I'm entitled to an exchange within a month of buying the machine, I didn't know this, I thought it was 14 days but fair enough.

I don't want to enter the lottery for a dodgy screen or Touch ID button so said I want to keep this if they can fix it. He also confirmed that it sounds like the software rather than hardware.

I'll update again when I've had a reply from them.
[doublepost=1533666446][/doublepost]

Hey! I called up about this a week ago, but it was more bizarre. I thought I blew a speaker somehow, but restarting solved it...

For a day.

Came back with buzzing and skipping getting worse and worse over an hour until audio became farty gibberish.
Restart... your later it began again.
And again, and again, and again.
Called Apple; they got me to clear SMCand NVRAM, etc.
It worked!!
...for a day.
It got so bad that I had to try everything online.

Terminal—sudo killall coreaudiod
That would fix it instantly.
For an hour.
I had to kill coreaudio every hour!
A day later I returned it.

New one comes tomorrow.

This is exactly the same as mine, and probably everyone else. You're the first I've seen reporting the skipping. It's like a jumping of the audio and crackling. I also have that.

I'm still working with the engineers as I really don't want to give this up and be without a laptop while they dig around in it.

 

[systemride]

FYI I tried disabling Siri and this did not solve the problem for me.

 

[Florent]

FYI I tried disabling Siri and this did not solve the problem for me.

It did not solve it for me either.

 

[waimea21]

Anyone else noticed their speakers randomly crackling on the new MacBook Pro 2018? It happens every so often for me. Only saw one other report so far here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8466796

I'm having the same issue with my new Macbook Pro 15" 2018. I called Apple and they told me to reset the RAM. I did and now the crackling is still there. They told me Apple engineers are aware of the problem, that they are looking for a fix. I will probably ask for a replacement.

 

[midouglas]

Started hearing a popping noise on embedded content in Acrobat (which has no sound) then closed Spotify earlier today and it made the same noise. Strange.

Mouse is also not appearing on load.

Loading bar weirdly clip masks the desktop BKG on load.

What’s your thoughts people?

 

[felixroqu3]

There’s a new Mojave beta. I’ll stress test audio again for you.

Yes. Please. I love you.

 

[jafico1]

Feedback app. Report the bug, provide the system files the app gathers so that the devs can diagnose.

Bit of a late update, but I've filed a bug report with Apple (can't use the Feedback app as I'm using HS). Unfortunately, however, they've marked my bug as a duplicate and I can't see the status of the bug that mine is a duplicate of. Do I potentially keep contacting Apple for assistance, or should I just wait it out?

 

[CreeptoLoser]

Yes. Please. I love you.

Crackling still in latest Mojave but it’s different from before. It’s almost always in the volume controls but rare to find in audio content. Certain audio ranges triggers it.

 

[Ideanj]

I've done some pretty significant testing on my replacement 15" MBP and haven't experienced the issue as of yet! It may be due to the fact that I wiped the drive and reinstalled MacOS before setting it up which removed a crypto_val warning. With people experiencing the issue, can you run Disk Utility in recovery mode and confirm if the crypto_val warnings appear?

 

[AdamA9]

So I've been stressing my machine as much as I can ahead of my call in 15 minutes and typically, cannot replicate the issue. It usually happened like clockwork.

Awkward...

I still cannot get this to happen again. I haven't taken an update or anything but it just wont repeat itself. The only thing that has changed is I no longer use a second monitor with an eGPU...

 

[randomberlinguy]

I have the same issue. Often times I play some music in background when I write down some code.
I've experienced that it occurs after a while of playing something.

For me the workaround is to stop the playback and start it again.

 

[MaximizedAction]

I wonder if this is related to the constant 0.5 to 1.0 seconds audio lag I’m getting in Boot Camp through wired headphones - in addition to the occasional crackling through the speakers.

Switching audio drivers with MS’s default ones doesn’t help either. It’s also not just a Windows 10 thing, because I don’t have this on the Win 10 on my MBP 2014.

Using https://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml gave me the same result message as in https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbook-pro-2018-speakers-crackling.2128234/#post-26294937 .

Anyone else here noticing an audio lag in Boot Camp?

Edit: “...in addition to the occasional crackling through the speakers.”