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MacBook Pro 2018 - Speakers Crackling
- Thread starter jaack
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I have also spoken to Apple U.S. via "Chat" support.
I have also spoken with Apple Support via call in India.
The former has acknowledged that there is an issue and provided me with a temporary fix but the latter has absolutely no idea about the issue to which my response was "You'll should be aware of it"
Anyhow I was eagerly planning to purchase a MacBook Pro 2018 13" 512GB S.S.D. but now I have decided not to do so and have even cancelled my prebooked order for it !
The representative for Apple U.S. via chat indicated to me that the engineering team is working day and night but frankly it's too slow ! And I feel Apple should publicly acknowledge the issue !
They should also "FIX AND OVERHAUL" their Quality Control program !
TO THE OTHERS IN THE FORUM !
Earlier in the year multiple users of iPhone X experienced iPhone X Crackling or Distortion which I also had experienced and I reported it in Dec 2017 and the process of getting a replacement was repeatedly denied as they said my iPhone X passed diagnostics ! I then sent e-mails to Tim/Craig/Apple Executive Relations as well as the head of Apple India Operations since I purchased it there. And finally in March I obtained a replacement !
It was a painful process that NO APPLE USER SHOULD ENDURE!
This is a very long message but I felt necessary that everyone knows how Apple Q/C program and the quality of their devices have fallen !
I hope Apple gets their act together to fix this ! Steve Jobs would be very upset about all the issues !
I had to take my MBP in for a 'service report'. While there I found some new info.
1. If I used Preview (space-bar on a selected file, or the play button on an audio file), I couldn't get the audio stream crackling (play sound feedback sounds when playing any audio) to trigger. Use Safari, Quicktime, or something else, and it triggers as normal (latest macOS).
2. Store had a demo 2016 with touchbar. It had speaker hiss, and audio stream crackling. That makes 2x 2018 MBP15, 1x 2018 MBP13, 1x 2017, 1x 2016-demo that have these issues. 5/5 on Touch Bar Macs.... I feel the issue is huge. My 2015 MBP didn't have hissing for sure.
3. They had a USB-C screen (therefore using DisplayPort stream): connected to screen and outputting audio to it, I couldn't get the audio crackle to trigger.
4. While connected to the screen, the MBP built-in speakers were constantly hissing.
1. If I used Preview (space-bar on a selected file, or the play button on an audio file), I couldn't get the audio stream crackling (play sound feedback sounds when playing any audio) to trigger. Use Safari, Quicktime, or something else, and it triggers as normal (latest macOS).
2. Store had a demo 2016 with touchbar. It had speaker hiss, and audio stream crackling. That makes 2x 2018 MBP15, 1x 2018 MBP13, 1x 2017, 1x 2016-demo that have these issues. 5/5 on Touch Bar Macs.... I feel the issue is huge. My 2015 MBP didn't have hissing for sure.
3. They had a USB-C screen (therefore using DisplayPort stream): connected to screen and outputting audio to it, I couldn't get the audio crackle to trigger.
4. While connected to the screen, the MBP built-in speakers were constantly hissing.
Gosh that's serious ! I tried a MacBook Pro 2017 in our Apple Authorized Reseller and there wasn't any distortion at any volume!
This entire situation is perplexing and frustrating !
Latest update is that Apple engineers don't wanna do a device capture any more, and they are 100% clear on the issue. They still expect to fix it in software, but the Apple Support guy did mention recalls.
That since Mojave didn’t fix it they are having problems, but they are working on diagnosing the problem more to see solution. That there may be another software update to try a fix, or that it could be hardware issue which might need recall.
Support guy said he’d keep me in the loop.
Support guy said he’d keep me in the loop.
My support guy told me it’s not Apple’s problem, though my issue might be different from yours. I’m just having the audio problems happen through a usb interface. He suggested that the new macs don’t supply enough voltage for old usb interfaces and said he would upgrade to a thunderbolt interface
Is that the conclusion of your support guy? Or engineers?
Cos I have it escalated with the highest level of consumer support person, who has internally escalated it with engineers. And he’s getting responses from them.
That’s coming from the engineers, I was sending multiple data captures and they came to the conclusion it wasn’t a problem with the MacBook Pro. They said, similar to how iPhones no longer have headphone jacks, new Macs are no longer compatible with older hardware.
That sounds purely made up. My interface is powered by the wall outlet. The audio dropouts happen when specific background processes access the internet. It looks like the T2 controller chip sometimes can't handle all its tasks at the same time.
I’ve honestly thought the same thing. When I’m using CPU intensive software, my fans are naturally running high, but if I click the Siri button, the fans completely shut off. Maybe that’s supposed to happen, I’m not sure, but it feels like another sign of T2 issues.
That's supposed to happen, has since siri was added to macs, it's to eliminate fan background noise when listening.
But I do suspect that t2 is struggling to cope with everything it's asked to do in real time, or not prioritising everything correctly.
I don’t get audio drop outs with a high-end DAC. Perhaps try getting your machine replaced?
I do get still some sample rate sync issues sometimes but I suppose I have to wait for a software fix for it.
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I can confirm there is something happening on the hardware side.
The new machine is so much better than the previous machine it replaced. My previous machine was really a joke.
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Which DAC do you have?
No dropouts when turning wifi on/off, turning location services on/off, connecting/disconnecting another usb device?
I'm trying to determine if it really could be faulty hardware.
I'm having all of the above, additional random crackle when there is a SMC related process accessing the internet.
Plus it also happens (though rarely) with internal speakers.
All dropouts seem to be gone with wifi turned off.
This is encouraging knowing that dropouts disappear when WiFi is off. I’m going to try this out for myself and see how it goes.
I’m still getting drop outs. Yesterday was awful, trying to run after effects with all of this. One guy said try turning off fan control, will try that later today.
I hope this is fixed in the next os update. Hopefully we see that very soon.
Edit - Made no difference, I feel that it's gotten worse over the past few weeks. My headphones stutter so much these days. I'm hoping for this fix soon.
I hope this is fixed in the next os update. Hopefully we see that very soon.
Edit - Made no difference, I feel that it's gotten worse over the past few weeks. My headphones stutter so much these days. I'm hoping for this fix soon.
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I have talked to Apple on the phone today and they are telling me that there are two temporary fixes atm:
- Change the format in MIDI setting to 44,100Hz
- Quit coreaudiod from Activity Monitor
I have done all of that and it doesn't help anything. Quit coreaudiod on my mac would have a MMAudio Device in the sound setting and will cause all sound related application to freeze.
They also said that it is a software issue and there is no permeant fix at the moment. However Apple has acknowledged the issue and they are working on a fix, a software update will come soon and unsure of the time frame.
I have got three 2018 MacBook Pro and they had the same issue. 1x 2.2Ghz and 2x 2.6Ghz all 16gb ram and 512gb SSD.
- Change the format in MIDI setting to 44,100Hz
- Quit coreaudiod from Activity Monitor
I have done all of that and it doesn't help anything. Quit coreaudiod on my mac would have a MMAudio Device in the sound setting and will cause all sound related application to freeze.
They also said that it is a software issue and there is no permeant fix at the moment. However Apple has acknowledged the issue and they are working on a fix, a software update will come soon and unsure of the time frame.
I have got three 2018 MacBook Pro and they had the same issue. 1x 2.2Ghz and 2x 2.6Ghz all 16gb ram and 512gb SSD.
I'm pretty sure it's software too, I think the reason behind different people not having issues is down to the way they use their Mac. Whenever I'm using After Effects and drive the CPU too high sporadically, it causes stutter. Increasing the I/O Buffer Size to 1024/2048 helps massively. So you could try that if you use any programs that allow for that.
When I'm just cruising, there isn't much of an issue. Hopefully when the Mojave beta comes out, some of this issues will be resolved. They are planning on getting back to me tomorrow / Wednesday.
Moving forward, getting a first generation model is never the answer. Nor is an OS x.0, the x.0.1 or x.1 are just safer bets.