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lancastor

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2011
848
346
I'm interested in a speaker comparison from new new Macbook Pro M3.

Have anyone found a video on YouTube yet, which compares the speakers with older Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs?
 
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lancastor

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2011
848
346
There are no changes in the speaker system. The speakers are quite good, but exact the same as in the previous Macbook M2 Macbook Pro 14".
 

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
9,201
7,354
Perth, Western Australia
I'm interested in a speaker comparison from new new Macbook Pro M3.

Have anyone found a video on YouTube yet, which compares the speakers with older Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs?

They'd be identical to the M1 Pro. I own an M1 Pro 14".

I've had a few MacBooks to compare and it beats them all. By a lot. Like not even close. Also does surround sound that actually works (i.e., it can do directional sound so things sound like they're somewhere in 3d space around your head) - and you won't get that out of a YouTube video comparison being played back on your current machine.

Previous machines I've had
2011 15" Pro
2015 13" Pro
2020 13" Air

I also regularly deal with enterprise PC notebooks. They're crap.

It also stomps on the iPad Pro 10.5 I had, and the iPad Air 5 I currently have.

If in doubt find one in store and do some testing - but suffice to say the 14" Pro speakers are the best laptop speakers I've ever used by a lot. I would wager the 16" are better though purely due to size.
 

dalen3

macrumors member
Sep 14, 2007
33
11
When I was upgrading from 2019 16" I wanted to try M2 14" but was worried about the speakers as those on my intel 16 were incredible. I would not take portable speakers on the trips anymore, and would just use laptop in the hotel rooms.

So I tested M2 14" for a few days and compared it my 2019 16". I put them side by side and played a few songs, I could not hear a difference in quality. Just great speakers.
At the end I went with 16" M2 just because of the screen size, the speakers were not a factor at all (the 16 M2 are of course even better though).

I would say, if you are thinking about the speakers as a deciding factor, don't. 14 are awesome.
 

konstantin1122

macrumors newbie
Nov 5, 2023
7
5
I am wondering about what the differences between the speakers on the new M3 16" MacBook Pro and the other MacBook Pro models.

I personally have had the M2 16" MacBook Pro for a short time before exchanging it for the M3 16" MacBook Pro. What I noticed is that the speakers on the M3 16" MacBook Pro seem to have less lower-end (bass) and sound somewhat quieter overall compared to the M2 16" MacBook Pro which sounded way too muddy to me (with too much low end), especially during calls. On the other hand, I've tested another M3 16" MacBook Pro at the local tech store and it sounded very similar to the M2 16" MacBook Pro that I had previously. So either they are differences between the same models or it could be my perception in another environment that tricked me into thinking so.

I've found out that some people attribute this to differences in the speaker EQ tuning of the different M generations that are causing this. I am curious if someone has found any hardware difference in the speakers though.
 

USAJerry

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2016
129
233
They'd be identical to the M1 Pro. I own an M1 Pro 14".

I've had a few MacBooks to compare and it beats them all. By a lot. Like not even close. Also does surround sound that actually works (i.e., it can do directional sound so things sound like they're somewhere in 3d space around your head) - and you won't get that out of a YouTube video comparison being played back on your current machine.

Previous machines I've had
2011 15" Pro
2015 13" Pro
2020 13" Air

I also regularly deal with enterprise PC notebooks. They're crap.

It also stomps on the iPad Pro 10.5 I had, and the iPad Air 5 I currently have.

If in doubt find one in store and do some testing - but suffice to say the 14" Pro speakers are the best laptop speakers I've ever used by a lot. I would wager the 16" are better though purely due to size.
I have an M1 Pro 16" and the sound is amazing. But I bought this on sale to move away from my mid-2014 13". But I love the clarity and the bass.

I heard the M2 16" had the speaker positions changed. I'm curious as to how the M3 14" and 16" compare to the M1 16" as I'm thinking about adding an M3 14" for travel.
 

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
18,366
10,123
Atlanta, GA
They'd be identical to the M1 Pro. I own an M1 Pro 14".

I've had a few MacBooks to compare and it beats them all. By a lot. Like not even close. Also does surround sound that actually works (i.e., it can do directional sound so things sound like they're somewhere in 3d space around your head) - and you won't get that out of a YouTube video comparison being played back on your current machine.

Previous machines I've had
2011 15" Pro
2015 13" Pro
2020 13" Air

I also regularly deal with enterprise PC notebooks. They're crap.

It also stomps on the iPad Pro 10.5 I had, and the iPad Air 5 I currently have.

If in doubt find one in store and do some testing - but suffice to say the 14" Pro speakers are the best laptop speakers I've ever used by a lot. I would wager the 16" are better though purely due to size.
I have an M1 13” iPad Pro and my 16” M1-Pro‘s speakers are much much better when it comes to bass. They’re much better than the UE Boom BT speaker I use with my 13” iPad Pro. I really love these MBP speakers.
 

elmarjazz

macrumors regular
May 26, 2010
212
114
I’m still with my MBP Pro 14” M1 so can’t compare to the M3, and maybe there have been software tweaks? All I know is that I’m sometimes blown away [as mentioned before here] with the surround 3D-like sound this can produce with music in my lap. Pretty amazing coming from a small laptop. Almost makes me temped and how much better a MBP 16” would be, but then part of the ‘magic’ of the 14” is the quality sound from a small package.
 
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