New 16" Speakers Popping

[Bbnsh]

I've got both the 2019 and a 2021 16". It was fixed on the 2019 generation.

I have the 2019 16" and for me the issue was never fixed. I had my Macbook many times at the Apple Store. In the beginning they changed all related hardware but the issue persisted. I had several "escalations" with customer service manager. End of the story: They promised the issues will be resolved "shortly" in a software update. I am waiting since more than a year for this.

I will have another call with one of the customer service managers in beginning of May. Last time they said: No, you won't need to wait for another half a year. But in May half a year passed again.

Edit: As some people have the issue and others don't. Can this issue really only be attributed to software? Or must it be some kind of hardware-software combination issue?

 

[cmwebdev]

Edit: As some people have the issue and others don't. Can this issue really only be attributed to software? Or must it be some kind of hardware-software combination issue?

This just an educated guess based on what I've read elsewhere but I think it's a software issue and some don't have it because it's only triggered when Rosetta is running Intel apps. I would suggest whenever anybody hears the issue to do the following:

1. Open Activity Monitor
2. Sort columns by Kind
3. See if any of the running processes say Intel
4. Post in this thread saying which Intel processes you had running at the time the issue occurred, if any

That way we can maybe figure out if it also happens when ONLY Apple Silicon processes are running to eliminate Rosetta as the cause of the issue.

 

[fpenta]

So.. I changed two 16" and two 14" (I wasn't sure which one to get, and ended up with the 14"). ALL of them were doing the same problem in the exact situation. The test to reproduce the popping issue was to enlarge a psb file to 30000x30000 pixels bringing the size file to 90 GB.
Within 5/7 min the problem showed in all machines while playing Spotify.

 

[hellogareth]

Joined to post here. I have the M1 MBP 14" 16-core GPU. I was experiencing the same sound popping issue. Monterey 12.3 was released yesterday and I have it installed. Hopefully, it will help. I will update if the problem persists.

 

[IAMSLEEP]

Joined to post here. I have the M1 MBP 14" 16-core GPU. I was experiencing the same sound popping issue. Monterey 12.3 was released yesterday and I have it installed. Hopefully, it will help. I will update if the problem persists.

I have the base 16” (but with 1tb SSD) and was having this audio issue a TON. I updated per advice from a senior apple advisor. Been going back and forth with them for a week. So far it happens much less severely or frequently but is still occurring for me.

 

[md-hamed]

Joined to post here. I have the M1 MBP 14" 16-core GPU. I was experiencing the same sound popping issue. Monterey 12.3 was released yesterday and I have it installed. Hopefully, it will help. I will update if the problem persists.

I can confirm that it's still happening in Monterey 12.3.

 

[fpenta]

I can confirm that it's still happening in Monterey 12.3.

Yes, confirm it's still happening with 12.3.

 

[Kola91]

I registered solely for this topic.

My story: Got the MacBook 16" with a M1 Pro chip on launch, issues started at about 2 months in. I sent it to both the premium seller I got it from and Apple directly, both said that they couldn't reproduce the issue and that my laptop "passed all tests".

So two repair attempts, changing settings in Audio-Midi-setup and updating to 12.3 did nothing to solve this issue. I feel like it takes more coverage on this topic (like in a Macrumors news post) in order to raise awareness and force Apple to really take care of this issue.

I really, really can't accept the fact that I bought a super expensive product that started to have issues after such a short period of usage time and that I can't even swap or return it at this point. It feels like Apple will just do nothing about it. Such a shame (since I love the new MacBooks otherwise, but this destroys my faith in this company and brand).

 

[fpenta]

It

I registered solely for this topic.

My story: Got the MacBook 16" with an M1 Pro chip on launch, issues started at about 2 months in. I sent it to both the premium seller I got it from and Apple directly, both said that they couldn't reproduce the issue and that my laptop "passed all tests".

So two repair attempts, changing settings in Audio-Midi-Setup and updating to 12.3 did nothing to solve this issue. I feel like it takes more coverage on this topic (like in a Macrumors news post) in order to raise awareness and force Apple to really take care of this issue.

I really, really can't accept the fact that I bought a super expensive product that started to have issues after such a short period of usage time and that I can't even swap or return it at this point. It feels like Apple will just do nothing about it. Such a shame (since I love the new MacBooks otherwise, but this destroys my faith in this company and brand).

It’s a software issue. Every 14” and 16” behave the same way. I tried with 2 16” and 2 14”.

 

[Kola91]

Okay, but what do you say to this guy?:

Sorry, nothing's been fixed with the old models. It's still there. With the old models I never had that issue in the beginning, then it showed up, then went away, then came back. I can still reproduce it firing up old machines running the latest version of Big Sur. I've yet to witness this on the new 14" and 16" machines... (knock on wood).

And yet they have not fixed it. ?‍♂️
It could very well be a combination of software and hardware, as the T2 chips are used for DAC control. I honestly don't care, I want them to fix stuff.

I mean, I'd rather have a software issue of course. Maybe the difference between different users is that some (me included) have used a Time Machine backup, while others may have just set it up as a new computer. But this is just speculation on my part.

Is Apple aware of this issue? Is there something we can do?

 

[IAMSLEEP]

Okay, but what do you say to this guy?:





I mean, I'd rather have a software issue of course. Maybe the difference between different users is that some (me included) have used a Time Machine backup, while others may have just set it up as a new computer. But this is just speculation on my part.

Is Apple aware of this issue? Is there something we can do?

It's still happening for me on 12.3 (16" M1 Pro, 16gb ram, 1TB ssd)

Gonna factory reset it tonight and not port anything over via time machine. Literally going to use all stock apps and try to replicate the issue on a fresh account. No chrome, Spotify, etc. and I feel like it will STILL happen.

My theory is that it has more to do with a firmware/OS issue regarding ram pressure/cpu load than what specific apps someone is using or what they may have on their computer running like browser extensions or something. I think it is literally a ram pressure/swap memory load issue which results in audio artifacts like the popping/crackling. OR it's a hardware issue but I doubt that due to the fact that playing the same audio track over and over results in popping and crackling at different points.


I'll report back after I do a full wipe and test via all first party apps like safari and Apple Music/TV, etc.

 

[therealrav]

It's still happening for me on 12.3 (16" M1 Pro, 16gb ram, 1TB ssd)

Gonna factory reset it tonight and not port anything over via time machine. Literally going to use all stock apps and try to replicate the issue on a fresh account. No chrome, Spotify, etc. and I feel like it will STILL happen.

My theory is that it has more to do with a firmware/OS issue regarding ram pressure/cpu load than what specific apps someone is using or what they may have on their computer running like browser extensions or something. I think it is literally a ram pressure/swap memory load issue which results in audio artifacts like the popping/crackling. OR it's a hardware issue but I doubt that due to the fact that playing the same audio track over and over results in popping and crackling at different points.


I'll report back after I do a full wipe and test via all first party apps like safari and Apple Music/TV, etc.

@IAMSLEEP - Please let me save you this effort and time. I have done this already and it will not stop the problem. This thread has discussed that it is likely happening with the M1 series chips and Rosetta. At first, I thought it was Microsoft applications because they generally don't play nice with Apple but I've proven this is not the case. You can have a brand new build, launch Apple Music or Tidal or Spotify. Stream and within an hour of browsing Safari, you will get the crackle and popping.

This has to be solved with a proper software fix. I have a developer account with Apple and I submitted the feedback to them and all I could see is <10 people reported it. Seems impossible to me. I will update if I see any movement on this.

Please save your time and do something better on your Friday evening (assuming you are in North America)!

 

[IAMSLEEP]

@IAMSLEEP - Please let me save you this effort and time. I have done this already and it will not stop the problem. This thread has discussed that it is likely happening with the M1 series chips and Rosetta. At first, I thought it was Microsoft applications because they generally don't play nice with Apple but I've proven this is not the case. You can have a brand new build, launch Apple Music or Tidal or Spotify. Stream and within an hour of browsing Safari, you will get the crackle and popping.

This has to be solved with a proper software fix. I have a developer account with Apple and I submitted the feedback to them and all I could see is <10 people reported it. Seems impossible to me. I will update if I see any movement on this.

Please save your time and do something better on your Friday evening (assuming you are in North America)!

View attachment 1976183

Duly noted. Going outside to touch some much needed grass. Thank you!

 

[mouthster]

Has nothing to do with Rosetta or M1 chips.

1.) It happened on the 2019 16" MacBook Pro (Intel)
2.) I can make it happen on an M1 Max with 0 Intel processes running.

All computers have some kind of latency induced audio glitching that cause millisecond (or more) gaps between sounds which sounds like stuttering. It is just a lot more pronounced on these machines with the force-cancelling woofer speaker array. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing the same kind of posts around the audio of the new Studio Display.

 

[Kola91]

Has nothing to do with Rosetta or M1 chips.

1.) It happened on the 2019 16" MacBook Pro (Intel)
2.) I can make it happen on an M1 Max with 0 Intel processes running.

All computers have some kind of latency induced audio glitching that cause millisecond (or more) gaps between sounds which sounds like stuttering. It is just a lot more pronounced on these machines with the force-cancelling woofer speaker array. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing the same kind of posts around the audio of the new Studio Display.

Do you think this is still solvable through a software update?

 

[mouthster]

Do you think this is still solvable through a software update?

When short bursts of audio drops through the headphone jack or other external audio devices the stuttering sounds normal. This leads me to believe the problem lies with the speakers. Now, is there some additional DSP they are using to get the speakers to sound so good (when audio isn't dropping) and if so is that DSP driven by hardware or software? I don't know. If it's software-based DSP then sure, maybe there is a possible fix. What I hope they don't do is just slap an insanely large audio buffer in the driver if the OS detects you are using the built-in speakers, just to mask the issue.

 

[Kafka]

Two weeks later the issue has still not come back on my 16" after doing this:

New 16" Speakers Popping

Had the same issue and the following steps fixed it: (Menu Bar): Go > Computer > Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences > Audio Delete the com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist and com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist files Empty trash Restart

forums.macrumors.com

 

[IAMSLEEP]

Two weeks later the issue has still not come back on my 16" after doing this:

New 16" Speakers Popping

Had the same issue and the following steps fixed it: (Menu Bar): Go > Computer > Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences > Audio Delete the com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist and com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist files Empty trash Restart

forums.macrumors.com

That worked for all of 15 minutes. I’ve tried this like 4 times and it still pops and crackles. This is honestly unacceptable for a computer this price.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

Now, is there some additional DSP they are using to get the speakers to sound so good (when audio isn't dropping) and if so is that DSP driven by hardware or software?

Ever since the T2 came out that was the primary driver (DSP) for audio on the Mac. And since the M1 that's been implemented there and doesn't require a dedicated chip anymore. Principle is still the same, Apple hardware is handling audio including clocks.

All computers have some kind of latency induced audio glitching that cause millisecond (or more) gaps between sounds which sounds like stuttering.

Latency for M-series chips is less than Intel, around 3ms without stuttering. That is far less than many other audio interfaces with similar sampling rates and yet those don't have these problems.

 

[mouthster]

Ever since the T2 came out that was the primary driver (DSP) for audio on the Mac. And since the M1 that's been implemented there and doesn't require a dedicated chip anymore. Principle is still the same, Apple hardware is handling audio including clocks.


Latency for M-series chips is less than Intel, around 3ms without stuttering. That is far less than many other audio interfaces with similar sampling rates and yet those don't have these problems.

Latency may be better then Intel but it's not infallible. Put a ton of effects on a single track in Ableton and Logic (a single track can only use a single-core) and you will get stuttering. The question here is why the built-in speakers sound so much worse then everything external when stuttering occurs.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

The question here is why the built-in speakers sound so much worse then everything external when stuttering occurs.

What do you mean by that? "Everything external" as in speakers/headphones hooked up? Then there should be no difference, except that headphones/speaker in general sound different than the internal speakers, which is totally normal.

If by "external everything" you mean audio interfaces, then I can't say. I never had stuttering happen with external audio interfaces.

 

[mouthster]

What do you mean by that? "Everything external" as in speakers/headphones hooked up? Then there should be no difference, except that headphones/speaker in general sound different than the internal speakers, which is totally normal.

If by "external everything" you mean audio interfaces, then I can't say. I never had stuttering happen with external audio interfaces.

You're right, there shouldn't be a difference. By "external everything" I meant headphone jack, USB audio device, etc. Basically any means to listen to sound from the computer besides the built-in speakers. I don't have this problem in everyday use and I could see how most people might never hear it. But when dealing with audio and virtual instruments stuttering is a fact of life, especially at lower buffer sizes. I made a video to demonstrate the issue.

 

[cmwebdev]

Has nothing to do with Rosetta or M1 chips.

1.) It happened on the 2019 16" MacBook Pro (Intel)
2.) I can make it happen on an M1 Max with 0 Intel processes running.

All computers have some kind of latency induced audio glitching that cause millisecond (or more) gaps between sounds which sounds like stuttering. It is just a lot more pronounced on these machines with the force-cancelling woofer speaker array. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing the same kind of posts around the audio of the new Studio Display.

Thank you for the feedback with note of how many Intel processes are running when it happened. Have you noticed any trends with RAM/CPU usage when it happens?

 

[GrumpyCoder]

I made a video to demonstrate the issue.

Never heard it so bad anywhere. I get it occasionally via internal speakers and audio output, but way less. When stationary, for most stuff I'm using a cheap ($200) Audient interface, which doesn't have it. It also doesn't show up with RME or MOTU interfaces.

I'm still betting on software issue with the T2/M-series being responsible for audio. Something similar happens in other purely software based systems, such as the Trinnov Altitude processor. It only happens when locking onto audio streams thought (channels, sampling rate, codec) and not once it's locked.

 

[mouthster]

Never heard it so bad anywhere. I get it occasionally via internal speakers and audio output, but way less. When stationary, for most stuff I'm using a cheap ($200) Audient interface, which doesn't have it. It also doesn't show up with RME or MOTU interfaces.

I'm still betting on software issue with the T2/M-series being responsible for audio. Something similar happens in other purely software based systems, such as the Trinnov Altitude processor. It only happens when locking onto audio streams thought (channels, sampling rate, codec) and not once it's locked.

I had an M1 MacBook Air in-between the 2019 Intel 16" and the 2021 16" M1 Max that never exhibited the issue on it's built-in speakers. The common thing between the two offenders is they both have force-cancelling woofers.