Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2017
285
70
Can confirm there's some coil whine on my unit

whats your device spesification?
i can confirm if there is an audio record taken in silent room and close to keyboard during geekbench 5 CPU test or you can hear the sound in 4:10-4:30. Do you notice same sound?

 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
whats your device spesification?
i can confirm if there is an audio record taken in silent room and close to keyboard during geekbench 5 CPU test or you can hear the sound in 4:10-4:30. Do you notice same sound?

I'm not going to record the audio too much effort but it sounds like the vtudio video when the fans heat up which has only happened a few times so far. The coil whine of the GPU is actually picked up and amplified by my JBL speakers which is annoying.
 

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2017
285
70
I'm not going to record the audio too much effort but it sounds like the vtudio video when the fans heat up which has only happened a few times so far. The coil whine of the GPU is actually picked up and amplified by my JBL speakers which is annoying.
Coil whine occurs especially cpu test on geekbench 5 at the second half of test during category change and it is like on video
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
Coil whine occurs especially cpu test on geekbench 5 at the second half of test during category change and it is like on video
I know there is coil whine on my unit because I started hearing a high pitch noise coming out of my right channel JBL LSR305 studio monitor as soon as I hooked up the 16 in. I looked it up and the JBL is amplifying the coil whine of the 16 in base model pro.
 

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2017
285
70
Dis
I know there is coil whine on my unit because I started hearing a high pitch noise coming out of my right channel JBL LSR305 studio monitor as soon as I hooked up the 16 in. I looked it up and the JBL is amplifying the coil whine of the 16 in base model pro.

Did you watch the video 4:10 and hear the sound like tiny water drop on hot surface?
 

macos2008

macrumors newbie
Dec 4, 2019
20
4
I just discover this for mine too, when installed and working with Luminar and trying to modify any parameter, I hear like an HDD sound, do you think that this will be in all units or it is just an issue with mine ?
 

Viamusic10000

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
239
99
I just discover this for mine too, when installed and working with Luminar and trying to modify any parameter, I hear like an HDD sound, do you think that this will be in all units or it is just an issue with mine ?
It's probably in the majority of units because apple units are pretty consistent.
 

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2017
285
70
I just discover this for mine too, when installed and working with Luminar and trying to modify any parameter, I hear like an HDD sound, do you think that this will be in all units or it is just an issue with mine ?
This occurs when cpu use its turbo boost capacity and overload. Simple logic tells us that every unit may have this issue because same motherboard same cpu same ssd and same mechanism. Not for only Apple if you make a search on internet you may see this issue on almost every brand of Electronics... I believe people who insist that their units are silent may not hear this sound because of its frequency... Hearing capability of human differs according to age and enviromental factors like occupation (hearing loss is also an occupational disease). The other probability is people can not understand the definition of this noise.
My request from you to make a special test to hear this. Open geekbench 5 cpu test and wait for the second half of duration. When test passes through categories you are gonna hear a sound like a water drop on a very hot surface and evoporates. This is very tiny noise. You can compare this with the YouTube video shared above on 4:10-4:30 duration. Just do it in a silent room and put your ear close to keyboard
I will wait for your reply about this and will be very happy if you share your experience in that test.
by the way whats your device configuration?

At first I heard this noise as a loud screaming style during first setup after unboxing and tought there is sth wrong with the device. In a few hours sound level decreased. Now it is not screaming but occurs as tiny noise like old HDD during turboboost and some hard applications @happyhippo1337 @Viamusic10000
@milhous
@Arise2B @T-Bob @irichard87 @intrepidcase @bsbeamer @lewisflude @impulse462
 
Last edited:

Hexley

Suspended
Jun 10, 2009
1,641
505
I am buying the base 16" for $2,150.


Has Apple released a software update addressing "Coil Whine"?

Does coil whine occur outside of benchmark?

You can watch listen and notice the most clear example of coil whine from 3:45 and 4:20 also experience this with geekbench 5 CPU test with putting you ear close to keyboard



I have 16 inches mbp 2,3/1TB and my device has coil whine which sources from turbo boost. I confirmed this because no sound on ssd speed test or gpu benchmark test. The sound only occurs if turbo boost is enabled during geekbench 5.0 CPU test. If turbo boost is disabled there is no sound.
What is the characteristic of this sound: very tiny, short time whine/buzz.

at this point if the mechanism of this sound is depended to vibrating Coils on motherboard due to voltage changes, how same devices with same motherboard have different outputs? How some people insist that they have zero coil whine???

the best way to notice this: start geekbench cpu test, wait for half of the test after that put otur ear close to keyboard, you will absolutely notice the very tiny electrical sound in every label/category for exp PDF render to face recognition or pass from face recog to particle physics.

If some one proove that there is no whine with video. I will congratulate him/her
 

Performat

macrumors newbie
May 8, 2011
29
1
The second replacement machine I just got (3rd unit) also has coil whine.
I think I’ll just have to live with it...
 

Kraizelburg

macrumors 6502
Nov 10, 2018
437
113
Spain
I am buying the base 16" for $2,150.


Has Apple released a software update addressing "Coil Whine"?

Does coil whine occur outside of benchmark?
From my understanding "coil whine" is something inherent to electronic circuits, therefore it's something that can't be addressed via software. There are some good made motherboards while others are worse. I had a Dell XPS with terrible coil whine and I return it twice until I got a unit with no noticeable coil whine. Coil whine is always there but many times is just inaudible. Even my old rock solid 2015 13"MBP has a slight coil whine if you put your ear very close to the keyboard.
 

macos2008

macrumors newbie
Dec 4, 2019
20
4
This occurs when cpu use its turbo boost capacity and overload. Simple logic tells us that every unit may have this issue because same motherboard same cpu same ssd and same mechanism. Not for only Apple if you make a search on internet you may see this issue on almost every brand of Electronics... I believe people who insist that their units are silent may not hear this sound because of its frequency... Hearing capability of human differs according to age and enviromental factors like occupation (hearing loss is also an occupational disease). The other probability is people can not understand the definition of this noise.
My request from you to make a special test to hear this. Open geekbench 5 cpu test and wait for the second half of duration. When test passes through categories you are gonna hear a sound like a water drop on a very hot surface and evoporates. This is very tiny noise. You can compare this with the YouTube video shared above on 4:10-4:30 duration. Just do it in a silent room and put your ear close to keyboard
I will wait for your reply about this and will be very happy if you share your experience in that test.
by the way whats your device configuration?

At first I heard this noise as a loud screaming style during first setup after unboxing and tought there is sth wrong with the device. In a few hours sound level decreased. Now it is not screaming but occurs as tiny noise like old HDD during turboboost and some hard applications @happyhippo1337 @Viamusic10000
@milhous
@Arise2B @T-Bob @irichard87 @intrepidcase @bsbeamer @lewisflude @impulse462
Not really every unit, because I already returned the first one for uneven trackpad, but I didn't note any noise as I did with this one.
I did the geekbench test and I heard it again from the first category until the end of the test, the sound is like when writing in an old hard disk.
Conf:
Intel Core i9-9880H with 32Go ram and 8Go Vram
 

nikster0029

macrumors 6502a
Jul 21, 2010
708
484
I just ordered a new 16" and it just shipped today. I will see if they preformed any repairs in the newer production models so that there isn't as much coil whine on the new SSDs.
 

milhous

macrumors member
Original poster
May 17, 2007
67
20
I just ordered a new 16" and it just shipped today. I will see if they preformed any repairs in the newer production models so that there isn't as much coil whine on the new SSDs.
Excellent, look forward to your observations. Let's hope for the best.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nikster0029

TheSouthPaw45

macrumors newbie
Oct 1, 2014
24
4
I just ordered a new 16" and it just shipped today. I will see if they preformed any repairs in the newer production models so that there isn't as much coil whine on the new SSDs.

I also just reordered my 16” this afternoon. Hopefully, minimal to no coil whine this time around. As I mentioned in my first post, my Mid 2017 15” was dead silent compared to my original 16”. I do notice a slight coil whine on my Mid 2017 15” when I put my ear close to the machine, but the first 16” I received was still considerably louder. Even when scrolling through Safari or under light loads I could hear it. We’ll see what happens once the new machine arrives. I have a feeling it could just be the components in these new models.

Side note - I also switched from Space Grey to Silver this time around. Really liked the traditional look of the Silver when I visited the Apple Store. Doesn’t really pertain to this thread but thought I’d share.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nikster0029

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2017
285
70
I just ordered a new 16" and it just shipped today. I will see if they preformed any repairs in the newer production models so that there isn't as much coil whine on the new SSDs.

we are waiting for your review do not forget to share your experience.. please especially make the geekbench 5 cpu test and listen the second half of the duration of test in dead silent room. Also compare this with the noise presented in video below 4:10-4:30 duration

Related video

@TheSouthPaw45 @nikster0029
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: nikster0029

manualCarry

macrumors newbie
Dec 15, 2019
23
3
So I just got my hands on a 2.4ghz, 32gb, AMD 8GB and 1TB SSD. It was just produced last week, and perhaps its my flu preventing me from hearing things, but I was not able to get it to produce coil whine.

Okay its been about a week now and I have been pushing my system without hearing any coil whine. Even when I am hooked up to the TB3 dock. I think there is validity in getting a "recent" 2.4ghz to avoid the whine.
 

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2017
285
70
Okay its been about a week now and I have been pushing my system without hearing any coil whine. Even when I am hooked up to the TB3 dock. I think there is validity in getting a "recent" 2.4ghz to avoid the whine.

it is really important that your share an audio like "milhos -the starter of this thread-". If you put your recorder 1-2 inches above of keyboard and record the audio during geekbench 5 cpu test in a quiet room we will be very happy. Thanks for that, happy new year.
 

Performat

macrumors newbie
May 8, 2011
29
1
Okay its been about a week now and I have been pushing my system without hearing any coil whine. Even when I am hooked up to the TB3 dock. I think there is validity in getting a "recent" 2.4ghz to avoid the whine.

Can you please share when your unit was manufactured? Coconut Battery says mine was built on December, 9th.
 

Psyclism

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2010
126
141
My machine (2.3 32/1tb/5500 8Gb), built 12/02, has no detectible coil whine. If I'm running benchmarks and literally press my ear to the keyboard I can hear a faint hissing sound, but it's completely inaudible otherwise.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.