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Whine or No Whine - Does Your Mac Studio Suffer From It?
- Thread starter southerndoc
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i hope my mac studio will be as quiet as yours when i get it. i dont hear any coil whine or whistle whatsoever just normal healthy woosh
It must resonate with you...
I used my wife's medical stethoscope on mine, nothing but a faint whoosh of the fan blowing air. I have better than the average hearing. I do hear my bar refrigerator whining now, and the light switch, some other things that I didn't notice before reading the thread.I also have above average hearing and highly sensitive to sound, I hear coil whine and fans on all units. I sit at my desk with it next to me, not very quiet in the slightest.It must resonate with you...
Do any of your friends also hear whine from all of the studios? Have you by chance used a spectrum analyzer to map out the frequencies? Back in the day when I was doing vocoder work, we found a few individuals that could hear artifacts that no others did. There is a phenomena, forget offhand what they call it, where some brains interpret sounds in a way that causes the individual to think he's hearing something not there, or certain waveforms trigger a Tinnitus type effect. More complicated I know and very annoying to the individual. Just mentioning it because you are saying you are hearing whine on all the studios. There certainly seems to be some that are noisy. That would certainly be annoying/distracting.
Whether you, or anyone else for that matter, suffers from the "whine," if you're contemplating a career change or side gig in a field demanding a sound working knowledge of acoustic measurement, with all due respect, I would advise against quitting your day job quite yet.😀 In all fairness, the same could be said about quite a few replies here, and in the other thread.
Thx for the video . I can hear the fans starting up at around 0:13 sec and then normal fan noise, nothing compared to mine, but the video it's a little bit short though.
If I'm not asking too much, can you do another recording, but this time let it run longer (few minutes or so) ? Do it late at night, with lowest background noise possible.
I am curios after your fans are starting up ... what's the signature with them running steady for a while.
My fans are starting up exactly as yours and then settle into the constant high pitch noise, with changes in frequency on and off.
At this point, I am on my second unit, almost identical to the first one (I have a recording of that one as well). I think I might be the most unlucky guy .. and I have to switch multiple units until I hit the jackpot
I am kind of tired of the whole story though and to the point of accepting it as is 
I just turned off ALL electronics (UPS, NAS, Router) as well as the furnace and A/C. The only things on are the Mac Studio and my monitors.
Using my iPhone and the app "Decibel X", with the Mac Studio on my desk, 70cm away from me.
I measure background noise at 38dB with the iPhone lying on the desk next to my keyboard. Moving my iPhone over right next to my Mac Studio, the meter reads 40dB. There are no peaks anywhere, with the 47Hz area the noisiest, except for when I type this on my keyboard. There is fan noise for sure, but only noticeable when I turned off my Router.
There is NO whine at all. I simply do NOT have it.
Using my iPhone and the app "Decibel X", with the Mac Studio on my desk, 70cm away from me.
I measure background noise at 38dB with the iPhone lying on the desk next to my keyboard. Moving my iPhone over right next to my Mac Studio, the meter reads 40dB. There are no peaks anywhere, with the 47Hz area the noisiest, except for when I type this on my keyboard. There is fan noise for sure, but only noticeable when I turned off my Router.
There is NO whine at all. I simply do NOT have it.
Thx for the video . I can hear the fans starting up at around 0:13 sec and then normal fan noise, nothing compared to mine, but the video it's a little bit short though.
If I'm not asking too much, can you do another recording, but this time let it run longer (few minutes or so) ? Do it late at night, with lowest background noise possible.
I am curios after your fans are starting up ... what's the signature with them running steady for a while.
My fans are starting up exactly as yours and then settle into the constant high pitch noise, with changes in frequency on and off.
At this point, I am on my second unit, almost identical to the first one (I have a recording of that one as well). I think I might be the most unlucky guy .. and I have to switch multiple units until I hit the jackpot
When I made the video, I shut my windows and turned off anything that made any noise. It's unlikely that I can get the room any more quiet than I already had it.
I don't know what the file size limit is for attachments to posts here... I'll try to make a longer video either tonight or tomorrow and see if I can post... I'll try ~2 minute video...
Edit:
I forgot to mention that my fans always spin at ~1330rpm. So, I'm not sure how much difference there will be with a longer video...
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Thx for the video . I can hear the fans starting up at around 0:13 sec and then normal fan noise, nothing compared to mine, but the video it's a little bit short though.
If I'm not asking too much, can you do another recording, but this time let it run longer (few minutes or so) ? Do it late at night, with lowest background noise possible.
I am curios after your fans are starting up ... what's the signature with them running steady for a while.
My fans are starting up exactly as yours and then settle into the constant high pitch noise, with changes in frequency on and off.
At this point, I am on my second unit, almost identical to the first one (I have a recording of that one as well). I think I might be the most unlucky guy .. and I have to switch multiple units until I hit the jackpot
As I suspected... I hit the file size limit for attachments here...
I uploaded the video to:https://mab.to/JbyXPg4dN
It's two minutes.
The Mac Studio is asleep at the beginning of the video.
At the 9 second mark, I click my Magic Mouse 2 to wake it.
Interesting. Thank you for the video !
Yes, your unit settled into a quiet fan noise.
I can hear the fans starting up at 0:14 , with a short and brief high pitch sound at 0:15-0:16 and then ... nothing (only your background noise).
Now, on my unit, that high pitch thing that happens briefly on yours ... continues as a steady sound.
Thanks again !
Yes, your unit settled into a quiet fan noise.
I can hear the fans starting up at 0:14 , with a short and brief high pitch sound at 0:15-0:16 and then ... nothing (only your background noise).
Now, on my unit, that high pitch thing that happens briefly on yours ... continues as a steady sound.
Thanks again !
Exactly what I've been saying in the other thread. Allegedly, there is "concrete evidence" that they all have the whine.
There isn't and they don't.
In advance of purchasing my own Mac Studio Max computer, I have been actively monitoring as many sources of information on the issue of excess and unusual noises emanating from the Mac Studio since the very earliest reports. For months now, I've rather obsessively read nearly every single page on both topic threads on Mac Rumors in addition to anything else I could find online.
Having just set up my new Mac Studio moments ago, I put my ear right up against the exhaust vents and indeed could hear all the sounds that I've read about, namely: an ever so slight rustling beneath the otherwise gentle whoosh and a barely audible whistle. When I covered one-inch of the exhaust vents from either side with my hand, these sounds diminished. Sometimes, when I covered up half of this vent with my hand, the whistle would go away completely, then return. Partially covering up the intake vent on the bottom also changed the volume and character of the sound.
When I moved my ear 12 inches away, I could no longer hear the whistle, just a softer whoosh. While working, I expect the Studio to be a full 3 feet away from my ears. I expect that placing a small piece of acoustic foam on the wall that the exhaust vent is facing will further dampen the sound. I closed all the doors and the windows in my room while doing this test and there was some minor ambient exterior street traffic filtering in. I usually edit in the evening and though I expect the room to be quieter than during the day, I'm certain that wearing headphones would vanquish any unwanted sounds 100%.
Lastly, I've been editing off a 2003-era cheese grater all these years. I'm so accustomed to the volume of that machine, that the Studio is comparatively "dead silent". Given that this is a huge leap for me, my perspective in terms of how much noise is unreasonable may not parallel what others are experiencing. Having said that, I'm extremely sensitive and particular. My Studio is clearly making the noises that folks have been complaining about. However, as of this writing, I do not find these sounds distracting or problematic.
Based on my hand tests, the whistling appears to be related to the vents. Perhaps a future iteration of the Studio hardware will manage the air flow in a way that mitigates the sound. I can always look into software that lowers the fan rpm in the unlikely event that this sound does become problematic for me. But for now, these sounds are quite modest and should not impede my work.
Having just set up my new Mac Studio moments ago, I put my ear right up against the exhaust vents and indeed could hear all the sounds that I've read about, namely: an ever so slight rustling beneath the otherwise gentle whoosh and a barely audible whistle. When I covered one-inch of the exhaust vents from either side with my hand, these sounds diminished. Sometimes, when I covered up half of this vent with my hand, the whistle would go away completely, then return. Partially covering up the intake vent on the bottom also changed the volume and character of the sound.
When I moved my ear 12 inches away, I could no longer hear the whistle, just a softer whoosh. While working, I expect the Studio to be a full 3 feet away from my ears. I expect that placing a small piece of acoustic foam on the wall that the exhaust vent is facing will further dampen the sound. I closed all the doors and the windows in my room while doing this test and there was some minor ambient exterior street traffic filtering in. I usually edit in the evening and though I expect the room to be quieter than during the day, I'm certain that wearing headphones would vanquish any unwanted sounds 100%.
Lastly, I've been editing off a 2003-era cheese grater all these years. I'm so accustomed to the volume of that machine, that the Studio is comparatively "dead silent". Given that this is a huge leap for me, my perspective in terms of how much noise is unreasonable may not parallel what others are experiencing. Having said that, I'm extremely sensitive and particular. My Studio is clearly making the noises that folks have been complaining about. However, as of this writing, I do not find these sounds distracting or problematic.
Based on my hand tests, the whistling appears to be related to the vents. Perhaps a future iteration of the Studio hardware will manage the air flow in a way that mitigates the sound. I can always look into software that lowers the fan rpm in the unlikely event that this sound does become problematic for me. But for now, these sounds are quite modest and should not impede my work.
@filmboy I found that mine was barely audible without the whistle when I first got it, but over a two-month period it got louder. Hopefully you don't suffer the same fate. Regardless, it's still barely noticeable. I will admit I do have some hearing loss from my helicopter days -- I have 88% and 92% of my hearing in left and right ears, respectively.
Interesting, if only anecdotal, observation: the whirring / whistling sound, which has been present ever since the beginning, has now just disappeared. Hard to make anything out of this. Now it is just the regular woosh of the fans (which I would still not call dead silent).
The noise getting worse over time is my main concern, and the primary factor stopping me buying a Mac Studio tomorrow. Knowing my luck, one month after the warranty ends, the fans inside would start making horrible noises. I'm not sure if I can take the risk with a £2k computer.
Well, the noise has returned. However, I made an interesting observation: if I block the holes right above the power button and the headphone jack on the backside of the Mac Studio with my hand using about three fingers (index to middle finger) the whining noise can reliably be "turned off". It reappears as soon as I move my hand. This, of course, is of limited use, since I would strongly advise against taping over any of the holes. However, it pins down the issue on airflow and not on coil whine. At least in my case.
I poked around on the internet and found this article: https://basicappleguy.com/basicappleblog/the-case-of-the-singing-studio
The guys came to the same conclusion, however in their case the holes on the other side seemed to be responsible.
I really don’t think taping a bit of wholes would do any harm. Most people aren’t pushing max studio 100% resources all day to really affect temps.
With my second unit, after 2 weeks, I reached the conclusion that there are multiple things going on in this whole story:
1. "Metallic" noise coming from fan area
There is a constant "metallic" high pitch sound coming from fans area .
This some people believe it's a resonance noise due to airflow.
It's not, at least on my unit if I try different scenarios covering the back holes all it does it's just masking the sound.
I think it's just nasty / cheap fan motors, cheap ball bearings ... etc
The resonance might come from the metallic enclosure amplifying the fans components noise, and not the airflow generating it (this explains the muffled signature of the same sound when covering some holes)
I am pretty confident that all units may have this ... "by design"
2. High Pitch "Whine" / Whistle
My first unit didn't experienced this and I was thinking that the "whine" was actually #1 issue above, it's not.
There is an intermittent , faint, high-pitch "whistle" that comes and goes on my second unit.
This is totally independent from issue #1 above ...
Sometimes it kicks in exactly when I am doing a stress test on GPU and PSU (Blackmagick Raw), sometimes not ...
There is also a fading phenomenon with this. When the unit stays on for longer, the intermittent whistle happens the same, on and off, but fades in intensity as you go longer in time working on the machine. Sometimes it can go longer between whistle "episodes".
So I think it may be PSU related.
3. Power Supply "crickets"
This is definitely PSU related.
My first unit had those "chirping" / "crickets" coming from the bottom intake holes when I listened closely.
On my second unit these "crickets" were totally gone but I got the #1 and #2 above instead.
Those crickets sounded definitely like "coil whine", like something vibrating really fast at high frequency. Kinda like small insects living inside your machine 🙂
My personal conclusion is that we are dealing with crappy fans and crappy PSU creating those 3 separate issues above.
I think I might try for a third unit ...
1. "Metallic" noise coming from fan area
There is a constant "metallic" high pitch sound coming from fans area .
This some people believe it's a resonance noise due to airflow.
It's not, at least on my unit if I try different scenarios covering the back holes all it does it's just masking the sound.
I think it's just nasty / cheap fan motors, cheap ball bearings ... etc
The resonance might come from the metallic enclosure amplifying the fans components noise, and not the airflow generating it (this explains the muffled signature of the same sound when covering some holes)
I am pretty confident that all units may have this ... "by design"
2. High Pitch "Whine" / Whistle
My first unit didn't experienced this and I was thinking that the "whine" was actually #1 issue above, it's not.
There is an intermittent , faint, high-pitch "whistle" that comes and goes on my second unit.
This is totally independent from issue #1 above ...
Sometimes it kicks in exactly when I am doing a stress test on GPU and PSU (Blackmagick Raw), sometimes not ...
There is also a fading phenomenon with this. When the unit stays on for longer, the intermittent whistle happens the same, on and off, but fades in intensity as you go longer in time working on the machine. Sometimes it can go longer between whistle "episodes".
So I think it may be PSU related.
3. Power Supply "crickets"
This is definitely PSU related.
My first unit had those "chirping" / "crickets" coming from the bottom intake holes when I listened closely.
On my second unit these "crickets" were totally gone but I got the #1 and #2 above instead.
Those crickets sounded definitely like "coil whine", like something vibrating really fast at high frequency. Kinda like small insects living inside your machine 🙂
My personal conclusion is that we are dealing with crappy fans and crappy PSU creating those 3 separate issues above.
I think I might try for a third unit ...
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I,
New app to turn off fan :
github.com
best
New app to turn off fan :
GitHub - dirkschreib/SilentStudio: Set fan speed of Mac Studio
Set fan speed of Mac Studio. Contribute to dirkschreib/SilentStudio development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
best
Seems like a really bad ideaI,
New app to turn off fan :
GitHub - dirkschreib/SilentStudio: Set fan speed of Mac Studio
Set fan speed of Mac Studio. Contribute to dirkschreib/SilentStudio development by creating an account on GitHub.
best
I'd have to concur with that!
I recently received my Mac Studio refurb and it has the whine, and while the problem frequency matches up to other reports (and the previous BTO model I returned earlier this year), I've done some more testing and found some interesting things. There are actually multiple frequencies at play.
I'll try and attach a spectrogram image showing 4 successive re-starts of the Mac Studio over time.
There seem to be quite a lot of audio folks here who will be familiar with these tools, but for those that aren't, the warm colours represent audio information; more solid amber means louder. The same with the blue colour, more solid means quieter. Top is the left channel, below is the right channel.
Take a look at the thin horizontal lines representing the audible whine tones; although they stay in the same position, they actually vary quite a bit in relative intensity, on each of the restarts. You can see the frequency scale at the right hand edge.
Cool measurements. 👍
It shows pretty well those higher frequencies at 2k-3k.
The fans hum shown lower in the graph is not annoying at all.
Those higher frequencies, in a super quiet room, late at night, they are a different story 🙂
Meanwhile i settled on my 3rd unit. Had it for some months now.
It has the same behavior as my previous one but i learned to live with it as part of my background environment noise … but it’s still there if i pay attention.
It shows pretty well those higher frequencies at 2k-3k.
The fans hum shown lower in the graph is not annoying at all.
Those higher frequencies, in a super quiet room, late at night, they are a different story 🙂
Meanwhile i settled on my 3rd unit. Had it for some months now.
It has the same behavior as my previous one but i learned to live with it as part of my background environment noise … but it’s still there if i pay attention.