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Cracking/popping sound in speakers using mini-jack

A

asphaltskvat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
3
0
Hi Guys :)

My problem is that while music or a movie is playing and the audio goes through the mini-jack to my reciever, once in a while it makes this loud pop or crack. It sounds kind of like when you touch the mini-jack while your reciever is turned on.
It's a mid-2010 macbook pro 13"
I can't find any thread about this specific problem.
One thread mentioned that the cuircuit in the soundcard automatically resets or something to get rid of noise that builds up.

Is there any solution to this, so i don't get the anoying sound anymore and of course not getting any disturbing white noise and so on instead? Or do i just have to face that i never will get acceptable analog sound...
 
Have you tried a different cable?

I haven't seen that particular problem.

If you don't find an answer you could look into a USB audio device. I've seen them in the $30-35 range.
 
Thanks, but it's not the cable. I'm also quite sure that the problem would be solved with an optical cable. But i use the mini-jack a lot, so it would be nice to get it solved. Also i'm not to fond of using external devices when it just should be working with the built-in device :)
 
Minijacks in general are easily damaged and susceptible to noise. If you can use optical then definitely go with it.
 
antipop hack

I had the same issue with my macbook when it was plugged in to external speakers via minijack. Its not the cable that's the problem.
The problem is: When no sound plays on your computer for a few moments the sound card goes idle, or disengages causing a popping sound. Then, as soon as it is required to play a sound again (like an alert) it clicks back on.
Because your speakers are amplified, the sound is very loud and noticeable.
This is in my opinion, the worst problem I have ever dealt with.
Fortunately I found a piece of code that you can run on your computer through terminal that will eliminate the problem.
It works by commanding the text-to-speak function to speak a "space" every 15 seconds or so. So really no sound is made because the space is silent obviously, but it never lets the sound card become idle.
Its not the most elegant code, but it does the trick.
The hack is called Antipop. I don't have a link for you, but if you google search it you will find it no problem.

hope that helps
 
Thank you @duncanbrodie1

It sounds like a good explanation, and i definitely agree that this is a part of the problem. But why would the sound card go idle in the middle of a song or a movie? Will the code also stop the sound then?

It's a shame one has to do these workarounds with code and stuff, but i will let you know when i've tried it out.

Thanks again
 
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