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2013 Macbook Air - faulty speakers?

N

NewBench

Cancelled
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
620
696
Had my new 2013 Macbook Air 13" base model for 2 days now and everything has been great aside from the speakers. When watching a video, the speakers seem to automatically drop their volume intermittently. The sound will be a constant volume for a minute, and will then drop to half the volume of what it should be, before reverting back to the normal volume after 20-30 seconds.

There is no on screen volume indicator when this happens (i.e. it is not showing on screen that the volume is changing).

Anyone else having this issue?
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,448
43,370
If this occurs when playing any sound, i.e., something from iTunes, its probably a hardware issue.

I'd say take back to apple for an exchange.
 
N

NewBench

Cancelled
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
620
696
Just to throw a spanner in the works having done a bit of a testing, it seems to happen only during video playback and not when I am playing audio only. iTunes works fine when playing just audio, but if I play video on YouTube, or any other video website or software, it happens.

I will take it back to the Apple store tommorow, just wondered if this was a known issue but it appears to be just a one off.
 
A

Appledreamer

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2011
90
0
Belfast
bounce08 said:
Just to throw a spanner in the works having done a bit of a testing, it seems to happen only during video playback and not when I am playing audio only. iTunes works fine when playing just audio, but if I play video on YouTube, or any other video website or software, it happens.

I will take it back to the Apple store tommorow, just wondered if this was a known issue but it appears to be just a one off.
Click to expand...

this is happening to mine also.....wat do we do???
 
N

NewBench

Cancelled
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
620
696
Appledreamer said:
this is happening to mine also.....wat do we do???
Click to expand...

Take it back to Apple, they will exchange it and most likely not test it anyway.

Aside from this speaker issue I have no issues whatsoever, this MBA works perfectly and the screen is great (Samsung). Just this darn speaker issue. I'm usually not the type to return something for minor things...my iPhone 5 had a couple of tiny scratches on the back of it brand new which a lot of people had and I didn't bother exchanging it.

But this kind of thing irritates me as it disturbs the experience of watching anything.
 
M

mm.bentley

macrumors newbie
Jun 25, 2013
2
0
My new macbook air is doing this as well. Did anyone find a solution or end up bringing it back to Apple?
 
K

kosty

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2010
19
0
I have experienced this issue as well with a 13" 2013 i5/8GB/256GB with VLC and youtube. The volume drops for 2-3 seconds and goes up afterwards.
Strangely this happenes at the same scene / timecode, so if you rewind to the location where the volume dropped it will drop again.
That's why I thought it is a badly converted video or youtube file.

Now that more people are experiencing this issue I hope this gets fixed soon !
 
W

wermy

macrumors regular
Apr 15, 2013
205
1
This sounds like it's a software issue to me... Anyone have a youtube video that it's happened on? I'll try it out on my 11" '13 MBA as well.

Something else to try would be trying it with headphones and seeing if it still does it through those.
 
K

kosty

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2010
19
0
wermy said:
This sounds like it's a software issue to me... Anyone have a youtube video that it's happened on? I'll try it out on my 11" '13 MBA as well.

Something else to try would be trying it with headphones and seeing if it still does it through those.
Click to expand...

I will post a link the next time I experience this problem.
 
O

Oranje

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2013
2
0
I'm experiencing this issue as well. Has anyone had any resolution speaking with Apple or getting a replacement from the retailer?
 
DJTaurus

DJTaurus

macrumors 68000
Jan 31, 2012
1,646
1,053
Did anyone returned it?

----------
Oranje said:
I'm experiencing this issue as well. Has anyone had any resolution speaking with Apple or getting a replacement from the retailer?
Click to expand...

Is it ok on itunes/vlc? I mean sound cracking only on web applications ?(youtube, podcasts etc)
 
O

Oranje

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2013
2
0
DJTaurus said:
Did anyone returned it?

----------



Is it ok on itunes/vlc? I mean sound cracking only on web applications ?(youtube, podcasts etc)
Click to expand...

Music seems to play fine in iTunes but I don't have any videos to try, so its only been in streaming video like youtube that I've noticed it. I don't have any cracking sound, the issue is only with the volume changing at random points throughout the video. It's normal for a while, then becomes noticeably lower, then back to normal etc.
 
DJTaurus

DJTaurus

macrumors 68000
Jan 31, 2012
1,646
1,053
I am gonna try a clean ML install before returning it.

Also i tested with iphones earpods. Everything sound crystal clear in the same videos i have the cracking sound..... dont know whats going on:(
 
V

vvhiteknight

macrumors newbie
Jun 29, 2013
2
0
I have the same issue, I thought i was going crazy or something. Take back to apple store? or wait for fix?

Just to clarify I have the new 2013 macbook air 13" 4gb 1.3ghz. It seems to happen on youtube streaming, vlc playback.

I need to test itunes, quicktime.
 
Last edited:
DJTaurus

DJTaurus

macrumors 68000
Jan 31, 2012
1,646
1,053
I cannot wait to see if its software of hardware related. I requested a replace unit from amazon and i ll have it in a few days.
 
Shaun.P

Shaun.P

macrumors 68000
Jul 14, 2003
1,601
24
Omicron Persei 8
I am also having these problems.

Especially when watching a video on VLC.

I don't know what to do. I am sometimes experiencing problems with the power button where when pressing it, it does nothing. You have to sometimes press it a few times before it's recognised.

If it's a software issue, I am happy to hold off for a software update.
 
DJTaurus

DJTaurus

macrumors 68000
Jan 31, 2012
1,646
1,053
Shaun.P said:
I don't know what to do. I am sometimes experiencing problems with the power button where when pressing it, it does nothing. You have to sometimes press it a few times before it's recognised.
Click to expand...

The power button it just needs more pressure. It happens at mine too :cool:
 
M

mm.bentley

macrumors newbie
Jun 25, 2013
2
0
Spoke with Apple

So, I called Apple's customer service, walked through a variety of settings checks, and nothing was found to be out of place.

I brought it in to the genius bar and they weren't able to recreate the problem at the store. It was so loud in there that they had to bring it in the back so I think it's possible that they just didn't notice it. The person helping me also checked Apple's employee database to see if any other customers had reported that same issue and nothing had been posted on their database at that point.
 
S

Stealth777

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2013
26
1
San Francisco Bay Area
I've had two different 2013 Airs with same issue

I did have a thought though..I wonder if it could be related to the dual mics picking up ambient sound or something. Maybe there is some noise cancellation feature that is causing the volume fluctuations?
 
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