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

Severe on-board audio latency problems on all late 2013 rMBP's

While I seldom use Core Audio for recording, I just checked and got similar numbers from Logic. That said, plugging headphones into the jack brings the latency measure back to normal (~5 msec). I imagine this has something to do with the hardware that's driving the "all-in-one" input/output jack on these new machines.

Kind of a non-issue for me since I'd certainly be wearing headphones for any kind of audio work, but it's yet another discouraging sign in terms of Apple's commitment to its 'pro' user base.
 
Just finishing the install of LP9. Will report my latency! I hope this is not true as I do not want to carry an Ensemble everywhere when I travel to get decent latencys...this is a bummer. From what I'm seeing my 2009 would have better latency...I'm past my 14 days return policy too!
 
Ok so I'm getting 14.7ms (128 buffer) of latency on LP9.
Getting 9.8 with same settings but headphones plugged in.

This is no so great for a machine this good! Kind of disappointed.
 
Yes... I have the same problem as well. This really sucks!
 

Attachments

  • latency.jpg
    latency.jpg
    74.9 KB · Views: 392
ooans said:
Yes... I have the same problem as well. This really sucks!
Click to expand...

What's your computer specs?

Do you have LP9 too? wandering if LP9 is better than LPX in terms of latency with the new rMBPs. So far the few screenshots I've seen of the LP9 seemed a tad lower. Making me think this could all be software related (coreaudio) and Apple could fix this. (fingers crossed)
 
johnnylarue said:
I imagine this has something to do with the hardware that's driving the "all-in-one" input/output jack on these new machines.
Click to expand...

If you want shocking further, what if I told you these machines only have an output now? they took away the all in one input/output jack.

I found that out the other day when I was trying to record something simple into ableton without using one of my external interfaces.
 
Are you guys serious?

Who does "pro audio" work with the built in audio device?

These problems are non existent with a proper external sound card.


This is trying really hard to find something to complain about, in my opinion: my new rMBP 15 allows me to work on whatever project I had running on my 2009 nehalem Mac Pro ,wherever I go!

This thing is AWESOME!
 
phoneorpda said:
Are you guys serious?

Who does "pro audio" work with the built in audio device?

These problems are non existent with a proper external sound card.


This is trying really hard to find something to complain about, in my opinion: my new rMBP 15 allows me to work on whatever project I had running on my 2009 nehalem Mac Pro ,wherever I go!

This thing is AWESOME!
Click to expand...

1. It's called on the GO. I do my pro work with a sound card of course.
2. My 2009 did have better latency than this. It's that we're being picky, but rather curious and disappointed that a newer and more expensive machine has worst latency....
 
lg251 said:
1. It's called on the GO. I do my pro work with a sound card of course.
2. My 2009 did have better latency than this. It's that we're being picky, but rather curious and disappointed that a newer and more expensive machine has worst latency....
Click to expand...


But again...on the go or not, you NEVER work without headphones, do you?
Any case where you are working on audio using the built in speakers? Not if it's your job.

I understand the disappointment in the difference between this and older machines, but This problem is irrelevant to people who use the machine professionally on a daily basis.

I hope they fix this so y'all can be happy, but this doesn't stop anyone from being able to own the fastest mobile audio workstation ever: I literally throw tracks to this thing and it just eats them like they're nothing.... I couldn't be happier with this laptop. I can finally bring the same projects I work on in the studio with me anywhere I go. no alternate bounces, no printing fx, etc.

THE FUTURE, PEOPLE...THE FUTURE!!!!!!
 
lg251 said:
What's your computer specs?

Do you have LP9 too? wandering if LP9 is better than LPX in terms of latency with the new rMBPs. So far the few screenshots I've seen of the LP9 seemed a tad lower. Making me think this could all be software related (coreaudio) and Apple could fix this. (fingers crossed)
Click to expand...

LP9 has the same high latency for me.

I know this isn't a huge issue, but it still is annoying. Just yesterday I was recording something with a MIDI keyboard using the inbuilt speakers and the latency made it really annoying.
 
I read through the GS forum and was a bit disheartened. However, from that forum it looks like it's something fixable through an update.

Posted by azrulsaleh on gearslutz:

"I can confirm that the latency is not due to hardware issue but related to CoreAudio. Tested at 128 samples of buffer size and I get the following roundtrip results with different i/o settings:

CoreAudio: 19.5ms
Soundflower: 5.8 ms
Boom: 5.8 ms"

Hopefully I'm not breaking any forum rules by quoting another forum.

Not surprising this one slipped through whatever QA there is in this area of development though, since most people worried about this sort of thing probably use an interface and headphones. BUT, there shouldn't be a downgrade in a new iteration of a machine (opening a can of worms here with other specs, I know).

As a disclaimer, I am not a professional and have only used GarageBand. But I hope to delve deeper into the home recording scene once I get my new rMBP (I've been computerless since my 2008 white macbook took a poo,) so I hope I will see some of you around!
 
sabbyp said:
If you want shocking further, what if I told you these machines only have an output now? they took away the all in one input/output jack.

I found that out the other day when I was trying to record something simple into ableton without using one of my external interfaces.
Click to expand...

Holy smokes--you're right! The Haswell rMPB officially has no audio in jack. That's unfortunate.

Guess they really had to cut corners to be able to offer that $200 price drop from the Ivy Bridge machines...
 
I just called AppleCare about this. They directed me to the "pro side" who had never heard about anything like this and were very surprised.

So please inform Apple if you also have the same problem.
 
Latency hardware test

I have similar latency problems, which is a bore because I'm developing an app that needs this. So - I booted my machine (2013 macbook pro 15" with Mavericks) into Windows 7, loaded the latest drivers and tested the latency at 128 samples with 48k sampling rate using ASIO4ALL. Round trip latency about 8ms, or 2ms more than the time required just to buffer the samples. Conclusion - this ain't no hardware problem. C'mon Apple, fix it please.
 
Anyone know if this has been resolved with Yosemite?

Can someone please test their 2013 or newer rMBP and let us know the latency with and without headphones plugged in?

Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back