2015 MBP vs 2015 MBA Sound Card

[Mike Richardson]

I just bought a top of the line 2015 15" MacBook Pro from Mac of All Trades, to supplement my MacBook Air.

The keyboard is fantastic

Somehow, as one tends to do through random browsing I wound up on a site where you can test your hearing. Long story short, I think the MacBook Pro has POOPY (replace with s-word) audio compared to the MacBook Air.

Here is the raw testing file: https://www.audiocheck.net/Audio/audiocheck.net_aliasingcheck_44100.mp3

The sound file consists of 3 tones (that anyone should be able to hear unless you are actually deaf), and then a "-3 dbFS sweeping sine tone from 22 kHz (half the sampling rate at 44.1kHz) down to 1 kHz."

On the MBP you can hear the three tones, followed by what sounds like weird outer space/incorrect AM radio reception sounds. Around 9 seconds in you can hear the actual test tone increasing in volume, but the outer space noises (Aliasing) do not go away until about 19 seconds in.

On the MBA the output is perfect. No outer space sounds. Three tones, then silence until about 9 seconds in.

You will hear the actual test tone earlier or later if you are younger or older, respectively. (or later if you went to a lot of rock concerts).

Both laptops are set up the same in Audio MIDI Setup: Built In Output: 2 ch 16-bit Integer 44.1 KHz

 

[pshufd]

I tried this on a 2014 with external speakers and it sounded like what you described for your MBA. I tried it on the internal speakers on a 2015 and the space sound was from about 8 seconds in to 10 seconds in. I've never really considered that there are problems with the sound on either of these systems. I have a 2015 13 inch as well but I don't feel like firing it up to try it.

 

[Mike Richardson]

I tried this on a 2014 with external speakers and it sounded like what you described for your MBA. I tried it on the internal speakers on a 2015 and the space sound was from about 8 seconds in to 10 seconds in. I've never really considered that there are problems with the sound on either of these systems. I have a 2015 13 inch as well but I don't feel like firing it up to try it.

What is your Audio MIDI Setup set to?

 

[pshufd]

What is your Audio MIDI Setup set to?

I'm not sure what Audio MIDI setup means. My speakers are Logitech amplified desk speakers that cost about $20.

 

[Mike Richardson]

In the Utilities folder in Applications is a program called "Audio MIDI Setup". It lets you set various options for audio input and output.

Since the test file is 16-bit 44100 Hz I made sure that Audio MIDI Setup is set the same way. This eliminates any issues from converting the sampling rate, etc.

Can someone else with a 2015 MacBook Pro please test the MP3 file and tell me if you hear the weird noises or not? I need to figure out if maybe my laptop is defective or not.