2015 Retina 13" MBP sound check request

[JimBanville]

I think the speakers or something in the audio system is not up to spec. The speakers sound weak compared to my 13" MBA. Comparatively, the sound is unbalanced in that the mids and highs seem emphasized. I noticed it the first time I turned it on and the start-up sound was not what I'd been hearing from my MBA. I've erased/restored the OS. I've removed the back cover and detached/reattached the speaker connectors. In iTunes, the EQ is off. If you have the retina 13" pro, can you try a simple test and let me know the results? I used a free app called "Decibel 10th" in my iPhone 6S to measure the sound pressure level (I know they aren't that accurate, but for comparison purposes [same app/same phone model/same laptop model] it should be adequate). I set my phone on the table (sideways) with the home button lined up with the fn key on my MBP. The bottom edge of the phone is actually touching the left side of my laptop. I then ran a sound sweep in YouTube. It is called "20hz to 20khz (human audio spectrum)". YouTube video volume is at max and my MBP volume is at 8 (half). In a quiet room, I can hear audio from the speakers at about 100hz. The meter starts to show an increase of sound pressure over the ambient room noise (~50db) at about 60hz. The numbers slowly rise. There is a slight dip at 150hz. The pressure hits about 90db around 300-400hz and goes up to about 93 at the very high mid frequencies and then drops back down to 90 and the sound is too high for me to hear.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I think the speakers or something in the audio system is not up to spec. The speakers sound weak compared to my 13" MBA. Comparatively, the sound is unbalanced in that the mids and highs seem emphasized. I noticed it the first time I turned it on and the start-up sound was not what I'd been hearing from my MBA. I've erased/restored the OS. I've removed the back cover and detached/reattached the speaker connectors. In iTunes, the EQ is off. If you have the retina 13" pro, can you try a simple test and let me know the results? I used a free app called "Decibel 10th" in my iPhone 6S to measure the sound pressure level (I know they aren't that accurate, but for comparison purposes [same app/same phone model/same laptop model] it should be adequate). I set my phone on the table (sideways) with the home button lined up with the fn key on my MBP. The bottom edge of the phone is actually touching the left side of my laptop. I then ran a sound sweep in YouTube. It is called "20hz to 20khz (human audio spectrum)". YouTube video volume is at max and my MBP volume is at 8 (half). In a quiet room, I can hear audio from the speakers at about 100hz. The meter starts to show an increase of sound pressure over the ambient room noise (~50db) at about 60hz. The numbers slowly rise. There is a slight dip at 150hz. The pressure hits about 90db around 300-400hz and goes up to about 93 at the very high mid frequencies and then drops back down to 90 and the sound is too high for me to hear.

If you have an issue with it take it back to apple, different people testing different machines in different environments will give you no useful results, all laptops sound slightly different anyway. Just use your warranty.

 

[maflynn]

I think the speakers or something in the audio system is not up to spec.

As mentioned if you are not happy with the sound, send it back to apple for either exchange or repair.