2018 Mac Mini coil whine

[MXBY]

I'm also having significant coil whine. It starts when the SSD is under moderate/heavy use.

Audio clip: https://vocaroo.com/i/s1piq8nQW12V

Has anyone else successfully been able to return the product based on RMA of this "defect"? I'm past my 14 day return policy, but I did open a support ticket with Apple the day after it arrived – however Christmas got in the way, and I will have to resume the issue with them.

I hope to be able to explain to the Apple support, why this is a defect in the product – but is it really? What causes coil whine, and why should or should anyone accept it (if one doesn't want to)?

 

[Duncan68]

I am so fortunate that my 50+ ears can't hear any coil whine.

 

[Ploki]

I'm also having significant coil whine. It starts when the SSD is under moderate/heavy use.

Audio clip: https://vocaroo.com/i/s1piq8nQW12V

Has anyone else successfully been able to return the product based on RMA of this "defect"? I'm past my 14 day return policy, but I did open a support ticket with Apple the day after it arrived – however Christmas got in the way, and I will have to resume the issue with them.

I hope to be able to explain to the Apple support, why this is a defect in the product – but is it really? What causes coil whine, and why should or should anyone accept it (if one doesn't want to)?

jesus sounds like an old dot matrix printer.

Tell them it makes noise and that a store model you saw doesn't make one

 

[deviant]

I'm also having significant coil whine. It starts when the SSD is under moderate/heavy use.

Audio clip: https://vocaroo.com/i/s1piq8nQW12V

Has anyone else successfully been able to return the product based on RMA of this "defect"? I'm past my 14 day return policy, but I did open a support ticket with Apple the day after it arrived – however Christmas got in the way, and I will have to resume the issue with them.

I hope to be able to explain to the Apple support, why this is a defect in the product – but is it really? What causes coil whine, and why should or should anyone accept it (if one doesn't want to)?

lol "significant"
man cmon I had to turn volume all up to hear it and the ambient noise was noisier. it does make some sounds when under super heavy load like restoring backups or copying 10000 small files but that's it.

 

[Ploki]

lol "significant"
man cmon I had to turn volume all up to hear it and the ambient noise was noisier. it does make some sounds when under super heavy load like restoring backups or copying 10000 small files but that's it.

it's still 100% more than any of mine make

 

[harriska2]

I am so fortunate that my 50+ ears can't hear any coil whine.

Same here plus the noise of 8 spinning hard drives and a NUC with obnoxious fan.

 

[MXBY]

lol "significant"
man cmon I had to turn volume all up to hear it and the ambient noise was noisier. it does make some sounds when under super heavy load like restoring backups or copying 10000 small files but that's it.

The brain filters out ambient noise in real life, whereas the coil whine is easily hearable and distinctive. The recording is not a 1:1 capture of what you would hear on location as the microphone exaggerates background noise. The coil whine is actually so significant that it sounds like something is broken.

Also, people who are 50+ and wouldn't be able to hear it, please don't provide us with your impertinent anecdotes, as it dilutes the helpfulness of the thread.

 

[madrag]

I would like to add that I can also hear the same noise coming from a Crucial SSD MX500 1TB that I have on an external enclosure.

It was a surprise, since it isn't very audible if inside the enclosure, but I was trying different enclosures, and tested the SSD without the enclosure on (just connected to the Mac) and when doing a BlackMagic Disk Speed test, while it was reading it made the same noise as the internal SSD from the Mac! (but in lower volume compared to the coil whine in the Mac).

So this is not just the internal SSD (or the brand used).

 

[Fishrrman]

Duncan wrote:
"I am so fortunate that my 50+ ears can't hear any coil whine."

I think you're onto something.

I'll reckon that -most- (not all) of those members here complaining of "coil whine" on the new Minis (and also on new MacBook Pros) are younger, with hearing that remains more sensitive to very high-pitched frequencies...

 

[Ploki]

Duncan wrote:
"I am so fortunate that my 50+ ears can't hear any coil whine."

I think you're onto something.

I'll reckon that -most- (not all) of those members here complaining of "coil whine" on the new Minis (and also on new MacBook Pros) are younger, with hearing that remains more sensitive to very high-pitched frequencies...

it's not that high-pitched tbh. starts around 1,5K.

It's just that not all macs have it. None of the 3 (2 of which i kept) 2018s I used had it.

 

[harriska2]

The brain filters out ambient noise in real life, whereas the coil whine is easily hearable and distinctive. The recording is not a 1:1 capture of what you would hear on location as the microphone exaggerates background noise. The coil whine is actually so significant that it sounds like something is broken.

Also, people who are 50+ and wouldn't be able to hear it, please don't provide us with your impertinent anecdotes, as it dilutes the helpfulness of the thread.

People under 50, please don't provide us with your impertinent anecdotes, as it dilutes our IQ.
[doublepost=1547568694][/doublepost]

it's not that high-pitched tbh. starts around 1,5K.

It's just that not all macs have it. None of the 3 (2 of which i kept) 2018s I used had it.

Just curious, what specific size of SSD were they?

 

[Ploki]

People under 50, please don't provide us with your impertinent anecdotes, as it dilutes our IQ.
[doublepost=1547568694][/doublepost]
Just curious, what specific size of SSD were they?

2TB on the returned 15", 512GB on both 13" and Mini

 

[fokmik]

I think this is the new standard since i have 2018 MBP and new Lenovo thinkpad X1 extreme and also the new surface laptop 2...all of them in a quiet place have this SSD sound....i think these days the SSD power come with some noise under load

 

[Ploki]

I think this is the new standard since i have 2018 MBP and new Lenovo thinkpad X1 extreme and also the new surface laptop 2...all of them in a quiet place have this SSD sound....i think these days the SSD power come with some noise under load

Why does none of my have it then
nor Samsung external nor either of internals.

 

[fokmik]

Maybe not the same level dB as mine room since im working in a soundproof 2/2 room and probably not on the same usage lvl ssd
The externals samsung SSD are still last gen, first new gen of external samsung ssd is coming in mid February

 

[Ploki]

Maybe not the same level dB as mine room since im working in a soundproof 2/2 room and probably not on the same usage lvl ssd
The externals samsung SSD are still last gen, first new gen of external samsung ssd is coming in mid February

I'm building a studio right now and the most of money will be thrown into acoustics, and am very critical of these types of noises. I had my CalDigit ts3+ replaced because it had coil whine.

(I also had the 15" in my current studio, also sound proofed but a little worse, and it was dead silent)

 

[fokmik]

Ok, let us know after you build that studio and tell us after that

 

[Ploki]

Ok, let us know after you build that studio and tell us after that

I already have a studio. I'm building a new one.

That said:
I CAN HEAR IT!
It's as loud as fan noise is.
approximately as loud as the Samsung EVO 970 is actually in the TB3 enclosure. ?!
I can only hear it if I put my ear directly on the enclosure (making a seal between enclosure and my ears)
(both mini and the samsung), at which point I also hear the idle fan noise anyway.
I still can't find the noise on the 13", i guess it's as loud as the mini/samsung so I can't properly locate it.

So I agree with you. Looks like the issue is that some make more of the noise than the other but all make it after all.

I don't find this as a problem, if it were detectable 50cm away from my head i would have returned it.
In any case, it's going into an isolation closet because of the fan anyway.

 

[fokmik]

Yep, its not an issue..i love the performance that brings
Maybe for some if they buy an 12" Macbook...i can somehow understand them if they hear this noise in a quiet place etc etc since that mac is fanless...but here...where we also have fans and so on...i dont understand them..
But maybe there are ones with higher db noise that can hear the coil whine in a normal environment, that is an issue

 

[Ploki]

Yep, its not an issue..i love the performance that brings
Maybe for some if they buy an 12" Macbook...i can somehow understand them if they hear this noise in a quiet place etc etc since that mac is fanless...but here...where we also have fans and so on...i dont understand them..
But maybe there are ones with higher db noise that can hear the coil whine in a normal environment, that is an issue

I can't hear it on the 13" tho, even when fans drop to 0rpm. I think that you are right, some seem to be much louder, to the point of being annoying.
I know my CalDigit was like that - terrible loud coil whine.

 

[brentsg]

I already have a studio. I'm building a new one.

That said:
I CAN HEAR IT!
It's as loud as fan noise is.
approximately as loud as the Samsung EVO 970 is actually in the TB3 enclosure. ?!
I can only hear it if I put my ear directly on the enclosure (making a seal between enclosure and my ears)
(both mini and the samsung), at which point I also hear the idle fan noise anyway.
I still can't find the noise on the 13", i guess it's as loud as the mini/samsung so I can't properly locate it.

So I agree with you. Looks like the issue is that some make more of the noise than the other but all make it after all.

I don't find this as a problem, if it were detectable 50cm away from my head i would have returned it.
In any case, it's going into an isolation closet because of the fan anyway.

I'm sure there's some variability among samples, plus we all have different ears, use cases, and locations for the device.

Mine was 2-3' from my ears and I could clearly hear it, above even my 8 bay NAS that was right next to it.

 

[Jean Du]

I’m experiencing coil whine with my 2018 mini that I got 4 days ago.
- BTO i7 16G 1T -
I do have the SSD “scratching” noise too.
But what bothers me the most is that I have a strong coil whine when CPU is working over 10%.
The more the cpu is runing the louder the whine, so I assume that it is related with the power supply, as electrical power corelates with cpu demand.
The whine main frequency is located around 1.5 kHz.
I heard people saying that the fan is usually very quiet, mine is kicking in when CPU runs over 20% witch isn’t supposed to happen at all. Over 50% it’s turning almost into a vaccum.
I’m a sound designer and can not tolerate such parasites around.

I will obviously be returning mine, because it’s not working as advertised, and such a noisy unit is unacceptable, but I’ll allow myself to let it run permanently at 40 % CPU for the next days to see if the whine seem to soften.

Next step will be to ask for a replacement and see if the new one suffers the same issue. If it does my guess would be to ask for a refund and order a new unit in a couple of months, time to give a chance for the production line to improve.

Let you guys know about it

 

[Ploki]

I’m experiencing coil whine with my 2018 mini that I got 4 days ago.
- BTO i7 16G 1T -
I do have the SSD “scratching” noise too.
But what bothers me the most is that I have a strong coil whine when CPU is working over 10%.
The more the cpu is runing the louder the whine, so I assume that it is related with the power supply, as electrical power corelates with cpu demand.
The whine main frequency is located around 1.5 kHz.
I heard people saying that the fan is usually very quiet, mine is kicking in when CPU runs over 20% witch isn’t supposed to happen at all. Over 50% it’s turning almost into a vaccum.
I’m a sound designer and can not tolerate such parasites around.

I will obviously be returning mine, because it’s not working as advertised, and such a noisy unit is unacceptable, but I’ll allow myself to let it run permanently at 40 % CPU for the next days to see if the whine seem to soften.

Next step will be to ask for a replacement and see if the new one suffers the same issue. If it does my guess would be to ask for a refund and order a new unit in a couple of months, time to give a chance for the production line to improve.

Let you guys know about it

get an isolation closet, no computer will run silent enough for sound design purposes, maybe a large tower with 140cm fans... but even those tend to ramp up.
It's as much computing power as in 2013 12-core Mac Pro, of course it will heat up

Mine behaves exactly as you described, sans coil whine.

The "whine" on mine is only present when I put an ear on it, so its more quiet than the idle fan noise.

Don't expect a replacement to run cooler.

 

[Jean Du]

get an isolation closet, no computer will run silent enough for sound design purposes, maybe a large tower with 140cm fans... but even those tend to ramp up.
It's as much computing power as in 2013 12-core Mac Pro, of course it will heat up

Mine behaves exactly as you described, sans coil whine.

The "whine" on mine is only present when I put an ear on it, so its more quiet than the idle fan noise.

Don't expect a replacement to run cooler.

Thx for your feedback !
Happy to know that yours behaves the same without power supply noise, meaning that a replacement should do better.
My unit is located exactly the same my old 2012 mini was and that I never ever heard. That’s why I’m suspicious.
For the record, I can hear the SSD working, like others in this thread described, but it doesn’t bother me that much as I can locate it elsewhere as you suggested.
The power supply constant coil whine is much more intense though.
Regarding the fan noise, it’s not even getting that hot in it and far from throttle threshold, I’m just suspecting an other defect here as it just blasts cool air out of the mini for no reasons at 20%CPU usage.

 

[Ploki]

Thx for your feedback !
Happy to know that yours behaves the same without power supply noise, meaning that a replacement should do better.
My unit is located exactly the same my old 2012 mini was and that I never ever heard. That’s why I’m suspicious.
For the record, I can hear the SSD working, like others in this thread described, but it doesn’t bother me that much as I can locate it elsewhere as you suggested.
The power supply constant coil whine is much more intense though.
Regarding the fan noise, it’s not even getting that hot in it and far from throttle threshold, I’m just suspecting an other defect here as it just blasts cool air out of the mini for no reasons at 20%CPU usage.

Well you're going to get a replacement for the coil whine anyway; mine blows out hot air certainly when it does.

But no PSU or coil whine noise, as far as these things are concerned it's dead quiet, fan is the only noise i can hear from this thing unless I press my ear against it

I have an i7/32gb/512. Swapped ram myself, I will use it in a studio (under construction) and will go into an isolation closet or somewhere far away from my face.