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Does your 16 inch MacBook Pro have pop/cracking sound issue?


  • Total voters
    379

ThisBougieLife

Suspended
Jan 21, 2016
3,259
10,663
Northern California
I heard the pop when I paused a YouTube video today. That’s the first time I’ve noticed it on any Mac. I guess I don’t really care because I use headphones most of the time and one pop with YouTube doesn’t bug me much.
 

darwichee90

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2017
55
27
I don't really mind the popping sound, but does anyone knows if it's really damaging the laptop in the long term?
 

dmstasinos

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2019
81
99
I will just lay down some facts because i am seeing too much confusion about this issue:

1. The affected models are 2018 and 2019 MacBooks, both 15 inch and 16 inch.
2. It has nothing to do with thermal expansion noises that previous models had.
3. The pop is digitally generated and it’s the same sound that you hear when you are changing the sample rate of your system or when your audio gets out of sync or when the buffer of an audio interface is running out and in many other cases.
4. Big Vloggers are praising those machines and never report issues like that because: 1) Some are getting their laptops for free. 2) They don’t know what an audio pop is. 3) They are being paid by Apple. 4) Their heads are full of dead air so they already live in a world full of pops.
5. Apple knows this for a long time. My first report was back in August and one senior advisor was already familiar with this issue.
6. Ditching Safari is not a solution as the popping occurs in almost every pro app, like FCPX.
7. Ditching the internal speakers is also not a solution since this is a laptop and we all paid a significant amount of money for those parts to actually use the bloody speakers.
8. At least 3 out of 4 units are having this issue. I have tested 6 display machines so far (15 inch) and all of them where popping, although not as loud as mine does.
9. Anchovies are so aggressively salty and oily that could add a layer of “umami” in any food. Try this. Just put 10 of them in your blender, add some lime juice, blend and your secret sauce is ready.
 

darwichee90

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2017
55
27
I will just lay down some facts because i am seeing too much confusion about this issue:

1. The affected models are 2018 and 2019 MacBooks, both 15 inch and 16 inch.
2. It has nothing to do with thermal expansion noises that previous models had.
3. The pop is digitally generated and it’s the same sound that you hear when you are changing the sample rate of your system or when your audio gets out of sync or when the buffer of an audio interface is running out and in many other cases.
4. Big Vloggers are praising those machines and never report issues like that because: 1) Some are getting their laptops for free. 2) They don’t know what an audio pop is. 3) They are being paid by Apple. 4) Their heads are full of dead air so they already live in a world full of pops.
5. Apple knows this for a long time. My first report was back in August and one senior advisor was already familiar with this issue.
6. Ditching Safari is not a solution as the popping occurs in almost every pro app, like FCPX.
7. Ditching the internal speakers is also not a solution since this is a laptop and we all paid a significant amount of money for those parts to actually use the bloody speakers.
8. At least 3 out of 4 units are having this issue. I have tested 6 display machines so far (15 inch) and all of them where popping, although not as loud as mine does.
9. Anchovies are so aggressively salty and oily that could add a layer of “umami” in any food. Try this. Just put 10 of them in your blender, add some lime juice, blend and your secret sauce is ready.

So basicly nothing that's damaging the laptop itself? And i guess there's no fix for this since this has been known since 2018.
 

dmstasinos

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2019
81
99
So basicly nothing that's damaging the laptop itself? And i guess there's no fix for this since this has been known since 2018.
I believe this is not harmful for the laptop. These are very low currents generated by a software bug that are finding their way through the internal audio interface to the speakers. There was a case with previous models where the speakers where blown due to large crackles while using specific applications like Premiere for example. But that was a different case.
 

Carlo0101

macrumors newbie
Nov 21, 2019
11
1
6. Ditching Safari is not a solution as the popping occurs in almost every pro app, like FCPX.
7. Ditching the internal speakers is also not a solution since this is a laptop and we all paid a significant amount of money for those parts to actually use the bloody speakers.

Like wrote before, playing a mp3 of silence in background is a temporary solution.
 

Whackman

macrumors regular
Oct 23, 2012
180
75
This seems unlikely given that pretty much all of us are on Catalina 10.15.1. A future update may fix it, but certainly not the current one.
Huh, i'm on 10.15.2.. It does say public beta though. I can even download 10.15.2 beta 3.
 
Last edited:

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2004
3,512
795
Heard about this before buying and confirmed with the 16" I got today. Especially noticeable when you use the Touch Bar to skip to around on a YouTube video.

I assume it's just a software issue.
This is our ticket to getting Apple to nix or make the TouchBar optional :)
 

MengkeMary

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 16, 2019
84
41
Minneapolis
Huh, i'm on 10.15.2.. It does say public beta though. I can even download 10.15.2 beta 3.
Is there any improvement in 10.15.2? I did opt in beta program, but considering the recent release of macOS and iOS, I'm holding off to wait for official release.

I also have a Genius Bar appointment today. Let's see what they say.
 

covedrop

macrumors member
Nov 16, 2019
51
52
Took mine in, they recommended an exchange. The replacement still has the problem. I plan on waiting until there's more info about what the problem is and what the solution is.
 

Whackman

macrumors regular
Oct 23, 2012
180
75
Is there any improvement in 10.15.2? I did opt in beta program, but considering the recent release of macOS and iOS, I'm holding off to wait for official release.

I also have a Genius Bar appointment today. Let's see what they say.
i don't know but someone said they had an update and it was gone. I have yet to receive my 16 inch MBP.
I'm typing this on a mid 2012 MBP on Catalina 10.15.2. So i wondered if thta person also had 10.15.2.
I'm curious about this because i do NOT want that issue on my new 16 inch ;P
 

harsh01

macrumors newbie
Nov 23, 2019
2
0
i saw a video that says force quitting coreaudiod gives a temporary solution? Can anyone check on this?
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,429
6,837
I now have this also. It didn't happen when I watched YouTube in Chrome or played Music in the Music app but when I scrubbed through a video in IINA (media player similar to VLC) I had the popping sound same as the rest of you.
 

dmstasinos

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2019
81
99
It’s on all T2 models in varying degrees, they wont and try to sweep it under the carpet.
Exactly.

There are always some useful workarounds to overcome issues like this but this is not the point here. Of course we can play empty mp3s in the background but i didn’t imagine exactly this when i stepped into an Apple store to buy my laptop.

The fact that this is the only solution so far doesn’t mean that all we have to do is just wait for this to be addressed. As i wrote in a previous post, Apple will never fix this if we just wait. Judging from previous issues it takes a serious amount of complaints until things are getting fixed.
 

MengkeMary

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 16, 2019
84
41
Minneapolis
Exactly.

There are always some useful workarounds to overcome issues like this but this is not the point here. Of course we can play empty mp3s in the background but i didn’t imagine exactly this when i stepped into an Apple store to buy my laptop.

The fact that this is the only solution so far doesn’t mean that all we have to do is just wait for this to be addressed. As i wrote in a previous post, Apple will never fix this if we just wait. Judging from previous issues it takes a serious amount of complaints until things are getting fixed.
I agree with what you said. So it would be better if anyone with this issue could complain to Apple, just to bring it to their attention. Otherwise, we may end up waiting forever.
 

Ries

macrumors 68020
Apr 21, 2007
2,319
2,895
I agree with what you said. So it would be better if anyone with this issue could complain to Apple, just to bring it to their attention. Otherwise, we may end up waiting forever.

Not a single review mentions this problem, that has me worried for a fix. It almost like it is a conspiracy, how can they use FCPX on those machine and not notice it. I put in an order on extra tinfoil for hats.
 
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harsh01

macrumors newbie
Nov 23, 2019
2
0
Is there any improvement in 10.15.2? I did opt in beta program, but considering the recent release of macOS and iOS, I'm holding off to wait for official release.

I also have a Genius Bar appointment today. Let's see what they say.
Please let us know what happens at the "Genius" Bar
 

MengkeMary

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 16, 2019
84
41
Minneapolis
Please let us know what happens at the "Genius" Bar
Just returned from Genius Bar.

The guy helped me is a nice guy. He told me that I was the first to bring this issue to them for 16 inch MBP. Then he ran a bunch of testing, including audio test and found nothing, which is not surprising. He thought it could be a firmware issue, since some reported the same issue in bootcamp. At this point, he could not offer any advice except waiting for a software/firmware fix from Apple. At the same time, he filed a report to engineering team.

I also asked about the extended holiday return. He told it is okay even if you bought yours one or two days before Nov 15th, which is the official beginning of holiday return, they could easily accommodate. So another peace of mind if you get it before Nov. 15th.
 
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poorcody

macrumors 65816
Jul 23, 2013
1,324
1,565
The fact I can get the popping to happen on both the laptop speakers and my LG Ultrafine speakers, makes me think it is software rather than hardware. (I don't think the Thunderbolt 3 connection to my monitor has an analog audio signal.)
 
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