Apple Studio Display Owners Complain of High-Pitched Buzzing Sound Likely Caused By Electrical Interference

[Radiomarko]

Capacitors can also do the same, albeit for different physical reasons.

For all the money Apple puts into cosmetics in their products, you'd think that they'd go the extra distance in the power supply designs to minimize these effects as well as providing reduced susceptibility to less than perfect AC mains power. But, noooo...

Also, for what it's worth, designs of Apple power supplies often are such that they add AC pollution to the AC mains themselves. That causes issues with other products plugged into the same circuits as the Apple products. Two sides of the same coin. They may pass the rather lax compliance agency requirements, but Apple product purchasers should expect more.

One of the best words that can be used to describe Apple is hubris.

Yes caps can but it's much less common imho. Not forgetting the famous veteran Sony radio, hi-fi et al caps that I must have replaced a gazillion during the past decade owing to premature failure..

Switch mode PSUs are the norm these days ofc, not just Apple's, they are always noisy, unless built to Mil spec, not just with electrical noise on a needed signal or current internally but by transmitting radio frequency noise. Lots of it.

 

[Starship77]

I had the EXACT same thing with my old 27 LED Cinema Display. Even the fact it seems to come from the rear side. I wonder if there’s something similar happening in both models. I had the impression it was coming from some capacitors inside.

 

[Mainyehc]

This is what happens when products are developed and tested solely within a clean industrial environment. You think Apple HQ has anything but perfect cell service, perfect wifi, and perfectly conditioned electricity?

You’d think Apple engineers would have access to a specialized 110V/220V AC power supply like the one LTT (a puny company with just 80-ish workers) just got, and simulate all sorts of less than ideal conditions with it, no?

 

[Broadus]

My ASD does not produce a high-pitch noise or whine, but the fans to make a ticking sound, with the one on the left a little louder than the one on the left. I only notice them when the house is quiet, but the fans seem to run all the time, even when the display is asleep and disconnected from the MBP.

[Edit: I just put the display to sleep and disconnected from the MBP. I checked the ASD and the fans were not running. So they seem to run only when needing to dissipate heat, which seems like all the time when the MBP is connected.]

I bought mine for text work (research and writing), and the 5K resolution and whatever else Apple has done for the screen gives me far less eye strain than any other monitor that I've used.

 

[Matt Leaf]

I notice a small sort of ticking sound on mine, at the rear, around the area of the power plug.

It’s not super loud, or particular annoying. I probably only noticed it because my desk is in an open space and I walk behind the back of the monitor regularly. Unplugging the MacBook Pro (2017) makes it go away (edit: not totally sure about this - need to test more as another time it continued without the MacBook plugged in. I think, there might be a difference between sleeping, and disconnecting before sleeping? Wil check tomorrow)

Wonder if I’d have the same situation with a Mac Studio or Mini? I suspect so.

A slight bummer, and I only hope the device has the longevity in it I expect from Apple products. Will keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse. But let’s face it, there’s a boat load of engineering inside the Studio Display. Sure it’s not perfectly silent, at least in my case, would be nice if it was.

If I’m in front of the display I can’t hear it.

edit: I noticed also as others have said, on full brightness it's not there, lower brightness it kicks in

edit 2: appears if u sleep the MacBook/Display, and then disconnect the display, the noise continues. If I simply disconnect the TB cable from the Mac while everything is running, the noise stops.

My final say on this is, I guess, I don’t think it’s a pre-requisite of all modern electronics to be silent, but that I hope whatever is making that noise is not some fail or weak point in the system that causes me to have to get it repaired in 2 years or something.

 

[Broadus]

I notice a small sort of ticking sound on mine, at the rear, around the area of the power plug.

It’s not super loud, or particular annoying. I probably only noticed it because my desk is in an open space and I walk behind the back of the monitor regularly. Unplugging the MacBook Pro (2017) makes it go away.

Wonder if I’d have the same situation with a Mac Studio or Mini? I suspect so.

A slight bummer, and I only hope the device has the longevity in it I expect from Apple products. Will keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse. But let’s face it, there’s a boat load of engineering inside the Studio Display. Sure it’s not perfectly silent, at least in my case, would be nice if it was.

If I’m in front of the display I can’t hear it.

My desk is against the wall, but I first noticed mine while sitting at the desk when the house was particularly quiet. I figured that it’s the fans because, as I listen from left to right across the top vents and the fans are on, the sound is louder over the vents but not noticeable above the center.

I agree, there’s a lot of tech involved in the things. I would think that the fans themselves would be the most basic, but I don’t know for certain.

Mine is the only ASD that I’ve seen, so I have no others for comparison. My hope is that it gets no louder. I intend to have this monitor for years.

 

[PalmTree1988]

Some Apple Studio Display owners have taken to online forums to complain that their monitors make a high-pitched buzzing sound that appears to be emanating from the top of the screen or behind it, and may be being caused by electrical interference.

There are complaints on Twitter, Reddit and the Apple Support Community dating back to June, and more recently on the MacRumors forums, about the issue, which is variously described as an "electrical buzzing" and "constant ringing" that is "loud," "high-pitched," and "very annoying."

Several owners have found that the sound is not fan-related and only happens when a MacBook Pro or iPad is plugged into the Studio Display. Some have also noted that the noise can vary in intensity and pitch depending on the time of day, suggesting an electrical shielding issue may be the cause of the fault.

From Apple Support Community member Ryan Roberts:
Some users have suggested the Apple Studio Display picks up interference from electric car chargers. In the case of MacRumors reader Indominus, they tracked the source of the interference back to Lutron Caseta light dimmers that are installed in their house.
MacRumors reader uller6 relayed a similar experience:
Other users say they have tried electrical power filters to resolve the issue but to no avail, and some have received one or more replacement units from Apple that were similarly affected.

It's not clear how widespread the issue is, but Apple appears to be aware of the problem affecting some Studio Display owners, although a solution has not yet been found. It's worth noting that this is a separate Studio Display issue to the widespread speaker problem that Apple eventually fixed with a firmware update. Have you found the display to be over-sensitive to electrical interference? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: Apple Studio Display Owners Complain of High-Pitched Buzzing Sound Likely Caused By Electrical Interference

I’m glad this is being picked up as a story. I love my Studio Display, despite the expense, but it is picking up interference from charging my electric car. The loudness of the interference is proportionate to the current being drawn by the car. Apple Support acknowledged it as a known issue but said there isn’t a solution at the moment.

 

[avkills]

Nobody claimed it was the best monitor for photo/digital media work. What people who actually own one and are photographers, or involved in some other creative endeavor, are saying is it's the best value and offers the best image quality for the money.


"Probably a BenQ, Eizo or Dell. HP makes some high end monitors also. Anyone doing super serious video or film editing is going to have a uber expensive reference monitor and some sort of SDI video card/interface to drive it."

With your above proclamation, it sounds like you are a photographer. Is that correct? Which display do you use in your photo processing? And what kind of photography are you engaged in?

Sorry was out of the country so have not really been monitoring this. I actually mostly to video work, but more engineering than editing. Sadly I only have a 38" Dell Ultrawide (3840x1600); but my last monitor was a Apple 30" Cinema Display which at the time of purchase was truly a step above other monitors.

I just don't see the point in spending the money Apple is asking for either of its current monitor offerings simply because you are locked to using them with Apple rigs. They also physically feel "small" in my opinion. The first time I saw the XDR display in person, my first reaction was "holy $#%$" that is small. I'd probably like it a lot though hooked to the MacPro, but then it is useless for my PC rig. For my setup I need a monitor with a built in KVM and multiple kinds of inputs.

Maybe eventually Apple will release something I can use. But for the money, I'd be more prone to spend that on a Flanders broadcast monitor instead.

 

[jimmy_uk]

I have two studio displays at work and they are inside a wooden hood to reduce external light while I work on graphics. I can hear them both buzzing and the sound reverberates against the hood. Its a low-pitch buzz and its very annoying!