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Apple studio display sound quality

grandM

grandM

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 14, 2013
1,553
309
I am thinking of buying the ASD. Sound quality matters to me. I watch a lot of movies on my Mac and I listen to music a lot.

I recently bought a Sonos era 300 for my bedroom. Watching Netflix on my iPad I noticed it bothers me the sound doesn’t come from in front of me. I could of course buy 2 era 300s and place them in front of me but that gets bulky. Two HomePod (minis) might be an option too. Still need a microphone then though.

So I wondered if the sound quality of the ASD is comparable? Hope they don’t renew it soon then. 😉
 
grandM said:
I am thinking of buying the ASD. Sound quality matters to me. I watch a lot of movies on my Mac and I listen to music a lot.

I recently bought a Sonos era 300 for my bedroom. Watching Netflix on my iPad I noticed it bothers me the sound doesn’t come from in front of me. I could of course buy 2 era 300s and place them in front of me but that gets bulky. Two HomePod (minis) might be an option too. Still need a microphone then though.

So I wondered if the sound quality of the ASD is comparable? Hope they don’t renew it soon then. 😉
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Hey, I hope you are doing well. I want to know does the Apple Studio Display offer good enough sound quality for movies and music, or should I stick with external speakers like the Sonos or HomePod?
 
MikeTaku said:
Hey, I hope you are doing well. I want to know does the Apple Studio Display offer good enough sound quality for movies and music, or should I stick with external speakers like the Sonos or HomePod?
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I haven’t bought it, which I regret to be honest. The reason why I should have bought it: I recently bought a Sonos era 300. Thing sounds good but for some music it really goes astray eg Adagio for strings from Tiësto. Anyhow I connect it to my iPad mini over AirPlay. It is a mess. You found yourself needing to go to the Sonos app because Spotify sometimes has no clue it is playing through the speaker. There is a lag also on Netflix. The Sonos devices do have a audio jack, would have to shove it aside to make sure, but the Sonos era which is supposed to have spatial, Dolby atmos, doesn’t live up to its promise on older music/movies/series. So basically you’d need 2 of them using physical cables to connect them. The plus is of course that if one gets damaged you can replace it. But it you are thinking stereo you want the sound to come in front of you and not from above or so watching a movie. Would mean a huge desk.

I am hoping I will be able to snatch the Apple studio display again on a discount. As it stands the one I want is sold out and could be it isn’t coming back soon.
 
Apple refreshing iMac, Mac mini but not the display.
Go figure.
 
Sound quality is subjective.

I think the Studio Display's sound quality is great for watching movies and listening to music... but I'm not a "audio snob" and my expectations are probably much lower than those folks. I get decent treble and base, it's plenty loud enough, and that's all I ask of it.
 
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The ASD speakers are better than the MacBook Pro but not by a huge margin. I have a pair of HomePod minis and there is no comparison. Not only do the minis go louder but they feel like they have 10 times the bass. That being said, compared to my pair of full size HomePods, the minis sound anemic, but when compared to the ASD they sound awesome lol.
 
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glindon said:
The ASD speakers are better than the MacBook Pro but not by a huge margin. I have a pair of HomePod minis and there is no comparison. Not only do the minis go louder but they feel like they have 10 times the bass. That being said, compared to my pair of full size HomePods, the minis sound anemic, but when compared to the ASD they sound awesome lol.
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Watching movies I am afraid the HomePod mini will result in a lag?
 
The speakers in even the HomePod mini are at least 3x the size of the speakers in the Studio Display. While the ASD sounds great, they can only move just so much air and will be limited by their physical size. Bookshelf speakers or other dedicated speakers will always sound better. I have a pair of Edifer powered speakers on my desk and I'll switch to them when I want more fidelity than my ASD can provide.
 
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xraydoc said:
The speakers in even the HomePod mini are at least 3x the size of the speakers in the Studio Display. While the ASD sounds great, they can only move just so much air and will be limited by their physical size. Bookshelf speakers or other dedicated speakers will always sound better. I have a pair of Edifer powered speakers on my desk and I'll switch to them when I want more fidelity than my ASD can provide.
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Yeah, but almost (if not every) reviewer claimed how great the display speakers were, which was unequivocally false. It was journalistic malpractice, if I’m being generous. The cheapest pair of powered speakers render the built in ones redundant. Sure, they don’t sound like a tin can, but that’s a low bar, and if the reviewers weren’t incompetent, they could have said as much, but didn’t.
 
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glindon said:
Yeah, but almost (if not every) reviewer claimed how great the display speakers were, which was unequivocally false. It was journalistic malpractice, if I’m being generous. The cheapest pair of powered speakers render the built in ones redundant. Sure, they don’t sound like a tin can, but that’s a low bar, and if the reviewers weren’t incompetent, they could have said as much, but didn’t.
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They are great. But they're still just speakers in a display. They can't replace large speakers no matter how good they are.
 
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xraydoc said:
They are great. But they're still just speakers in a display. They can't replace large speakers no matter how good they are.
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Right, they are great compared to other displays, or the MacBook Pro speakers, but annoyingly I don’t remember a single reviewer mentioning that. What I do remember them going on and on about was the webcam, which was fine, and which the average person cares little about, considering they have an iPhone.
 
I use a pair of affordable powered monitors, and they're definitely much better and more balanced.

What are the Studio Display speakers?

I think they're like: "we know some people aren't going to have a desk with space for dedicated speakers, and some people aren't going to bother with dedicated speakers. And in the shape of something that's already a thin, high-quality display, we can't include dedicated speakers. But we're going to do as much as we can to give those people a sound that's as decent as we can."

And the sound is decent: bass seems to rumble, violins seem to resonate. You could listen to various kinds of music and shows and really bask in it. But it's a certain kind of signature when you step back and compare; almost like the quality is expertly illusory.
 
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glindon said:
No, MacOS delays the video feed so it syncs automatically.
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On my iPad watching Netflix I noticed a lip syncing delay using Sonos era 300.
This would not happen using HomePod (mini)?
 
grandM said:
On my iPad watching Netflix I noticed a lip syncing delay using Sonos era 300.
This would not happen using HomePod (mini)?
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Nope. Syncs perfectly. But bear in mind that anything live, such as system sounds, webcam feed, game audio, etc will always have a delay.
 
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glindon said:
Nope. Syncs perfectly. But bear in mind that anything live, such as system sounds, webcam feed, game audio, etc will always have a delay.
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Seems better to buy a Sonos era device with line in so?
 
glindon said:
Nope. Syncs perfectly. But bear in mind that anything live, such as system sounds, webcam feed, game audio, etc will always have a delay.
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Seems I would better get a Sonos era device with line in?
 
Great in-monitor speakers, possibly the best. Better than even some cheap desktop speakers, but not as good as most mid-price desktop speakers. Definitely functional unless you're mixing audio.
 
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grandM said:
Which?
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Depends on room size or if you’re only using them as computer speakers. I love my Bowers and Wilkins MM-1 speakers which I’ve owed since 2011 and are still sold to this day. If you are into bass heavy music probably not a good fit however. They’re best listened at a desk only. Larger room or more bass I would go with AudioEngine. I have a pair of Yamaha HS8 but you need a good interface for them as they are music production speakers. Plenty of bass but they are large speakers (8” woofer).
 
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