How loud is your Apple Studio Display?

[jabbr]

I'm wondering how close people are to the ASD, as that's a factor in noticing the fan sound or not. Also, are you charging a MacBook over the TB cable at the same time + other usb peripherals. Drawing more power > more heat > higher fan speed?

I'm usually like 20 inches away, powering a 14" MBP plus RME audio interface from the ASD. The fans are always audible in a quiet room in this scenario, but I wouldn't call them loud.

 

[benwiggy]

I'm wondering how close people are to the ASD, as that's a factor in noticing the fan sound or not. Also, are you charging a MacBook over the TB cable at the same time.

I've literally held my ear (and a decibel meter) to the edge of the case!

However, I'm not powering a laptop; and that could well be a factor.

From what I can understand, the Display itself has a maximum power consumption of 35W, but can also charge a laptop at 96W. A 300% increase in power may well turn the fans on.

I had the old Thunderbolt Display, which was rated at 250W when charging (otherwise power use was supposedly a bit over 100W -- though 150W for charging seems high for that era). Even without charging, you could hear it running, and there was a warm blast of air coming from the bottom.

Moving to the Studio display -- 4x the pixels for 1/3 of the power consumption -- was the best thing ever.

 

[romanof]

How could you miss these big boys? Surely you must have seen a teardown somewhere.

Nah. I have long since stopped caring about what is inside. Just that it works.

 

[Dave 123]

Well the other week I cancelled my appointment at the Apple Store as it sounded like most people had the draft and quiet fan noise. Now I hear some people don't even feel the constant breeze out of the top. The air movement is obvious if your face is near, and feelable by hand too. Yes, the noise below 30dB and so not measurable — but it still annoys the hell out of me.

No charging. No other items connected (just TB cable from Mac mini). 20°C ambient. How do some here have units without the fan noise? How would I get Apple to give me one of them!?
I can just imagine the smarmy store bod saying no fault found.

 

[romanof]

How do some here have units without the fan noise? How would I get Apple to give me one of them!?
I can just imagine the smarmy store bod saying no fault found.

You haven't said how old your ears are. (Not a joke). Years ago, and I do mean years, the 15625 hz high frequency scan flyback transformer on CRTs and TVs, used to drive my ears nuts. I could hear it at almost every display or TV and would set my teeth on edge. Now, there is not a chance of my hearing that high even if it were driven through a component amplifier to Monster tweeters.

It is quite possible that hearing or not hearing low fan noise is strictly age related.

As to feeling or not feeling air, that is another matter.

 

[Dave 123]

I'm old and wouldn't be able to hear a flyback transformer these days! The fan is running slowly, it's a low pitch noise of moving air from the fan blades. Not the overt whine that some have mentioned.

Let's try this another way. Look at the breeze out of the top over each fan exhaust. Here's a bit of tissue illustrating the constant breeze I feel. Look at it waft as it passes over (two sides of) the exhaust. Do others have this draught when idle?

 

[H_D]

There is a super silent hum, but that really is all there is, if at all. In normal conditions and in an office space, studio or even with the display at home with music on, it‘s just not there at all.

 

[romanof]

Mine just barely lifts the tissue in two places.
My hearing, even being on an old guy, is pretty good. (down low). I can drop a tiny screw and hear it hit the floor, so I am not approaching hearing-aid deafness. But... I cannot hear anything inside of this monitor in an absolutely silent room. WIth my ear ON the back aluminum, I can imagine a tiny noise, but no way will I swear to it in a court of law.
And again, my monitor is in a very cool basement room with nothing running but an almost black background - the A13 inside is doing almost nothing.

 

[Dave 123]

Your breeze looks similar to mine. It's just that I hear the fan noise and you (with your screw dropping ears) don't. Thanks both/all for your replies. I feel it's not something that Apple will fix (as it's not broken).

Sitting here now (working at home), there's traffic outside, but I still hear the fan noise. I'll just live with it I guess. My tinnitus is louder than the fan and I've lived with that for a lot longer!

 

[jabbr]

lol I hear you there, Dave

I also have had some tinnitus for a long time. Fortunately, I have pretty great hearing. I tend to notice quiet environmental sounds around me that nobody else cares about.

 

[benwiggy]

Your breeze looks similar to mine.

??? To me, your breeze looks a lot stronger than the second video. In my own 'tissue test', the paper doesn't lift at all. I can sometimes feel some slight warmth on the right hand side, but no draft, as such.

Logically, one of two things is happening. Either all ASDs are producing the same amount of noise, and some people are more sensitive to it; or different ASDs are producing different amounts of noise.

From the evidence here, I'd suggest that the latter is true, not the former.

Now, WHY different ASDs are making different amounts of noise remains undefined. Environment: (Ambient heat, humidity, dust, local EM); usage (charging, hubs..); firmware; or who knows what else.

It's possible that some ASDs are just "Friday afternoon" models. There were reported problems with 'buzzing', as well as audio problems, when they first came out, though I believe they were fixed with firmware/OS updates. But again, these problems didn't affect everyone, so there may be still be additional factors in play.

 

[Dave 123]

??? To me, your breeze looks a lot stronger than the second video. In my own 'tissue test', the paper doesn't lift at all. I can sometimes feel some slight warmth on the right hand side, but no draft, as such.

The tissue test is a little unscientific as I needed to use a small piece of single-ply tissue to get that movement. We need calibrated tissue samples!

Nevertheless I agree with your analysis. But sadly, I don't rate my chances of getting past 1st line in an Apple Store with hearsay and tissues, however nicely I smile.

 

[benwiggy]

Nevertheless I agree with your analysis. But sadly, I don't rate my chances of getting past 1st line in an Apple Store with hearsay and tissues, however nicely I smile.

In which case, I would suggest trying to isolate any potential causes. Unplug all peripherals; turn off other devices; make sure that the Mac isn't doing anything non-standard (e.g. different scaling); make sure that the firmware is up-to-date; etc, etc. At a last resort, take it round to a friend's house and see if it is different there.

 

[Dave 123]

Yup thanks, ASD is on current latest Version 17.0 (Build 21A329). Default 2560x1440 resolution. No peripherals connected. Mac mini Sonoma 14.5 (23F79). Camera off. Mic not in use. #nofriends
Standing on one leg, finger in ear — oh hang on, fingers in ears... 🤣

 

[romanof]

I couldn't find any calibrated tissue for sale, but I did find my old stethoscope and dragged it out from under the huge pile of stuff saved that will never be used. It isn't a high end doctor device, but one that was used years (and years) ago to balance the weird downdraft (sidedraft??) carburators on English sports cars, like the MG Midget. It probably cost $2 back in the day. I carefully used it on the back of my Studio Display, and sure enough, there are fans inside! (Carefully, because stuff in those days was made of genuine rubber, and these tubes looked like they would fall to fragments if pulled or bent too far.)

I could easily hear the low hum inside the display. Unfortunately, the minor amplification by the old gadget would not trigger my audio meter to get a frequency.

But, as some pseudo scientific research, I listened as the desktop Mac just idled and the screen sat with an almost black wallpaper, then with a totally white screen (brightness at max) for a while, then with Minecraft filling the panel and in action and with the sound cranked way up. The low hum stayed the same and without noticibly changing frequency to indicate they had wound up the RPM.

As far as I can see, they are just two constant speed fans with no smarts. Well, probably not so simple, but my fans don't change speed. As to difference in sound between displays, one possibility is that my fans came from supplier A and his came from supplier B, with both parts and assembly differences giving the results. With the quantity of parts that Apple requires, multiple suppliers is a definite possibility.

I will post this research to some scientific journal when I get the time. Or a life.

But what else can you do if you live in Texas and are waiting for the power to get stable? /sar

 

[Dave 123]

Brilliant! Carb balancing, comes to dual fanned Studio Display. Back up-thread, there was mention of BetterMouse keeping the fans running when the Mac is sleeping. That suggests there is more smarts than there perhaps first appears.

Interesting that your measurements corroborate my ears. The fans don't change pitch. My IR thermometer told me up-thread that there's very little temperature gradient top to bottom too. The fans just need to mellow... Maybe firmware 17.1? https://www.apple.com/feedback/displays/

 

[jabbr]

Do the fans ever kick up louder, like when a 16 MBP is pulling a full power draw + brightness cranked?

A future firmware to lower the idle RPM would really be appreciated.

 

[Dave 123]

Do the fans ever kick up louder, like when a 16 MBP is pulling a full power draw + brightness cranked?

A future firmware to lower the idle RPM would really be appreciated.

Not reported in this thread (yet). Others might have that usage scenario — seems likely to me that the fans might, as they are primarily there to protect the Power Supply.

Share feedback with Apple if you are affected by this 1st world problem. 😉

 

[jabbr]

Share feedback with Apple if you are affected by this 1st world problem. 😉

lol, submitted feedback for my OCD thanks

 

[benwiggy]

One thing that people with noisy ASDs might like to try, if it suits, is to reduce the luminance. This may reduce the heat/work and thus fans.

I've just bought a second monitor (Samsung) that outputs 'only' 300 nits, and it's made me realise how crazy bright the ASD is -- I do find it tiring on the eyes after long use. Reducing the Brightness just made things darker, but not less 'strong'.

In System Settings > Displays, there are display "Presets" for various uses: Photography, Video, Cinema, and Print. These presets reduce the Luminance variously to between 48 and 160 nits!!! You can also customise your own presets, so I copied the standard P3-600nit preset and reduced the luminance in half to 300.

This has massively improved the screen for my needs -- it's not tiring on my eyes at all, and much more like staring at a piece of paper, rather than staring into the heart of a sun. Can't believe I didn't try this sooner.

 

[Dave 123]

One thing that people with noisy ASDs might like to try, if it suits, is to reduce the luminance. This may reduce the heat/work and thus fans.

I've just bought a second monitor (Samsung) that outputs 'only' 300 nits, and it's made me realise how crazy bright the ASD is -- I do find it tiring on the eyes after long use. Reducing the Brightness just made things darker, but not less 'strong'.

In System Settings > Displays, there are display "Presets" for various uses: Photography, Video, Cinema, and Print. These presets reduce the Luminance variously to between 48 and 160 nits!!! You can also customise your own presets, so I copied the standard P3-600nit preset and reduced the luminance in half to 300.

This has massively improved the screen for my needs -- it's not tiring on my eyes at all, and much more like staring at a piece of paper, rather than staring into the heart of a sun. Can't believe I didn't try this sooner.

I already have my brightness on about 5 or 6 bars (about 40%) in the daytime and it turns itself down in the evenings. I have seen those other display presets, but most have no brightness control. For me I'm not doing colour work, so I prefer adaptive comfort over calibration.

As the noise doesn't stop when the display is off (still Thunderbolt connected) — dimming the screen doesn't help me.

 

[jabbr]

One thing that people with noisy ASDs might like to try, if it suits, is to reduce the luminance. This may reduce the heat/work and thus fans.

I hear no change in fan whirling regardless of brightness or profile, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[zoga]

Hi guys! One thing you might try as well is the app called Gamma Control by Michel Fortin. The app gives you a fine control over white luminance which basically adds Reduce White Point feature from iOS/iPadOS to macOS.

https://michelf.ca/projects/gamma-control/

It won't make picture darker, just less eyeburning. The only thing I suggest though is that one turns ASD brightness to the full and then reduce luminance with the app mentioned above. This way you get a less eye-tiring picture and at the same time you silence the ASD itself (many users reported — including myself — that coil whining/buzzing sound goes away only if you're running the ASD at full brightness).

Kind regards to all of you.