M1 iMac 24" left and right speaker sound different

[coso]

So I had a feeling my iMac was brighter on the left side when listening to music, like most of it would come from the left. Balance was centered. So I tried moving the balance from left to right and I finally noticed the speakers sound quite a bit different. More sparkly the left, more muffled and bassy the right. Am I the only one? It's better to test with a song without too much stereo separation, or with test tones.

 

[Allyance]

You are right, but I am not sure why. I tried all kinds of music, in most it sounded more like the mix and position of the instruments. Then I played some old mono classics, like Jim Reeves 'He'll have to go' which great sounding recording considering it was made over 60 years ago. There was definitely a difference, so is some internal processing by Apple, or iTunes or just the physical difference in the speaker construction and position? Then I tried my Sennheiser headphones, the results where the same, so I think it is the processing and mix (remix). Definitely a difference in the information. Now if I can find some white noise mp3 files, that will be a better test.

Update: I found a web site and downloaded a 15 min Pink Noise file. Pink noise is contoured to sound flat, White noice will sound bright. Download files here: https://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_pinknoise.php

Pink noise sounds different on the iMac speakers and in the headphones as you describe. Definitely some processing going on some where.

Whatever it is, music sounds great in stereo in the headphones, so I am not going worry about it, maybe somebody has some definitive technical information.

 

[coso]

It's like my left speaker is lacking bass. It happens with all songs. I connected some headphones and the music sounds balanced, so in my case it must be hardware, I suppose.

 

[Allyance]

It's like my left speaker is lacking bass. It happens with all songs. I connected some headphones and the music sounds balanced, so in my case it must be hardware, I suppose.

I found an audiophile program called "Pure Music" that is suppose to play our iTunes library cleanly without processing, but they don't have an updated version yet for Big Sur on the new iMacs (M1 processors). Only $129.00, will try demo when it comes out.

 

[coso]

Thanks for helping in this matter. Anyway I think a mono bass test from YouTube would suffice, or something like this

 

[Allyance]

I listen to that as long as I could! If you listen to the beginning the left sounds like the primary and the right sounds like reverb added and duller.

I see that there is a whole bass boosted culture, now I know where this guy that visits across the street gets his music in his SUV, sub bass is so strong rattles my windows and dishes. Extreme low frequencies. I am sure his ear drums are touching each other in the center of his head.

 

[coso]

Well we might be onto something. Mine sound like two speakers with totally different tuning

 

[coso]

I listen to that as long as I could! If you listen to the beginning the left sounds like the primary and the right sounds like reverb added and duller.

I see that there is a whole bass boosted culture, now I know where this guy that visits across the street gets his music in his SUV, sub bass is so strong rattles my windows and dishes. Extreme low frequencies. I am sure his ear drums are touching each other in the center of his head.

😆

I can hear differences in any track though. Best to avoid Jazz because in that case the left and right channel might be very different, but with all contemporary music (non atmos) the sound is similar between channels.

 

[Allyance]

Remember I said I could hear the same differences with headphones which make me think it is in the iTunes processing.

 

[coso]

But it wouldn’t happen in YouTube or other programs, which it does. With headphones I hear the music correctly. So I don’t think it’s processing, but hardware. Drivers mismatch or bad assembly.

Now the question is how widespread is this problem. Should I have mine exchanged? Are all like this? (Just like every M1 iMac has some degree of coil whine, which I don’t pay attention to anymore)

 

[Allyance]

I wouldn't bother having it exchanged as it something you only hear when you isolate one speaker which isn't normal, mine does the same thing but not noticeable when both speakers working normally. It is a great computer and so easy to use. The speakers only a very small part of it. I rarely listen to them for music, I have a HomePod and the Apple TV which plays music through my home theater system when I listen to music seriously.

 

[coso]

I wouldn't bother having it exchanged as it something you only hear when you isolate one speaker which isn't normal, mine does the same thing but not noticeable when both speakers working normally. It is a great computer and so easy to use. The speakers only a very small part of it. I rarely listen to them for music, I have a HomePod and the Apple TV which plays music through my home theater system when I listen to music seriously.

Well I can clearly hear the unbalance when listening to music from both normally. And not having to buy external speakers was a big selling point of the iMac to me. I didn't expect fantastic quality, just good enough for low volume music listening. Which it would be, if at least the speakers would perform similarly. Bummer, but I can live with that eventually

 

[coso]

Here's how it sounds:

 

[coso]

You will probably see me checking iMacs around local stores for this, then I will also contact Apple. I know I'm not alone to have the iMac like this yet it feels strange no one notices it. Must be a widespread problem but not so widespread, or not so noticeable

 

[coso]

So I went to a local retailer here and the demo iMac was the same as mine. Bright on left and dark on right. Looks like it's the intended way Apple tuned the speakers then, statistically it must be like that. Still strikes me as a weird decision but at least I know it's not defective.

 

[Opegas]

Well mine does it too, and I am really annoyed by it. I normally use external speakers, but don’t have them right now with my new M1 iMac. Glad I’m not the only one. If this is intentional by apple then it’s a really bad move. I wasn’t sure how to address it with apple. If I get a new one and it is the same, then what is the point?

 

[coso]

Well mine does it too, and I am really annoyed by it. I normally use external speakers, but don’t have them right now with my new M1 iMac. Glad I’m not the only one. If this is intentional by apple then it’s a really bad move. I wasn’t sure how to address it with apple. If I get a new one and it is the same, then what is the point?

They're all like this, don't bother. It's intentional. I think that one speaker on it's own isn't capable of giving a good response across all frequencies, so they decided to make one more toward bassy frequencies, and the other brighter. So all in all you get a more diversified and probably better frequency response, but more like a good "mono" speaker. You definitely lose some stereo separation this way. Maybe if you're quite far from the iMac you don't notice it much. But if you sit closer than 50cm you definitely notice it more.

 

[Spacegray]

Are the iMAC24 speaker modules closed systems or do they have a (different?) resonance room in the iMAC case?

 

[coso]

Are the iMAC24 speaker modules closed systems or do they have a (different?) resonance room in the iMAC case?

The patent says they can have a similar response, even if they are slightly different in shape and size, by changing how a processor modifies the sound. I think (hope) the tuning is digital and can be changed if Apple wants to. The tweeters are on their own (with the left one brighter than the right), but it seems that both the midrange and woofer are connected to the metal chambers inside, so I *think* the response could be tuned in a future update. But no one knows. I searched a lot on the internet but I didn't find anyone talking about this.

 

[Spacegray]

Here's how it sounds:

Was this stereo or Mono L+R?

 

[coso]

Was this stereo or Mono L+R?

This was a stereo track recorded with a stereo mirrorless camera. But the track doesn't have particularly different left and right channels (it's "sports highlights" from here https://mixkit.co/free-stock-music/tag/sports/ so you can hear yourself). You can hear the same effect with any song or track or movie. For testing purposes a mono track would be better, yeah, but there's no doubt that the left and right speaker are tuned to reproduce different frequency ranges

 

[Spacegray]

I fully believe that this deviation exists in the sound. The video also shows this very clearly.
As a hifi enthusiast, I also find such channel differences very annoying.
Nevertheless - if you want to place this at the Apple support, you will probably best demonstrate it with a mono signal or pink noise I guess. So both channels definitely have to process the same signal.

 

[coso]

I fully believe that this deviation exists in the sound. The video also shows this very clearly.
As a hifi enthusiast, I also find such channel differences very annoying.
Nevertheless - if you want to place this at the Apple support, you will probably best demonstrate it with a mono signal or pink noise I guess. So both channels definitely have to process the same signal.

Agreed. But this imbalance isn't there when I use headphones, so I'm sure it's the speakers. I tried some mono signals and it's the same. I decided not to contact Apple as I already tried 3 different iMacs and they're all like this. When hearing from a distance and at a low volume I don't notice it much so it's fine.

 

[mfacey]

As I concluded on my first day of M1 iMac ownership: the speakers are absolute sh*te.
For a feature that Apple boasts about during the launch, the sound is by far the biggest let down of the new iMac. My iPad Pro and even my 8 year old Macbook sounds better than the muffled, "trying-too-hard-to-bass-heavy" tuning from the iMac.

 

[coso]

As I concluded on my first day of M1 iMac ownership: the speakers are absolute sh*te.
For a feature that Apple boasts about during the launch, the sound is by far the biggest let down of the new iMac. My iPad Pro and even my 8 year old Macbook sounds better than the muffled, "trying-too-hard-to-bass-heavy" tuning from the iMac.

😂

agreed