This is bad. Very discouraging. The machine is supposed to be for 'creatives' i.e. audio and visual and yet it emits a high pitched noise?!!! Unacceptable. I hate the notch, but if these stories prove out and there's no fix I may have to consider cancelling the ultra and getting a MacBook Pro. Or a mini, if they ever make one with enough ports and main memory.
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Mac Studio Owners Complain of Irritating High-Pitched Noise
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It's not a serious issue at all, it's just a nuisance noise. There may be some extremely tiny minority of users where this noise actually undermines some real work, but, then so would any other equivalently powerful computer. What this is really about is expectations of Apple products set both by history and by marketing. The quality of the noise emitted is very low compared to typical Apple products, though, I'm sure one could find past examples of annoying fan noise coming from some Macs in the past.
Compared to the sound of some home built PC with similar capabilities, it's still very quiet. I'm sure I could find case fans that lack the whine, but, that's mainly because I've spent a decent amount of time building SFF machines where the fans are very exposed and put effort specifically into learning which brands are more reliable about this. That said, recently on my gaming machine one fan from bar far the most reliable "quiet" fan maker (Noctua) started to slightly rattle and I can hear it and it's taking all my self control to not order a replacement ??
I have mentioned before that I have devices with fans that exhibit exactly the same quality of noise (but louder) and they have run for 3 years of high use and they are fine, so, I don't see any reason to think this is a prelude to some actual hardware failure.
It's just very, very, very annoying (to some people) and below Apple standards comparatively speaking.
I have one for development work and have resorted to switching it to low power mode because I don't want to wear earplugs or ANC headphones just to work and am pretty seriously concerned about getting hearing damage from continuous exposure to the loud ass fans (exposure to a constant sound at the same pitch can lead to psychological hearing loss, fyi, doesn't have to be very loud, brain just starts filtering out what it perceives as meaningless noise and then that can cause it to filter "useful" sounds at the same pitch). It doesn't even take any significant activity to get them ramped up, get onto a slightly badly optimized website for 2 minutes and then the fans take off and seemingly never come down even after closing the site. Run Docker.... at all. That'll guarantee max fans after a few minutes. At least with the Mac Studio, if it ever did ramp up the fans, they are far less awful sounding, just a lot of airflow sound (have tested it with a tool to override the fans as I have not been able to get them to ramp up "naturally" no matter what I run).
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If it's putting out 2khz whine at a level noticeably above ambient noise it not just a nuisance. It's a deal breaker.
This thread is going in the same direction as the other loud studio thread. The horse is dead there and here now. Unwatching.
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Those are not mutually exclusive facts. It's not a threat to health or function of the device so all that's left is nuisance. That is a perfectly acceptable basis for being a "deal breaker" if you expected a nicer sounding device like obviously many in these threads have.
Personally I hate whining fans and when I can control it, I avoid them. In this case, I can't control it so must consider if the otherwise perfect computer for all my needs+wishes is worth tolerating the annoying noise (assuming it actually grows in volume, mine is currently barely perceptible.)
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP865?viewlocale=en_GB&locale=en_GB
SPL at idle = 2.5 bel (25dB).
So that’s how Apple designed it to be. This is in line with noise level from 2019 Mac Pro at idle. It’s not a mistake or malfunction (if the fan noise is within 25dB and there’s no whine).
By the way, the first thing I do when new Mac is being released is I go to support section and check the official spec sheet. Good way to avoid any surprises
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Because he is biased and irritating. I watch for his reviews of monitors, and some of his build episodes remind me of how glad I am to not be dragged down by that crap (computers aren't a hobby for me), but when it comes to Apple.. I can't tell if it's just click bait for him, or if he just feels left out by Apple so it is sour grapes. But it's not worth listening to for the small info I can get out of it. I gave up when the M1 was announced and he had to complain about one graph over three episodes. give it a rest.
I only hear a high pitched whine when reading macrumors forums on any newly released Mac with a fan built in.
Logic Pro. GarageBand may have something similar, dunno. Also try Reaper, it might.
I got my Mac Studio Ultra a few hours ago; it's silent.
No issues with my M1 Max Studio, even double-checked using an audio spectrum analyzer and nothing anywhere near 2 kHz.
I wonder if it's the conscience crying.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT SOMETHING ELSE. WAAAAAAAA."
"YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT SOMETHING ELSE. WAAAAAAAA."
I may only speak for myself, but aslong as even the official reseller tells me that there is a problem….well that horse is not dead since even apple admits it and sents me a new one.
From what I gather all Studios make the high pitched whine. Its just that some people cannot perceive the frequency. Maybe older people say its silent.
I have yet to read of someone having returned one and received a second unit without the issue. I tried 2 and others have tried 3 all with the noise.
I have yet to read of someone having returned one and received a second unit without the issue. I tried 2 and others have tried 3 all with the noise.
There is at least one recording floating around with spectrum analysis showing one fan makes the noise and the other doesn't which implies some devices with two fans that don't make the noise.
So, no, you're wrong. It may be very prevalent but it's not guaranteed.
That said, there does seem to be a large range of how LOUD the sound is and some anecdotal evidence that it builds up in time, even in just a couple weeks. So some people may not have it now but will after the fans break in a little. If that's the case, then there is some chance that every fan will get it eventually.
On my first unit the left Fan was faulty. The second was supposed to be fine. But i could still here the noise
I heard fan noise the other day, only to realize it was coming from the Studio Display and not the Mac itself! Has anyone else experienced this? I guess I can’t set it to never go to sleep after all.
I think they released a firmware update 2 or 3 ago. But i guess thats not the right thread for that.
