Mac Studio Owners Complain of Irritating High-Pitched Noise

[greenbreadmmm]

There's a video somewhere from the first week these were out where someone recorded the noise and its clear as day.

I wonder if its for that reason that apple locks them at 1325. I did some tests with fans from 1% to 20% and @ 9%-ish its what apple sets them. The “extra sound” is not very audible but still present. When i set the fans to 1100rpm its also OKish. But on some serting inbetween its gets very loud. Maybe apple knows this and decided for a fix rpm, high enough to never need to ramp the fans up.

interesting thought!

 

[Fenderborn]

There's a video somewhere from the first week these were out where someone recorded the noise and its clear as day.

interesting thought!

 

[Fenderborn]

Where i dont agreed is how this person ends the video by sayind that the sound is the loudest on the apple preset. My 2 units did not do that, but, sample variation might play here.

 

[dunanos]

Where are you based?

Europe

 

[4jasontv]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe there's anyway for MagSafe to output AC, so that necessitates an external power supply to convert it to DC. I'm not an EE, so grain of salt and all, but 120v AC over MagSafe doesn't sound all that.... safe.

Do you mean in the current implementation? What if MagSage is used a general term for a breakaway power cable?

 

[ADiddy88]

The amount of “whine” a typical apple customer makes is enough to create ear plugs made of solid gold for Tim Crook. You guys can are the definition of OCD when it comes to anything.

You know how you fix that whine issue? It’s simple: Ignore it.

Depending on how sensitive your hearing is, you might not be able to just ignore it. I am sensitive to the higher pitched frequencies and I’ve had to return things like a USB hub because of the constant whine. It doesn’t go away and when you’re working at your desk for hours, it gets to you.

 

[lucashodge]

I don't have a Studio Mac but I am finding the Studio display is making an annoying high pitch buzz as well, from what I can tell it is the power supply that is making this sound. Could it be the same issue with the Mac?

 

[verstaerker]

Folks must have pretty good hearing. My hearing aids can’t pick up subtle changes like that. A friend complained about a whine noise from his iMac, but I couldn’t hear it.

Torn between folks are over reacting and Apple’s QC not being consistent. Either they all should have this whining issue or none of them should.

okey so your hearing is bad … I’ve seen a video of a guy recording that noise, there was a clear noise peak at 2.1 kHz and the frequency changed when tweaking the fan speed

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

And why is the fan and heatsink so large when the same SoC doesn't clock higher or use more power than it does in the MBP...

The M1 Max on MBP has to throttle, it doesn't quite have the thermals to handle Max's max. M1 Pro on MBP is good to go to max though. I'm pretty sure that's what I saw on some YT channel, maybe Max Tech?

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

I wonder if this whine is only from Studios with 64gig Ram?
I have a 32g and it is super quiet

I saw a YT vid where they'd bought 2 identical Studio's, and wanted to try pulling the SSD from one of them, and put into the other's empty SSD slot. When they pulled them apart, they noticed that they weren't identical, like they'd been built by different manufacturers to a slightly different design and parts. So maybe only ones from a certain manufacturer have the problem.

 

[verstaerker]

I don't have a Studio Mac but I am finding the Studio display is making an annoying high pitch buzz as well, from what I can tell it is the power supply that is making this sound. Could it be the same issue with the Mac?

most likely not - it’s directly connected to the fan speed

but many psu create a high pitched sound … but for good ones usually quiet enough to be not noticeable in distance bigger than 20 cm

 

[McG2k1]

It’s probably just their co-workers reeeee’ing about Elon.

 

[Matrix1776]

Just buy an Ultra?! Problem solved. I heard the 4TB option works even better.

 

[dunanos]

Just buy an Ultra?! Problem solved. I heard the 4TB option works even better.

The 8 TB version will work best. Joke. The Max and Ultra will use the same fans, so it's a matter of luck now.

 

[dunanos]

One fan is faulty here. What must the noise be like if both were faulty? I believe some users have this bad luck.

 

[jakey rolling]

most likely not - it’s directly connected to the fan speed
but many psu create a high pitched sound … but for good ones usually quiet enough to be not noticeable in distance bigger than 20 cm

Absurdly enough, the Studio Display has fans in it, too.

 

[aussie-reader]

Apple’s response is probably only a small number of users experience this and release a firmware update to slow down the fans.

Probably not slow down just avoid the particular speed that causes the whine - if it is a fan problem.

 

[Ethosik]

Don't post Linus videos around here. MacRumors members hate the guy, for some reason.

I like Linus. I don't think Macs are for him though. He is a "get inside and ticker with every capacitor" guy and Macs don't allow that. So I like Linus, but his frustrations to Apple irritate me. Its just not the company for you Linus...sorry.

 

[Ethosik]

I don't hate him (quite the opposite), but I tend to roll my eyes a lot during his videos. That linked vid is a good example.... "HEY APPLE, THIS IS AN SSD, DURRRR." Apple's design choices may confuse him, but he acts like there's zero justification for them. Also, in his vid about the Studio Display, "WHY DON'T THEY JUST USE MAGSAFE? SO DUMB!" when really, magsafe necessitates an external power supply and the design called for an internal PS. Or the whole PS5 storage performance bruhaha where he just read the mfr specs off a Samsung SSD box and declared Tim Sweeney a Sony shill. He dedicated like 3 videos to raging about Apple not fixing his iMac Pro, which he had voided the warranty by disassembling and DROPPING! But then his Razr Blade laptop bricks itself 2 days out of warranty, and he's like "OH well, this is a great excuse to buy a new Razr Blade!"

Now Linus and Anthony et al aren't stupid either, so even if they realize these things later, it ends up being like a news correction: Error on the front-page above the fold; correction on page A-44 10 days later. And I think that's somewhat intentional, because his core audience of PCMR spec wankers demand a high degree of snark in any discussion of Apple products. Lately this has led to a strange dichotomy in LTT content, as Apple products improved and the mainstream moves closer to Apple's philosophy; he's got to cater to his original PCMR audience, but he's also doing a fair bit more positive coverage of Apple gear now, even launching a dedicated Apple channel (Mac Address).

Yeah that is a good explanation. I said something in a previous post that macs aren't really for him. And yeah, you think the engineers at Apple don't know what an SSD is? But he has to do like you said. It can be quite irritating at times.

 

[Ethosik]

And I’m absolutely sure your experience is the norm, not the exception. All it takes is a few for tech blogs to make a big deal out of something.

I guess I am just not always expecting perfection? People were going crazy about PS5 noise too!

 

[MobiusStrip]

I feel bad for people who aren't computer-savvy enough to know that wasting their time reinstalling the OS is not going to fix a mechanical problem.

 

[z4co]

I am in the middle.

Are they over reacting? Depends on their environment.

It is definitely a fault in the fans and only exists in the certain RPM ranges. The whine disappears at higher speeds.

Similar to how my 3080 FTW fans are quieter at 85% vs 80%. Same high pitch noise shows up at 80%....why apple has this issue at 1300rpm tho is crazy.

Something about the resonance or range they hang out in, is 100% a fault.

Having said all that, I have to turn off EVERYTHING in my office to strain to hear it, but lord is it there!

Will be curious if it gets worse over time, I got AppleCare just in case.

A little late to the thread here but wanted to say my 3080 (Ventus 3) fans also whine at lower fan RPMs. Glad to hear it’s not just mine. I haven’t tried adjusting anything on them yet since its still new, but a liquid cooling system is tempting me. All this time on the M1 has spoiled me lol

 

[amartinez1660]

I am in the middle.

Are they over reacting? Depends on their environment.

It is definitely a fault in the fans and only exists in the certain RPM ranges. The whine disappears at higher speeds.

Similar to how my 3080 FTW fans are quieter at 85% vs 80%. Same high pitch noise shows up at 80%....why apple has this issue at 1300rpm tho is crazy.

Something about the resonance or range they hang out in, is 100% a fault.

Having said all that, I have to turn off EVERYTHING in my office to strain to hear it, but lord is it there!

Will be curious if it gets worse over time, I got AppleCare just in case.

Like someone has suggested, using any fans control software, would forcing the minimum to like 1400rpm potentially make a vast difference?

Genuinely curious, I got a 14” M1 Pro which is death silent and is a bliss to be honest… so annoying how Apple hits some home runs here and there yet drops the ball on the same type of issues somewhere else.

Maybe they got an A team and a B team (like most companies really) for software, hardware, design, energy, etc etc… the A team made the cooling for MBP 14” and 16”, the B team did the mac studio and the Studio Display camera.

 

[amartinez1660]

I feel bad for people who aren't computer-savvy enough to know that wasting their time reinstalling the OS is not going to fix a mechanical problem.

And SMC, PRAM, NVRAM resets, and sign out and back in from all devices, and do 5 cartwheels in place… that every freaking phone support greets you with for every obviously non related to that issue.

 

[Marshall73]

Do you live in the US?

UK