Hmm. I’ll give it a few more days. Not too thrilled but the performance is needed for long term exports.
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POLL: How noisy is your Mac Studio Ultra vs Max?
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For what its worth: My whine on the max went away after some fiddling around with the fan speed and resetting it to the apple native setting and updating the MacOS and the firmware on the studio display.
I cannot explain it but it is gone.
I thought the same about mine but now we’re finally in the lows 70 F range consistently in NY the high pitched noise has returned. I really can’t wait for Mac’s Fan control newest version to be released because when we can completely shut the fans down and set to zero this will confirm if it’s coil whine or fans.
Just got my Base Ultra and it unfortunately has the whining noise, same frequency as here:
Its, very, very subtle though, the fans are much louder but easier to digest as background white noise. The fans without the whine are louder than I hoped too, coming from a 2019 Mac Pro.
I wouldn't want to have the system in front of me on the desk in a quiet environment, as in a treated music control room. 100% not acceptable in that case.
Even in a regular room, you will hear the fans if its in front of you. In my case, I do audio production and its under the desk, ill wait till tonight where its quieter and see if I can live with it. I can acoustically treat the space to better control the sound If need be, but that won't help when I take it to a gig where it probably has to sit in front of me.
Not freaking out at the moment, continuing to test.
Its, very, very subtle though, the fans are much louder but easier to digest as background white noise. The fans without the whine are louder than I hoped too, coming from a 2019 Mac Pro.
I wouldn't want to have the system in front of me on the desk in a quiet environment, as in a treated music control room. 100% not acceptable in that case.
Even in a regular room, you will hear the fans if its in front of you. In my case, I do audio production and its under the desk, ill wait till tonight where its quieter and see if I can live with it. I can acoustically treat the space to better control the sound If need be, but that won't help when I take it to a gig where it probably has to sit in front of me.
Not freaking out at the moment, continuing to test.
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Max...can't hear any noise without my ear on the computer and then it's just very gentle air. 63 years old so that may be part of it...I know I can't hear tones over 13Khz.
Studio Ultra base here with an 'interesting' story (to me at least). Background: I am a musician/music producer/mixer and have a very quiet studio space. I'm coming from a 5,1 Mac Pro with all SSDs - louder than a Mac Studio obviously, but a low unobtrusive 'whooshing' white noise. I record with it in the same space without issue.
I'm also extremely fussy about annoying noises - I ripped apart most of my car's dash and trim to eliminate all squeaks and rattles.
Anyway, I first turned on my Mac Studio Ultra and was immediately sad to hear the 2.2KHz noise, which was relatively obvious to me. See pic 1, measured from a few inches above the back of the unit (at a 45 degree angle so the air was not blowing directly into my iPhone 12 Pro Max mic).
Long story short: after a few moments (perhaps less than a minute?) I noticed that the the noise had gone away. See pic 2, measured from (roughly) the same spot. That small spike is not really perceptible.
Pic 3 shows an FFT from where my head is, no spike at all (off to the side, about 3 feet away). If I stand behind put my ear 2" from the back of the Studio, I can hear a very faint whine, but certainly nothing that bothers me, and I'll never be that close to it, nor will I be behind it.
Relatively high frequency sounds like this are extremely directional so the fact that I don't have it close to a wall probably helps in general. In any case I'd never place it so that the fans are firing straight into a wall, like many seem to on this forum, but that's just me. I'll probably even move/hide it once I've finished setting it up. I haven't quite decided where it will live yet. I'd like to minimise potential dust so hanging it under a desk or something could help with that.
Having such a quiet machine also makes you hear other noises - I can hear 'noisy' LED light bulbs or power supplies - my 30" ACD whine at certain brightness levels, and it's PSU buzzes a bit. Hey, my screens are from 2008 and 2009! I can't afford new ones for a couple of years, until this Mac Studio is paid for...
In fact my WD rugged 2.5" portable spinning drive is louder than the machine.
I'll post again if anything changes today (my second day).
Cheers!
Edit: forum software messed up the order of the screen grabs, so I inserted them below.
I'm also extremely fussy about annoying noises - I ripped apart most of my car's dash and trim to eliminate all squeaks and rattles.
Anyway, I first turned on my Mac Studio Ultra and was immediately sad to hear the 2.2KHz noise, which was relatively obvious to me. See pic 1, measured from a few inches above the back of the unit (at a 45 degree angle so the air was not blowing directly into my iPhone 12 Pro Max mic).
Long story short: after a few moments (perhaps less than a minute?) I noticed that the the noise had gone away. See pic 2, measured from (roughly) the same spot. That small spike is not really perceptible.
Pic 3 shows an FFT from where my head is, no spike at all (off to the side, about 3 feet away). If I stand behind put my ear 2" from the back of the Studio, I can hear a very faint whine, but certainly nothing that bothers me, and I'll never be that close to it, nor will I be behind it.
Relatively high frequency sounds like this are extremely directional so the fact that I don't have it close to a wall probably helps in general. In any case I'd never place it so that the fans are firing straight into a wall, like many seem to on this forum, but that's just me. I'll probably even move/hide it once I've finished setting it up. I haven't quite decided where it will live yet. I'd like to minimise potential dust so hanging it under a desk or something could help with that.
Having such a quiet machine also makes you hear other noises - I can hear 'noisy' LED light bulbs or power supplies - my 30" ACD whine at certain brightness levels, and it's PSU buzzes a bit. Hey, my screens are from 2008 and 2009! I can't afford new ones for a couple of years, until this Mac Studio is paid for...
In fact my WD rugged 2.5" portable spinning drive is louder than the machine.
I'll post again if anything changes today (my second day).
Cheers!
Edit: forum software messed up the order of the screen grabs, so I inserted them below.
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Thanks for your detailed post. Your above experience mirrors mine. I actually hear the wine with my head one foot from the front of the unit, but barely with my head 4'' over the top of it. Same experience moving around the unit.
Studio Max here, no whining noise. If I hold my next to the enclosure then yes I can hear the fans gently spinning at idle. But even in a silent (or close to) room, I can barely hear it from a normal sitting position. Nothing annoying about it, it's quieter than every external HDD I've owned. I do sympathise with those who have the whining issue, however.
As I've said previously though, the hypocrisy and irony of some Mac users is laughable. Complaining that their computer is melting under moderate loads because the fans don't ramp up quick or strong enough; then Apple designs a computer that maintains a steady airflow with more than enough thermal headroom, users complain they can hear noises from the fan.
You couldn't make it up.
As I've said previously though, the hypocrisy and irony of some Mac users is laughable. Complaining that their computer is melting under moderate loads because the fans don't ramp up quick or strong enough; then Apple designs a computer that maintains a steady airflow with more than enough thermal headroom, users complain they can hear noises from the fan.
You couldn't make it up.
I've been following from day one and have read every post. I can honestly say that I've only seen a couple people complain about fan noise. I mean maybe 2 or 3 people. And some of those who do say they can tolerate. Where things go absolutely side ways is the high pitched high frequency noise. I personally would not classify it as a whistle because that implies the airflow itself is creating the sound. This is not the case. There is a component making the whine. And before I'm flamed please keep in mind I'm on my forth unit. Unit 1 was returned to an Apple retail store. No. 2 was captured by Apple support. Number 3 returned to Apple retail. Number 4 also has the whine. I CANNOT stand the noise and the only work around is to place under my desk. There is absolutely no way in hell I can live with the Mac Studio on my desk. When Macs fan control 1.6 comes out we will be able to set the fans to zero and know if the fans contribute to the whine or subdues the whine. Either way this has NOT been my best Apple experience by a mile. I have no issue with the fans running all the time, with one caveat, and that is this, if the fans are contributing or creating the noise, then I would set to zero. Just my opinion.
Have you tried taking any of these whining Macs to a different location? As in, someone else's house/office?
I wonder if there's something up with your specific set up that is causing this.
Having 4 consecutive faulty Macs is extremely bad luck. The chances are so low I'd personally be wondering if there was something that was causing this, interference or something else bizarre.
I wonder if there's something up with your specific set up that is causing this.
Having 4 consecutive faulty Macs is extremely bad luck. The chances are so low I'd personally be wondering if there was something that was causing this, interference or something else bizarre.
Well I’m not going to move or remodel my house to have a computer compli with my expectations but I’ve used 14 different Mac computers in my house in this room over the course of 17 years. Was happy with them all and never had any problems with either fan noise or possible power supply whine. I did use in my kitchen to experiment which opens into my main living area and could still hear the whine. I also moved to the right, left on top of my desk and left, right below my desk. To the right I can still hear under my desk but the the left it’s closer to outside ambient noise which is my only choice for placement. The one manager at the Apple store said they have heard it in store before the doors open and has been super nice to me.
Bad luck indeed. Even if 30% of the Studio's had the whine (a much higher number than I would expect - or Apple would probably shut down the production) there should be less than 1% chance of getting 4 in a row bad.
But I can't imagine what external signal or other external influence could cause the Studio to whine. Something weird going on in the power line I suppose, but I can't imagine what could be bad enough without showing up some other way, or reoccurring in multiple random homes?
And would Apple actually classify this as faulty especially if it’s the power supply. I really doubt it. And 2 of the 4 did not exhibit the noise until days before the 14 day return window. The forth one did not exhibit for almost over a month. I’ve given up naively thinking Apple will address this exact issue!
As @PianoPro stated, even if there were 30% noisy Mac Studios, the probability of getting 4 in a row is 0.81%.
Given how unlikely that is, I’d have to start thinking outside the box for ideas/solutions.
If it were mine, I’d definitely take it to a friend’s house to see if anything changes. Hey, the probability that this will change anything is likely less than 1%, but…
As an aside, I remember I went through 3x 2008 Mac Pro’s until I was happy, so I know it can happen. I can’t remember the issues on the first two, but I ended up keeping one of them that had some marks on it after I found I could clean the marks off with some elbow grease, I think.
Given how unlikely that is, I’d have to start thinking outside the box for ideas/solutions.
If it were mine, I’d definitely take it to a friend’s house to see if anything changes. Hey, the probability that this will change anything is likely less than 1%, but…
As an aside, I remember I went through 3x 2008 Mac Pro’s until I was happy, so I know it can happen. I can’t remember the issues on the first two, but I ended up keeping one of them that had some marks on it after I found I could clean the marks off with some elbow grease, I think.
If it ends up being coil whine then it’s probably there on all the ones with the rev a power supply Or rev b but as we know there are 2 different sourced our power supplies from 2 different suppliers then the number I feel is logically higher then 30 percent. There have been many products with similar variances like the PS5. I bought 2 last year and the one I bought for my nephew had a fan that chirped constantly whilst mine did not. Turns out there were even a third manufacturer thrown into the mix later and we’ll publicized. I guess my point in sourcing parts in a world that can’t get regular supply of components leaves us settling for less the a 100 percent QC On those parts as manufacturers get more and more desperate to deliver their product.
YouTubers who did tear downs showing the different power supplies (like the max guy) didn‘t report whine on their machines. The max guy even mentioned it in a later video.
Ya they later referenced as an issue for consumers. There have been review videos where no one mentions it and 1 where you could actually hear it on the video. I’ll try to find the video and post the link. There is also the factor of people having said product and just not hearing it for various factors. And for the record I tried everything with even my first unit to covering up the noise. I put under my desk on a ventilated tray and boxed in with acoustic foam and it was still as present as without. I posted either in this tread or another on Mac rumors that just switching my Apple Studio Display over from TB4 to TB1 port on the back of the Mac studio changed he pitch slightly. So if that’s the case, which I’ll defend all the way. If that is indeed the case then you have to equate for all the Mac studiis out there not paired with an apple studio display or the ones using HDMI to run the monitor.
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I have a Studio Display, but no whine or noisy fans. I don’t doubt that it exists on some machines since I can clearly hear the whine on several of the recordings that have been posted, which also confirms that I can hear the frequency (which some have questioned).
One variable that hasn’t really been discussed is the quality of the power coming out of the electrical outlet, or “dirty power.” In your case experiencing the same issue at the same location could indicate there is something about the electrical current the Mac Studio is sensitive to. Most UPS battery backups supply mains power as long as it is available. The battery kicks in only if the mains power goes out or drops below a minimum threshold, so I don’t know that running the Mac Studio plugged into a UPS would make any difference.
I agree with the dirty power but Ive never had issue before and my Apple Studio display has been rock solid. I wish I had not traded in M1 24" iMac. I went from something so quite to something irritating. And even the early 24" M1 iMacs had a whine if you dimmed the display less then 50% which I would never do anyways as I like as bright as possible.
M1 iMac buzzing / whining noise with low … - Apple Community
After nearly 3 months I finally received my Ultra today.
It's basically silent on my desk and hear 'the whine' only when I put my ear near the exhaust.
The hiss of the audio monitors 1 meter away or whine of the UPS on the floor would be more audible than the Studio, from where I'm sitting.
It's basically silent on my desk and hear 'the whine' only when I put my ear near the exhaust.
The hiss of the audio monitors 1 meter away or whine of the UPS on the floor would be more audible than the Studio, from where I'm sitting.
Same… I’ve now noticed hiss from my monitors and the whining noise from my ACD and it’s power supply as the thing is so quiet
Congrats on your new ultra!
Congrats on your new ultra!
I've received my Studio replacement (M1 Max) and the new unit still comes with the high-pitched whine. Though I have to say it's less audible compared to my first unit. But still, this is not for me, it's a noise that when it's there I can't tolerate it. And knowing that others have seen their Studio get worse after a few weeks of use, I'm even more sure that I'm not going to keep this one. I'm in my return-window and will give up on this iteration of Mac Studio. I'll find some other Mac model and adapt my needs accordingly, what choice do I have.
Fingers crossed for Studio V2 next year!
Fingers crossed for Studio V2 next year!
Studio Ultra arrived today, and I seem to have won the quiet fan lottery with it so far. I can't detect any noise without putting my ear against the side.
How may people have reported the whine either surfacing or getting worse later? Very few that I remember.
I got mine March 18 (intro day) and it has no whine then or now. I realize that is only one data point, but I think that is typical and the number of units with the whine must be quite small or Apple would stop production rather than keep shipping and taking back units. Makes no sense they would continue to take back units and not stop to fix the problem if the numbers were high.