I was very impressed with them - definitely better than any other laptop I've used (though to be fair I didn't play with the speakers too much on my uncle's 17" MBP)
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rMBP Speaker Quality
- Thread starter Textureboy
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Who the hell cares about laptop speakers? Get a nice pair of speakers or headphones.
And i'm not talking about Beats, Bose, Logitech etc.
Well, let me put it this way. I own a pair of Beats Solo HD headphones (which is crappy commercial junk that no real audiophile, me inclusive, will pay for) and the sound quality from the laptop beats those headphones hands down.
You simply cannot get massive bass from such a small device, but I am very much impressed. The mid to high frequency sound is amazing! If you've got a pair of speakers that cost less than $200, there's a decent chance the laptop's speakers beat them for sound quality on most frequencies bar the deep bass. That's not to say the bass is bad, it simply isn't earth-moving. For the genre of music that I listen to, that is no problem at all.
And Ive just discovered when I put the earphone in, the speakers still working for a few seconds after switch to earphones and when i pull it out, the speakers activating with a few secs delay plus when im writing this post the text and the cursor running back an forth text appearing disappearing whats wrong ?
I think this is a ML bug. Had it on my cMBP and rMBP running ML. Have you updated your software?
Disclosure: I am not an audiophile, but consider myself fairly fluent and picky in music and audio quality (long time violinist/pianist).
I unfortunately can't agree with some of the posts. I find the rMBP speakers to be not much better than the MBA11/13 ones. The high ranges are too strong, the mid ranges are average to slightly lacking, and obviously, low ranges are severely lacking. Equalization does little to alleviate it. As I played through a wide range of music genres and tonal ranges, they bugged me so much that it started hurting my ears (only at 2-3 bars of volume).
Of course, like many of you have said, what else can you expect from laptop speakers? They may very well be the best 15" laptop speakers, but that's setting the bar too low IMHO. They would be my last resort option and probably see very little use, personally. Like others, I've always just plug in some decent earbuds instead, or AirPlay to some decent speakers -- and problem solved.
I unfortunately can't agree with some of the posts. I find the rMBP speakers to be not much better than the MBA11/13 ones. The high ranges are too strong, the mid ranges are average to slightly lacking, and obviously, low ranges are severely lacking. Equalization does little to alleviate it. As I played through a wide range of music genres and tonal ranges, they bugged me so much that it started hurting my ears (only at 2-3 bars of volume).
Of course, like many of you have said, what else can you expect from laptop speakers? They may very well be the best 15" laptop speakers, but that's setting the bar too low IMHO. They would be my last resort option and probably see very little use, personally. Like others, I've always just plug in some decent earbuds instead, or AirPlay to some decent speakers -- and problem solved.
The speakers are bad, Yes the mid-highs are crispy and "okay" for a laptop. But there isn't any low-end below 100Hz.
The macbook pro 17" and 15" and even my macbook air had better quality low-end.
This is okay for a thin laptop to have bad quality speakers. But it is very unfortunate Apple raises false expectations with there "superlatives" about this speakers system. It is nothing special and pretty bad quality. Apple uses the term "best" and "revolutionary" to often and sometimes not justified. It start to loose it's credibility.
Also note the that headphone output quality is from a lesser quality then that of my Macbook Air 11" (first model). I guess they use a lesser coded chip now
The rest of the laptop is awesome though!
The macbook pro 17" and 15" and even my macbook air had better quality low-end.
This is okay for a thin laptop to have bad quality speakers. But it is very unfortunate Apple raises false expectations with there "superlatives" about this speakers system. It is nothing special and pretty bad quality. Apple uses the term "best" and "revolutionary" to often and sometimes not justified. It start to loose it's credibility.
Also note the that headphone output quality is from a lesser quality then that of my Macbook Air 11" (first model). I guess they use a lesser coded chip now
The rest of the laptop is awesome though!
I'm a bit of an audiophile and have spent some time recording and producing music...
I was initially sceptical about these speakers and without equaliser tweaking in iTunes - the stock sound from my 2012 13" MB Air was more balanced overall and better received across all genres of music. The balance in the rMBP is definitely skewered to the middle and right of the spectrum although the tweeters are of good quality and very 'airy' up there. There is some distortion/resonance issue in the top 3 or so volume notches but my gut tells me this is more a result of speaker placement and interaction with surrounding materials than a fault of the speaker itself.. It is a metal case after all..
In any case (at least for my ears) I've manually tweaked the equaliser in iTunes to create a more balanced/warmer sound - removing some of the harshness and flatness of the stock sound. I am very happy with this setting and now these are easily the best 'laptop' speakers I have heard to date. There is only so far that you can push the envelope here though, so don't expect an earth shattering sound. It's a shame there is no way to export these custom presets but I've attached a screen grab of my settings that I find work very well for my ears. For those that will try to mimic these settings on their own rMBP - note that the Preamp has been reduced to avoid clipping of certain frequencies.
I have also ever slightly turned on the Sound Enhancer in Preferences to enhance the sound stage that was sucked up by killing off a lot of the mids..
I was initially sceptical about these speakers and without equaliser tweaking in iTunes - the stock sound from my 2012 13" MB Air was more balanced overall and better received across all genres of music. The balance in the rMBP is definitely skewered to the middle and right of the spectrum although the tweeters are of good quality and very 'airy' up there. There is some distortion/resonance issue in the top 3 or so volume notches but my gut tells me this is more a result of speaker placement and interaction with surrounding materials than a fault of the speaker itself.. It is a metal case after all..
In any case (at least for my ears) I've manually tweaked the equaliser in iTunes to create a more balanced/warmer sound - removing some of the harshness and flatness of the stock sound. I am very happy with this setting and now these are easily the best 'laptop' speakers I have heard to date. There is only so far that you can push the envelope here though, so don't expect an earth shattering sound. It's a shame there is no way to export these custom presets but I've attached a screen grab of my settings that I find work very well for my ears. For those that will try to mimic these settings on their own rMBP - note that the Preamp has been reduced to avoid clipping of certain frequencies.
I have also ever slightly turned on the Sound Enhancer in Preferences to enhance the sound stage that was sucked up by killing off a lot of the mids..
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At certain high frequencies, there is some piercing, but not overly severe.
These are probably the best speakers in a laptop of this thickness, but I wouldn't say they are the absolute best across the board. Decent amount of bass for a laptop of this thickness.
These are probably the best speakers in a laptop of this thickness, but I wouldn't say they are the absolute best across the board. Decent amount of bass for a laptop of this thickness.