Apple comes as close anyone to achieving absolute perfection, but people still need to be realistic.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Investigating 16-Inch MacBook Pro Popping Sound Issue, Fix Planned in Future Software Updates
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple comes as close anyone to achieving absolute perfection, but people still need to be realistic.
Yeah, I have 13in MBP right now. It has the issues.
Safari has the problem. Quicktime has the problem. Quick-look does not have the problem. System alerts has the problem.
Its' a T2 issue. Either T2 hardware fault to some extent, or a firmware.
In either case, it hasn't been fixed since 2018, 2019, or 16in... and 3 OS releases.....
I didn't read all 14+ pages of comments here to see if anyone else addressed this "burnt in" video look you're speaking of? But I'm curious if this might just be a result of the true-tone color feature they've got now? It's supposed to dynamically adjust the color tone based on your lighting in the room, at least on the built-in display, unless you de-select a check-box to turn that off. Might look into that?
You’re guessing it’s a T2 issue. You’re guessing it’s a hardware fault or that firmware is involved.
It’s fixed in the 16” with last week’s beta 4, not sure about the 13”. Apparently there are so few with the problem in the beta program that there aren’t any reports yet one way or the other.
Ok People, if you don't understand what the problem is, watch this. But don't be so positive about it saying "Oh its just a speaker software thing that Apple will quickly fix" because it is not.
This totally a referendum on Apple's Quality Control.
"So few with the issue"
What don't you understand about 100%? Anyone who has been interested in this problem, and Apple staff, and Apple repairers - all tried it and replicated the issue on 100% of machines.
Random people went to Apple stores on the other side of the world to me, and replicated it on the demo machines.
So yeah, I'm guessing it's a T2 issue. Because Apple themselves had it listed as 'T2 audio issue' internally. I know that T2 controls all of the audio on a Macbook. So I am confident it's either the T2 hardware being inherently faulty, or after 2 years Apple is incapable of releasing a working firmware for it.
What the super precise issue is, is not my problem. I just know that 2018-2019 13 and 15in Macbooks are affected, and 16 in macbooks are affected, and Macbook Airs with T2 are affected. All of em.
Just stop with the 100% BS. It’s not 100% and it never has been. Apple sells 15+ million laptops a year, and if it was 100% we would know it. There would be more than a few dozen or hundred or thousand complaints.
We’ve heard enough of the “defective T2” that can only be fixed with a rev B theory. There’s no reason to think that. A software issue causing issues with T2 audio on some laptops is much different from every single T2 is defective and the only way Apple can fix this is to recall tens of millions of laptops.
In fact, Apple just released a Catalina beta that completely resolved (on the 16” anyway) the issue for two-thirds of those affected. Some are still reporting issues, but most of those report much improvement. Ideally the next beta will resolve this completely.
Likely, there are multiple causes of these audio problems, and sometimes problems are hard to fix, especially if QA doesn’t see the issue in house. At that point, Apple will retrieve problem units from the field as they’re discovered, and software, hardware and firmware engineers will start working on the problem.
When you’re hanging out in a thread where those with a problem are discussing an issue, it’s easy to jump to conclusions that problems are widespread. In fact, it appears that the issue was very prevalent on the 16”, and problems that affect many—or even all—users are very high priority.
However, problems that affect relatively few don’t have that same priority. A few dozen or hundred users can create a thread with 10,000 posts, but that issue might only affect 1 in a thousand machines. That kind of problem is harder to fix, since it’s usually the result of multiple factors creating certain exact conditions, which then cause the problem to manifest.
e.g., only when factor 3, 19, and 142 are present, and active within a three minute window of factor 52, 79 and 355 happening in that order; do it in the sequence 79, 52 and 355 or 79, 355 and 52 and it’s fine—unless factor 88 has been triggered since the last boot. But only if you have software packages C, R and W installed (but not L, because then it’s fine). Of course, there are also complications due to config differences such as attached peripherals.
Point being, it’s frustrating if you’re having a problem, and it’s also frustrating for engineers who are trying to figure it out. If it’s happening to many, it’s usually easy to find and fix. If it’s a more complicated issue, and/or affects few customers, it’ll take longer.
Of course there’s room for improvement at Apple, and no company likes to have unhappy customers, especially in this age of social media. Apple is held to high standards, because their customers pay a premium. It’s good for Apple to be held to the highest standards, everyone wants things to work without issue.
But it doesn’t help your case to claim 100% of users are having a problem, because when so many users read that and say, that’s not happening to me, then they just roll their eyes and write you off as a complaining crackpot.
I just updated my 2019 15 inch to last week's latest version of Mojave (which by the way contains the same T2 firmware version with Catalina 10.15.2) and the popping is still there. I guess this will never get resolved on Mojave.
Thanks man! I just saw the video and as a content creator i agree with every word this man said. I was so close to purchase an Apogee duet audio interface and then realised that it's a usb 2 device and T2 will screw things up.
I will definitely keep using Mac OS and Apple computers, since i love both Logic and FCPX but man, the next time i hear someone bashing Apple, i will never defend this company again. Every year is harder than the last one in the Mac world.
I wish i was one of those people that are purchasing those as entertainment tools and then come here to pretend that everything is perfect. Yeah this is a freaking Disneyland we live in. And those laptops are portable You Tube screens, not overpriced media workstations.
I just wanted to reiterate that this issue still very much exists even under 10.15.3. It has NOT been fixed, contrary to many people saying that it has. I honestly do not know where they are getting this from...? The "popping" and "clicking" noise even occurs when receiving alerts, like from texts and emails. There's a "tick" sound that occurs split seconds before the alert sound. It is beyond annoying! Basically this "popping" or "clicking" sound occurs system wide more or less any time the audio engine is engaged or disengaged. When in a very quiet room a person with half decent ears can hear it OFTEN! When the system is set to a sample rate of 48 the severity is lessened, but still there. When set to 44.1 it is REALLY LOUD. This has got to be totally resolved soon, as Apple's engineers are starting to look like monkeys chasing a football. It is pathetic for this caliber and price of a machine to do this. Apple didn't use to have these audio issues before the T2 chip. I have owned almost every model MBP since they have been out, and this did NOT used to be a thing AT ALL. C'mon Apple! Dedicate some engineers to this, please.
As someone who works expert technical support for one of the largest suites of applications in the world, I can comfortably say that you may be seeing the issue when others aren't.
I can comfortably say you are wrong and respectfully disagree. I can provide all the video evidence that anyone would ever want to see, but it wouldn't do any good, because then you would say it was machine specific. Which it most DEFINITELY is NOT. As you know, Apple has acknowledged the issue in an internal memo and NEVER have they said it has been fixed with any of the macOS updates. Have a nice day, "expert".
Your post reflects a complete lack of understanding of how software and hardware works.
Most software bugs like this are situational and require a specific set of parameters to be a certain way for things to happen.
Your one example is insufficient to draw any conclusions about the state of the product.
You have a better day, (obvious) non-expert.
Obviously you are trying to say something there but no man in this world, expert or noob, can make any clue from what you wrote. I am not an expert but i can swear that you are not either.
Plus we don’t know if this is a software bug or a hardware issue. Regardless what the memo said.
All I'm saying is, it's possible for a number of people to see the issue while a number don't.
I get calls with "this software/hardware isn't working correctly" all the time and when I try to replicate the issue, I can't. It's just a reality of software/hardware bugs. This is no exception.
If there are people stating they don't "see" (hear) this issue, then their ears are not capable of hearing the frequencies in which these glitches occur. It is system wide and on EVERY single 16" 2019 MBP. There are NO exceptions. I could detail how and why I know this, but it would be futile.
Last edited:
Judging from my experience so far, 8 out of 10 (this is quite bizarre) 2019 15" MacBooks and all 16" units are having this issue. It's definitely there and it's super annoying while working with audio. Maybe i am going crazy along with 5-6 fellows here...
I had the popping issue when I first got the machine, and then there was a macOS update to fix it. For me, the update mostly fixed it. Sometimes, when switching tabs between YouTube videos, I can hear it. But I can never hear it when scrubbing through YouTube videos like before. So, honestly I have not thought much about this issue since the update.
Yes, the issue was minimized with an update, but still very much exists. Change your sample rate from 48 to 44.1 and then try the YouTube test and you will quickly discover that the mitigating they did did nothing for 44.1 and is only masked using 48. Been testing it all day. I am strongly considering posting lots of videos to show that the issue still exists and has only been blanketed a little.
True, just checked it out and it's still there at 44.1 kHz...
Crazy huh!? They simply masked the issue at 48, did not fully resolve it, and nothing at all to 44.1. Explain that one to me. LOL