Apple Investigating 16-Inch MacBook Pro Popping Sound Issue, Fix Planned in Future Software Updates

[Peperino]

Well, one more time... Apple showing how they turned into the company with worse quality control EVER.
IN the rush to fix the worse product Apple ever designed, it seems that they forgot the sound now.

Once again, Paying higher prices for poorly controlled products.

 

[Mr Screech]

Let an audio-pro, video-pro, 3d-pro, coder-pro evaluate your new macbook pro model before you decide to mass produce it. Is that too much to ask? ?

 

[SeattleMoose]

Luckily Apple Quality Control prevents these kind of things from happening....

 

[mdmitris]

It's fine if you don't have the issue with your $2500+ machine while surfing the web or checking email.

And even Mail is so buggy in Catalina.

 

[pasito1983]

Incoming tweet from Phil: These laptops are just popping off the Shelves.

 

[0924487]

You're delusional if you don't think this is a serious issue. Either that or simply a typical Apple apologist. What a shame. All you are doing is weakening the companies potential to be great and not just good. Not only that, but you are watering down people's cases. It is a major problem for pro audio/video people like myself. You clearly don't fall in that category. It's fine if you don't have the issue with your $2500+ machine while surfing the web or checking email. But it is not fine for those of us who use our machines to work on professional audio/video projects. SMH

As an Electrical and Computer Engineer, we just know it is simply not possible to release a product in this scope without bugs and issues, especially if it is not prototyped to perfection. In most cases, we work with dummies and parts. We extrapolate and calculate what would be the behaviour of the production product. Most of the time, preproduction machines get to the Engineers just days before product launches. Finding all the design issues and mitigate them before release is just impossible.

 

[Ploki]

Apple releases a universally acclaimed new MacBook Pro with a huge battery, massive performance boost, radically improved keyboard, and surprise surprise, some people are still not happy.

No because sound issues have been dragging since first T2 mac and it took a while to fix.
Pops can damage speakers, and it also raises a flag for pro-audio.

 

[V_Man]

I don't see the reason for the big argument about how bad an issue it is. For some people who use it a certain way it is a huge issue, for others it isn't. For the money spent you want it to be right for what you wan't to do. Apple is looking into it which tells me that there most be enough complaints they need to investigate which is the right thing to do. Why try to bury the fact there is an issue that affects customers.

You absolutely right. There are folks here who defend Apple at all costs and then there are the folks who attack Apple at all costs.
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As an Electrical and Computer Engineer, we just know it is simply not possible to release a product in this scope without bugs and issues, especially if it is not prototyped to perfection. In most cases, we work with dummies and parts. We extrapolate and calculate what would be the behaviour of the production product. Most of the time, preproduction machines get to the Engineers just days before product launches. Finding all the design issues and mitigate them before release is just impossible.

Are you saying that Apple employees a bunch of dummy’s? ?

 

[Ma2k5]

Hey Macrumors, how many were impacted?

No, this isn't the death of Apple or the MacBook.

It's also not a referendum of quality control at Apple.

Most if not all, going by owner threads. Mine also does.

 

[TVOR]

Alrighty, keyboard warrior. Cause clearly you don't work in A/V professionally.

I actually did work in A/V professionally for many years and while I agree that things like this are an inconvenience, there are so many things that can cause workflow bottlenecks (OS updates and plugin updates come to mind) that a popping sound hardly seems like too much drama!

Now, full disclosure, I don't own one of these Macs so I don't know if this problem manifests itself when using headphones or an external (USB/TB) sound card...perhaps somebody could confirm/deny this? And I also appreciate that there are times when you might be on location so you can't use studio monitors, but as somebody else pointed out, who would be using the built-in speakers when you are on location? Surely a good set of headphones for those kinds of scenarios would be a "must have"??

Regardless, I agree with other posters here who have pointed out that no product (hardware or software) is ever 100% problem-free! And given the volumes that Apple produces each year, the percentage of problems must be minuscule! Of course, I realise that that doesn't make it any less frustrating when you happen to be one of the (relative) few that do, but it's not like Apple aren't willing to fix it...be that a software update or a hardware replacement/fix.

I think the bigger problem is with the environment that we have somewhere found ourselves in where people seem to live in a permanent state of agitation and almost seem hell bent on finding problems wherever they can! The reasons for that evade me, or at least a reason other than wanting to compete at the highest levels in the "Victim Olympics"! But hey, what do I know...I only worked in the music industry for 15 years as a professional...so what do I know?? Better to ask the entitled YouTubers eh?

 

[Fishcake21]

There's some software reason this happens. I ran into it like 20 years ago and totally forgot how to prevent it. It's probably something like this:

https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/128

It's definitely an issue with CoreAudio api, since all those apps are linked to it. A common problem when you have something like "boosting" on and they just have to adjust it to the right level...

 

[Ethosik]

Let an audio-pro, video-pro, 3d-pro, coder-pro evaluate your new macbook pro model before you decide to mass produce it. Is that too much to ask? ?

You seriously think they did not do that? Do audio pros really use the built in speakers? In the grand scheme of things, any and ALL laptop speakers are bad compared to pro level speakers and audio equipment.

 

[fokmik]

Lets hope Apple will provide this fix for Mojave as well and will not force the users to run Catalina

 

[Jonathan Alan Humphreys]

Apple is investigating a popping sound issue with the new 16-inch MacBook Pro and plans to make a fix available in future software updates, the company has indicated in an internal document obtained by MacRumors.

The memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers reads as follows:Shortly following the launch of the 16-inch MacBook Pro last month, some customers began to voice concerns about the popping sound issue across the MacRumors forums, Apple Support Communities, Reddit, and elsewhere. The exact cause is unclear, but Apple confirms it is a software issue, not a hardware issue.

Apple seeded the fourth beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.2 to developers for testing today. It is unclear when the fix will be implemented.

Article Link: Apple Investigating 16-Inch MacBook Pro Popping Sound Issue, Fix Planned in Future Software Updates

It's odd how I saw this coming when the 16 inch released. The cynic in my head was predicting some kind of issue but luckily this mostly software related and can be fixed relatively easily. I'm just preying its not hardware related.
I won't defend apple and I'm tired of them releasing products that come across issues at some point in their life. Most of us are :/

 

[Stella]

I have the same machine and have had this issue - yes the fix is to extend the life, and nothing more, the same problem will happen again, the logic board replacement does not fix the root issue.

My point was though that it took literally years for Apple to acknowledge the widespread problem. Apple would regularly delete posts relating to this issue from it's discussion boards.

Actually, their “solution” to that problem was to just replace the logic board with another logic board with the same issue. They just postponed the inevitable death of the machine (caused by a design defect) until after their extended repair program ended.

My 2011 machine was repaired under that program, and died again about a year later from the exact same gpu issue. The Apple Store even diagnosed it.

The Apple Store refused to fix it the second time, stating that they would break California state law if they fixed it and instead only offered to sell me a new machine at full price. I got the machine up and running again by disabling the dedicated gpu, and when I pointed this out to Apple’s customer relations team they gave me a free set of Bose QC35 ii headphones as compensation.

I’d rather have seen that they had actually solved the engineering problem, but that costs more than dodging customers and giving away headphones.

 

[jgdeschamps]

You are joking right?! Do some research! It is a serious issue for pro audio/video people. SMH

If it's not happening when using external reference monitors (speakers for mixing audio) then it's not a problem for pros. That's something the article does not mention. Probably related to the internal sound card driver.

 

[BigBoy2018]

Lets hope Apple will provide this fix for Mojave as well and will not force the users to run Catalina

Umm the 16 inch MacBook Pro can’t run Mojave.

 

[chrono1081]

Oh boy... SMH. You might wanna do a LOT more research before cheerleading and rushing to the defense of Apple.

No he’s right. This sub has become nothing but a giant anti-Apple echo chamber full of people who are bitterly angry over nonsense. This issue highlights one of them. Many people (myself included) can’t reproduce this, and many other bugs claimed by forum members but you’d think the sky was falling and Apple is going out of business.

 

[Glideslope]

Lets hope Apple will provide this fix for Mojave as well and will not force the users to run Catalina

Agreed. I'm not confident however. No question there is a push for 10.15 adoption. I simply can't trust them any longer with Mac OS or iOS for that matter.

 

[fokmik]

Umm the 16 inch MacBook Pro can’t run Mojave.

This issue is from 2018 ...since H Sierra for all the 2018 macs and 2019

 

[flygbuss]

LOL. I am not even going to dignify that with a response. If you don't know the answer, you don't work in the field. Not only that, but using studio monitors doesn't exempt Apple from fixing bugs. Workarounds are not solutions.

Care to elaborate? I’d call myself a pro audio user because that’s what I do for a living. What pro audio use case includes built-in laptop speakers? You know.. headphones, nearfield, midfield, main monitors? Never been to a studio where I had to work with laptop speakers..
No offense, I’m not defending anything, just curious because you’re desperately spinning it as a ‘pro problem’.

 

[Ryanmrash]

Let an audio-pro, video-pro, 3d-pro, coder-pro evaluate your new macbook pro model before you decide to mass produce it. Is that too much to ask? ?

Didn’t Apple have this out in the wild with “Pro” users before public release?

I’m supposing those test models /probably/ had a beta or the early GM of Catalina installed, and didn’t the public release ship with 15.1?

I’m wondering if some difference between 15.0-15.1 cause the problem so it wasn’t caught in early testing?

If so, then it’s clearly a software issue. Either way, I sense a massive overreaction, probably based on the keyboard woes and thermal problems of the previous years. I mean I passed on the previous models because I didn’t want one with those problems. I’ve heard the popping sporadically on my 16”, but I’m not going to return and exchange it over and over when it will likely be fixed quickly.

 

[uller6]

I've been debating getting one of these since my late 2013 now turns itself off at ~40% battery, but now I'm glad I decided to wait for the second iteration.

 

[EvilEvil]

The infamous audio popping issue surfacing again. I remember having the same issue with my 2012 MBP.

 

[Glockworkorange]

It's not. It affects ALL machines. It is just that some people do not use theirs in a way that would immediately reveal the problem.

So true. I didn't notice it until I saw a MacRumors post last week and even then I was like "what are they talking about?" I watch a fair amount of YouTube videos and fast forward and didn't really notice anything. I went back to YouTube checking the thread and it was noticeable now that I knew what to look for. Doesn't happen every time, but it does happen.