Headphone noise / static / pops / digital squeaks

do you have to reinstall all mac os to reinstall the audio driver?
I have my brand new macbook pro since 4 days and I was most unpleased when i discovered the r2d2 sound when i press the volume buttons, and most importantly the sound of some music is distorted (like saturated, even at very low volume).
I bought a macbook 2 y ago, and then I had to change it because the screen was dark in the center.
I'm really starting to be ****** off with Apple, who makes very expensive products that are not even reliable... You wait until installing mac os on a regular pc becomes truly easy and straitforward...
I'm going, once again, to change my mac and I sure hope all of them don't have the issue.

Yup, I can vouch it does.

But only on Santa Rosa chipset revision models. This does not happen on older macbooks and MBP's, well not on mine anyway,they are silent, whereas my newer models have this issue. Not tried the reinstall from the Leopard disc yet, as it sounds a bit extreme, and Apple are supposed to be contacting me back about the matter.

Dodgy audio, and now dodgy GPU's - so much for the pro machine for the audio/video market....

I bought my brand new macbook pro a few days ago, and i was most displeased when i found out about the problem. Crappy distorted sound with a lot of background noise on low volume (especially on quiet piano soundtracks).
Went back to the apple store : ALL the macbook pros had the SAME problem (tested 3 of them) and the macbook seemed to have the issue too.
So I bought a 2000$ machine that's supposed to be the state-of-the-art for audio and video, and the sound id far worse than on my smartphone. This is absolutely unacceptable. The only alternative is the macbook air, which seems to be spared by the pb, but the hard drive is simply too small for me, and the memory limited to 2 gb, so it will be outdated in a year or so.

I have one idea but impossible to check : maybe by plugging a digital headphone (they're really rare), the problem would be eliminated (since the signal would be digital and not analog from end to end).
Just a theory, let us know if anyone has a digital divice to check.
Also I use in-ear headphones so maybe it's worse than for a proper headphone. But still, I wonder how Apple can be so successful with a defect like this on the whole series.

I too am having the same problem with the static and digital tones. However am also having a issue with my Line in jack.
My line-in wont operate as when I first got my MBP. When a input is plugged in all that is recorded in garage band is a series of pops that seem to be on a rhythm. When i look at the input level in the system preferences i see the level pulse with the pops. This occurs with anything plugged in. Mic, headphones, guitar, stereo, line from a sound board... all Pops. I went in to the Utility for audio and MIDI set up and tinkered with some settings, and discovered that the pops change speed depending on the Hz the input is set to... But there is still popping, and no audio can be recorded.

The issue with the Line-in and r2d2 noise are probably two different things, but if both could get fixed that would be great.

I'm having this same issue on an iMac 3GHz / 10.5.4.

Sorry guys I just can't help my self and say this but...

"Look there's R2-D2!"
"Where I don't see him."
"He's in here by the RAM."
"Oh cool! look now he's poking your GPU!"
"Oh @*%^! He broke it!"
"***** to be you lol"
"Wait where'd he go?"
"Look! There he is! He's heading for you computer! Too late he just went in your vent."
"Oh $%@&!"
"I guess It ***** to be you too."

I have the 2.2GHz SR MacBook Pro and have noticed this problem since I got it in September 2007. I ignored it for a while since I knew it was a widespread problem that Apple couldn't fix by swapping out the Motherboard, and it was going to come back.
--->There was some talk about the problem was only with certain types of headphones(something about the ohms). Anybody tried a device like a "Boostaroo" with your MacBook Pro? I have no idea if this will fix it, but it might be worth a shot.
Apple really needs to publicly acknowledge this problem and fix it immediately.

I have a refurb 2.4ghz penryn MBP and am having this issue pretty severely. The static and hiss is louder than the music itself at low volumes. It also varies depending on the power source but seems worse when battery is <50% or the battery is charging. I crosschecked with a friend of mine's MBP which is the same model as mine (except the 2.5ghz processor instead of 2.4ghz), and although there was a very slight hiss there, it was inaudible if any music was playing. So there are definitely variations, and if someone is having severe issues, a logic board replacement may help. I am going to take mine to the Apple store to see what they can do

People,

I can't believe what I just discovered. I don't know if this has been said before but I discovered a work around for the r2d2/hiss problem. This quickfix does not involve buying any extra hardware, nor a special audio device.

My problem is the following: When ANY sound stops playing I can hear beeps and blops like R2D2... For a delicate ear... that is VERY annoying. I could not listen to any song on iTunes without being followed by R2D2/hiss at the end. It wasn't less annoying to try and play MIDI instruments, because as the note dropped, I could hear the beeps... and hisses... and blops...... Ahh... Annoying....

Tonight (after two weeks) I suddently stopped listening to them. So I thought "AHA! Something that I did must have stopped them!!!"... So... I started to trace everything I did before that point that could have solved the R2D2 and hiss case... UNTIL I found posible actions to solve the problem and finally, I narrowed all my attempts into just one that really worked.

Just try this and let me know if it works:
1. Plug headphones.
2. Play a song in iTunes with headphones.
3. With song being played, with headphones close the lid.
4. Open the lid and see if the R2D2 and his hiss are still there when playback is resumed.

I tried this a lot of times and had a 100% success rate. This makes me wonder if its really a hardware issue or a software issue.

After trying this I could still listen to very very very sporadical and very very very low volume beeps.

Anyone has any thoughts to share?

*Notes for the poste above:*

*The procedure I described has to be done _each time mac os is rebooted_.*

Cheers! I am taking this to the Apple Store anyway! I love Mac OS X... and software... but Apple hardware is not always the best...

lol, that doesnt work at all, and i cant imagine why it would. if anything i did notice a decrease in the noises, but its still unusable. the headphone extension thing from radio shack is the best fix right now. has apple given any word on this problem? what a rip off this machine was.

I'll try the above suggestion, but I'm a little skeptical. If that works, it sounds like either an OS or firmware update would fix it.

...I don't know why didn't work for you....But it doesn't suprises me at apple... What I believe is that this 'workaround' I posted truncates an audio module's function that produces these beeps blops...

This problem should be easily adressed as it is a mix of hardware/firmware problem that could be solved buy stopping the hardwares function that provides the beeps in the firmware!

I'm going to complain with the manager at the apple store on Friday.. I'll let you know.. have you thought on taking the computer back?

Cheers...

I'm suffering from the beep/hiss syndrome and this work-around clears up the problem on my MB!!!

I'd like to hear what Apple store have to say.........

Nice to know that I helped somebody... Any body else? Has this worked for you?...

Has any one taken this to the apple store and had the problem being solved!!