Macbook Pro 16 inch speaker pulsating noise?

Thanks for the advice guys. I was just happy to get it working. I've now changed the Project settings to 48khz in Logic by going to File>Projects Settings>Audio

and changed the system settings by searching "Audio Midi Setup" in spotlight and choosing Window>show audio devices to bring up the settings for the speakers and have changed them to 48khz too.

The lowest I can get the buffer in Logic, without it going full "Rice Krispies" - snap crackle and pop on me is 64 though. I can confirm that the galloping sound has gone for me with those settings too. I'd be interested if anyone has got it down to 32 although I suspect at that level of latency it's more accurate than my actual playing :-)

This is what fixed this issue for me on my MBP 16 inch 2019 model:

I was getting the same issue with the "galloping/popping" sound while working with audio in Logic until I opened Spotlight with Cmd+Spacebar, then searched for "Audio MIDI Setup". Going to the "Output" tab of my speakers I changed the format to 48,000 Hz.

I had to select this about 10 times, as it kept flickering back to the default value, but eventually it let me choose 48,000 Hz. Someone else I know had the same issue. The dropdown menu appears to be bugged, but keep clicking 48,000Hz and it'll eventually change!

As soon as I changed to 48kHz format, the issue stopped, and I haven't had it since.

Hey all! Found a work around for this and wanted to share it in hopes it will TEMPORARILY fix the problem for you until apple gets it together and fixes this permanently.

The short answer is that it appears to be an issue with sample rates. By default, Logic Pro (what I work in) will create projects using 44.1 sample rate in order to help save space on the drive and use less computing power. If logic is open with any project that is defaulted to that, you cannot change the sample rate in Audio Midi Setup and you will hear the dreaded galloping noise. However, if your project sample rate is 48kHz - viola! everything is crystal clear!

Now, if you are creating a new project this is a super easy fix - just set your sample rate to 48 on the setup splash screen and you'll be good to go.

If however, you are like me and already have a dozen projects your currently working on you'll have to do two things to correct the issue:

1. Convert all your current audio files in the project to the new sample rate (instructions below are for Logic, but the same concept will apply regardless of DAW)
   1. Click on the Browsers button (the one on the far top right with the film roll, camera, and music note) and then go to the Project tab
   2. Select all of the audio files there (might be a good idea before you do this to dump any one you know you won't use and clean up your project a little so you don't waste time/space/power converting them) and then select Audio Files -> Copy/Convert Files
   3. Change Sample Rate to 48kHz and leave all other settings at the default and wait for the conversion to finish. One that is done we still need to change the project settings before playback will work correctly though
2. Change the Sample Rate of the entire Project
   1. Go to File -> Project Settings -> Audio
   2. Choose 48kHz, hit apply
   3. Save your project!
   4. Enjoy that crispy audio. :D

Hope that helps some of you! It's worked for every one of my projects so far. Apple still needs to get it together and fix this issue, but in the meantime at least we'll be able to use our new machines (mostly) as intended.

Software issues are more pervasive because all of us have the exact same software on our computers. We get a digital copy of macOS and GarageBand that's precisely the same as everyone else. So if one person experiences the bug, everyone does. For hardware issues there are two cases:

1. We all got lemons. Most laptops are fine, but us unlucky ones got a bad batch and if we got a different laptop it would be fine. I don't think this is the case because you've tried three laptops, I've tried two, and there are others on the internet that have it too. So if we all got lemons, there are a lot of lemons out there. Which is case 2.
2. There is a flaw in the hardware, and every (or nearly every) MBP 16" has this issue. It's a definite possibility; but I think it's less likely. I cannot reproduce this issue without installing and using GarageBand. I tried a fresh install of the OS on my MBP, with no applications installed, and I couldn't reproduce the issue. Then I installed GarageBand, and boom, reproduction. When my buddy unboxed his new one yesterday he couldn't reproduce the issue either.... until he installed GarageBand. So what kind of hardware issue only shows up after you install a certain piece of software? It's definitely possible. But if I had to bet, I would bet on software.

The GarageBand thing is the real smoking gun. I wonder if we all just did fresh installs of macOS, and skipped GarageBand, maybe none of us would see this issue.

One final note. These kinds of bugs, let's call them "quality bugs" because they don't actually crash or stop you from doing a thing, are really sneaky. Most people will never notice because:

1. They're listening to a YouTube video of a cat dancing. The audio is probably pretty busy, so no one is noticing a clicking sound amongst whatever cliched music the cat is dancing to. And even if they notice the click noise they'll just chalk it up to one of a) the internet being slow, b) your computer being slow, c) the audio on the video being of low quality to begin with.
2. It only happens if you install and use GarageBand (and potentially other DAWs, Logic Pro highly likely to cause the problem IMO). What percentage of people using 16" MPBs use GarageBand? Maybe 5%? Maybe 1%? Maybe even less?
3. And, if you are using a DAW you're probably rarely using the MPB built-in speakers for audio.
4. And finally, the problem comes and goes. So if you think you heard it, then try again and it goes away, that just reconfirms it was something else outside your control.

I honestly think I've been experiencing this problem since the day I got my new laptop, in Dec. It took me 5 months to finally be convinced there was a real problem and report it. And I'm a (crappy) musician, (mostly good) software engineer, and a bit of a perfectionist. I'm the guy that was supposed to report it on day one! Not that I blame myself, obviously. It's just these kind of bugs... well... they can take a long time before they really get nailed down. You just need the right kind of stupid to figure'm out ;-)

That's not a fix. A 1024 sample buffer would make Logic Pro X unusable.

The systemwide 48k change in Audio MIDI Setup seems to do the trick (and any projects in Logic need to be 48k as well).

Hi there, Pepi_Aly.

I see that, after the popping and crackling sounds from the speakers in your MacBook Pro, was resolved after updating, another issue has started. You're hearing a pulsing sound while watching videos, whether online or on your Mac. I'm glad to help with this.

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac -- Reset the nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM) using the steps in this article. Once the process is complete, see if you still hear the distortion.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac -- If resetting the NVRAM didn't resolve the issue, restart your Mac in safe mode and test how it responds. If it works while in safe mode, reboot normally and test again in your own user account. If not, continue to "How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac" below. 

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac -- If the issue is also happening in safe mode, use this article to create and test a new administrative user account. This will demonstrate if the issue is isolated to your account, or if it's system wide. You'll need to share or locate some music to test playing music that's stored on your Mac.

Let me know how that goes, and take care!

Hopefully.

I just started Logic Pro again and the beats came back, even in 1024 sample rate.

Actually, I realize I had G-Band open when I wrote this. I just closed it and pulse is gone.

Hi AColombi,

Trying to understand what you mean when you say 'reproduce' the issue. Does this mean the computer you have does not have it/ or consistently? If you look at my responses to Pepi_Aly, I have figured a way around the issue with increasing the sample rate in Logic to 1024. Oddly, it makes the sound when I have Garageband open at the same time (in Logic) but not when Garageband is not open.

I worked with several people at Apple - it got escalated to a senior person in creative apps - who got on the line (after a long time with two other people) and said they'd known about it for a while and were working on it. This made me quite frustrated - and I wanted to know why they weren't telling their Apple care staff - universally. If they were - then people like me would not have to spend hours on the phone explaining it to one person after another which I did.

Ultimately, I got with another senior tech in Austin, named Alton - who had me try all manner of things for a week and then concluded that it wasn't fixable. He took notes, including pictures - because I also had a stuck playhead in Garageband.

Case number for all of this is: 101043804589

I appreciate your tenacity in sticking with this. We (and others) definitely have a case for this - I saw a review on Youtube where the person talked about the three leading issues and when he did an update, added the one we are talking about. To be super clear though, Pepi_Aly and I are talking about the pulsating (which is in my video link on this thread) and not the popping issue, so when you speak with Apple again, it will be important to clarify this.

May the force be with us.

Yes, it is a known issue of the MacBook Pro 16", at least by us who use it, not sure about the engineers at Apple (eheh).

A replacement would not make sense, but a user lately reported that after sending it to repair and substituting the logic board and speakers the issue is gone. Maybe they solved it? We are waiting for more reports.

Hi all,

So... after about one week of upgrading to Big Sur it seems

the speaker issue is resolved my side. Am quietly optimistic

it will remain so but will report back here if anything changes.

Cheers

Unfortunately there is no fix to date other than not using the built in speakers.

Issue solved since I been on Big Sur

What a nightmare

Having a maxed out 16" with bad speakers was definitely a joke to me

New MBP 16" - my second one with this issue. Mostly gone with a system-wide and project switch to 48k, at least temporarily.

re: Logic settings, a buffer of 1024 and 50ms latency is simply unacceptable. If the problem persists at the 48k sample rate I guess I'll return this MBP and give up and start researching Windows notebooks.

I tweaked my settings in Logic and am not hearing the ""whup whup whup" diseased galloping sound" (That description is bang on by the way :-) ) Increasing the I/O buffer size seems to have made things better. Obviously that won't fix other apps but I'd be interested to know if it sorts Logic for you.

Mine is the stock standard i7 with 16 GB ram. Bought 2 days ago.

Originally I was getting the galloping sound. But now I've also got the popping sounds on YouTube. You can have the volume close to minimum but the pops are almost max volume.

In my mind it's a clocking problem but only with internal speakers.

YouTube must be 48khz???(common for video) So when working in logic at 44.1 whatever chip runs the speakers stays clocked to 48....perhaps???

Unfortunately I've managed to have the issue in YouTube even when logic has a 48khz project open AND when the MIDI audio device set to 48000.

BUT I can make the problem go away by switching from 48 and back to 48, as if it needs any reason to reset the clock.

Yours Truly confused