MacBook Pro 16'' popping sound

When I listen to music for instance every now and then I hear a clicking sound from the internal speakers. I have no clue what’s causing this but it’s somehow connected to actions I make in the system. For instance, when I selected an option in the field «What type of issue are you reporting?» in Feedback Assistant the sound appeared (not always but every 5th-10th time right after this change). I’ve attached a recording with this issue https://yadi.sk/d/lrBYPB-2rVt_1w It’s really not cool to have a computer for $3000 and have this kind of issue which is there since the launch of the product. The OS is Big Sur.

Software engineer w/ a late 2019 MBP 16" here on 10.15.6 here. I notice the popping usually after the system has been under thermal stress. I have noticed my laptop having various issues, even locking up and kernel panics, all related to thermal stress. This is on a laptop stand w/ good ventilation and metal to conduct the heat away. System restart fixes it for me until the next time I need to do some intensive task. Just started happening in the last week or so.

16" MBP owner here. Bought it on the day of release, so have had it for about a year now. Popping speakers since day one – and still no fix for this? What is taking so long? I Google the issue from time to time and the top hits are this thread and a few articles from late 2019 reporting Apple's promise to fix it. This issue and the fact the machine generally feels slower than my 2012 (!) MBP are seriously denting my confidence in Apple.

Macbook Pro 16" 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 5500M 32GB

Be warned, 10.15.7 introduces a popping sound after playing audio for a variable amount of time.

I had the YouTube audio popping early on when I purchased this device late 2019. That issue was resolved months ago for me, so I'm a bit disappointed with this new sound issue.

Force quitting coreaudioid stops the popping.

Since I bought the mac until 10.15.7 I have been experiencing the issue. I tried with the assistance to perform the SMC but nothing changed actually. They just want to send to them. Unfortunately I payed all this money for the laptop and I cannot stay two weeks without computer and I am not even able to consistently reproduce the problem. If you look for crackling, frying ,farting speaker noise, it is full of people complaining on reddit, macrumors, youtube and apple forum as well. They just do not care at all, recognized or addressed the problem so far. And I am not even talking about the heat dissipation trouble which makes it so loud and hot even at low load of cpu.

Hello,

I've had this issue since I've had my Mac and I think I figured out the issue. try following the steps below:

1. Open Audio Midi/Setup APP
2. Make sure your all your speakers, microphones, Pro Tools Aggregate I/O is all set to the same sample format.
3. example : If you see microphone with a format of 44000 hz and your Mac Pro speakers at 48000 hrz you have different sample rates happening which will cause the audio drivers to produce odd audio playback.
4. So make sure you change all your formats (aka sample rates) to the same rate what rate doesn't matter although I'd stick with 44000 if your not doing video.

This fixed my issue I hope it fixes yours.

One note about Force Quitting coreaudiod, any sound currently playing may remain active if you attempt to control the current sound. I had to quit the Podcast app when this occurred.

it’s likely best to stop all playbacks before quitting coreaudiod.

My last instance occurred while listening to a pod and the iPhone Simulator launched. The second the sim appeared, my audio became distorted with popping.

I’m beginning to think this distortion is related to a process currently using the GPU, which Photoshop CC 21 was at the time of my occurrences. I normally leave PS open in a difference Space.

This looks like good news, for the first time after one year, for what I've been reading. Did you try to use Logic, Final Cut etc at a sample rate of 44.100kHz ? Thanks for your feedback on the issue.

I have exactly the same problem and Apple are unwilling to fix it, I get loud audible popping when playing practically any audio - from system sounds to Bootcamp and even whilst trying to skim through a YouTube video or do any work in Final Cut Pro it's a constant snap crackle and pop from the speakers.

I sent my laptop away for repair, they reproduced the issue and replaced the Audio Board which didn't fix the issue.

I sent it away for repair a second time, they couldn't reproduce the issue (despite it being the same thing) and sent it back without repairing it.

I took my laptop for a Genius appointment and reproduced it for the Genius who immediately noted that it was an issue, was unacceptable and took it in to be repaired and the top case was replaced.

Eventually when I picked it up I tested it, the issue *still* persisted and I was told to speak with a Mac technician, he insisted that the speakers were meant to make a popping noise and once I escalated it to the Lead Genius he too said that although they could clearly hear the popping/cracking noise from the speakers they were refusing to do any further work on the device as they believe it was within specifications unless Apple initiated a Service Program for the issue.

I am extremely unhappy with the support I received and I now have a specced out 16" MacBook Pro that I actively avoid using because it just irritates me so much, such a massive downgrade from my MacBook Pro 15" which I thoroughly enjoyed using when possible.

It's midi and audio settings. I did change the mic too but I think that's not necessary.

I can't explain why it works.I read it somewhere in the net. Just try it out. If you have audio software you have to change the settings there too sometimes.

This is in response the to the above post I left last week.

16 Macbook Pro USERS W/ AUDIO Issues Please READ: (esp ones with external/digital mixers that get their sample rate/word/Clock info from another device)

I purchased a 16 MB Pro fully loaded in March. Have been having sporadic issues since then, recently upgraded to Big Sur to see if the problems would go away. Problem still existed.

My issue was sporadic audio sounding garbled after 15-40 mins that would start out of the blue. Sessions would start fine, but after 20 minutes, sound would start to sound garbled and get worse after a few minutes. Based on other threads I read with users having similar issues, I was convinced it was a hardware/driver/thermal issue or Apple bug.

I spent many hrs comparing log files from when I was having the problem to see if I could find something in the logs that could be causing problem. As part of searching for other users having similar issues, I came across a few things that were related to digital audio sample rate/clock settings. If you have multiple pieces of equipment that are digitally connected, you need to make sure all the equipment is synchronized properly. If you're having audio issues that start out of the blue, for example after 20-40 minutes, that are resolved by changing buffer settings or restarting CoreAudio, but eventually come back, etc then check your clock source and make sure it's solid. Keep reading to see how I figured out what my problem was. Solution is to make main mixer the Clock source, and other devices slaves, and make sure your cable providing word/audio sync is good and not being subjected to static etc. My problem appears to be a bad cable from my main mixer that was getting audio sync/sample rate data from another mixer. It was hard to troubleshoot because the audio problem was not immediate. It was sporadic, usually after 20-40 mins. Likely some type of interference that caused the frame rate to be read incorrectly by the Macbook.

Heres some more detailed info in case you are experiencing a similar problem.

I have a complicated studio setup where I have multiple digital mixers connected to each other with a special cable. (AES50 - it's a sheilded Cat5 cable). The cable connects the devices, and allows for sharing of audio AND Clock/sample rate data.

I have confirmed that the audio problem I have been having, at least recently , appears to be the result of my Macbook Pro not getting proper Sample Rate/Clock information from my primary digital mixer. (The mixer was setup as a slave, and was receiving word/clock/sample rate data from another digital mixer via the Cat5/AES50 cable). I have determined the reason why I am getting audio problems after 20-30 minutes of use is because the mixer connected to my Macbook is dropping work clock data. I confirmed this by changing the primary mixer as the master clock source. Since doing this, I have had no problems with audio at all. I wanted to post this to correct my previous post where I said that after upgrading to Big Sur I was still having audio problems. That was true, but the reason for the issues was due to bad/incorrect word clock/sample rate data that my digital mixer was receiving from another device. This took me almost a month to figure out, so hopefully anyone else with this problem will see this and not assume it's a hardware issue with the Mac. Sample rate/clock issues with the hardware/mixer your Mac is plugged into need to be considered as well.

I have a 2019 Macbook Pro Retina w/ Touch Bar and this is also happening to me. Took into store and they said it was a software issue so couldn't offer me a replacement product. They told me to reset my PRAM and NVRAM which I'd already done numerous times after speaking with one of Apple's online assistants. They then said I'll need to wipe the software completely and re-upload a clean copy.