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Macbook Pro left speaker crackling

Hi,

I have a 2019 Macbook Pro 13" and since the update to macOS Catalina 10.15.4 the left speaker have a crackling sound and the audio is very poor. It happens in low and high volume.


With the 10.15.5 update the problem remained and already tried the smc and nvram reset. Also tried the Apple diagnostic tool with no errors.

Does not happen with headphones.


I saw that there are users here with the same problem

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251264197


Including one that has even changed the speaker and the problem remains

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251149594


Could it be software related? is there anyone else with the same problem?


Thank you


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 31, 2020 5:50 PM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 2, 2020 12:39 PM

Hey there, Nuno!


Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities. I see from your post that your 2019 MacBook Pro is exhibiting crackling sounds from the left speaker, and the audio isn't as good as you expect it to be. I'm happy to help!


It looks like you've already tried resetting the SMC and NVRAM on your computer, as well as using Apple Diagnostics. These are great steps to take when you're having an issue with audio/speakers. Since the problem continues, I'd suggest going through the following steps to help isolate the issue to hardware or software:


  1. Restart the computer in safe mode, and see if the issue continues there: How to use safe mode on your Mac Safe mode runs some checks on your system as it boots, and makes repairs if it can. If the issue continues after that,
  2. See if you can replicate it in a new, test user account: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support. This will let us know if the issue is related to your specific user settings or content. If it does occur in a new user,
  3. Boot into macOS Recovery: About macOS Recovery - Apple Support, and select the "Get help online" from the Utilities pane. This will open a Safari window and you should be able to navigate to a site that has audio from there. See if the issue occurs here. macOS Recovery runs separately from the actual macOS software, so if the issue is related to said software it will not be present in macOS Recovery.


If the issue does not occur in macOS Recovery, try reinstalling the macOS software: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support.


If the issue does occur in macOS Recovery, and/or reinstalling macOS does not solve the issue, please get in touch with Apple Support directly. You can do that here: Contact Apple Support.


Best!

Similar questions

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 2, 2020 12:39 PM in response to Community User

Hey there, Nuno!


Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities. I see from your post that your 2019 MacBook Pro is exhibiting crackling sounds from the left speaker, and the audio isn't as good as you expect it to be. I'm happy to help!


It looks like you've already tried resetting the SMC and NVRAM on your computer, as well as using Apple Diagnostics. These are great steps to take when you're having an issue with audio/speakers. Since the problem continues, I'd suggest going through the following steps to help isolate the issue to hardware or software:


  1. Restart the computer in safe mode, and see if the issue continues there: How to use safe mode on your Mac Safe mode runs some checks on your system as it boots, and makes repairs if it can. If the issue continues after that,
  2. See if you can replicate it in a new, test user account: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support. This will let us know if the issue is related to your specific user settings or content. If it does occur in a new user,
  3. Boot into macOS Recovery: About macOS Recovery - Apple Support, and select the "Get help online" from the Utilities pane. This will open a Safari window and you should be able to navigate to a site that has audio from there. See if the issue occurs here. macOS Recovery runs separately from the actual macOS software, so if the issue is related to said software it will not be present in macOS Recovery.


If the issue does not occur in macOS Recovery, try reinstalling the macOS software: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support.


If the issue does occur in macOS Recovery, and/or reinstalling macOS does not solve the issue, please get in touch with Apple Support directly. You can do that here: Contact Apple Support.


Best!

Jun 2, 2020 2:21 PM in response to CarlAVII

Thank you PsyDye for the support.


I followed the steps you said but unfortunately in step 3 I cannot test the sound since the browser in recovery mode has html5 disabled so I cannot play sound. Tested on several sites.


As the problem continues I think that I have no alternative but to reinstall macOs when I have some free time and if the problem persists then send it for repair.


Thanks again

Macbook Pro left speaker crackling

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