MacBook Pro 13" with M1 - Volume is way too low

I don't know if this helps - but I've found in the previously relocated items folder (from Catalina, files that are incompatible with Big Sur, I think) an entire folder called 'Audio' and there are a few things in there.

You can find it by going to the following folders in finder:

Users > Shared > Previously relocated items > Configuration > Library > Preferences > Audio

Exact same thing on my MacBook Pro 13 M1 - the volume needs to be maxed or one below maximum for YouTube music to be audible whereas on my Intel machine it used to be quite a bit louder at these levels.

I am having the same issue - I am a musician, I can tell you that the sound quality has significantly decreased compared to even the 2019 13 inch MacBook Pro. The sound on the 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro sounds a lot more muffled and certainly quieter.

I would have thought that this would have been a software issue as opposed to a hardware problem with the speakers - It could be a simple software bug or poor audio tuning from Apple.

I must say though, I didn't do a new setup of the M1 MacBook Pro when I got it, I did a time machine restore thing from my previous 2019 13inch MacBook Pro which was running Catalina - I was thinking that maybe time machine has copied audio (/EQ/MIDI) settings from Catalina over to the M1 MacBook Pro that are not compatible with the M1 :(

I just spoke with someone on live chat and still no fix

I was told to:

1: Plug headphone in to Jack and play some music

2. Unplug headphones

I did this and it didnt make a difference. I reported the issue to Apple about the speakers sounding rubbish. I have attached the link at the bottom if you want to make a report to Apple too.

The more people who report this issue, the likely Apple are to provide a solution.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Thank-you for sharing! The M1 speaker really do suck at the moment.

It would be great if you could send the issue to the Apple team who can hopefully fix. I've attached a link below. - the more peope who are affected by the issue, the sooner it will be noticed and a remedy produced.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

I've attatched a link below from a reddit feed with other users reporting the same issue on the M1.

I have also attatched an Apple feedback link below for anyone who wants to report the issue to Apple, the more who report it, the quicker they'll fix it :)

Has anyone tried factory resetting their m1 macbook pro to see if it fixes the quiet, muffled speakers?

https://amp.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/jwmh1u/mba_m1_speaker_muffled/

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Same problem!

Bought a MacBook Air M1, the speakers were out of this world amazing. My wife and I were impressed. I decide to return it and get a macbook pro m1 because I found a good deal on Adorama. These speakers are so soft its unbelievable. What every body on here is experiencing is exactly what I am experiencing.

• Unusable at 50% volume
• Max power is what it takes to hear anything clearly,
• And Max Power isn't even loud nor crisp.

It is honestly surprising that the speakers are this bad. I like all of you am hoping this is a software issue.

Apologies, I meant if you had done a time machine restore from a macbook pro with Catalina to the m1 macbook running big sur.

No time machine backup from old mac = no previously located items.

Thanks for sharing because this shows that restoring a backup from Catalina isn't the reason why the speaker are rubbish on the M1 macbook pro

Has anyone found a solution. How do you get Apple to look in to this? - to my understanding, this is nothing to do with the NVRAM and it does not need to be reset because it is automatically checked and resetted if needed to upon restart

I have the same issue. This is not as advertised by Apple. Pro should sound better than Air. It looks like for M1 this is not the case.

I hope this is just a software issue/tweak and not hardware problem.

If, so then I'll be returning my unit.

Thanks for this - but everyone PLEASE DON’T try factory resetting your MacBook at this time!! The problem is that Apple haven’t made this possible for M1 machines, which can render your laptop unusable unless you have a second Mac.

Thank-you for your reply. Yes, I apologise, please DO NOT factory reset your M1. Apple hasn't made it possible to do a reset.

You can - but users are reporting that there M1s are now bricked (don't work anymore)

I've found an interesting folder on my M1 concerning audio, see if you can find it on your Mac:

Macintosh HD>Library>Preferences>Audio

There a few files in here concerning audio output and sound - I have no idea what any of it means but someone might be able to make sense of it

Same here. Just received my MBP M1 last week and noticed same thing. You can barely hear anything at 25%. Have to turn way up to get any usable volume out of speakers. Went to BB store and tried the MBP M1 display model and was same poor volume.

Coming from 2015 era MBP and those speakers are WAY louder.

How this slipped by the design team is beyond me. These are far from Pro quality in terms of sound volume output.

I submitted feedback to Apple along with opening a case with TS. TS has no idea but is checking with engineering team and supposed to get a call back tomorrow. Like others I hope its not hardware and a simple software fix.

Sweet, thank-you for sharing. Do you think that the sound is now the same as the Intel MacBook Pro/ airs now? - or kinda hard to say?

Also, yes, there were no notes that their were fixes done to the speakers - I wonder if its because apple made such a mess of it, they just decided to keep quiet about it and quietly fix the software driving the speakers

Anyone else noticed an improvement? :)