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

I have found a solution! Please see below:

I have found an equaliser called "Boom 2" on the Mac app store. Once installed you have to restart your Mac, turn on the sound booster and BOOOOMM!!!! It allows you to boost the output sound at the same level and if not louder than the intel MacBooks.

Be careful not to use Boom 2 to increase the output volume too loud because there is a risk that your MacBook speakers could be damaged

I have not tested battery drain but if you only open the app when you need it for louder audio it should be great. I installed literally 5 mins ago and it is great.

Let me know if this works for anyone because it has changed my M1 MacBook Pro and has made the speakers amazingggggg :)

I have just called the service with the same issue and subjectively I think it helped a lot (I have compared my m1 macbook pro with my macbook pro 2018 at the same volume level ). Try with restarting your mac in the safe mode:

1. Turn off your mac

2. Hold for 10 sec the power button

3. It should start in the safe mode --Safe mode options should appear, then hardrive icon next to it

4. Click shift and hold it till the moment when the "continue" button on the hardrive icon will change into "continue in the safe mode"

5. Click "continue in the safe mode"

6. Log in on your account

7. Log in again

8. Then shut it down

9. Turn on in normal mode.

10. It should work:)

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 :(

As a follow up, I brought my M1 13" pro to the "genius" bar at an Apple store yesterday in NYC. The tech support guy acted like he never heard of this issue, and when I asked him what he thought of the sound quality he wouldn't say a word (probably afraid to say anything bad about the product).

He ran a diagnostic on my laptop and found nothing wrong. Then we compared it with another store model - it was equally as crappy. He said, "You're free to return it if you're not satisfied". It was really frustrating. How come so many customers just accept this blindly? He seemed annoyed with me and made me feel like my complaint was not important.

On my way out of the store, I asked a female employee if she thought the sound was inferior. She said YES. She said "definitely not as good as previous macs. Hopefully they'll come out with an update". I said "THANK YOU! No one else will acknowledge there's a big problem. They're making me feel like I'm crazy". She said. "no you're not crazy. The sound is definitely very quiet". I said it's going to take more than a software update. This requires a recall and new speakers installed. She smiled.

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

The same problem. On the old MBP 2019, the mid and high frequencies of the sound are louder. I think the problem is software, a third-party equalizer partially solves this problem on MacBook Pro 13 with M1

The max "low volume level" on M1 MB Pro built-in speakers is real. Volume is fine when connected to external Bluetooth device. I had a previous generation MB Air and speaker volume was stellar. Apple has failed with this new design with respect to speaker volumes. As a side note, Apple support has replaced much of the machine parts on the MBP M1 due to technical issues.

When the sound is routed to an external bluetooth speaker it is then louder and easier to hear

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

I do not want to give anyone false hope but I have been on the live chat with Apple regarding this (*again*😭) I have quoted key bits from the conversation below regarding the M1 speakers:

"In this case, I will note the reported issue and explore having it looked at further."

"You're welcome and absolutely. Apple's discussion forum is designed to gather customer feedback so that software related issue can be addressed by upcoming updates. In this case, it won't be necessary for me to collect your information but I greatly appreciate your willingness!"

"So, I cannot be certain as to when the issue will be addressed but I'm confident that it will be fixed as it is our mission to correct these sorts of occurrences."

From this, hopefully in the next Big Sur update, we will have a solution!

No changes after 11.3.1.

When it comes to the Volume slider behaviour, I can confirm that while using EarPods on minijack the volume works normally, while on MBPM1 speakers it's not linear. It increases slowly to 3/4 of it and then it's a huge increase in the fourth quarter.

Had someone asked customer support/ apple genius about it?

Yes, I did notice the issue while using FaceTime, Discord and Microsoft Teams, but when I play something on Music, Apple TV, Safari or any other browser the speakers sound perfectly fine.

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.