M1 Macbook Air speaker volume way too low

Thanks for sharing!

I am having exactly the same issue. The M1 MacBook Pro speakers are very quiet, sound muffled, really bad. -disgraceful how bad they sound compared to my 2019 intel MacBook Pro.

I have attached an Apple forum link to another larger discussion with people who are reporting the same problem. There is also a Apple product feedback link at the bottom too, which you can fill in about the terrible speaker output quality and hopefully they'll look into it. I can't wait until they fix it. Hopefully it is a software issue as opposed to incapable hardware :(

Hope this helps :)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252099536

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

I'm totally excited about the new MacBook Air with an M1 processor. I adore it, and it worth the special attention of any mac lover. However, it has only one flaw. And yes, I'm talking about the speakers. My old MacBook 12" which didn't even have a "real" processor obtained expressive sound. I have been listening it without any external speakers for years before its SSD died.

I suppose that Apple might improve sound quality programmatically. And our primary goal is to point their attention towards this issue.

One more issue I'd like to report as well. I can't remove control of the volume of the external audio device. I have double volume thereby. Everyone who uses Apple devices professionally connects the external sound card to them. In my case, I'm talking about external DAC. I want to allow the device to use its volume exclusively. And I want that this feature was supported natively.

Same here -- volume is far too low on the 2020 M1 MBP. I spent a couple hours on the phone with Apple Support; gave them remote access, etc. They could not fix the issue and reportedly keeps the ticket open. I only have another 1.5 weeks to return, so I think I'll return it in the next few days. The volume output is unacceptably too low -- and as others have reported -- much lower than all previous MacBooks, MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros. In fact, I have a 12" MacBook that is twice as loud (which, I believe, only has one speaker).

Same here -- volume is far too low on the 2020 M1 MBP. I spent a couple hours on the phone with Apple Support; gave them remote access, etc. They could not fix the issue and reportedly keeps the ticket open. I only have another 1.5 weeks to return, so I think I'll return it in the next few days. The volume output is unacceptably too low -- and as others have reported -- much lower than all previous MacBooks, MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros. In fact, I have a 12" MacBook that is twice as loud (which, I believe, only has one speaker).

YES I have this problem with my MacBook Pro M1 too :(

Need to have it at 100% to hear something well.

Didn't happen with my $1799 MacBook Pro

Update the OS to version 11.1 and it should fix the issue. I was having the exact same problem. Very big improvement and sounds the way it’s supposed to.

Mine sounds great. The audio is the best I have seen in a laptop. Youtube tests concur. Not sure why some have low volume and poor sound. Mine was fine with 11.0.1 and still fine with 11.1.

i have m1 MacBook pro and its so frustrating for me the volume output is too low compared to my 2017

Wrong! Must have been the placebo effect. No change whatsoever after 11.1.

How is the volume if you use AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones? Is it equally as low as the built in speakers?

Same here, sound very low with my MBP M1 compared to my MBP 2016...

Same here.

Volume is very low (compared to other Mac laptops I have tested).

And it's very muddy and hard to understand speech. Both in videos and in calls/facetime.

I agree. The audio is barely audible. I need to wear earphone when my ceiling fan is on. Which is always, I now have to wear earphones always.