Crackling Sound in MBA M1 2020

Same problem here -- piano music makes crackling sound, especially around my left speaker. Placing my iPhone on the keyboard keys right next to the speaker seems to correct/lessen the crackling. Might be a design issue.

Update 2: So turns out they did make an exception and offer me a refund. After digging through other forums I found out this:

After your keyboard breaks in (depending on how long you use it) it starts to resonate with the frequencies outputted by the speaker (something very noticeable when you play tunes) and hence make that sound. Its not the speaker, its the keyboard! Like willis says above if you try and prevent the keys from vibrating the crackling sound will reduce. Crazy! Though I still miss my MBA M1 since its probably the best laptop I have owned since the pre-2016 MBPs but I do listen to the speakers (cant always use headphones) and its unacceptable if they sound the way they do. Hope apple fixes it sooner than later. But its the keyboard, again!

What helped for me was using the following commands in your terminal:

sudo killall coreaudiod

and after that one copy and paste the complete sentence below:

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.audio.coreaudiod && sudo launchctl start com.apple.audio.coreaudiod

Exactly same for me when listening beautiful piano music (bought the Macbook Air M1 few weeks ago), noticeable at some higher frequencies, it really annoys and make me mad (especially I am hobby musician/play keyboards and most of any sound like clean piano sound which I can not really enjoy with this machine). I am new MacBook user btw and not expected issues like that on this pricey machine. To me it definitely does not sound like software issue, look more like HW issue (manufacturing defect of enclosure I would say).

I've had the same issue on my M1 MBA from day 1 bought it on May 25 2021.

At the time didn't know where the sound was coming from, I thought the speakers were faulty.

I took it to Apple Authorised Service Provider (AASP), they ran their diagnostics and concluded that all HW is good yet replaced both my speakers.

The issue wasn't fixed.

I was told that that was all AASP could do for me even though the issue persisted.

I had to contact Apple customer support (ACS) and explain the situation. they ran all the software checks and concluded that it was a HW problem. by that point I figured out that the keyboard keys were vibrating when certain frequencies of sound were played i.e 500 - 650 hz. They advised to go to AASP to drop the laptop for service. (there is this YouTube video which plays all frequencies of the audio spectrum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k)

Now I had proof to show AASP. I demo-ed the issue and submitted my laptop.

After some and forth interaction with ACS and AASP they finally agreed to perform a top case replacement which includes the keyboard and the aluminium frame surrounding it.

The issue was still not resolved.

By this point it has 2.5 months and 5 trips to the service centre since my discussion with apple started about this problem.

Do note that until this point AASP did not admit that this was a full blown problem, i.e I had to tell them and show them that this is how to reproduce it and this is when it occurs, it was basically me pushing them rather than them taking it forward by themselves.

So basically all the resources at ACS and AASP were exhausted and no one knows how to proceed since India doesn't have an easy replacement policy for in-warranty Macs though ACS and AASP knows the issue exists.

I spoke to ACS and told them that the issue was still present even after changing all the relevant HW. ( I didn't know what to do cause AASP didn't take much responsibility on the issue. Basically ACS forced AASP to take my laptop back into service)

At this visit was the time that they admitted that the issue exists on some M1 MBA's and does not on some other M1 MBA's and that they do not know the reason why it happens on some. "All the relevant HW has been changed and that we think it is not a HW issue, so please wait for macOS Monterey and check if the issue still persists if it does please come back to us then", was the reply I got. and I had to take it back.

I spoke to ACS and told them what AASP told me. ACS told me that this is not a SW problem and only a HW problem.

So basically SW guys point fingers at HW guys and HW guys point fingers at SW, pathetic situation in India.

ACS told me that they would escalate this case to a replacement or refund since this issue is not solvable and if replacement/refund is not possible they would look into what else could be done. (this should've happened much much earlier). I will try to post updates if I have any after today.

ACS case no: 101436458375

AASP Planetcare Visit 1 Reference ID: DPUDNIJUG3TS

AASP Planetcare Visit 2 Reference ID: WDBGDMZUVBST

AASP Planetcare Visit 3 Reference ID: D83UM7NQ0D1S

So if anyone has the same issue you could probably use the information above to speed up your repair process.

such a crazy thing I fix it !

Clean it softly ! so that the surface becomes smooth!

I had something really small stuck to one of the holes, invisible to the eye.

but when I put my finger over it I noticed that this place vibrates extremely.

would have to scrape it off.

no more trouble!

Yep same here. I also have the MBA M1 and I just heard the crackling sound as well. I really hope it is a software issue because the service for Mac hardware is pretty pathetic here since it is third party and they will give you a worse Mac than the one you gave them before service.

Hello shreya149,

We understand you're hearing crackling audio from your Mac.

For something like that you'll want to reach out to Apple Support directly. They'll be able to look in to this with you and provide you with some options.

You can reach out to them here: Get Support

Cheers!

Update on this:

I basically just tossed my macbook on the used market for a net 100$ loss about 4 months using it. Then I bought a new one SpaceGrey 8gb 256GB M1 Macbook Air. Guess what ? Same problem. This one is imported in March 2021 (so this is a recent batch) so this seems to be a much bigger problem. I searched the forums and there are so many users with this problem. So Apple is now sending me a replacement. But get this they don't offer a return for refund in India ? WHAT ? Are you kidding me! They are accepting a replacement but no refund ? This is a ridiculous policy on the Indian Apple Store and completely unnacceptable.

This seems manufacturing defect in enclosure. After I noticed this issue, searched and found this thread (btw I am brand new user of MBA and MB in general, liket it is my new MBA M1 😃). Yes, according to what I can hear as well as indicated in this discussion already, no speaker issue, but resonating with keyboard (as mentioned this seems to me build quality issue of enclosure in general causing this resonance with keyboard I would say, which obviously affected many sold units around the globe - based on feedback from users from users reported on this discussion and other relevant forums as well). Moreover, there is another issue reported by many users of their brand new MBA M1 (I am also “lucky” one) and that is seems uneven (seems bent) enclosure causing wobbling laptop on desk. I beleive this issue we are talking about here and that one have same root cause and it seems build quality issue with enclosure, which I agree, Apple should fix asap. Hopefully, I get refund the most painless way ( and no replacement because I do not know what to expect from new unit due to fact that seems massive amount affected units out there) - the place where I live can be sometime tricky 🙁, lets see. Issues like this should not happen for this pricey laptop. Just to mention I am really sorry that I will need to return and ask refund because in all other aspect it is excellent machine and there is no one out there that can compare. But, in long term if keep it with these defect will make me really crazy, instead of pleasure when using it (due to both the resonance as well as mentioned wobbling on table) and I am not sure what issue could happen in long term (who knows, maybe this is start of swollen battery, I do not know, but what ever it is, I report it and let Apple to analize and solve, hopefully will be solved soon).

ljabuka wrote:

This seems manufacturing defect in enclosure. After I noticed this issue, searched and found this thread (btw I am brand new user of MBA and MB in general, liket it is my new MBA M1 😃). Yes, according to what I can hear as well as indicated in this discussion already, no speaker issue, but resonating with keyboard (as mentioned this seems to me build quality issue of enclosure in general causing this resonance with keyboard I would say, which obviously affected many sold units around the globe - based on feedback from users from users reported on this discussion and other relevant forums as well). Moreover, there is another issue reported by many users of their brand new MBA M1 (I am also “lucky” one) and that is seems uneven (seems bent) enclosure causing wobbling laptop on desk. I beleive this issue we are talking about here and that one have same root cause and it seems build quality issue with enclosure, which I agree, Apple should fix asap. Hopefully, I get refund the most painless way ( and no replacement because I do not know what to expect from new unit due to fact that seems massive amount affected units out there) - the place where I live can be sometime tricky 🙁, lets see. Issues like this should not happen for this pricey laptop. Just to mention I am really sorry that I will need to return and ask refund because in all other aspect it is excellent machine and there is no one out there that can compare. But, in long term if keep it with these defect will make me really crazy, instead of pleasure when using it (due to both the resonance as well as mentioned wobbling on table) and I am not sure what issue could happen in long term (who knows, maybe this is start of swollen battery, I do not know, but what ever it is, I report it and let Apple to analize and solve, hopefully will be solved soon).

I've put a protector on my keyboard and it fixed resonance issues. Good enough fix for me. My boss also has this issue, so I wouldn't hope that the replacement won't have it.

I got the same problem and I noticed that the crackling sound when I switch the language key.

It seems that is manufacturing defect that can't be repaired by software update.

I wish Apple will lower their price and refund some amount to me since the quality is lower than the price.

I have the same problem. Tried everything! even reinstalled the system.

has anyone found a solution so far?

If not my solution :

So I tricked it by changing the sound balance and you have peace of mind, but that's not good  solution!

I have the same issue, it happens daily. My audio is nearly always from YouTube, Netflix etc

Refreshing the page fixes so it's got to be software, I thought it would have been patched by now though... It's pretty annoying.

I brought MacBook air M1 5 days back, when hearing music from YouTube n apple music i found some crackling sound from left speaker, contacted apple support chat service they said to safe boot n test user setup...which i did ! even after doing so crackling appear the same

apple should see it seriously n provide the necessary way forward....