Macbook pro 16" M1 pro 2021 popping sound OS 12.0.1

I tried the plist "fix" and, as expected, it worked for a while, but the popping always comes back - it's like it's on a timer.

Another maddening data point: yesterday, I forgot to switch an audio setting in Studio One, and sound was briefly coming from my little-used desktop speakers. Shockingly, the sound was clean - no pops. So I switched the setting back to my audio interface w/headphones - still popping like crazy. Unplugged the headphones from the interface and plugged them into the headphone jack on my speakers - audio still clean! It's a miracle!

I started to ponder how to test with my second desk setup, since switching to my speakers hadn't helped there, and got up this morning looking forward to doing some testing, but decided to re-check my main setup first, and guess what happened? Headphones plugged into my speakers now pop and crackle too! So, something in the audio system was somehow reset by routing to the speakers instead of the audio interface, but given time, the issue eventually "infected" that output, too.

Can't believe I dropped $3300US on this laptop and have to deal with such a basic issue!

[Edited by Moderator]

I've had this issue on my MacBook Pro 14" M1 (base model), and it can get pretty severe and jarring. However, I'm almost certain it is related to the Chrome Browser. It is most notable with YouTube playing on Chrome. However, I also ran into issues when running YoutTube on Safari but only when Chrome was running alongside. Shutting off Chrome, cleaned up the audio issues on Safari.

Hey again,

Was able to fix the issue by upgrading the memory (RAM), actually had to get a new MacBook Pro for that.

What happens when I used Chrome with multiple tabs opened, is the average memory pressure load.

You can check yours by lunching Activity Monitor and looking at the Memory tab. Mine was yellow color with rare red spikes.

What's more interesting is that the sound issues (clicking and popping) even happened on AirPods Pro when connected to the MacBook.

stozzz wrote:

What happens when I used Chrome with multiple tabs opened, is the average memory pressure load.

You can check yours by lunching Activity Monitor and looking at the Memory tab. Mine was yellow color with rare red spikes.

Chrome is a known memory hog. Have you tried another browser?

That's the point - the popping happens when swapping occurs. Using a memory hog helps to demonstrate the issue. It may also happen at other times, I don't know, but the memory swap is easy to recreate.

It's surely a software issue, and early reports are indicating that it's better under Ventura.

Indeed it appears to be swap pop, and changing the sample rate from 48,000 to 44,100 fixed the issue. No more pops. Not the biggest inconvenience as i am no audio producer.

Seems like an electrical issue, seems hard to fix with software. We'll see. I have found macbooks to be very electrically sensitive. Like if I use and unshielded usb cable the track pad will stop working or the wifi will cut out... Things that don't happen with my other laptops. Not a big deal again, just have to always make sure your gear is compatible.

I have the same machine as you. OS 12.5 has been a big improvement, at least so far. I used to be able to reproduce the issue at will, but now it's only happened once, and that only for a couple of seconds.

Exactly the same experience. Senior Apple support have determined it is a hardware problem by process of elimination — we wiped the Mac and rolled back to a clean install of Monterey (having tried Ventura) and the popping persisted, as it has in my M1 Pro 2021 1TB 16GB since I purchased it in January 2022. The final stage was to take it in for the Apple Store Covent Garden, London, to run diagnostics and verify it is a hardware fault, yet for the second time they couldn't replicate and concluded "it must be software, and there's nothing we can do or fix". The next stage is to wipe the system again and try to demonstrate the popping in store. Of course each time, it doesn't show up when they test behind closed doors even though it does when I demo it to them. Beyond awful customer service (except for the amazing Senior Apple Support guy).

Hi,

I'm on 16" with Monterey 12.6.

Switching the sample rate from 44kHz to 48kHz in Audio MIDI Setup fixes the issue only until restart.

After each restart the popping issue is there, regardless of the sample rate setting.

Just the fact that that you switch the sample rate fixes the popping, until restart.

I previously reported in this thread that the problem was solved by updating the OS to 12.6.1. However it seems to be not completely solved, it just happens much less frequently now, maybe once a day or two.

Very occasionally I get a "crunch" type of glitch/buffer problem noise as I'm listening to music off my hard drive (VLC) or streaming audio off of Youtube or other services through Chrome.

Unfortunately when it comes to "Pro", and when you pay top $ for a premium product, once is one time too often. I didn't expect that I'd be experiencing fundamental problems like this when I bought a brand new MacBook Pro.

I hope that they can get to the bottom of the issue and completely fix it in future OS updates. It seems to be widespread and not a good look for what is meant to be a top-tier product.

Hello everyone, after executing everything suggested here, upgraded to Ventura 13.1. Now I get the pops and cracks only sometime, quite rarely. One thing which might be easily overlooked to delete the audio setting .plist files from the trash can and then restart, it worked for me for sometime. Wishing everyone to get this one sorted asap.

Happy new year.

That’s extremely frustrating to hear. Sometimes when speaking with an unhelpful representative (by phone at least), I can wrap up the conversation, call back, and hopefully get a different rep on the phone who can be more helpful (or at least take me seriously).

maybe they should see the May 2022 article on 9to5Mac titled “2021 MacBook Pro users complain about crackling and popping audio issues.” It reports thousands of user complaints and provides links to numerous discussion threads covering the problem.

Audio and video production are the two reasons I started buying Macs in the first place. What is a Mac without these capabilities? An expensive, slick–looking avant garde word processor? Without audio it’s not even an iPhone.

The fact that this problem has persisted for at least eight years is… Alarming? Unfathomable?

I have an old Sony CD burner from the 90s, and a grey Tascam 424; at least they still work. 😂

I've installed eqMac and it still happens to me. The installation doesn't seem to have replaced coreaudio though, which I thought it would if it's a separate audio driver. I could have installed it wrong though.

The most interesting thing I've found though, eqMac has a button to reset audio engine. When I press that button, I hear the exact same blip sound as I do without eqMac installed. I looked at the core audio process in Activity Monitor and pressing the button in eqMac seems to kill the coreaudio process and recreate it.

Given the above finding, I have a feeling that coreaudio is actually crashing on our machines and re-creating itself. The sound is exactly the same. Not sure what is causing it to crash yet though.

The eqMac driver installation seems to have done the trick for me. I have not experienced a popping sound after it.

eqmac.app

Maybe it doesnt work for everyone, but it worked for me as wel as for alexggggg.

This is still happening (I've got a M1 Max 16" MBP, 2021) as of Dec 2023.

I just read another Apple Community post by a new M3 owner who reports the same thing.

I've seen a number of potential work arounds / solutions, but many of these do not work or are not durable - half measures.

Apple really needs to address this, head on.

There are 12 pages of posts on the subject on this thread alone, and over 1000 people have upvoted it.

There are a multitude of other websites this issue is being discussed on (just Google the topic).

This issue is clearly systemic, widespread, and requires a software fix (I hope it's not hardware).