Macbook pro 16" M1 pro 2021 popping sound OS 12.0.1

I've had the exact same issue on my 14" M1 Pro 2021. I spent about a hour today discussing this with Apple Support, and the representative was "100% certain this is a hardware, not software issue." However, I brought my MacBook into a Genius Bar last week, and after running full diagnostics, they concluded my speakers were working "100% fine." So they said it could be a software issue. I've managed to capture the issue in this video I've just posted today.

I will point out that after updating MacOS to 15.2 yesterday, I've not heard the popping since--at least so far. Has anyone else tried upgrading to 15.2? Does that fix it for you too?

Just wanted to chime in on this again. I have been able to repeat the instance when I have Chrome and Safari open at the same time. When the audio glitch starts, it can be aggravating and jarring. Another poster mentioned it is related to an audio buffer related issue. Having used audio recording software before, I can say the sound of this 'glitch' very much sounds like a buffer issue.

However, I can consistently get the issue to go away by closing Chrome, and watching YouTube on Safari.

Also crackling sound on a Macbook Pro 16 M1 Pro 16 GB Ram (1 TB SSD) - in a lot of different apps.

Apple! - Is this a out of season april fool joke?

3.500 $ MacBookPro for media production and it fails on sound playback. WTF! Are you kidding me?

Sound playback should be a solved problem since years. Mac was always THE music production machine. The solid workhorse with minimum latency in most DAWs. It's a shame in software quality and no fix since months ... i'm speechless ...

This worked for me -- thanks to @Sitti_S

Go to Audio Midi Setup (in Utilities folder), toggle the format to 48,000 (or any setting it isn't on), play something. Return to Audio Midi and reset to 44,100 or 48,000. Don't know why this worked, but it did for me.

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.

I have this same issue. Got the mac yesterday. Same model (Macbook pro 16" M1 pro 2021) and Monterey 12.5...

Sounds like a record playing skipping! I notice it pops when I initiate a intensive task, such as clicking a blur filter in lightroom, or moving and placing an image in photoshop: a record skipping pop interrupts whatever I am listening too.

The speakers are so awesome, I hope they figure this out 😬

I am going to watch activity monitor see if I can corroborate what @pardise pete is saying about swap pop!!!

#swappopgate

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 am still getting this issue intermittently. I would be livid if I were still working on audio production, Djing etc, as this would be a dealbreaker. This 'fix' I posted above still works, but I have still run into the odd audio pop with Safari with other applications open such as DaVinci Resolve. Some really odd conflict must be going on. The Apple's internal DAC should be able to be set in priority exclusive mode to override any other application settings.

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.

On boy, I have this issue too. I have the 14" M1PRO 8C, and I have cracking/popping when using many Chrome Tabs and Also Visual Studio Code ( I am a programmer ). It is extremely annoying, because I don't know the cause for sure. And also I cannot replace Chrome with Safari for the reason of my job.

And if this wasn't enough, I have audio problems also with my DAC ( Fiio k3 ). When using it in USB 2.0 mode, the music from time to time minutes, and comes back in 1s or so.

Keep in mind that on my Macbook Air M1 I had none of the above issues. And I had the same use, the DAC.. many chrome tabs bla bla. It has problems only on the M1PRO.

So to sum up and not get confused, I have 2 different issues:

1. Popping and crackling sound when using some apps ( Chrome/Teams maybe Skype. I really don't know for sure ) but not using the DAC.

2. When using the DAC the sound mutes sometimes 2-3 times in a few seconds, other times once a few minutes. It is basically a trash.

I am sad to see that many have this issues. And I am really frustrated..

This is madness. I've had this problem on and off for months now. MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max 32GB of memory. I've changed all sorts of audio buffer settings and nothing seems to solve the issue. Problem persists when playing audio on the internal speakers as well as through external speakers via an audio interface. Will Apple ever fix this??

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.