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Crackling/popping noises when playing music on iMac.

Over the last several months I have noticed crackling and popping noises from my iMac (2021) speakers when playing music from Apple Music and other streaming platforms. At first, it was only noticeable on a couple of songs and when set to a higher volume, but it is now happening regardless of song or volume, and appears to be happening more frequently. I also don't usually have my volume higher than 4 or 5 increments. I have not noticed the issue while watching videos. I also hear the crackling/popping noises when using an external speaker. There aren't any audio issues when listening through headphones.


My OS is up-to-date (Sonoma 14.3.1) and I've tried a couple of different fixes that I've seen online (removing dust from the speakers, restarting my device, etc.), however the threads I've seen have been for MacBook Pros rather than iMacs. I'm wondering if there's anything else I can try? Since it also happens with an external speaker, I am thinking it is software related.

iMac 24″

Posted on Mar 6, 2024 4:53 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 14, 2024 4:28 AM

@Community User


Sorry bro, but your reply is useless. Don't be silly.

There is no any "Configure Speakers..." button for MacBook Speakers. The only thing that Apple allows us is to play around output volume and balance.

Probably it's because you don't have such a problem or/and you didn't try your suggestion yourself. Better answer "I don't know" or "Sorry guys, we didn't have reproduce the issue yet", or even nothing rather then shiposting "turn off - turn on" solution with reference to settings that doesn't exist in the system.

The problem is located somewhere in the core, for sure - the Crackling/popping noises are happening even if I play the Alert Sound Effect from the same Setting page.


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28 replies

Sep 12, 2024 8:40 AM in response to MsSunshine13

Absolutely - I just selected a video on YouTube on Chrome which played flawlessly. I then played the exact same video using Safari and....plenty of pops, clicks and so on. No other apps open, no changes to any audio settings, just played the same video in two separate browsers and the Safari playback had clicks and pops aplenty and the Chrome one didn't.



Sep 30, 2024 9:58 AM in response to JustAnotherNeverlander

I agree, this is a really frustrating issue. Bought this Pro last year and it really should be fine.


For people looking for a quick fix (albeit an imperfect solution) when I altered the speaker balance to 100% left speaker in System Preferences it seemed to reduce the frequency of the crackling sounds. Honestly, at first I thought they were totally gone, but alas!

Crackling/popping noises when playing music on iMac.

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