"pop" noise before sound plays.

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Level 1

34 points

"pop" noise before sound plays.

Macmini 3,1

I recently hooked up external speakers to my mini. I notice that I get a popping noise, from the speakers, when a sound is played. It doesn't always happen, but it happens enough to be annoying. Anyone else experiencing this, or have any idea what may be causing it? Would the sound chip actually sleep on the mini?

Unibody 15" MBP - Mac mini - iPhone 3G, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 21, 2010 12:41 AM

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Answer 1

DCIFRTHS Author

Level 1

34 points

Oct 23, 2010 1:08 AM in response to DCIFRTHS

No one is experiencing the problem listed above?

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Answer 2

Dec 9, 2010 7:46 AM in response to DCIFRTHS

Hi, yes I'm encountering the same thing. An occasional loud pop. It does sound as if its something happening when the sound on the Mini awakens from sleep. However, that may not be the cause, as I've heard it while listening to music also.

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Answer 3

Jan 16, 2011 5:57 PM in response to DCIFRTHS

In am experiencing the apple "pop" sound when I am not expecting to. This exact sound can be recreated by:

1). Open System Preferences
2). Under "Hardware" Section click on "Sound"
3). Find and click on sound titled "Pop"

This sound effect comes on at various times when I am using the Macbook Pro, and I have not yet pinpointed to the cause of this. At first I thought it was some message notification somewhere, but it wasn't. It feels almost as if there is a background process activating the pop sound, but why?

Is it the Audio Card waking up/going to sleep? This started happening within the past few months, But I've had the laptop for several years.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone find the cause of this annoyance. Apple phone tech support was clueless.

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Answer 4

Feb 17, 2012 8:38 AM in response to DCIFRTHS

I'm having the same problem. Any joy? As far as I can tell, it's happening when the audio interface "wakes us" and "goes to sleep" (power-saving mode). It's so frustrating! Does anyone know how to turn OFF the power-saving mode of the audio interface.

I have tested with multiple external speakers plugged into the headphone jack, and they ALL have the same sound.

To be clear, though, this is not a sound file being played. This is a "popping" sound that resembled the noise you might hear when plugging in a sterio or headphones to a live source. I'm fairly certain it's a result of a current being sent to the speaker as the audio sub-system powers up and then powers down about 10 seconds after the computer plays a sound.

The first "pop" is a half-second before the computer plays a sound, and the second "pop" is about 10 seconds after no other sounds have been played.

Mac Mini, Mid-2011, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5.

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