Retina MBP has static on the headphone output

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Level 1

32 points

Retina MBP has static on the headphone output

I am experiencing intermittent static from the headphone connection on my Retina MBP. It's audible through a lot of music. The volume control in the system doesn't affect the volume of the static. The static will come and gone and is present about a third of the time. It will cease if the audio output goes to sleep (wuch as after audio has been paused for about 10 seconds.)

Unfortunately, I can't find any way to stop it. It doesn't seem related to software. It's not related to the headphones (tried them on other devices as well as other headphones.) There's nothing that I can do with the computer that changes the behavior or 'pattern' of the static. It's just brutally annoying no matter how you slice it.

I'm trying to remember to take my headphones to the Apple store to listen to their floor models. I'm afraid they'll have the same symptom since my previous 17" MacBook Pro also had this behavior. (And from searching on Google, so do many other Intel MacBooks.)

Any others with the same problem? Any ideas about what Apple would do, if anything? I wish there was a mod to fix it. Bloody annoying to pay $2,100 for a laptop and not be able to use headphones with it.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, Mac OS X (10.7.4), Base Model (8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD)

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 11:48 PM

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Answer 1

BraytonAK Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 2, 2012 10:56 PM in response to BraytonAK

While watching a video a moment ago the static was so loud that I couldn't hear the person speaking. I found that if I remove the power cord the static immediately faded out. I did this a few times. Seems to me that the charging / power circuit is to blame. And since that's designed into every MacBook, I have no hope of getting it 'fixed'.

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Answer 2

Oct 2, 2012 11:00 PM in response to BraytonAK

You're still under warranty - take your machine to your local Apple Store and have it fixed - even if it means an entire logic board swap.

Good luck,

Clinton

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Answer 3

identd

Level 2

359 points

Oct 2, 2012 11:02 PM in response to BraytonAK

If you dim the display, does the static change?

Also if you dont use headphones, does the issue happen on the internal speakers?

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Answer 4

BraytonAK Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 2, 2012 11:04 PM in response to identd

identd wrote:

If you dim the display, does the static change?

Also if you dont use headphones, does the issue happen on the internal speakers?

Good idea. The screen brightness doesn't have any impact, good or bad. From screen off to full brightness, no change.

I should note that this is also with no other devices connected (USB sticks, etc.)

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Answer 5

BraytonAK Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 2, 2012 11:10 PM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

clintonfrombirmingham wrote:

You're still under warranty - take your machine to your local Apple Store and have it fixed - even if it means an entire logic board swap.

Good luck,

Clinton

The Apple store isn't too far from me, but not in a direction I go often. I may take it with my headphones to the store this weekend. At first I was concerned about a logic board swap because I didn't want a different SSD (one that had been unknown usage history), but finally remembered that the SSD is removable.

The only reason I don't think a logic board swap will help is because of all the other similar complaints about MacBooks going back years. Since the store has half a dozen rMBP's on display I can hopefully detect it on those, too, before bothering with a swap.

I'll update this weekend if I can get it to the store.

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Answer 6

BraytonAK Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 9, 2012 10:40 PM in response to BraytonAK

I took my laptop to the Apple store this weekend. I listened with my headphones to the display units and didn't notice any static. Had a guy at the Genius Bar take mine for a spin and it wouldn't act up. Like a car going to the repair shop, right?

One thing the guy mentioned was that I should check for any particularly noisy electrical items in the house. I started pulling the plug on things and listening for static. I finally narrowed down the source: a heating pad in my pet's bed. When it's unplugged the noise is about 95% to 98% gone.

I guess I'm left with what other people are complaining about as faint background static, but that's something I can live with.

My only problem now: How to filter out any other noise on the power cord. Whew!

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Answer 7

Nov 6, 2013 11:45 AM in response to BraytonAK

Hello everyone,

I had the same problem with my Retina MBP and just found a quick and easy solution.

Go to Applications>Utilities>Audio Midi Setup.

Click "Built-in Output." You'll see that the "Format" is defaulted at 2ch-16 Integer, which for some reason is buggy and noisy on Macs. Change it to any one of the other options (20, 24, 32 bit).

I kept it at 24bit and 48000.0 Hz since, even in the pro-audio world, 32bit use is rare.

Take care!

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Answer 8

apho

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2013 10:40 AM in response to jazzytaxi

Jazzytaxi,

THANK YOU! Your post fixed my problem!

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Answer 9

Feb 21, 2014 4:47 PM in response to BraytonAK

Thanks jazzytaxi, worked a treat. Simple fix!

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Answer 10

DReyRose

Level 1

0 points

Jun 10, 2014 8:12 PM in response to BraytonAK

Here is what I've found. I am a Dj and I can NOT have this noise while doing gigs. It has taken me quite a bit of time to work through this but what I've done is added a simple "external usb audio card" and my nosie is now gone. It cost me $9.99 and a trip through >Preferences >Sound> select the sound card for output.

This has been driving me crazy and I've tried anti-hum and ground loop blockers, 3 prongers, two prongers, etc. etc.

I found mine at Micro Center but they are at many places. You do NOT need the $99 and up sound cards at Guitar Center.

May I add, I have had this problem since day one with my brand new Macbook Pro. Brand new charger that came with it. I also bought another charger, from Applestore just to have a back up and to see if it was the charger but alas, this did not solve my problemo either.

Anyway, I hope this helps others 🙂

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Answer 11

Jun 17, 2014 8:36 AM in response to BraytonAK

Hi,

I was having this issue and it was driving me nuts.

Eventually realised it was another electrical appliance in the same room - a floor standing fan.

Once I turned it off the static stopped.

Glad I worked out the problem, now I have to offset getting too hot with putting up with the static noise!

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Answer 12

Aug 11, 2014 6:04 AM in response to BraytonAK

I was experiencing intermittent static as well. I discovered that the source was a program that I had opened called Audio Hijack Pro, which was trying to record the built-in audio on my computer. Once I turned the program off the static stopped immediately. Try turning off all background softwares as they may be what is creating the static.

I hope this helps.

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Answer 13

cernuus

Level 1

0 points

Apr 12, 2015 7:27 PM in response to jazzytaxi

jazzytaxi wrote:

Hello everyone,

I had the same problem with my Retina MBP and just found a quick and easy solution.

Go to Applications>Utilities>Audio Midi Setup.

Click "Built-in Output." You'll see that the "Format" is defaulted at 2ch-16 Integer, which for some reason is buggy and noisy on Macs. Change it to any one of the other options (20, 24, 32 bit).

I kept it at 24bit and 48000.0 Hz since, even in the pro-audio world, 32bit use is rare.

Take care!

This fixed noise issues for my Macbook Air Mid 2013! Thanks

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Answer 14

Nov 1, 2015 1:15 PM in response to cernuus

I had been having this problem and noted that the sound got substantially worse when an external hard disk spun up. In the end I went through my devices with external power disconnecting them one at a time and found no improvement, re-routed the audio cable* to no benefit and the only thing that definitely eliminated the problem was to disconnect my external Thunderbolt dock*. Well that was no use as a solution so, in the spirit of being thorough I also disconnected my USB3 port-powered external H/D from the external dock* and the sound stopped. Reconnecting it to a USB port on my MBP directly did not bring the sound back so it looks like running the USB3 disk on the Thunderbolt dock caused a power noise problem...

Moral of the story: electrical noise can be from a combination of devices even though neither one causes noise by itself. Sorry, that's not especially helpful but it's yet another thing to check after the power supply; mains connections to any peripheral; mains connections to anything else in the room or on the same ring main circuit.

Also never had a problem with this setup until I upgraded to El Capitan - make of that what you will...

*My setup FYI:

MBP mid-2015 connected via headphone port and 3.5mm - 2 x RCA cable to external stereo amp + desktop speakers (Arcam Alpha 7r and Q-Acoustics Concept 20s)

OWC External Thunderbolt dock (hint: don't bother with the USB audio it provides: 16-bit only and doesn't switch back automatically if you unplug / replug)

External 4TB mains-powered Samsung backup drive (on the TB dock)

External 2TB USB-powered WD Passport drive (the cause of the problem only when plugged into the TB dock!)

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Answer 15

BraytonAK Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 1, 2015 1:24 PM in response to mister_saxon

That's quite the thorough troubleshooting and it matches my experiences. It's really unfortunate that a premium product doesn't have electrical noise filtration. If this doesn't happen on far cheaper devices, why should it happen here? It shouldn't.

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