I have just purchased a new 2013 13" MacBook Air, and the volume seems to fluctuate by itself when I play back any videos. Does anybody know what causes this? Is there a fault with my Mac?
MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
No you are mistaken. That was for the wireless connectivity problem that the Air had not for the volume fluctuations.
....Are you kidding? The last line of the update says it fixes "an issue which may cause audio voume to fluctuate"
Maybe you should read the whole thing before making a stupid comment accusing me of being wrong.
Here, I'll even include a link off the apple website with the update. Try reading it this time.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1672?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Yeah I did read that. But again that was more for the wireless connectivity problem and it did fix that issue but it did not fix the audio fluctuation issue. As I mentioned again I had the Air a month ago and they could not fix it.
Well, the idea that this separate issue will cost apple much of anything, or that they would recall laptops over an issue with a small subset of machines, is silly. I count 7 individuals complaining about this - not hardly something for them to jump on. I recorded some live tracks with my kids tonight, and I hear no unpleasant sound artifacts in the playback - both on the Air speakers and on external speakers. It's obviously not systemic.
Starting a separate conversation at page 14 of a 16 page thread is no way to get attention - you've burried your issue under an unreleted issue - go start a new thread for heaven's sake!!! It's advice, not critisism.
Now just stop kiddies... play nice and use your brains...
And again - wow... Someone has a telepathic link to Apple Support and knows they put out this patch "more for the wireless connectivity problem..." Please let us know when Apple will release the iPhone 6, okay? That's a better use for your new found powers.
The fix is a definite for both Wireless issue and volume issue... if you had a volume issue after the fix was applied, then it's a different issue. If they couldn't fix it - replace it with a new Air + the patch and you're good to go...
🙂
Well you must be tone deaf then or you don't want to admit that the problem exists because you don't want to feel like a sucker. I didn't start this thread, I was only replying to Delievana who is returned his Air twice because of the problem and was asking if he should get a third Air.
The problem was fixed for me and many others, as shown by this thread and other forums. You are one of the only people still complaining about the issue. I have to assume that it is user error on your part becuase there's no chance that a couple hundred people lied about the problem being solved.
That was my experience and what Apple told me. I just had a bad experience with the Air and the volume fluctuation just turned me off. Sound is very improtant to me and I purchased an Apple just for that reason. This problem should have been caught by Apple engineers before leaving the factory to begin with. I am not complaining anymore because I returned the Air, I was only responding to Delievana who is still having that issue. I personally don't think that the patch fixed the problem a 100%.
As stated several times before, said fix doesn't completely alleviate the problem. It makes it less audible for Joe Regular who's just using the internal speakers for YouTube videos and stuff like that.
The issue remains that what appears to be dynamic range compression is being applied with a hard brick ceiling, i.e. artefacts when the sound digitally clips at 0 db.
And just to make it absolutely clear: Neither sound problem — the old fluctuation issue nor the "new" DRC-like problem — present themselves when BootCamping into Windows, ruling out a hardware issue.
I received my THIRD Macbook Air the last Friday, and it has the same problem. I recorded a video to "see" the problem: The video I chose is only to see the "sounds" that my Macbook Air does.
Problem sound MacBook Air 2013
And here is the original video:
Hmmm... Not sure what's wrong there, but it's not the speakers.
I don't use Flash on YouTube — I use the HTML5 player in Chrome, and on my MBA with that player I can hardly hear the audio on the internal speakers (since it's so deep, I don't think the speakers go that low).
I then watched your YouTube clip and the crackling and distortion was very audible.
I then tried in Safari and Firefox (which use Flash) and have the same horrible sound as you. But — the sound is equally distorted using a pair of (Sennheiser HD650) headphones. And the distortion disappears if you turn down the volume a bit within the Flash player. So it's not the speakers, but either Flash or some piece of software layer that Flash uses which the HTML5 player doesn't. Somewhere with Flash, some piece of software is boosting the volume digitally beyond 0db.
Might want to try Mavericks just for kicks. The final version is out now for developers.
Wow, bad test parameter there ,....you chose the most gruesome low frequency "test" you could find.
I just played that video on my Mac Mini using a 5 year old set of $400 external Bose speaker and woofer set, and IT FAILED in a few areas.
That "test" youre linking to is for testing high end expensive external speaker systems, not tiny laptop speakers. LoL
That hardly qualifies as any sensible or realistic test of laptop speakers of any variety. 😐
This test is only to show the sounds that my Macbook air makes. I could have recorded a song, but would have been more difficult to hear, but the sounds are always the same. And is not only with the mac speakers. If I use an external speakers or headphones is the same sound, and using Spotify, Soundcloud, iTunes, Youtube...
Anyway, I will return the MacBook.
volume fluctuation on macbook air
