volume fluctuation on macbook air

Someone from AppleCare called my home today. I'll be getting in touch with them asap to work on this issue. I'll post what they find, if anything.

I returned mine for having the same volume fluctuation problem and also the "crooked lid" issue that I've seen reported a few times. Trying to decide if I want to roll the dice again. My luck my next one would have the WiFi issue. Any new info here?

Mine will be returned tomorrow. I hope that my replacement will not include any of these problems and have the Samsung SSD again instead of the SanDisk/Marvell one...

I have this issue as well, but i don't think it's hardware related... I do hope this will be fixed...

Jinn we hope you right but some of us have couple days left befor 14 day period. Sorry apple but I better return than take a chance.

Yup, same problem here. Had it with iTunes and with HTML 5 video. Volume will get crazy loud and then hard to hear even though nothing changed.

2013 13in Macbook Air | Intel 1.3Ghz, 8GB, 256GB SSD | ML 10.8.4

I have the same problem with my new Haswell Macbook Air. Volume fluctuates not only when playing videos, but also, fo example, with sound playback when running an iOS app in iOS simulator in Xcode.

Just noticed that playback through headphones is ok: no volume fluctuations, but when playing through built-in speakers fluctuations are very noticeable. An example where the fluctuations are substantial: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/videos/ (WWDC 2013 session videos) plaing in Safari. OSX is fully updated (

Software OS X 10.8.4 (12E3067)).

I will take my macbook air to the genius bar tomorrow and let you guys know what i can figure out about the problem. I had wifi issues before so i'm really beginning to consider returning this laptop... It has been a feeling of golden handcuffs for the most part so far...

Anyway: how about you guys give this audio/video file a try? Everytime i watch the news (in dutch) the volume levels are fluctuating... source: Laatste NOS Journaal

I've tried it with my girlfriends laptop, just a standard windows one, and it doesn't fluctuate at all... Same on my old desktop pc.

Will keep you guys up to date... Maybe people can post if they experience any volume fluctuations of the news item i provided.

I just downloaded a copy of Mavericks in the hope that this issue had been solved on the new OS but I am still having the same audio issues as before. Very disturbing.

yeah. already tried that as well. i suppose it's a sowftware bug that has been carried down to the betas of mac os because apple isn't aware of it yet. it would be more interesting to see if the problem persists in bootcamp and win7 for example. then we can rule out hardware faults at least. plus i found, that if i watch a stream for example, if i set the stream volume to max, and then control the volume level through my macbook, it stays pretty much constant. can anyone verify that?

ok forget about the second part of my post. fluctuating lots again.

as far as i can tell it only happens when i watch something on safari or chrome, and not even in every occasion.

Audio streams from Spotify or VLC dont seem to be affected at all as far as i can tell.

Maybe it has something to do with the players that the browsers use to playback the videos?

I went to the apple store today but without an appoinment. The guy pretty much told me he's never heard of the problem before but that it was too technical for his expertise... So i made an appointment at the geniusbar for next week. Will post here if i learn anything new 🙂

Could we start a list of (online) videos where one could hear the problem? In my case, I consistently experience the issue for videos on https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/videos/, for example "Designing Games with Sprite Kit" video. The videos can be only watched in Safari and with an active Apple developer account, however.

You can also read my posts about speaker problems on macrumors. I ve got the 4gb entry level MBA 13 haswell.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1600374

I have done everything. Clean install, uninstall flashplayer, safari add ons, tries videos on firefox.... the same sound cracking keeps happening mostly on web based videos.... also the volume drops automatically and random. I havent noticed cracking sound in vlc... only on some itunes songs. Also with the speakers on the sound is crystal clear. Whats going on? We must reach apple for a solution on that. I dont think the guys in genius bar will understand. What do you think guys... software or hardware issue?

Its a pitty cause MBA 13 HASWELL except this is awesome! Super fast, quiet and cold as ice!