My MacBook Pro 2018 version speakers are crackling.

Have a look at this article: Get help if the internal speakers on your Mac don't make sound

Check your sound settings

If you still can't hear sound from the internal speakers after updating your computer's software, check your sound settings.

First, disconnect any external audio devices from your computer. Also disconnect any cables from the USB, FireWire, or 3.5mm audio ports.

1. From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Select Sound.
3. Click the Output tab, then select Internal Speakers. If you don’t see Internal Speakers as an option in the Output window, contact Apple Support.
4. If the volume slider is set low, move the slider to the right and test again.
5. If the Mute checkbox is selected, deselect it and test again.
6. If you still don’t hear any sound, contact Apple Support.

Check the line-out port on your Mac

If the Output pane lists Digital Out instead of Internal Speakers, check the line-out port on your Mac.

First, disconnect any external audio devices from your Mac. Also remove any cables from the USB, FireWire, or 3.5 mm audio ports. Then check to see if the line-out port is lit by a red light. If it is, your Mac might need service.

You are not the only one with this issue. There's currently a thread at MacRumors MacBook Pro 2018 - Speakers Crackling | MacRumors Forums with a lot of people with the new Macbook 2018 and the same problems.

It happens on both MacOs and Bootcamp. Restarting the application or game often solves it, but as it happens within 10 minutes of starting a game, restarting it each time is just no option. There are people that have brought back their MBP and got a replacement but those had the same problems.

So it seems like it is a real issue, let's just hope that they can fix it through software.

I received my map 2018 15" today with the i9 inside and 32gb ram + 1tb ssd and same issue music, video, games, everything starts to crackle after a variable amount of time it seems that Bootcamp is the most affected MacOS didn't get it while I was working and playing music in iTunes until I started a Final cut pro to finish a movie project while exporting it started seems like a load issue?

The cracking sound disappeared on my MBP 15" when I listened iTunes after I installed the supplemental update 2.

However, when I am using Logic ProX, problems are still there.

Even actually I was not using any headphones, suddenly the cracking started and a notice screen jumped out saying
"Error while trying to synchronize AUDIO and MIDI", screenshot as attached.

Then I put on headphones, either wireless or not, cracking sound disappeared at first for a while then appeared again.

I already returned my MBP and got a new one, but the problem is still the same.

Please let me know what to do.

Hey! I had the same issue. I think I've managed to fix it by making sure that my MIDI output is set to 48.000 Hz. Go to Audio MIDI Setup settings, under Macbook Pro Speakers set the output to 48.000 Hz if its anything else (like 44). You might have a software installed that has changed the Hz value (and possibly some other under-the-hood sound settings as well). So far it has fixed the issue to set it back. I have not yet updated to Mojave, but has installed all updates up until that. See picture below.

I hope this will help someone!

I have this issue on my MBP 2018 TouchBar 13".

This thread is quite similar. In short, there are two camps (quoting another user):

1. There is a spot inside the display assembly where there is metal on metal and it makes a popping sound when heat increases.

2. There is a popping sound coming from the speakers.

Re: Popping Sound, MBP 2016

Hi csross1,

Thank you for the tip. Strangely enough, when I opened Audio MIDI Setup, my MacBook Pro Speakers and MacBook Pro Microphones already had the same sampling format, at 44,100 Hz. When both were the same, the speaker emits crackling noise on my MacBook Pro after about one hour of music playback (i.e. iTunes or Internet radio played from Safari).

When I connect a pair of earphones, I do not hear any crackling noise from the earphones. Upon checking the Audio MIDI Setup, I also noted that my External Headphones sampling rate was automatically set to 48,000 Hz.

Since I have not heard any crackling noise from my earphones, I tried the following.

1. Disconnect the earphones
2. I restarted my MacBook Pro and verified the sampling format of MacBook Pro Microphones and MacBook Pro Speakers are set to 44,100 Hz in Audio MIDI Setup
3. Play some music from iTunes for about one hour or more
4. After verifying that the speakers emit the crackling noise, I set the MacBook Pro Speakers sampling format to 48,000 Hz
5. Continue playback from iTunes

After more than two hours, I have not heard any crackling noise from my MacBook Pro speakers. For now, I'm still wondering if it is worthwhile for me to take the MacBook Pro for the Apple Authorized Service Provider to have a look.

takashiyoshida wrote:

Hi csross1,

Thank you for the tip. Strangely enough, when I opened Audio MIDI Setup, my MacBook Pro Speakers and MacBook Pro Microphones already had the same sampling format, at 44,100 Hz. When both were the same, the speaker emits crackling noise on my MacBook Pro after about one hour of music playback (i.e. iTunes or Internet radio played from Safari).

When I connect a pair of earphones, I do not hear any crackling noise from the earphones. Upon checking the Audio MIDI Setup, I also noted that my External Headphones sampling rate was automatically set to 48,000 Hz.

Since I have not heard any crackling noise from my earphones, I tried the following.

1. Disconnect the earphones
2. I restarted my MacBook Pro and verified the sampling format of MacBook Pro Microphones and MacBook Pro Speakers are set to 44,100 Hz in Audio MIDI Setup
3. Play some music from iTunes for about one hour or more
4. After verifying that the speakers emit the crackling noise, I set the MacBook Pro Speakers sampling format to 48,000 Hz
5. Continue playback from iTunes

After more than two hours, I have not heard any crackling noise from my MacBook Pro speakers. For now, I'm still wondering if it is worthwhile for me to take the MacBook Pro for the Apple Authorized Service Provider to have a look.

I will try this, thank you. I see your post was August 13th. Today is November 25th. Did it completely resolve your problem, or did the issue return?

I can tell you for sure I'm experiencing this issue daily. I've also been testing the issue aggressively. It happens system-wide, (on my machine at least)... Logic, Live, iTunes, Chrome, Finder...

And I'm finding the issue happens in headphones, not just the speakers. It seems to happen after sound has been playing for an extended period of time, no matter what app... (Just watching a movie in Hulu can kick it off.)

Next time you go out for the evening try this:

• Leave iTunes playing while your gone. See if you have distortion when you come back.

(Leave it playing when you'll be out for at least a few hours...)

Happened for me...

And, the last time I tested this I left iTunes running while I was answering emails and doing housekeeping on my machine... iTunes started distorting after about an hour, and the distortion was identical to distortion I get in Logic. It's a system-wide issue period... I suspect people who only encounter it "occasionally" are just people who aren't working with sound running for long periods of time...

Since I work in Logic and Live I'm working with sound daily for hours in a row, and I encounter the issue every single day... The most obnoxious part of the issue is that Console doesn't report it unless you use Logic, (Live as well). iTunes, Finder and Chrome don't print an error to Console. Logic does however...

The most infuriating part is that I documented this heavily and went back and forth with engineering for a couple weeks. They blew me off because I'm not on Mojave. However...

• Users told that upgrading to Mojave are reporting this does not fix the issue. 

• This does not explain why people who bought new machines with Mojave pre-installed have the exact same issue.

My advice would be to call in to Apple, get a Sr. Advisor ask to log a complaint referencing your case. Once it's logged as a complaint they may be able to give you some more options you can do to get the issue looked into...

I have a problem with mine as well! I got the 15" i9 version and it was very annoying how the sound would randomly cut-off with no obvious reason, went to the apple store got it replaced but still the same issue persists on the new one as well! (not as frequent though)
I'm currently in touch with Apple support and they have the sysdiagnose for both MacBooks and I'm just waiting for apple engineers to figure out exactly what is going on!!

This is probably a problem with the T2 co-processor as some news were quoting these had some other problems and they also control the sound. I have the same problem on my iMac Pro... sound cracking, doesn't matter if I'm using external or internal speakers, it happens on both so it has to be a chip issue. Just to clarify there are two scenarios: 1) Sometimes it is just momentary "one-off" crack or pop and then sound goes back to normal. 2) The sounds cracks and keeps cracking until the output is changed. Changing from one output to another momentarily resets the problem though, but doesn't prevent it from appearing again later.

This has been happening with my 2018 15 Inch i9 Macbook Pro as well. This has occured several times when I have been working in Premiere Pro. One moment everything is working perfectly fine and then the next moment the audio would crackle severely and make loud popping noises at max volume, even though my volume was set at below half. Once this happened, I quickly paused the audio lowered the volume to its lowest setting, save and then quit Premiere Pro, and then open up apple music and play a test song to see if the audio problem was still persistent. Once I quit Premiere Pro, the problem would go away, however, the audio on the macbook pro after is severely dampened and not as robust and strong as it usual is. This is very disappointing and frustrating for the amount of money that this model cost.

I'm also having the same exact issues with YouTube/Video playback where the audio just cuts out randomly on my 13" 2018 MPB (i5, 16gb ram, 512gb). I've also had a few occasions where the audio will get really "tinny" with absolutely no bass to it. Glad I'm not alone in the issue but quite annoying. I took it to the Apple Store and they wiped my computer and gave it back to me with a clean install and it worked while in the store but the problems persist. They offered to send it to repair if I came back but I don't want to send it to repair if I'm just going to get another board with the same issue.