My MacBook Pro 2018 version speakers are crackling.

Following up on my own post.

I set sampling format for MacBook Pro Microphones and Speakers to 48,000 Hz and I have been able to play music with iTunes without any crackling noise for at least an hour (so far). I'm not sure if both sampling format really need to be set to the same, as mine was originally set to 44,1000 Hz and produced the crackling noise after an hour of playback.

Since setting the sampling format of the MacBook Pro Speakers, the crackling noise appears to be gone. You may want to experiment with the sampling format in Audio MIDI Setup like csross1 suggested if your setup/workflow allows it.

bro i can relate to this so much! I am now on my second 2018 MacBook pro and im still having issues and i have been told that its my Time Machine backup. I have over 15K songs and all my production on my laptop and they are trying to tell me that the solution for now is to either , "wait it out until apple acknowledge it" OR restart my laptop from scratch without a time machine backup and see what/if the crackling occurs.

Ok thanks for the heads up. As far as I can tell now my system works fine with nothing on it but when it has anything else happening the speakers start distorting. It's not just the speakers though, it's the audio. I had the same problem with the last laptop but with the headphones on it crackled.

I've read various theories but the most interesting one was that a power management glitch is causing buffer under runs in the audio subsystem. So it makes me wonder if by tweaking the throttling they broke the power management to the audio. I don't recall having this issue before the power throttling update."

I can believe this. I can't help but feeling they will tweak the whole system to take it's power away because the laptops just can't cope with their intended power. I don't trust the longevity of this machine.

I called apple today and they acted like they had never heard of the problem. Perhaps the tech support lady who was surely doing her best really never had but I find this ignorance insulting. You are absolutely right, they told me also that they ignore forums so people need to call and go through the whole process of having tech support for anything to get logged.

I really have lost all faith in this company, it feels like it's run on pure greed.

update for the issue:

as I said before I discovered that GarageBand changing Midi settings to 44100, then I went to the garageband setting and there is a MIDI output setting inside, I change it to: use macbook pro speaker and system default setting. It worked and now GarageBand now longer changing system audio output and no crackling

I still get the crackling at 48, it just takes a lot longer, like 2 to 3 hours, with 44 it happens to me at about the 40 to 50 minute mark. This is on my 4th machine which I just picked up last night.

I am on my THIRD MacBook Pro with Touch Bar now, and each one had it. All returned and I tried again.

It happens exclusively when I open Logic Pro X. The moment it does that, the problem begins. First time, I opened Logic about 10 days into it... then it began. Second time I did it three days in, and the problem began. Third time I did it one day in, and the problem began. Every time it began, it never stopped unless I killed coreaudiod in Terminal; even then, it began again within an hour.

At this moment I am reinstalling all MacOS and data again, fresh, to see if it cures the problem for a few days. Then I'll launch Logic and see what happens. If the problem exists after a complete refresh, it's 100% hardware malfunction.

Re-installing MacOS just solved the problem... so it definitely isn't hardware. However, using Logic Pro X started it up again. Coreaudio kill doesn't solve the problem forever.

Final word: Apple made Logic Pro X and the MacBook Pro 2018 incompatible until a corrective update to OS or Logic is issued.

Except it doesn’t perform fine when it’s ‘under no pressure’. Most people have reported experiencing this simply when using iTunes or YouTube, hardly a high load. I’m leaning towards it being a software issue, since the fixes are all related to changing/resetting software settings.

Personally I haven’t experienced it since reinstalling, but I’m not exactly confident it won’t start again. It’s not a huge deal for me since I usually use an external interface when working on music, so I can avoid it if I need, but it would certainly be nice if Apple were a bit more transparent about the progress (if any) on a potential update. It’s pretty pathetic of them to be claiming to not have heard of the issue, even though there’s been news articles about it out for weeks now.

Yes, I’ve used Logic and Kontakt. The sample rate sync error message that logic gave when it happened was what clued me in to it likely being a software issue rather than faulty speakers.

However I first experienced the issue with iTunes and YouTube several days before I first used either of those two apps.

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH F*CKING TIME MACHINE GUYS!!!

I don't understand the confidence of your conclusion. If it did not return after intensive use and with the audio software not on it your conclusion would make sense. However it did return after to 2 to 3 days. Surely it could still be a hardware problem because it just can't handle certain audio tasks that sends it into a frenzy? You tube and listening to music is a pretty light task and it crumbled with this after just a couple of days.

The fact that there must be a ton of people using Logic, Ableton, Traktor, Blender, Bootcamp, Spotify or any of the other things mentioned here and not having issues makes me feel like it is not a software problem (otherwise everyone would have it!) but instead points to a bad batch of laptops?

My guess is that it IS a hardware problem as is happens to most people after a certain time of use, for me it will do it after about 40 minutes of running Spotify.. I tried changing feq and it did not solve the problem.

I also have the speak crackling issue, mbp13, 2018.

Happens when pressing ESC key (normally should produce a system sound) and playing music (e.g Symp5 Beethoven on Amazon music).

Restart temporarily solve the problem but it COMES BACK after several hours.

Resetting NVRAM and SMC does not particularly help (same as restart).

I just received this from my senior case advisor in regards to them sending this off to an engineer. Pretty annoying they I have to randomly wait now for an update.

Hey Mike,

I’ve just received an update regarding your case.
Engineering have reviewed the logs you’ve sent and they seem to be in agreement with the Apple Store. All signs point to it being a known issue that we are actively working on. *****

[Edited by Host]

Yea to be honest I am no satisfied with this answer. I am going to be calling him tomorrow to discuss alternative options as it’s just not good enough if you ask me.

How’s everyone else’s issue going ???

My MacBook Pro 2018 has the same issues. Reinitialising Core audio in Logic Pro X, by changing a random audio setting or a restart seems to fix it for some time. Unfortunately it is coming back randomly, most often after the system is running for a few hours. Im vey disappointed since I bought it for composing and Djing. Im hoping for a Patch.

I have observed it mainly with the Headphone audio out were I have connected my studio monitors with (I know a audio interface would be more professional...)