My MacBook Pro 2018 version speakers are crackling.

I have the same problem!!! I first discovered in bootcamp while i was playing a game, i thought it was a windows problem but today i was facetiming and it happend also on MacOS High sierra. How can a laptop that costs 3000€+++ do this gosh its my first mb and i got already dissapointed. Ps also when the sound crackels i get laggg

Same problem, 15" 2.6ghz i7 560X 4GB High Sierra stock. I started iTunes playing, and after 15-20 minutes it started making the momentary "buzz" noise, and then repeats ever 6-8 seconds indefinitely from that point.

I had a call with Apple Support this afternoon. He had me run through Diagnostics, reset SMC and reset NVRAM.

For my machine, the Diagnostics did not detect any hardware issues (ADP000).

The support personnel also asked to see if I can hear the crackling noise when I'm using my earphone. For some reason, I could not hear the noise when I was using my earphone. After disconnecting the earphone, the noise seem to go away for awhile (though it came back some time later).

The support personnel also sent me links to running Diagnostics, resetting SMC and NVRAM. I realized he gave me incorrect instructions for resetting SMC (for MacBook Pro 2018) so I tried the whole process again. So far, I'm not hearing any crackling noise. But I doubt this will hold as some of you have already encountered the problem after performing this process.

I'm keeping my hopes up as it has been 22 days since I bought the MacBook Pro and I do not want to set up new machine again (unless the replacement is the only way to solve the problem).

replacement won't solve the issue. I waited a week for my replacement only for it to happen again yesterday.

1st the throttle issue

2nd - sound crackling issue.

Who is in charge of quality control before they decide to ship these machines out to the public?

I have the same or similar problem. After about 50-60 minutes of audio playback or usage in iTunes, YouTube, and Logic Pro, etc., the computer starts to make a low distorted tone every 5-8 seconds. This nasty "bonk" tone oscillates a bit, but it sounds absolutely terrible. It sounds like it may be some kind of internal clocking issue, but I have no idea and neither did the guys just now at the APPLE STORE. Putting the computer to sleep or restarting alleviates the problem, but it then returns on schedule. Apple Store suggested reinstalling OS, but I don't see how that will help. In the meantime they are ordering me a replacement computer, but were unable to run diagnostics on the new 2018 machines and are waiting on information and direction from corporate. I hope that corporate is listening and taking measures to fix this issue. I don't see how a replacement machine will fix the issue now that I've finally found a forum where hundreds of other customers are also having the same problem.

Based on my own limited test, I'm not hearing any crackling noise from my earphones. I left the iTunes to play music for three hours with the earphones. I checked at one hour and three hour marks and did not hear any noise.

FWIW --

For me, I have experienced this issue once while playing iTunes on the laptop speakers while connected to a 5K display Thunderbolt cable. 15" Core I7. I was playing music in iTunes. The static sound in 1/2 second bursts began after about 20 minutes, repeating *exactly* every 10 seconds (I recorded it to verify the timing). The sound is identical to what others uploaded to YouTube.

On subsequent days, I've done the same--played music on iTunes, including the same track (Rocking into the Night by 38 Special). Yesterday on battery power (nothing connected to laptop), an today the same 5K display setup as first day when I experience the distortion.

No updates have been applied to the machine over the three days, and no configuration changes have been made. I haven't done any of the firmware resets, OS changes, etc. The machine has been restarted but nothing else done.

Hoping this it's a device driver or similar software workaround-able issue. Based on what others have attempted (resets, hardware swaps) and my own experience so far, I'm not personally inclined to swap out for a new computer before waiting to see if a driver fix gets slipstreamed into the OS to resolve this issue.

I ran additional tests this afternoon. I could not hear any crackling noise when I connected my Mojo. But I was only able to test for about an hour so it may be a bit premature to make a conclusion.

I have an appointment with Apple Authorized Service Provider this Wednesday night. I'm not sure what will be done there, but so far it's moving in the direction of this problem being a hardware issue, rather than software.

#metoo

I have exactly the same issue.

I am considering to get a replacement from Apple store but if this is a common issue, replace it or not is just a waste of time.

Anyone with prefect audio without any crackling sound at all?

Here is something that has worked for me so far..

Open Audio Midi setup. Under "audio devices" select "MacBook Pro Speakers". Check sample format (i set mine to 88.2) then select "MacBook Pro Microphone". Verify that it is set to the same sample format as the speakers. If not, change it to reflect the same sample format. What i noticed on my machine was that the sample rate on the speakers and microphone were set to different rates. If you have any line plugged in to the headphone port, make sure it is also set to the same format. This could be because on previous generations of MacBook pro the settings seemed to automatically set to reflect each other.

I say that this has worked so far after doing the other steps of troubleshooting that did not achieve results. I also noticed that the noise was also in the headphones, however when using an external DAC i never got the noise. This leads me to believe that the problem lies within the internal AD/DA running at different rates leading to clocking error, resulting in the noise that is being experienced by many users.

That's great idea to even the sampling rate - I experienced the cyclical crackle over a week ago once and I haven't been able to repeat it since - So I have canceled my return and re-purchased AppleCare plus. Kinda stressful.

Of course I totally disabled Siri for right now including hey Siri and now I'm able to sample way back down at 44,1000 No problems.

I am very hopeful that macOS Mojave will be focused on the T2 chip and perfect this as I have both the iMac Pro and the MacBook Pro 2018 having no issues since March in iMac Pro.

Thankful for the 32GB for parallels, Target Disk Mode, and VM's though -

i9, 32gb, 1tb

I am also having this problem (13" MacBook Pro). Videos on netflix, youtube/ any site will suddenly mute, continue for a bit and then freeze. Even when I refresh the page, the video will not play, but other videos will work. Very annoying. Considering replacing it, but it seems like there is a high chance I'll get another MacBook with the same problem.

I had the same issue. I got a new 2018 Mac book pro , had crackling and visited Apple twice. Both times i went in the told me that it was a corrupt time machine back up or a dodgy third party app. The ran diagnostics and said everything was fun and sent me home. The second time i went in they happily replaced the laptop for me but still insisted to me that it was user error/corrupt time machine. got home and thought everything was working fine and then bam it started happening again. Apple support then told me to reset the SMC setting so i did that and it worked for a day and then started happening again to i reset the SMC settings again and hasnt happened yet but sound still doesnt sound right and after researching and finding out that there are many other people having the same issue i am not convinced that its not me. I am going into apple tomorrow to speak with a technician but highly doubt im going to get anything out of it.

2016 MBP user here, who just upgraded to the 2018 MBP.

My 2018 MBP's speakers did the crackling thing too. Very loudly. After a reboot, the audio subsystem for the entire laptop was non-operational. In other words, macOS didn't list any sound devices for use. The laptop even refused to use my wireless bluetooth headphones at that point.

After resetting the SMC, the audio system resumed working... but the crackling keeps coming back. So it's definitely not a good fix.

Additionally, in Boot Camp (Win10), I'm finding that the GPU (Radeon 560X) is being inappropriately throttled, resulting in extremely low frame rates in games that ran at full 60 fps on my older 2016 MBP!

So something related to the T2 chip / SMC is pretty hosed, and I'm none too pleased about it. Going to bring this thing in to the Apple store soon and hopefully they won't tell me something dumb like "lol its a bad time machine backup".

Edit: whoops, just realized I replied to the previous post in this thread. Meant to submit a new post to the thread itself.

Good luck mate! I have reset the SMC settings twice and its still coming back. I spoke to Apple support this morning and they told me that its not an issue that apple are aware of and that its most likely a dodgy time machine backup. I even had someone tell me that i must start from scratch as my time machine is corrupt so yea i hope you arent told the same thing. Even after getting given a replacement i am still having the same issues and i have an appointment at the apple shop tomorrow so who knows whats going to happen