My MacBook Pro 2018 version speakers are crackling.

Changing MIDI audio config from 44khz to 48khz temporary relief the cracking sound, but the issue pops back up again after a while of audio playback

Please call Apple to report the problem, it's the only they are going to provide a fix for it.

You can call Apple Support and log a technical problem or take it to social media and make some noise about it. I recommend doing both!

Are these problems still happening after install the lastest supplemental update? Ever since updating there haven’t been any problems with my MacBook Pro.

The cracking sound is not heard on my 15" since the supplemental update 2.

It has to do with the BridgeOS on T2 chip, I think

This issue with crackling speakers was resolved with an update several weeks ago (though I haven’t seen anyone confirm that it also fixed it on the bootcamp side of things)

I noticed that plugging in headphones, and unplugging it helps sometimes

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?

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.

I have the same problem with my 15" MacBook Pro 2018.

Disabling Hey Siri does nothing for me.

It must be software, because when I reset Core Audio the problem goes away for some time before it comes back.

Really annoying. Apple should fix this or take back these models and put in a different sound card if it's a hardware issue.

Unacceptable for a €3000+ computer.

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.

I have just noticed that if I place my iPhone next to the speakers, the Mac starts crackling. Then I change the sample rate to 48k it returns to normal and now I am not able to reproduce it. I am back to 44k now and it is not crackling.

Weird, but this does not seem good at all.

I don't think it's something like Traktor. I don't have that installed. I don't have Logic installed either. I've noticed the crackling playing music through iTunes and when the system plays alerts. I also do not think it's related to a time machine backup. I'm having issues on a MacBook Pro 15" i9 with 32gb ram and fresh OS install, no time machine backup used.

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.

Speculation on my part. I don't have any choice but to wait. I'm not going to use Windows unless I absolutely have to. I'll call Apple just so they have a record of the issue and I recommend anyone else having problems to do the same. Seems like Apple only takes action when they either have a lot of public complaints that affect sales or if they get a lawsuit. So we will have to make some noise.

I'd be surprised if they aren't currently working on a solution but I've read that Apple doesn't read these community boards so calling them is important. The news stories help a ton also!

Im having this issue as well with my base MacBook pro 2018 with the upgraded 560x. Its more present on windows via bootcamp when playing a game, doesn't happen when playing headphones. And changing the audio channel or default sound device on windows is temporary fix then problem happens again after a while. I will test to see if changing the audio config to 48khz works but we need a fix for this. Bootcamp for the 2018 MacBook is really bad as well temperature wise also as the supplemental update patch for throttling wasn't applied for bootcamp just Mac OS.