2018 Macbook Pro continues to rattle with new speaker problems
The 2018 Macbook Pro is certainly not the books as Apple’s most robust laptop. After the terribly hot 15 inch models that caused the processor in the most expensive model not working properly and discovered last week Kernel Panic that can occur there is now a new problem : the speaker. A large number of Apple customers report that their speakers make a weird crackling or buzzing sound when they play music or otherwise produce sound.
If you listen to the videos that MacRumors has collected it seems that this is a software problem, because a broken speaker usually sounds bad all the time, instead of randomly showing creaks that are not related with basses or other specific tones that are in the media being played. The problem occurs with both the 13- and 15-inch models.
Difficult to say where the problem is
It is difficult to say exactly what it is, because users have the issue with both playing music and using apps like Garageband or playing a YouTube video. The problem is also there when running Windows via Boot Camp.
A few years ago, Macbook Pro users had a similar problem with the 2016 model, but it seemed mainly limited to Windows installations via Bootcamp. Apple then managed to solve that with a driver update, so it is possible that a similar problem is now also responsible for the sounds in the new models. It must be said that the number of people with the problem is still on the small side, but that does not make it any less annoying. Again, the chance of ‘broken speaker’ as a cause is rather small, so it is up to Apple to do something. A user reported that the problem with the latest Mac OS Mojave beta had been resolved, so perhaps it has already been spotted and fixed for the future.
What can you do?
Users have already tried all sorts of things to make the problem disappear, such as deactivating Hey Siri, resetting the NVRAM and the System Management Controller or even simply restarting. That can help, but it is certainly not, and also not useful. You could of course also try to install the Mojave beta, if you allow other apps. If that one user is right, that could already solve it. If you also have this problem, please let Apple Support know, because the more widespread the problem, the faster Apple will respond with a solution.