Crackling/popping noises when playing music on iMac.

I had the same problem streaming Netflix on Safari. Tried it on Firefox and problem solved. So it’s an issue somewhere cause when using Safari. Not tried other browsers.

try changing the audio settings. if some settings are too high or low, it may cause the drivers to create feedback. check the settings or sometimes they say, try restarting the device. if none of that worked it may just be the audio file, the audio file has low quality or the devices speaker is damaged.

Absolutely - I just selected a video on YouTube on Chrome which played flawlessly. I then played the exact same video using Safari and....plenty of pops, clicks and so on. No other apps open, no changes to any audio settings, just played the same video in two separate browsers and the Safari playback had clicks and pops aplenty and the Chrome one didn't.

There's not any mono audio setting either. This is for an iMac, if that makes any difference. I thought that's what this thread was for, but a lot of MacBook people are responding now.

Good Old Days wrote:

Strange how everyone is having this problem in different ways.

Not really. Usually what people are reporting here are symptoms. Those symptoms can have more than one cause.

check to make sure mono audio is off which may cause audio problems. also check the enhancer settings. higher can cause the speakers to rattle. also are the speakers in good condition, check the drivers for any dry rot or cone rips which may have been causing the crackling

My IPhone and MacBook Pro crackle periodically while listening to music oA Spotify and Apple Music. Apparently apple doesn’t care one bit as this has been a problem for a long time. My PC plays back music flawlessly. Recommend ditching apple junk and getting a PC.

Anyone ever get this fixed? It's suddenly getting worse, but only sometimes. It literally sounds like playing music from a CD and hitting all the scratches. I had noticed it a little on my macbook with my airpods, but it's also happening with my iMac speakers.

I agree, this is a really frustrating issue. Bought this Pro last year and it really should be fine.

For people looking for a quick fix (albeit an imperfect solution) when I altered the speaker balance to 100% left speaker in System Preferences it seemed to reduce the frequency of the crackling sounds. Honestly, at first I thought they were totally gone, but alas!

Strange how everyone is having this problem in different ways. I don't even use Safari. But my problem stopped for the most part soon after I first found this thread a few months ago.

I’ve found one more thing about crackling, it happens usually during playing very low sounds.

Had the same problem on my MBP M1. Changed it to M3. The problem is still there.

@bonnald,

sudo killall coreaudiod

this should be the accepted answer! Thank you. This resolved this issue for me on M1 MBP (my issue was noticed with apple music).

Cheers!

I had this issue on a new Macbook Air 2024 (M3). For me, it turned out to be an intel app (Spotify). When I replaced it with the version for the M3 chip, the popping stopped.

I have noticed the same thing with MacBook Pro with m3 max chip (14 inch). I have yet to get the issue resolved.