IDK, it pales in comparison to any decent monitor speaker. Even the cheapest.
Laptops unfortunately always sounds "from inside a cardboard box".
Laptops unfortunately always sounds "from inside a cardboard box".
I don't know how they are doing it, but listening to those speakers seems unreal. I opened the Macbook to look at them, the speakers look pretty big and they seem to have a long resonance channel, and I think they are glued to the aluminium chassis which appears sturdier than any previous Mac I've opened.
They are optimized to sound best when you are sitting in front of your laptop, and the volume is of course limited, but there is nothing "cardboard box" like about the new Macbook Pro's speakers.
I promise I could tell the difference if you are feeding the same signal into both and it features anything < 100hz.
The MBP speakers are nearly impossibly good, but they are not and never will be a match for dedicated studio monitors, pro audio, home theater, or even DIY contraptions. There are fundamental physical limits to how far this suspension of disbelief can be taken. We are pretty much at the limits of this trickery right now.
That's rather hyperbolic. I think superlatives such as "fantastic" and "extremely good" should be reserved for stuff that's truly exceptional. I have a 14 inch M1 MBP and yes, the speakers are surprisingly good for what they are, but comparing them to monitors tells me your love for this product is clouding your judgement. Or that your hearing isn't all that great.
I'm not sure if the 14" sounds the same, I've never heard it.
Anyway, these speakers are the first laptop speakers where I don't hear any obvious distortions. I haven't done any listening tests, but subjectively these speakers feel closer to monitors (at low volume) than to other laptop speakers.
But then again, criticizing Apple hardware is a downvote bonanza every time, because Apple users need to feel like a particular demographic.
> Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names.
Any 14"+ Apple laptop since 2019 sounds much better than any other laptop that's ever been in the market. The 2019 15" and all 16" models even more so.
They're so good that before covid we stopped using the Jabras at the office for confs and started using the laptops.
They're good enough for lightweight music playing and even watching some TV.
No, they don't compare to monitor speakers. No, they don't compare to my 7.1.4 surround system. No, they don't compare to any decent room-sized stereo or surround setup. They are still pretty great.
This is such a low bar.
I have a 2019 16" MBP. The speakers are good for a laptop. That's it. I'm connecting the headphones or external speakers for any listening requirement. A $30 pair of Logitechs destroys the built-in speakers.
>No, they don't compare to my 7.1.4 surround system.
I'm having trouble reconciling the number of people in the thread who will do things like implement an entire Atmos home theatre setup (which is awesome, but in a lot of ways excessive), and yet are saying "MBP speakers are all you need!"
- You can't interpret text; or
- You just don't like anyone who has anything good to say about Apple or their products; or
- You're just not very smart at all.
> This is such a low bar.
Low bar for what?
> The speakers are good for a laptop.
We're talking about laptops. That's the whole point!
> I'm having trouble reconciling the number of people in the thread who will do things like (...) and yet are saying "MBP speakers are all you need!"
Who's doing that?
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_monitor:
Among audio engineers, the term monitor implies that the speaker is designed to produce relatively flat (linear) phase and frequency responses.