I disagree. The new 16" Macbook Pro design introduced in 2021 has fantastic speakers. They sound extremely good, and I'm not sure I would hear the difference to my 3.5" studio monitors in a blind test (assuming you volume match them).
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'm not sure I would hear the difference to my 3.5" studio monitors in a blind test (assuming you volume match them).
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.
> I disagree. The new 16" Macbook Pro design introduced in 2021 has fantastic speakers. They sound extremely good, and I'm not sure I would hear the difference to my 3.5" studio monitors in a blind test (assuming you volume match them).
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.
If you look at my post history you'll find comments complaining about the shitty webcam and the poor software quality. I just happen to think the speakers are one of the best parts of this machine, and when someone compares them to a "cardboard box" I felt like hyperbole was warranted.
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.
I think your experience might be outdated. My M1 Mac's screen broke recently and I'm forced to use it with the lid closed and an external screen until I get a replacement. I'm using the cheapest external screen I can get because I don't like using external screens and am just bridging the gap until I get a new laptop. The monitor speakers are absolutely horrible, frankly I don't understand why they even added them. If is some cheap BenQ, not sure the exact model. The Mac speakers on the other hand sound good even with the lid closed! They sound miles and miles better than the external screen speakers to the point where I use them over the screen ones.
Yep I misunderstood their comment completely. I think you're right and that's what they had in mind. In which case they're right but I think are making a comparison that is not exactly useful.
Oooooh, whoosh. Sorry! Yeah in that comparison of course laptop speakers pale in comparison. My girlfriend has a home studio and I wouldn't dream of comparing the sound of her monitors to my laptop speakers. But I wouldn't expect them to be comparable. In the context of the post talking about laptop speakers I think you're better off using the built in M1 speakers over almost any other kind of a built in speakers like a TV or external monitor speaker or a cheap set of external speakers not meant for audio production.
Bought an M1 for my SO two years ago. You can tell she's playing sound through it from another room, even the TV built-in speakers sound better. I am not dissing Apple devices in particular, but rather all laptops. With speakers so small, there's only that much one can do.
But then again, criticizing Apple hardware is a downvote bonanza every time, because Apple users need to feel like a particular demographic.
Perhaps you're being downvoted because saying "tiny laptop speakers worse than big, expensive, dedicated studio monitor speakers" doesn't add anything to the discussion?
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.
>They're good enough for lightweight music playing and even watching some TV.
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!"
Laptops unfortunately always sounds "from inside a cardboard box".