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Studio Display suffering audio issues, Apple acknowledges

Over the last few months, a growing number of users of Apple’s new Studio Display have been complaining about issues with the monitor’s audio performance.

According to a slew of social media posts on the matter, the Studio Display’s audio problems include the sound suddenly cutting out, coming out distorted, and speeding up.

Although the company has made no public comment about the issue, Apple has finally acknowledged it, according to the content of a memo to authorized service providers that’s been seen by MacRumors.

In the memo, the tech giant insists that the $1599 Studio Display’s audio problem is not related to the monitor’s hardware, indicating that a software update will eventually sort it out.

It also suggests a temporary fix while its engineers fully investigate the issue. It involves disconnecting the monitor from the power supply and removing any accessories or devices that are connected to it. After that, users are told to wait 10 seconds before connecting the Studio Display to power again.

Among a slew of online posts about the Studio Display’s current troubles, one owner said the problem had been persisting “for days,” while another described the audio as “choppy.”

In another message, a Studio Display user said the audio “fails intermittently,” and a different person said it was “weird to have to reboot a display” to fix the problem.

Regarding the audio issues, we’ve reached out to Apple to find out how it plans to resolve the problem and we will update this article when we hear back.

Worryingly, this isn’t the first issue to hit Apple’s 27-inch, 5K Studio Display since its release in March.

Early reviews of the pricey monitor included complaints about the built-in webcam’s lousy picture quality, with one writer likening the image to that of an “old BlackBerry” due to its grainy and washed-out look.

Apple quickly responded, saying that it had found “an issue where the system is not behaving as expected.” The company eventually rolled out an update to enhance the picture quality, though the general consensus appeared to be that the improvement was subtle rather than striking.

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Trevor Mogg
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