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Windows on New Macbook Pro Permanently Damages Speaker Due to Poor Drivers

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216 points aq3cn | 2 comments | 29 Nov 16 14:51 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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rplst8 ◴[29 Nov 16 16:30 UTC] No.13064045[source]▶
For the record, if the speaker is truly blown (ruined) this is a problem with the hardware - not the software. If you can't design a speaker and amplifier combination with a limiter that won't let itself self-destruct, you are an audio design failure.
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wrigby ◴[29 Nov 16 17:05 UTC] No.13064315[source]▶
I mostly agree on this, but I can also see how they got to a design that has this flaw. You can do better (more transparent, more adaptive, etc.) limiting in DSP than with a simple hardware circuit. Doing the limiting in the driver also saves you hardware components and PCB layout space.

It's a slippery slope of optimization that only works when you control the OS (or drivers at least) and the hardware together, but one slip-up can be catastrophic.

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1. mikejmoffitt ◴[29 Nov 16 17:27 UTC] No.13064472[source]▶
A small micro or DSP processor can sit in the data path and solve this problem "in software, in hardware". It's unusual for software to be able to damage hardware for a consumer product.
replies(1): >>13065387 #
2. avian ◴[29 Nov 16 19:05 UTC] No.13065387[source]▶
Old Samsung ARM Chromebooks used to have a similar problem where some ALSA settings would overload and destroy the built-in speakers. Mine actually started smoking and melting after I installed Debian.

https://marcin.juszkiewicz.com.pl/2012/12/10/how-to-fry-spea...

I don't want to compare a $300 browser-in-a-box with a $2000 laptop, but issues like this aren't unheard of.