Apple quality control issues with 27 inch display

There have been quite a few reports that owners of the new Apple 27 inch LED Cinema Display have been reporting sound problems with the speakers. Issues with the volume control and sound cut outs have been documented.

While there is always going to be issues with new hardware, there is a thread on the Apple official forums, which started in October which has expanded to over 15 pages since it started. Other threads since then have been started highlighting similar issues.

The reports detail that some of the new Apple Cinema Displays are completely losing sound after a random time period. People are saying the only way to fix this seems to be to unplug the display, then to plug it back in again. This fix however appears to be only temporary according to users.

There are also issues with the response time of the volume control on the keyboard with some people reporting a delay of 6 to 7 seconds after pressing the buttons. Some people have received new displays after reporting the issues to Apple, however the replacement panels show the same problems.

After the iPhone 4 antenna issues this is the last thing Apple wanted. Some end users have tested the panels on the Windows platform and have experienced the same issues, so it is certainly not tied into OSX software problems.

“Audio becomes disabled and I cannot even select Display Audio (USB) audio from Sound preferences pane,” user hmss007a wrote. “The only options available are Internal Speakers and LED Cinema (DisplayPort), which doesn't work.”

“System power setting re-set does not fix it, nor does unplugging mini-display port,” user jeremypk wrote. “Very disappointed. Puzzling because the sound did work at first (at least after installing the recommended software patch from Apple), and sound seems to be dead completely now. I hope Apple is reading this.”

KitGuru says: Another hardware issue for Apple?

Become a Patron!