It’s not really that Apple put decent speakers in their laptops. They use very smart software-DSP technology to make them sound good. And that’s a prowess.
See https://github.com/AsahiLinux/asahi-audio
They have a good DSP for sure, but those speakers on their own can get louder than any other laptop I’ve ever heard while maintaining pretty decent clarity (to my layperson ears). The DSP can help with the clarity and quality, but the actual loudness and hardware capabilities also seems better.
The DSP does also tricks to make them “louder than possible”. That’s why it was complicated for the Asahi team : messing with the algo would easily fry the speakers because they’re driven by more current than they can sustain, so only transient peaks are allowed.
Oh, also speakers. Apple puts decent speakers in their laptops. The FW 16 had worse sound than many phones that I’ve had.
It’s not really that Apple put decent speakers in their laptops. They use very smart software-DSP technology to make them sound good. And that’s a prowess. See https://github.com/AsahiLinux/asahi-audio
They have a good DSP for sure, but those speakers on their own can get louder than any other laptop I’ve ever heard while maintaining pretty decent clarity (to my layperson ears). The DSP can help with the clarity and quality, but the actual loudness and hardware capabilities also seems better.
The DSP does also tricks to make them “louder than possible”. That’s why it was complicated for the Asahi team : messing with the algo would easily fry the speakers because they’re driven by more current than they can sustain, so only transient peaks are allowed.