I don’t know….placement of the speakers on my 14” MBP is one of my only 3 gripes with it (the others being slow response of the screen, and the fan cutouts on the side that always make it feel “sharp” when picking it up or putting it down).

If I’m playing music while typing, I find that I sometimes move my hand over the sides of the keyboard- where those speakers are - and it feels like one ear goes temporarily deaf.

So I don’t mind if they have changed that design/placement.