How loud is a Brother printer?
A laser lists 46 to 49 dB(A) while printing and an inkjet 53.5 to 55.0 dB(A), going by Brother's figures for the models it sold in the US on November 7, 2026.
The two sets come from different kinds of paperwork. Each laser guide gives "LpAm", A-weighted sound pressure, and "LWAc", sound power in bels, and names "the method described in ISO 7779". The inkjet guides give one "Sound Pressure" figure marked "(Approx.)", with the footnote "Noise depends on printing conditions." That makes the inkjet range a loose guide and the laser range a firmer one, though inside each group the figures rank cleanly. Expect the gap between the two to be real but not exact.
Which Brother laser printer is the quietest?
The HL-L3300CDW and MFC-L3720CDW, at "LpAm = 46 dB (A)" while printing, with the HL-L3220CDW also at 46. All three fall to 43 dB(A) in Quiet Mode. Sound power agrees. The HL-L3300CDW and MFC-L3720CDW are lowest there too, at 6.21 B(A) in mono and 6.10 in color, while the HL-L3220CDW prints 6.25 and 6.17.
One quirk in the footnotes. The mono guides attach the ISO 7779 note to both sound pressure and sound power, but the color guides attach it to sound power only, so the color dB(A) rows carry no standard at all. Setting color against mono on dB(A) is therefore Brother against Brother on an unstated basis.
Brother's mono lasers sit at 48 or 49 dB(A)
Two user guides cover them, one shared by the HL-L2460DW family and one by the MFC-L2900DW family. Printing ranges from 48 to 49 dB(A) and 6.50 to 6.78 B(A) of sound power, and Quiet Mode brings each to 44 dB(A).
| Printing | Sound power | Models |
|---|
| 48 dB(A) | 6.56 B(A) | HL-L2400D, HL-L2405W, HL-L2420DW |
| 48 dB(A) | 6.50 B(A) | HL-L2465DW, MFC-L2760DW |
| 49 dB(A) | 6.63 B(A) | DCP-L2640DW, HL-L2480DW, MFC-L2820DW |
| 49 dB(A) | 6.65 B(A) | HL-L2460DW, HL-L2865DW |
| 49 dB(A) | 6.78 B(A) | MFC-L2900DW |
Quiet Mode sound power is 6.06 B(A) in the HL-L2460DW guide and 6.12 in the MFC-L2900DW guide. For standby, the first reads "Up to 30 dB (A)", a ceiling we leave unranked, and the second "30 dB(A)", with sound power given as "Inaudible".
No Brother price showed for the HL-L2420DW, HL-L2465DW, HL-L2865DW or MFC-L2760DW on November 7.
Color lasers run from 46 to 48 dB(A)
Brother calls these digital color printers. Printing sits at 46 to 48 dB(A), Quiet Mode at 43, and mono sound power from 6.21 to 6.62 B(A).
| Printing | Model | Sound power, mono and color |
|---|
| 46 dB(A) | HL-L3220CDW | 6.25, 6.17 |
| 46 dB(A) | HL-L3300CDW, MFC-L3720CDW | 6.21, 6.10 |
| 47 dB(A) | HL-L3280CDW | 6.39, 6.47 |
| 47 dB(A) | MFC-L3765CDW | 6.41, 6.51 |
| 48 dB(A) | HL-L3295CDW | 6.50, 6.58 |
| 48 dB(A) | MFC-L3780CDW | 6.62, 6.67 |
Quiet Mode reorders the sound power column a little: 5.79 B(A) mono on the MFC-L3765CDW and MFC-L3780CDW, 5.81 on the HL-L3300CDW and MFC-L3720CDW, 5.86 on the HL-L3220CDW, HL-L3280CDW and HL-L3295CDW.
In this family the fast models are the loud ones. The 31 ppm HL-L3295CDW and MFC-L3780CDW are the loud end at full speed, the 19 ppm HL-L3300CDW and MFC-L3720CDW the quiet end, and neither of the quiet pair has Ethernet.
How loud are Brother inkjet printers?
Between 53.5 and 55.0 dB(A) while printing. The lowest, 53.5 dB(A), is on the MFC-J5110DW and MFC-J5010DW product pages; the Work Smart MFC-J1360DW family carries the highest, 55.0.
| Printing | Models |
|---|
| 53.5 dB(A) | MFC-J5010DW, MFC-J5110DW (product pages; no guide posted yet) |
| 54.0 dB(A) | MFC-J4355DW, MFC-J4555DW |
| 54.5 dB(A) | MFC-J6560DW, MFC-J6960DW |
| 55.0 dB(A) | MFC-J1355DW, MFC-J1360DW, MFC-J1365DW, MFC-J1367DW, MFC-J1410DW |
Copying gets a second figure, measured "using the scanner glass": 51.0 dB(A) for the MFC-J4355DW pair and 53.0 for the J1360 family and the J6560 pair. Sound power, standby and Quiet Mode get none on any inkjet guide. Still listed as current, the MFC-J6940DW prints a single "50.0dB" under a "Ready Printing" header. Which state that describes is anyone's guess, so it stays unranked.
Quiet Mode trades speed for 3 to 5 dB(A)
The guides put it plainly: "The Quiet Mode setting can reduce printing noise. When Quiet Mode is turned on, the print speed becomes slower."
Only the lasers get a number. Each current color laser lists "Printing (Quiet Mode) LpAm = 43 dB (A)", 3 to 5 below its full speed figure, and each mono laser lists 44, 4 or 5 below. Sound power drops by 0.2 to 0.8 B. The inkjets have the setting and the same speed warning, but no figure. It ships switched off on all of them, and Eco Mode on the J1360 family turns it on along with a short sleep timer. For a printer in a bedroom or a shared office, that is the one setting worth changing on day one.
Where the Quiet Mode switch is
On most models it lives on the control panel under General Setup, then Ecology. Choose Quiet Mode, set it to On and press OK.
The 2.7 inch touchscreen inkjets, the MFC-J1410DW and MFC-J4555DW, take a longer path: Settings, All Settings, General Setup, Ecology, Quiet Mode. A small icon then shows on the home screen.
With no screen at all, the HL-L2400D needs a button routine. Close the front cover, wait for Ready, and press Go 11 times; "All LEDs blink twice when you turn on the Quiet Mode." The printer driver can switch the setting as well, and that is where Brother's troubleshooting pages send you when printing feels slow.
Why is my Brother printer making noise when it is not printing?
On a color laser, standby hum is usually the cooling fan. On an inkjet that wakes up by itself, it is print head cleaning. The user guides describe both.
Standby on the color laser guides reads "Default: Inaudible", with a footnote: "If fan motor is functioning: LpAm = 40 dB (A)". In sound power the fan adds 2.62 B(A) on the HL-L3295CDW, 3.17 on the MFC-L3780CDW and 4.81 on the HL-L3280CDW.
Inkjets "will automatically turn itself on periodically for print head maintenance, and then turn itself off", even when powered off. Before you unplug one to move it, the guide asks you to wait until "all mechanical noises have stopped", so the head can park.
Reading the B(A) sound power column
A figure such as "LWAc = 6.56 B (A)" is sound power in bels, the total noise the printer gives off; 6.56 B equals 65.6 dB. It does not line up with the dB(A) sound pressure figure, which describes what reaches a listener.
For comparing two printers, sound power is the steadier number because it describes the machine rather than one listening spot, and since Brother names no distance for its sound pressure rows, the B(A) column is where the lasers line up most reliably. Brother labels the quantity LWAc and never defines the suffix. This explainer on power versus pressure covers how the two quantities differ.
Why does the Brother website say 30dB / 49dB?
That "Machine Noise" row repeats the user guide's standby and printing sound pressure, minus the labels. The HL-L2460DW page reads "30dB / 49dB", and its guide gives "LpAm = 49 dB (A)" printing and "Up to 30 dB (A)" ready.
Color lasers show 40 dB as the first number, matching the guide's standby figure with the fan running rather than its default "Inaudible". The new inkjets read "N/A / 55.0dB" or similar, which is the guide's printing figure.
No product page shows Quiet Mode or sound power; for those, open the guide.
On November 7, 2026, Brother's US site marked eleven inkjets "Discontinued": the MFC-J1010DW, MFC-J1170DW, MFC-J1205W, MFC-J1215W, MFC-J4335DW, MFC-J4535DW, MFC-J5340DW, MFC-J5855DW, MFC-J6540DW, MFC-J6555DW and MFC-J6955DW. Their guides run from 50.0 dB(A) on the MFC-J6555DW to 57.0 on the MFC-J4335DW and MFC-J4535DW, with the MFC-J1205W and MFC-J1215W at 56. A store still selling one is clearing old stock.
Two current models are gaps. The MFC-J1800DW page has no Machine Noise row and we found no guide for it, and the MFC-J6940DW figure is unlabelled. Every current laser we opened had a figure.
