Hello :)

I start up Pico 8 but there is no sound - even the home screen shows just symbols for notes instead of playing the actual startup sound. Sound works for other applications.

Tried uninstalling snd reinstalling, turning off and on etc, no luck.

Any idea what the issue is? Using a MacBook Air M2.

Many thanks

The little notes indicate that you would normally have heard sound, but you don't, not because of a volume or hardware issue, but because the pico-8 sound is currently muted. The keyboard shortcut for mute/unmute is ctrl+M or apple+M or #+M, depending on your keyboard.
You probably hit the shortcut by mistake.

That's a facepalm moment right there :) It worked immediately... Thanks a bunch!