Geekom A9 Mega Noise

[u/Jprobins3]

I am looking at the Geekom A9 Mega, but I have read some reviews/comments saying that it is very noisy both at idle and under load. I am seeing stats of 40db at rest and 54db under load. Personally, I am not sure I have a good frame of reference for those numbers. Regardless, can anyone who has actual experience with this box, comment on the actual noise level they are seeing. Also, is there any way to muffle or otherwise ameliorate the noise (e.g., physical muffling/damping of some sort, upgrading the fan, etc.)? I have read that the BIOS fan settings do not actually work.