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Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

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Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#121

Post by jwells89 »

10729287 wrote: post #64
kpmcc wrote: post #42

The fact that this has existed for so long and is common enough to warrant a third party program devoted to resolving the issue is an embarrassment for Apple. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balance-lock/id1019371109?mt=1...

There are so many bugs and even more poor ergonomic choices that have been unfixed for years on Apple Devices. It's fascinating considering the whole cult regarding the company's so called attention to details.

It’s because despite those issues, depressingly macOS still delivers an experience that to most Mac users is preferable over that of Linux or especially Windows. Increasingly it’s not that macOS is incredible, but that the alternatives are that much worse.

And I say this as someone who uses Windows and Linux daily alongside macOS. Windows isn’t going to get any better so long as Microsoft’s betting on pushing services on users to make money and while desktop Linux is better than ever it still has a ways to go to make it unquestionably better across the board for more than a small subset of users.

It’s actually quite similar to why people buy MacBooks. Generic PC laptops nearly all involve one or more major tradeoffs in day to day use, with none being as good all-rounders as MacBooks even if individual specs don’t measure up.

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#122

Post by butlike »

yungporko wrote: post #61
yummypaint wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please do stop buying their junk. It's sad to watch people i know squandering so much money to buy buggy stuff that i end up troubleshooting for them. If it were linux we could just fix it ourselves and be done with it, but apple's entitled paternalism is the final insult. "Maybe you're holding it wrong?"

the only reason i've been using their shit is because i rely on software that doesn't exist on linux for certain hobbies and it was still drastically superior to windows which i refuse to use for any reason in my personal time, but now that it's not even better anymore, i'd rather just abandon those hobbies.

I haven't used Windows as a main-box in years, but was seriously considering it for the next upgrade. What's the beef?

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#124

Post by cozzyd »

MetalSnake wrote: post #88
10729287 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are so many bugs and even more poor ergonomic choices that have been unfixed for years on Apple Devices. It's fascinating considering the whole cult regarding the company's so called attention to details.

That "cult" and "attention to details" was a long time ago, when Steve Jobs was CEO. But even then there were many bugs, like the .DS_Store files, which never got fixed. It got much worse when Tim Cook took over. Now I only use macOS because the next best thing is still worse, and also the Mac hardware became really good with the switch to ARM (after a long long dark time with x86 where the hardware got worse and wor…

I wish .DS_Store files were automatically gitignored...

(though why should git fix such a stupid problem it didn't create...)

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#125

Post by zippergz »

TwistedWave wrote: post #52
tmikaeld wrote: post #14

The left/right channels drifting randomly is one thing (SoundSource fixes it), but it gets worse.. I've been trying to raise awareness of Apples horrible audio issues for quite a few years now. Driver re-starts and USB re-connects, for no apparent reason. [0][1] I have the issue on Mac Mini (2018) Intel, Mac Studio M1, Macbook Pro M2, so it's not device specific. [0] https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/132423 […

I have just reported a bug where high memory pressure could cause memory pages from the real-time audio thread to get swapped out, causing audio glitches. I am not hopeful for a timely resolution now...

Yup. I have found a strong correlation between memory pressure and audio glitches with my external dac. I filed a bug on this over two years ago and it has gotten no traction, but it sounds like you debugged it a bit more deeply than I did, so maybe yours will get noticed.

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#126

Post by zippergz »

mschuster91 wrote: post #83
TwistedWave wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have just reported a bug where high memory pressure could cause memory pages from the real-time audio thread to get swapped out, causing audio glitches. I am not hopeful for a timely resolution now...

> I have just reported a bug where high memory pressure could cause memory pages from the real-time audio thread to get swapped out, causing audio glitches. By any chance, is that problem related to the new Microsoft Teams and its incoming-call notification sound? Ever since the Sonoma update and the coinciding Teams switch it's glitching horribly.

Not for me. I have this problem and I have never used (or even installed) Teams.

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#127

Post by fotta »

naveen_k wrote: post #6

If you use AssistiveTouch on your iPhone or iPad with a customized top-level menu, every iOS/iPadOS update resets it to default settings. Apple hasn't fixed it for over 8+ years either.

That doesn't happen for me and I've been using AssistiveTouch for 10 years now

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#128

Post by rado »

coldtea wrote: post #107
rado wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, open Spotlight when in an app with alternative input language. Spotlight should switch to default, but it doesn’t, and adopts the unwanted alternative language.

The behavior I want (and get) is: nothing switches input language, except me explicitly. So,if I'm in an app "with alternative input language X" it means at some point before I excplitly set X as the active input language (and that gets enforced system-wide). Then if I change to Spotlight, it still uses the same X language. I understood that to be what you also want, but perhaps you want the opposite (which I haven't…

I'm typing in Notes in Bulgarian, switching to NetNewsWire, where I press K to clear all articles and it doesn't work because NetNewsWire is now in Bulgarian. It makes no sense. Same for Spotlight. It searches the system in the default system language, what should it matter that I'm currently typing in Bulgarian somewhere? Windows has an option whether to keep each app's language or apply it globally.

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#129

Post by dorian-graph »

goblin89 wrote: post #43

I have been producing music on macOS for 8+ years on multiple laptops (from x86 to ARM), different external DACs, wired and wireless headphones, etc. I am very sensitive to L/R balance and sometimes have to adjust the panning ever so slightly if my ears are off (e.g., after pressure change during a flight) in phone’s Accessibility settings. The fact that there is an Apple-specific L/R audio balance bug, which now see…

It's not that deep, right?

> .. which now seemingly everyone suffers from ...

Was this claimed somewhere? Either way, it's clearly not true. You're not affected by a bug that lots of others are (myself included!), so consider yourself lucky.

Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years

#130

Post by aeonik »

TillE wrote: post #108
goblin89 wrote: post #43

I have been producing music on macOS for 8+ years on multiple laptops (from x86 to ARM), different external DACs, wired and wireless headphones, etc. I am very sensitive to L/R balance and sometimes have to adjust the panning ever so slightly if my ears are off (e.g., after pressure change during a flight) in phone’s Accessibility settings. The fact that there is an Apple-specific L/R audio balance bug, which now see…

In terms of serious Mac audio issues, when I got my new M1 MBP I quickly noticed a faint crackling sound (unaffected by the volume setting) in the headphone jack when plugged in via MagSafe or a left side USB port. So I just have it plugged in to power on the right side instead. Other people have reported it too, so it's not just a one-off defect. I know electrical engineering is hard, but it's a really annoying prob…

Does your charger have three prongs or two? Try grounding the laptop properly with three prongs.
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