Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been using macs since the 90s for "serious amateur" music production, and I listen to music while working on an MBP daily, both via the headphone jack and via a USB audio interface, and I've never encountered that. Is there no idea what triggers it?
Quickly changing the system volume while the system is under heavy CPU load, plus chance.
Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
171–180 of 237 posts
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#172as a long term apple user, their blatant disregard for fixing bugs is really starting to piss me off to the point where next time i upgrade my phone and computer, i'm probably going back to android/linux. their software is literally a microsoft-tier experience (maybe even worse at this point) across the board now, and i'm not going to keep paying a premium for non-premium bullshit full of stupid bugs any junior dev c…
I also have issues with the sluggish interface. Some of my third-party email apps takes several seconds to just load the list of messages. They take milliseconds to load on a Pixel.
My lock screen can sometimes take a bit more than a second to unlock.
The browser dropdown will occasionally load the wrong page when I touch the URL.
The keyboard is more wrong than right, most of the time. Out of all the bugs and problems that make the iPhone almost unusable, it would be the terrible, auto-incorrect keyboard.
The analogy that comes to mind is when the auto industry consolidated to just three large players. Quality was never great to begin with, but it steeply declined after that. It took foreign companies to add real competition to the market.
Apple has been in decline for years now, especially since their only other competitors are Samsung and Google.
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#173Earlier 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.
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 service…
But with Microsoft turning Windows into a big advertising billboard, I can see it becoming a valid reason.
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use an external DAC and encounter this crackling problem regularly. I have to unplug/replug my DAC to get it to go back to normal. I just thought it was a hardware problem with my DAC because it’s getting up there in the years, thought the caps might be going. Hmm…
I have 4 external all different sound cards and AMPs (USB), it's the same on all of them. There is no software remedy, only re-connecting physically works (temporarily)
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#175I 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…
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#176Back when installing Windows on a MacBook with Bootcamp was pretty common, it was galling to have Windows support MST perfectly fine on the Apple hardware while MacOS reverted to simple (useless) mirroring.
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#177Earlier 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.
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 service…
This also applies to smartphones. No matter the aspect, some specialty Android is 10x as good as your iPhone. However, it'll have bizarre drawbacks. iPhones are popular because they have right default balance for the broad audience out of the box.
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#178The 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...
(You can’t mlock every single code page possibly executed by the thread for instance.)
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#179The 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...
Apple isn't 'embarrassed' by bugs at all - only if those bugs result in widespread public attention. Filing 100s of extremely detailed bug reports on their 'feedback assistant' will do less to change anything than one trending twitter post or news coverage.
Plus it gives you burnout. Rely on the system logs to have enough detail.
Re: Apple has not fixed the macOS audio left/right balance bug for nearly 10 years
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why should they? Are these people going to abandon their Macs because of these bugs? Obviously not, so why should Apple spend any money at all fixing them?
In the Jobs years it was because the person at the tob intrinsically gave a shit about making a good thing. But you're right, it certainly seems that's the kind of game Cook is playing. Better than Windows, but no better, and keep the extra money.