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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

#211

Post by soundnote »

jwells89 wrote: post #156
soundnote wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from MS's obsessive Bing pushing, I'd say Windows is easily better than macOS. Explorer beats Finder, PWA/Chrome profile support is nicer, window manager is better, archives are handled natively, touchpad gestures for eg. virtual desktops on small laptops are competitive. With a normal mouse, middle click for eg. hold to drag just isn't supported. The natural scroll settings for mouse and trackpad are bound, wh…

A lot of that is subjective. For me for example, Explorer vs. Finder is mostly a wash with Finder edging out Explorer in a few ways (e.g. toggling hidden file visibility with the key shortcut ⌘⇧. instead of having to dive into settings), and Windows window management is grating to the point that I have to keep a hard low limit on the number of programs open to get anything done under it. Archives are handled natively…

How do you manage your windows on macOS?

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

#212

Post by naveen_k »

fotta wrote: post #127
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

Try changing the number of icons (Customize Top Level Menu) on the AssistiveTouch to anything other than the default six before your next os update. It’ll reset to the default layout.

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

#213

Post by xanderlewis »

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…

If you’re using an external DAC (not just plugging in directly) I think that’ll be why you haven’t experienced it.

I used to produce a lot of music on my MacBook about 7 years ago and remember having the same thing (probably when I used to be just working on headphones straight in). I used to think one of the drivers was blown, only to (eventually, after some frustration) find that the audio was panned hard left (or right?) systemwide from the settings, and could be fixed with a single click. Never knew it was such a widely-known bug…

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

#214

Post by xanderlewis »

SCdF wrote: post #206
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…

From my experience it's not really an audio bug, it's a bluetooth one. (though reading other people's comments it also happens over USB as well?) Basically, there are lots of weird race conditions and oddities in how they deal with communicating and syncing volume between the system and the bluetooth device. This can manifest in your system volume saying one thing and your bluetooth device outputting at a different v…

I used to get this and never used Bluetooth audio.

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

#216

Post by apelapan »

soundnote wrote: post #211
jwells89 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of that is subjective. For me for example, Explorer vs. Finder is mostly a wash with Finder edging out Explorer in a few ways (e.g. toggling hidden file visibility with the key shortcut ⌘⇧. instead of having to dive into settings), and Windows window management is grating to the point that I have to keep a hard low limit on the number of programs open to get anything done under it. Archives are handled natively…

How do you manage your windows on macOS?

Rectangle.app of course! The native window management features in MacOS are Windows XP-level-crappy.

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

#217

Post by pier25 »

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've been using Macs for audio work since 2007 and never experienced these issues. Currently using a Motu M4 but I've used probably a dozen audio interfaces plus the built-in ones.

Could this be an electrical issue?

Are you bus powering your interfaces?

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

#218

Post by jwells89 »

soundnote wrote: post #211
jwells89 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of that is subjective. For me for example, Explorer vs. Finder is mostly a wash with Finder edging out Explorer in a few ways (e.g. toggling hidden file visibility with the key shortcut ⌘⇧. instead of having to dive into settings), and Windows window management is grating to the point that I have to keep a hard low limit on the number of programs open to get anything done under it. Archives are handled natively…

How do you manage your windows on macOS?

Most of the time, I don’t. It sounds silly but macOS window management works best when you don’t micromanage and just let windows pile up at whichever size fits their content, kind of like papers on a desk. Instead I group windows by virtual desktop (space) on two monitors, switching out virtual desktops to mix and match sets of windows. Individual windows are rarely moved or resized.

On the odd occasion I need tiling (which isn’t often) I use Moom[0] because it’s extremely non-intrusive (no easily accidentally triggered animations like Aero Snap) and lets you specify to leave a gap of a few pixels between windows and screen edges which looks nice.

[0]: https://manytricks.com/moom/

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

#219

Post by nlunbeck »

gexaha wrote: post #34

Wow, I always thought that it could be just my personal hearing issues, never could properly google the issue

I always thought my earbuds were wearing out unevenly, which may also be the case, but this is good to check up on every few months

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

#220

Post by soundnote »

jwells89 wrote: post #218
soundnote wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you manage your windows on macOS?

Most of the time, I don’t. It sounds silly but macOS window management works best when you don’t micromanage and just let windows pile up at whichever size fits their content, kind of like papers on a desk. Instead I group windows by virtual desktop (space) on two monitors, switching out virtual desktops to mix and match sets of windows. Individual windows are rarely moved or resized. On the odd occasion I need tilin…

Yeah, I've mostly ended up using a bunch of virtual desktops on the Mac too, and it's nice and convenient. Thing is, though, once I got into that habit on the Mac (because everything I was used to sucked ass), I tried it on Windows and it works just as well. It's less that you can't get a nice windowing setup on macOS, more that the competition offers the same, and more (esp. in KDE 6's case, much, much more)
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