It was fixed for me in Sonoma. I also had to use balance lock before.
I was very surprised that Apple fixed it. Apparently, not for everybody.
I was very surprised that Apple fixed it. Apparently, not for everybody.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac Audio Balance Bug That Apple Knew About 12 Years Ago Still Exists
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's sad and drives me crazy. Random right channel audio only when 3.5mm Audio out. No matter which usb-c to 3.5mm adapter, I have 4 different manufacturers and all have the same issue. There is even an app for this bug called "Balance Lock" by Tunabelly Software in Mac App Store. It monitors audio balance and resets it to center when the bug occurs.
Sometimes I wonder if there are any sane people at Apples Software Management.
Even my first Mac mini 2009 had broken optical audio out for years! I am mad at Apple for its many bugs unfixed. There are a ton of other years old bugs in Apples own support forums.
Sometimes I wonder if there are any sane people at Apples Software Management.
Even my first Mac mini 2009 had broken optical audio out for years! I am mad at Apple for its many bugs unfixed. There are a ton of other years old bugs in Apples own support forums.
Last edited:
What would you say? Apple software product are not best of breed, have tons of bugs, and no one seems to care. That comes from the top.
This is fascinating to learn about. I've been doing audio production on a mac for 20 years and have never encountered this problem or knew it existed.
“ it just WORKS “ “ you’re goNNA LOve it.
Apple has still not fixed a bug in macOS that causes the audio balance to drift on Macs under certain conditions, despite having acknowledged the issue 12 years ago.
A developer named Fabian highlighted the problem today in a post on X (formerly Twitter), claiming that Apple "still has not fixed the audio left/right balance bug in macOS. I still have to use an app to fix it automatically. The app is from 2015, that means we are approaching the 10 year anniversary [of the bug]."
Balance Lock is the app in question, a free download available from Tunabelly Software. The bug's continuing existence was corroborated by other users who responded to the X post and commented on it over on Hacker News. However, it seems as though the issue has persisted for even longer than Fabian initially supposed.
Writing in 2013 on Stack Exchange, one user claimed to have experienced the same bug on multiple Macs going back to 2003. Whether or not that is the case, what we do know is that Apple acknowledged the bug on February 12, 2012 in a Mac OS X 10.2 support document, which is no longer on Apple's website but retrievable via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. In it Apple states:
To rectify the problem, Apple advises users to open the Sound panel in System Preferences (now System Settings) and "Drag the audio balance slider to the desired position."
Given Apple's advice at the time, it sounds like the company had not been able to come up with a proper fix when the support document was published, which begs the question as to whether it still has no solution to the bug, and that is why the company has let it remain in successive versions of Mac OS X and macOS up to this day.
Have you experienced the audio balance drifting on your Mac? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: Mac Audio Balance Bug That Apple Knew About 12 Years Ago Still Exists
I've used audio on the mac many hours a day (music) for what seems forever (decades) and have yet to encounter this bug...
With that in mind, Steve Jobs should've been ousted years before his passing, because this bug existed for 9 years under him.
My guess is that with the new media attention, which Cook does understand, it will get fixed. That is how Apple works.
yeah same, mine went all the way to one side and I thought one of my AirPods stopped working.
You are literally commenting on an article about a bug that has existed for 22 years at minimum.
22 years ago, Tim wasn’t the CEO. He wasn’t even the COO. He hadn’t even been at the company five years.
Focal site... https://www.focal.com/en/focal-teach/faq-bathys
Why, when using a MacBook, do I have different levels on the left and right channels?
It is a known issue when using a MacBook that there is an audio imbalance. To avoid this issue, you can download ‘Balance Lock’ for free from the App store. If you would prefer to correct the balance manually then you can access the channel levels in ‘Audio MIDI Settings’.
There is no information, only speculation, that the bug existed under Jobs. The bug was confirmed in 2012, after Jobs death.
Today? This bug has existed for about 22 years, under your beloved Steve Jobs, the king of the ever-so-ergonomic hockey puck mouse, MobileMe, and antennagate.
I thought one of my Harman Kardon Sound Stick speaker cables was broken because of this bug. Only when I used a pair of wired headphones, did I realise it wasn't just the speakers, which led to further troubleshooting, but not before I had dismantled my subwoofer to check for loose connections. 😵
It would be nice to be able to use £2,000 + Apple hardware without this sort of rubbish really, but we are where we are, I guess. 🥴
I am commenting on a trend that this bug exemplifies. That trend was very less prevalent 22 years ago and it very much more prevalent today. And the only conformation that Apple knew about the bug is after Jobs death, while Cook is CEO.
…on macOS version 10.2, which was last updated in 2003.
Interesting leaving that out… also all of the people on this thread who have said they’ve experienced it in 2005, 2007, someone said they had a 2009 Mac mini that had this issue, and so on…
Sure, you might not prioritize an issue like this in any given release. But after 10+ years, this becomes a poor excuse for failing to fix an admittedly rare, but still potentially high impact issue.
Imagine you’re a professional audio engineer using macOS who ends up having to remix an entire production due to a stupid, “low impact” bug like this. macOS is heavily marketed to creatives. It needs to actually work reliably for the job.
You are literally contradicting yourself in the same comment.
Even if it was less prominent 22 years ago, that’s still implies that it existed 22 years ago. And if it did, that does not change the fact that Tim was not the CEO.
And even as the CEO, he probably has very little input into bug fixes.
I mean more than just the cosmetics. They kept the functionality. I don’t mind changing the window dressing as long as the curtains still work properly, so to speak. But somewhere along the way form overtook function in both the software and hardware.
Nostalgia is a powerful force, it’s true. But I hope in fifteen years no one looks back fondly, I hope there’s a renewed focus on functionality and information density. This all controls hidden, information only available on hover, pop up in your face all the time design paradigm has been around for a while now, hopefully people are tired of it and want something fresh and new like, you know, buttons.