Mac Audio Balance Bug That Apple Knew About 12 Years Ago Still Exists

[DanteHicks79]

My MacStudio (and prior, my Mac mini) is plugged into a Mackie 1402 VLZ, which runs into an amp and then out to monitor speakers, and every now and then, audio from YouTube videos just drops from one channel or the other.

I thought one of the inputs on my mixer was dying - glad to know this isn't isolated to just me.

 

[k1121j]

I haven't run into this bug, but I still deal with iCloud mail not refreshing among devices. This goes back to the MobileMe days and every couple years I bring it up with Apple and they just shrug it off.

Don't get me going... Still have two apple ID's one for iCloud (me) and another for apps purchases etc. its so annoying Problem that Apple created and has no plans to fix.

 

[BC2009]

I never noticed this bug until the first gen AirPods came out and I started using AirPods all the time with my Mac. Harder to tell when using the Thunderbolt Display speakers or maybe the use of AirPods triggers it to happen more often. I definitely use that work-around app to keep the audio centered.

On another topic, what is really the use of left/right balance except to check if a speaker is functioning without sound from the other speaker getting in the way? I am curious how many people put the balance anywhere but center. In my car, I definitely make use of the front/rear fader when the kids in the back seat want louder music and my wife and I want to have a conversation in the front seat, but I never put the balance anywhere but center on my MacBook or in the car.

 

[bejib66000]

Apple: "It's just works."
Reality: "... until it doesn't!"

 

[Jumpthesnark]

I haven't noticed this, whether on work Macs or personal laptops or iMacs, over the past years through all the OS updates during that time. Whether listening to music or other audio (from streamed services, movies, etc.), I never saw this. Also I stream audio from my laptop using Audio Hijack usually for 3-4 hours a week, every week, and I listen to it over my iMac, and I haven't noticed it using that setup either. This item is the first I've heard of this bug.

None of that is to say it doesn't exist or it's unimportant, because clearly this bug has existed for years and it must be frustrating for people who are experiencing it.

 

[Emmanuel.th]

I moved from Windows because of the bugs, but after using Macs, I think Macs have more bugs than Windows. It's a small bug but it's very annoying for users like me. I wonder why so many people don't encounter the bug? Because they only use one desktop page not change any Setting maybe they never open Setting. and minimize the window to the dock If they try to switch to multiple desktops or use Stage Manager, you'll run into more bugs. The app's pop-up tool window It is not minimize. Or you can switch to full screen and turn on split screen. You will encounter another bug. Safari translate not translate all page. Windows focusing bug. Widget bug. Show desktop icon bug.

I've learned that many functions haven't been improved since their release. New versions of macOS just superimpose features on top of them. But the existing functions have never been improved. I've been seeing the same Sticky Notes and many things not improve since the '90s.

PS. All bugs I have reported.

 

[MilaM]

Using USB peripherals with Macs is a lottery. I have encoutered serious problems with:

Uninteruptible Power Supplies => random problems with Mac not waking up from sleep, needs hard reboot
External Soudcards => cracking sound, works with Linux
USB Hard Drives or SSDs => no TRIM or SMART, slow USB connection

Maybe the grass is not greener in Windowsland. But Linux support is better in my experience.

 

[t0rqx]

It‘s just a tip of the iceburg. There are especially search bugs still haven’t been fixed on Apple Notes.

Not even mentioning that the new Macbook Pros since the M1 come with small microscratches out of the box. Nobody inspects it but all have a scratched screen. Something that should be easily fixed.

 

[ctjrock]

This happened to me during a presentation to a large number of people and I could not figure out why I was only getting sound out of one speaker. Very frustrating.

 

[lostless]

Happens to me with some USB audio devices. With others, it’s fine. No idea why. There’s also a weird bug where all the audio plays too fast after wake from sleep… occasionally

That’s a sample rate issue. It happens all the time working with logic. As it has direct control over the sample rates, separate from the OS, and sometimes leaves devices set a different setting than the OS sending. Somehow your computer is sending one sample and your device is set to another. Go to the audio midi app and change the sample rate of your device and may fix it once you sync on the correct sample rate, or it may just reset it.

 

[toobravetosave]

I use Boom 3D, which was an impulse purchase as soon as got my first Mac (M1 MBP). That app has per app volume control. It costs about 13 USD. I'm pretty sure there are several other apps that do the same. Background Music (free) and Sound control are some of them. So, if they are able to do that, then Apple should be technically able to do it. So, why they have not done it is not clear. Maybe they want to get a 30% cut from them?

just wanted to say thank you I am now running background music 👍

 

[spillled typos]

I'm a victim of this one. I remember it used to happen regularly. Not so much these days, maybe only once a year?

 

[ethanwa79]

As a former software QA Manager, who now owns and run a software company, I have the following to say:

1. It hasn’t been fixed because the criticality is low and the rarity is high.

2. For this to still exist from the richest company in the world though is inexcusable.

I promise you most of the engineers at Apple would like this fixed. It’s what they do… build great things. The reason it hasn’t is from management. They want to move and build faster than the engineers can keep up.

Walking that fine line is what every software company struggles with. Speed to market vs Quality of product.

 

[hans1972]

Well, that's Apple for ya today.
If not enough people complain, they don't give two cents about it.

It's Apple the last 20 years or 30 years.

No large software organisation has a goal to fix all bugs. It's usually the opposite: Fix as few bugs as possible.

 

[hans1972]

Even if it's a rare bug that only affects a small percentage of people in certain situations there is no excuse for letting it exist this long.

Yes, there is.

These reasons are exactly why software development organisations decides not to fix certain bugs, ever!

 

[lkrupp]

All this is is an ad for the developer of that app. I’ve been using Macs since the PowerMac 8100 and have never run into this so-called bug.

 

[boss.king]

I used to encounter this almost weekly back around 2014-2016. I reported the issue so many times, and when I stopped experiencing it I was sure they must have finally fixed it. Disappointing to hear they still haven’t done anything about it.

 

[marstan]

I don’t remember this bug but I do remember the random white noise blast bug in Logic. Fortunately they fixed that one because it could do permanent damage to your hearing.

Hmmm…increasingly thinking of Linux these days.

 

[hans1972]

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.

It's the opposite. The longer the bug has persisted there is even less reasons to fix it.

If something has existed for 10 years, either not enough user's care, have stopped using the software or have found a workaround.

20-year old bugs will not get fixed unless there is very heavy pressure on the software development organisation.

 

[basehead617]

I have never experienced this bug and work in audio for my job.

 

[TracerAnalog]

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."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1757669861377949930

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

Holy beach balls Batman! I thought I was having a hearing problem now and then… never expected the Mac to be the problem. I’m going to test this tomorrow.

 

[headlessmike]

Does this affect digital out ? I've been using Macs since about 2011 and I've never experienced this bug, but I'm always using digital out to an amp/wired speakers. Although from skimming seems people mention AirPods , so perhaps it does. Also when it drifts is it a hard left/right drift or somewhere in between ?

It’s a very random bug that’s been around for more than 20 years. I’ve gone years without experiencing it, but other times it’s reappeared only days later. The level of drift is also pretty random. Sometime fully panned to one side, sometime it’s barely noticeable. It seems to affect any output source as well.

 

[jaster2]

This bug was an everyday nuisance for me some time ago. 2012 sounds likely to be around that time. Whenever it was, there was a lot of chatter about it and as I recall, Apple did fix it. I haven't had the issue reappear since that time and have gone through a variety of Mac systems and OS updates. I work with audio production on my Mac every day (often with wired headphones) so I'm sure I would have noticed this popping up again. Really surprised to read here that it's still an issue.

 

[reyesmac]

this sound bug has as much priority as updating the apps they ported from next. They don’t bother. They don’t care.

 

[Silverado]

You don’t understand. Apple has been working hard to fix this problem! The problem happens “… while the computer's microprocessor is under heavy load”. Apple is fixing the problem by making their own faster and faster M series processors, making it harder and harder to put the microprocessor under heavy load!