robbennion

Q: Audio popping and crackling problems across the board with Mavericks

I have a mid-2012 Macbook air. 

 

Is anyone else having popping and crackling issues with Audio after upgrading to Mavericks? (I have read through various discussions but haven't seen this particular issue)  Note: popping and crackling is not present when playing audio with Quicktime.

 

Audio is popping and crackling.  I'm a musician and DJ and this is terribly impacting my business . . . This includes when played on Youtube, in iTunes, on Djay, Serato DJ, flash, any audio.

 

It doesn't matter is I am playing audio through a USB mixer, through headphones, internal speakers, audio jack to speakers, DJ console.  All of the above snap crackle and pop.  I have tried the following:

 

1. Turing off wifi

2. Restarting

3. removing playlist files (.plst) from /Library/Preferences/Audio

4. shutting down all unused applications

 

I sure hope there's a new update coming out soon . . . any ideas?

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9), DJay, Serato, iTunes

Posted on Nov 5, 2013 10:55 AM

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Q: Audio popping and crackling problems across the board with Mavericks

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  • by kgale,

    kgale kgale Mar 31, 2014 2:33 PM in response to robbennion
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    Mar 31, 2014 2:33 PM in response to robbennion

    I am having the same issue -- brand new MacBook Air. Sometimes it plays fine but more often the crackling and distortion begin and it continues to deteriorate no matter the volume level. Checked the headphones separately, no problem. Checked the audio files, they play fine from the phone. Playing the same audio files from the Air will sometimes degenerate with the crackling and distortion that sounds similar to when a pre-amp is overdriven. 

  • by bennyrobs,

    bennyrobs bennyrobs Apr 1, 2014 12:57 AM in response to bennyrobs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2014 12:57 AM in response to bennyrobs

    PRAM reset worked for me, see http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405 for instructions

  • by kgale,

    kgale kgale Apr 1, 2014 6:26 AM in response to bennyrobs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2014 6:26 AM in response to bennyrobs

    Thanks for the tip but this unfortunately did not work for me. I haven't noticed any difference in behavior.

  • by Questionable Sanity,

    Questionable Sanity Questionable Sanity Apr 1, 2014 9:30 AM in response to kgale
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 1, 2014 9:30 AM in response to kgale

    kgale - and you tried using Audio MIDI Setup app as well? I found it worked, and then every so often I have to go back in and do it again. Still waiting for Apple to fix this one.

  • by kgale,

    kgale kgale Apr 2, 2014 1:20 PM in response to Questionable Sanity
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2014 1:20 PM in response to Questionable Sanity

    Questionable Sanity - At first it didn't work but it seems to be working having switched from 2ch-24 Integer to 2ch-32bit float for some reason. Thanks!

  • by ACPurdy,

    ACPurdy ACPurdy Apr 6, 2014 1:30 AM in response to robbennion
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    Apr 6, 2014 1:30 AM in response to robbennion

    The crackily audio issue seems to have something to do with the built-in QT player in Mavericks.

     

    I am getting crackling audio when playing, for example, mp4 files with QuickTime Player 10.3 (727.3).

     

    However, when playing back the same file with QuickTime Player 7 (Version 7.6.6 (1709)) the audio/video plays absolutely fine with no audio crackling.

     

    Download here: http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL923/en_US/QuickTimePlayer7.6.6_SnowLeopard. dmg

  • by Questionable Sanity,

    Questionable Sanity Questionable Sanity Apr 6, 2014 9:41 AM in response to ACPurdy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 6, 2014 9:41 AM in response to ACPurdy

    The system wide audio issues that people are having seems to be linked to the system changing the default source rate of the midi playback - in my case, it changes the hrtz to a lower setting, and I have to reset it back to 48000. The QT only problem has been covered in other threads.

  • by kgale,

    kgale kgale Apr 13, 2014 11:03 AM in response to Questionable Sanity
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 13, 2014 11:03 AM in response to Questionable Sanity

    I'm just reporting back that my previous report of success was premature. Bit rate and integer / floating point vlaue changes didn't make a difference in the end. I was faked out by the fact that changes sometimes seem to work briefly but not permanently. This is a serious bummer that so much music purchased from iTunes is rendered practically unplayable from the laptop. I've given up and only play back from my iPhone now. Perhaps there will be a fix in the next major OS release. 

  • by jimzz,

    jimzz jimzz Apr 13, 2014 3:51 PM in response to robbennion
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 13, 2014 3:51 PM in response to robbennion

    I had to do internet recovery to get to 10.9.1

    problems gone.

  • by mamadeo,

    mamadeo mamadeo Apr 19, 2014 1:45 AM in response to robbennion
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    Apr 19, 2014 1:45 AM in response to robbennion

    Had the same issue... tried all of the above suggestions, nothing worked... until I did Internet Restore (10.9.2 re-installed itself), problems gone... let's hope it lasts!!!

  • by mamadeo,

    mamadeo mamadeo Apr 20, 2014 12:41 PM in response to robbennion
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    Apr 20, 2014 12:41 PM in response to robbennion

    MAMADEO UPDATE: !! - AFTER WORKING FOR A WHILE (AN HOUR OR SO), I SHUT DOWN... AND NOW THE PROBLEM HAS RETURNED - AFTER ONE SHUT-DOWN OVERNIGHT, AND REBOOT THIS MORNING - SAME OLD STATIC - SO, NOT CLEAR YET IF THE SHUT-DOWN MADE THE PROBLEM RECUR, OR JUST SOME AMOUNT OF PASSED TIME... YOU GET THE IDEA...

     

    NEXT STEP ON MY PART - 1) ANOTHER INTERNET RESTORE, TO SEE IF IT ONCE AGAIN FIXES THE ISSUE, AND 2) IF IT DOES, WILL LET MY MACHINE RUN, AND SEE IF IT RECURS ANYWAY -

     

    WHY DOESN'T APPLE ADDRESS THIS ISSUE??!! $200 DOWN THE DRAIN, THANK YOU (NOT!)

     

    P.S. ANOTHER CTL-OPT-P-R DID NOT HELP... NOTHING HAS... MOVING ON TO INT. RESTORE..AGAIN...

  • by Questionable Sanity,

    Questionable Sanity Questionable Sanity Apr 20, 2014 12:41 PM in response to mamadeo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 20, 2014 12:41 PM in response to mamadeo

    Have you tried opening up Audio Media Setup, clicking on your sound card (so buit-in output or your USB card if you have one, then check the format... if it's not 48000.0Hz, change it to that. I find my computer every so often after restart changes that back to 32000 which causes the popping and distortion.

  • by mamadeo,

    mamadeo mamadeo Apr 20, 2014 1:07 PM in response to robbennion
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 20, 2014 1:07 PM in response to robbennion

    Does not help - should a reboot also be necessary? I would think not... but no, this did not help -

    FYI I'm using an external EDIROL UA-20 - worked fine when plugged into a friend's (non-10.9.2)Mac Air - and on my machine as well, until this dang OS upgrade...

  • by Questionable Sanity,

    Questionable Sanity Questionable Sanity Apr 20, 2014 1:10 PM in response to mamadeo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 20, 2014 1:10 PM in response to mamadeo

    No. You should be able to make the change on the specific sound card, and it should be instantaneous. I've had YouTube videos paused that were making the popping noises and making the swap in midi fixed it without even having to reload the video.

  • by gubenhinden,

    gubenhinden gubenhinden Jun 6, 2014 12:35 PM in response to robbennion
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2014 12:35 PM in response to robbennion

    I'm experiencing the same issue for a while now.

     

    if I do nothing except playing music through itunes, its fine, but as soon as I use another programm like safari and starts cracking like ****. same goes for youtube, other audio programs like ableton live or pro tools with NI Audio 8 DJ... its super annyoing! none of the above solutions helped... feels like im working on a 20 year old computer who cant handle playing music!

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