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Macbook 2015 Mojave - Audio Playback Issue (Dropouts)

Hi,


i'm using a Macbook Pro 2015 with Mojave 10.14.6 and I'm experiencing some strange sound errors.


While playing audio with an external sound card form any source (spotify desktop, chrome, youtube, ableton) the playback randomly drops out. Sometimes it's only a crack noise than in other cases its a broken for seconds. It's more likely to occur when I have some apps running but even with only one app I can still happen.


I've tried different cables, different ports (thunderbolt 2, usb) , its all the same.

When I use it with different sound cards the crack sound may differ a bit (bleeps and cracks noises).


I'm monitoring the Activity monitor while this occurs and it may occours more often while there is some heavier CPU usage.


Anyway the system parameters are:

3,1 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3


Thanks for any help.


Posted on Apr 30, 2020 3:10 PM

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Posted on May 1, 2020 11:27 AM

Thanks for the video. I can hear it clearly. It seems more than a drop. Almost loosing sync.


There are many reports of similar problems with recent Macs but I don't think it is your case.


Putting aside a hardware problem, You can try to reset the SMC and the PRAM: How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support.


Also, get and run Etrecheck and post the report here. Search Etrecheck in the Mac App Store.


WD

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 1, 2020 11:27 AM in response to gergo274

Thanks for the video. I can hear it clearly. It seems more than a drop. Almost loosing sync.


There are many reports of similar problems with recent Macs but I don't think it is your case.


Putting aside a hardware problem, You can try to reset the SMC and the PRAM: How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support.


Also, get and run Etrecheck and post the report here. Search Etrecheck in the Mac App Store.


WD

May 1, 2020 7:10 AM in response to Wilddrums

It happens with both of my audio interfaces (UAD Apollo Twin via thunderbolt 2 and Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 via usb).

Here's a video of it while using the Apollo interface: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lJaNFjxWRU.


Thru different sound cards the issue sounds different too.


It occurs while using the built-in output too.

It doesn't go away when I deactivate Bluetooth and wifi.


I use everything set on 44100 Hz and 24 bit.


I honestly don't remember any points when I started recognise it although It feels like it's getting worse and worse over time.


Thanks for taking your time.




Macbook 2015 Mojave - Audio Playback Issue (Dropouts)

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