Caldigit TS4 audio balance shifts to left

Question

Level 1

6 points

Caldigit TS4 audio balance shifts to left

My setup: MacBook M1 Pro (16 inch, 2021) with macOS Monterey. And a TS4 connected via official TB cable.

There are some forum threads online (such as closed thread: Audio balance shifts - Apple Community) that describe the exact same problem.

- The audio balance of the CalDigit TS Audio - Rear is centred before disconnecting.

- When disconnecting the TS4 from the MB, the audio balance on the MB speakers is centred.

- When connecting the TS4 to the MB, as soon the audio switches from the MB speakers to the CalDigit TS Audio - Rear, the balance always shifts to the left. The amount of the shift seems to vary each time.

- Very often, not always, when manually shifting the balance back to the centre again in the Sound Preference Panel, the volume of the speaker on the right channel is much louder than the speaker on the left. Only after lowering the Output volume, the speaker on the right is jumping back to the same volume as the left speaker is on.

I cannot upload a 'mov' file, but I can reproduce the problem and have a recording of it.

I don’t need to mention, this is a very annoying issue, because it requires me to open the Sound Preferences panel every time to manually adjust it back to centred balance again.

Does anyone know a solution?

Thanks.

Dimitry

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Jul 25, 2022 8:00 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

dim21 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 27, 2022 2:27 AM in response to faith185

Hi,

I tried in safe mode, but this doesn't make any difference.

I’m wondering how an analoge connection would communicate with the TS4, telling it to shift the balance to the left?

But anyway, I have a headset that I connected to the rear audio connection. The same problem occurs. The balance is shifting to the left.

The thing I hadn’t tried before: connecting to the front audio connector. Both the speaker set and the headset, do NOT cause to shift the balance at all. Thus, not a problem when connecting to the front audio.

The problem really isolates to the rear audio connection, with different audio devices connected to it.

Again, it doesn’t make any difference if I plug in the official CalDigit Thunderbold cable in de MB with the speakers already connected, or if I plug in the 3,5 inch jack into the rear audio connection on the TS4 to connect the speakers or headset. As soon the new audio output device is detected, the problem occurs.

Thanks.

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Answer 2

faith185

Community Specialist

Jul 26, 2022 11:31 AM in response to dim21

Hi dim21,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. It sounds like this may be isolated to the third-party speaker. Does this happen if you connect to another audio device or are only using your internal speakers? If so, testing another cable or connection may help.

Next, test in safe mode to see if the same happens there. Since safe mode prevents some software from starting up, that can give you further info on where the issue occurs. Use the guidance from How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support to access and use the results of safe mode to continue.

Kind regards.

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Answer 3

chuckbl

Community Specialist

Jul 27, 2022 7:46 AM in response to dim21

dim21,

Testing in safe mode was a great way to rule out any conflicts with startup items.

Since this is only occurring with the rear connections and not the front, this would be isolated to your CalDigit TS4. So you would want to reach out to them: Support - CalDigit They'd be in the best position to assist with troubleshooting their particular device.

Take care.

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