Crackling/popping noises when playing music on iMac.

The correct workaround, as already mentioned earlier in this thread, is to open Terminal and enter the following command

sudo killall coreaudiod

(you will be prompted for the administrator password - this is usually the same as your account)

You must then restart any previously application that was using the audio service (e.g. web browsers, itunes etc)

The best explanation I've seen for why this happens (in another thread, cant find it now) is that when macOS system resources are pushed too far to their limits (e.g. RAM) coreaudio runs out of memory and begins bugging out. Restarting the daemon basically gives it a fresh start.

@bonnald,

sudo killall coreaudiod

this should be the accepted answer! Thank you. This resolved this issue for me on M1 MBP (my issue was noticed with apple music).

Cheers!

I had this issue on a new Macbook Air 2024 (M3). For me, it turned out to be an intel app (Spotify). When I replaced it with the version for the M3 chip, the popping stopped.

The Configure Speakers thing is not in the Sound section of System Settings in Sonoma. You have to open the Audio MIDI Setup app in your Utilities folder. All Configure Speakers does is allow you to reverse your speakers. Some people have had luck with eliminating the popping by changing the Format frequency in this app to 88,200 Hz instead of the two lower numbers. I have no clue why that would work, however.

Have you guys tried sudo killall coreaudiod? That worked for me with AIVA

check to make sure mono audio is off which may cause audio problems. also check the enhancer settings. higher can cause the speakers to rattle. also are the speakers in good condition, check the drivers for any dry rot or cone rips which may have been causing the crackling

I agree, this is a really frustrating issue. Bought this Pro last year and it really should be fine.

For people looking for a quick fix (albeit an imperfect solution) when I altered the speaker balance to 100% left speaker in System Preferences it seemed to reduce the frequency of the crackling sounds. Honestly, at first I thought they were totally gone, but alas!

try changing the audio settings. if some settings are too high or low, it may cause the drivers to create feedback. check the settings or sometimes they say, try restarting the device. if none of that worked it may just be the audio file, the audio file has low quality or the devices speaker is damaged.

Absolutely - I just selected a video on YouTube on Chrome which played flawlessly. I then played the exact same video using Safari and....plenty of pops, clicks and so on. No other apps open, no changes to any audio settings, just played the same video in two separate browsers and the Safari playback had clicks and pops aplenty and the Chrome one didn't.

I have the same audio crackling problem for the past 2-3 weeks with my M1 Macbook pro 16" (bought around 2021-22) after i upgraded to Sonoma (not sure if that's the source of problem, though).

I used to do music on this mac and my friend told me to try checking on the Sonnox ListenHub I previously installed. Then when I open it (I guess it was installed long ago but I have not used it properly), all of a sudden, the crackling sound goes away whenever I play any audio again. I guess my situation might be unique because not everyone use Sonnox software. But I still want to share in case this helps someone.

Imaxian

I had the same problem streaming Netflix on Safari. Tried it on Firefox and problem solved. So it’s an issue somewhere cause when using Safari. Not tried other browsers.

Don't know how or why but can confirm that raising the format frequency fixed it for me

I'm also having the same issue, particularly bad when streaming on Safari. I'm just using the internal speakers on the Macbook Air (2024). I'm an Audio Professional, if this was happening in Ableton or any other DAW I'd say it relates to processor overload or buffer issues with my playback device but I'm literally streaming a single low res stereo audio stream on Safari with almost nothing else going on in the computer, it's hard to see where the issue is coming from.

I'm following your steps in System Preferences, but after I select built-in speakers, I don't see a "Configure Speakers" button anywhere. Has it changed recently? Is there another way to configure them?

14.06.2024

From now I have the same issue on MacBook Pro M1.

As it requested to do update to macOS Sonoma 14.5, I did it but with no result.

Shame on Apple to have such an issue after awesome WWDC24!