Audio glitches on Mac after macOS Tahoe update

As I posted here last night, I am having what seems to be the same issue (under Tahoe 26.5.1), though with different apps running that trigger the audio degradation - mine are either Apple's Music.app or music notation software (Dorico Pro).

I streamed the audio logs using your shell command and can confirm two of your three error messages: I see usbaudiod: [<private>] current microframe timestamp calcError repeatedly, and coreaudiod: (libAudioIssueDetector.dylib) [com.apple.coreaudio:aid] occasionally - on one short run using Dorico Pro in which the audio began to degrade almost immediately, it occurred exactly once, though numerous instances of the other error were logged in that short time.

That leads me to suspect that either our problems are unrelated (this I think less likely) or that your HALS_OverloadMessage: Overload events are caused by something else and might even be unrelated to the audio issues. I believe you yourself wrote that those messages were also emitted at times when no distortion was noticeable.

I will also add that the usbaudiod errors are logged even at times when no distortion is evident - but as far as I can tell, the coreaudiod issue detection messages occur only when the degradation is occurring - and they are not frequent.

Unless the thread sorting is messed up here, you haven't posted to this thread in over 6 months. Are you still having the issue? Did you ever follow up with Apple?

Same problem here, after updating to Tahoe, closing Xcode and iOS simulator stoped the issue... but no matter what solution it always comes back. I hope they release an update soon.

This solution in reddit fixed my problem Permanent fix MacOs Tahoe Crackling sound !

I was having a similar problem with Ms Teams, some random white noise glitches were happening during the meetings. It seems like closing the simulator fixed the issue. Thanks!!

danyisdany wrote:

I'm having audio glitches even under the device is underload a little bit just a little bit and I don't know how to fix that thing. It happens just after the macOs Tahoe update. I didn't have any problems in previous Os.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Audio Glitches

re: Audio glitches

Did you try making changes reducing the Hz and compare your results(?)

Yes, I have a set of JBL Pebbles USB speakers connected to an OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock for my laptop when I'm at work. The sound is okay for a little bit, but over time (whether I use it or not), it starts getting staticky and garbled and distorted. If I unplug the speakers and re-attach them, that countdown to noise restarts, but it invariably gets back to unusable.

I'm also having tons of Apple Music issues after upgrading to Mac OS 26 Tahoe. All the volume levels of my songs are everywhere, even in the same album, some are very loud and some I can barely hear. Also, some songs have began to "crackle", songs that I bought on Apple Music and have downloaded.

I've tried clearing the Apple Music cache in the Library folder. I've tried running -sudo killall coreaudiod. I have deleted all the song and re-imported them all and the issues still linger.

This did not happen before OS 26 Tahoe.

MacBook Pro M4 16-inch.

I have now updated to the latest 26.1 version. However, the audio distortion persists. I've noticed a pattern: whenever sound is playing, pressing the trackpad triggers the distortion. Additionally, when launching the simulator via Xcode, music is also disrupted by audio output interference triggered by "trackpad events" → resulting in distortion and crackling noises.

All sorts of odd behavior on microphones - either MacBook or Airpod Pro v2. Especially with using Chat GPT native app. Works fine in Safari browser. Have used sudo pkill coreaudiod which causes ChatGPT sometimes to crash if it was open when I ran the terminal command.

Hard to pin down. Do not have iPhone simulator on All since Tahoe. Still having issues on Tahoe 26.1.

submitted bug report on Apple support page.

I have four Macs that have been updated to Tahoe 26.2. Only one has this issue.

In my case the Mac mini with M1 chip has exhibited issues with the Music app launching spontaneously.

That seems to have abaited. But recently I have been seeing notice banners about sound settings. What

appears to be happening is that the sound level (volume) is being set arbitrarily in the background. Mostly

it is being turned up. That appears to generate the events that cause the banner to show and then go away.

But less that a second or so latter it shows up again. If I open the sound setting preference from the menu

bar along the top and let it stay opened I can see the sound level changing on its own.

So I don't know if this is the same issue this is about. But I have the mini with M1 (the one with the issue),

and Macbook Pro with an intel chip from around 2022, an iMac from 2025, and another Macbook pro with

an M3 chip (that was purchased as a refurbished unit). Again only the mini has the issue.

I do have both a wireless track pad and mouse that connect via bluetooth. I have been disconnecting them

and there appears to be no difference.

So is this the same issue, or close enough?

I just had a thought: I have Zoom installed. I deleted it on the M1. That did not solve the issue. But I did attend a

Zoom hosted gathering and noticed that the sound level was being arbirarily turned DOWN.Is it possible that

those with the issues have installed some version of Zoom?

Thank you for time and attention

JK

happens to me on 26.2 when connected via USBC to my scarlett 2i2 and studio monitors. I dont think the

sudo killall -9 coreaudiod

commands helped me, nor switching the sampling rate in Audio MIDI Setup

Same issue on Tahoe 26.2. I can't use my bluetooth headphones without glitches (Bose QC45). Especially in Apple Music app. Shutting down simulator, sudo killall coreaudio, turning off low power mode don't fix the problem.

I'm having constant audio dropouts with my Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th gen audio interface on my Macbook Pro M2 in Tahoe 26.3. The audio just cuts off but I see in my apps that the signal is still coming through, so the problem is definitely not the interface but the output. Tried everything. :/

Same. I have an OWC Thunderbolt dock, and after the Tahoe update my audio is basically unusable. The sound output is full of pops, drop-outs... I can't do any audio work on my system now.

This solution in reddit fixed my problem Permanent fix MacOs Tahoe Crackling sound !