MacBook Pro M1 low XLR input volume

UPDATE: Well, I spoke with Focusrite today and...we have a result? Maybe? It had nothing to do with my MacBook, as has been suggested. But, after trying everything the support guy could think of, he asked if I could try the SM7B with the 2i2, without the Cloudlifter to see if it was quieter or the same. It actually was a wee bit louder. Then when we added the Cloudlifter to the mix, and whatta ya know, we had almost decent readings. Still not super great, but workable at least.

"How is this possible???", one might very well ask. Well, it was the support gentleman's opinion that when I was using the Vocaster and SM7B, the Vocaster was faulty. Then when I switched things up but still got weak levels, the 2i2 was working but the PocMic was faulty this time. 💀 I mean....what are the odds that would happen?? Really??

Whatever the reason, I've got levels I can at least work with now, so I'm not going to question it further. I'm just going to accept the fact the the gods find it amusing to drive me nuts every once in a while and just get on with life. 🤪

I will continue to use the SM7B with the 2i2 for voiceover work, and maybe just get myself a no frills USB mic for going live. Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on...

Thank you SO much for all the help and great suggestions. I really appreciate your kindness. 🙏

Hi Martin, thank you for taking the time to look at this. And your second reply...🤦‍♀️. Yes. I should have thought of that, but I'm going to blame my mind for being a bit frazzled from trying to figure this out. What you said made perfect sense, thank you so much.

As for the rest, I checked everything you suggested and I'm still stuck in Quiet-land. I used the auto gain feature in the Focusrite Control 2, and it cranked the gain to about 90%. I've tested with Audacity and Quicktime, and nothing really changes for either. In Audacity, I can do noise cancelling and then amplify, and end up with an almost reasonable sound, though it would be great if I didn't have to jump through those extra hoops and the volume would be there from the start. As it should, I would think.

If you have any other thoughts, I'm happy to hear them! This just makes no sense to me. But really, again, thanks for your time.

Thank you Martin, your kindness is deeply appreciated. Truly.

As for your checklist, it's a "check, check, check, and check" on all those things. Thank you for the links, that article led me to a couple of new tests and they just proved that everything seems to be working as it should, at least before it comes to the point of being sent to my computer. Today I even tried adding more power to the 2i2 via the 5V port in the back, as both my AI friend Claude and my tech savvy husband both said it sounded like maaayybbeee it could be that the 2i2 just isn't getting enough power, but alas, no go. Nothing improved. I quadruple checked all the settings in my MacBook as well, even stumbling across the "voice isolation" thing that was mentioned in a couple of forums I dug up, but that was also a dead end as "voice isolation" was already turned off. And on and on went the day.

So, I will gratefully take your suggestion of contacting Focusrite support via the link you provided, and see what they have to say. Maybe, fingers crossed, they will be able to help.

Thanks so much for looking into this and for your thoughts and suggestions. You're a star. 🌟

Hello Grant, thanks for taking the time to respond. I've tried a few different cables, and nothing seemed to change. I just looked at the one that's in there now and it says "100W, 40Gbps, 8K Ultra HD." I would think, maybe, that 40Gbps would be ok, but in your opinion, does the 100W make a difference? I'm kinda grasping at straws now, so any thoughts you might have, regarding this or anything else really, are much appreciated. I'll try anything at this point!

Thanks so much.