Audio Problem with 2012 MacBook Air and Thunderbolt Display

I have exactly that issue.

Update:

MBA1: Had this issue for 2 days. Can't repeat now.

MBA2: Ran a whole load of 1080p flash videos on both the TB and MBA displays at the same time. No problem.

MBA3: Ran a full screen 1080p video over VNC via the ethernet from the TB display. Ran full 1080p movie in iTunes at the same time. Attached iPhone to TB USB. Had Trackpad and Keyboard attached via Bluetooth. No problem.

So basically I can't show the problem on any of the laptops now despite running them at borderline meltdown loads.

Annoying :/ Have reported to the business manager at my local Apple Store. Will report how that goes.

That is exactly the sound of static you hear upon connecting the new 2012 MacBook airs to a thunderbolt display.

Yes, the problem is fixed if you either pause and restart the audio (spotify, pandora, iTunes, etc) or if under settings, you toggle between the audio coming from display or MacBook air. It "fixes" it and you good for another 10 mins or so.

Hardly the ideal fix upon spending $2,199 on a loaded air and then $1,000 on a display. No?

$3k+ and you can't play some audio????

Further update.

Ran the same stress test I ran on MBA3 back on MBA1 again and the sound is crackly. Nowhere near as bad as before, but the issue is obviously there.

Will run the same test on MBA2 and see what we get.

Another update.

All three MBAs are as identical they possibly can be, as reported by System Report. However, the sound problem seems only to occur with one of them no matter what I try. (Although, regardless, I think the TBD's sound is pretty crappy - very loose and boomy at low volumes).

I'll leave MBA3 running videos overnight and give an update tomorrow.

Final update for the night; I managed to reproduce the issue on MBA3.

What I did was run 2 YouTube playlists at the same time (using Flash) for about an hour and the audio problem appeared.

So that's at least 2 out of 3 of our MBAs with this problem. Or, 1 out of 1 of our TBDs with this problem. It's hard to tell.

I can only imagine that this is a driver issue on the MBA, but thanks for all your investigations JofArnold.

really like to see an official response from Apple, even if it's just "we'll fix this in a patch soon". I know that as soon as I raise this with Apple officially, they'll want me to swap out my MBA and/or Display - which I really don't want to have to do. Apart from this sound thing, I'm really rather happy with them both.

I would love to hear from apple as well. We need a FIX asap!

My 2011 Macbook air works fine with my thunderbolt displays and after 2-3 minutes of playing music with the loaded 2012 Air the music is extremly distorted...

Another update, sorry.

I can replicate the issue quickly on all three MBAs now by playing spotify for about 15mins. I'm getting a replacement TBD shortly - will try that and report back.

Incidently there's a lot of audio-related entries in the OSX system logs, so I'm going with @robgough's theory currently.

Yup - this has to be some sort of firmware or software update. I can't imagine out of the thousands of employees apple has, that no one is working on a 2012 macbook air, and has it hooked up to a thunderbolt display, and has not heard the static sound themselves. You just tried it on THREE different 2012 airs. I have gone through 2 myself.

Am also having the same problem HOWEVER I am also experiencing the problem without my TBD plugged in, but I do have a USB audio interface plugged in.

So, I experience the problem with my TBD, but also with only a USB audio interface (Mbox 2 Micro) plugged in.

Same problem as described here.

2012 11" MBA and the 27" Thunderbolt. And without the TDB. No problems listening to audio through the MBA internal speakers.

Called support. He told me to plug everything in and try to update drivers. Didn't help.

Calling back today.

Great spot - I'm willng to bet that's the same thing since the TBD's audio is actually a USB audio device that just happens to be connected by Thunderbolt.

I actually have a USB Audio device too (Maya 44) which I've not yet tried. I'll give it a go tonight and report back.

I've had the Maya44 plugged directly into the MBA, without the Thunderbolt attached, for the last hour or so and not been able to replicate the problem. Spotify and Youtube videos mostly. Normally, the distortion would occur much quicker.

Unfortunately, this somewhat clouds the issue - but I'm still convinced it's some sort of thunderbolt/usb driver issue.

Next to try would be with the Maya44 > MBA with Thunderbolt attached, and then Maya44 > Thunderbolt Display > MBA - but these will have to wait until tomorrow evening.

I'm experiencing the same problem.

Thunderbolt display with a 2012 Air produces static audio after 5 minutes approx.

Doesn't appear to be any fix or acknowldegment from Apple to date.