Q: Sound from Thunderbolt Display crackles intermittently
-
Feb 23, 2015 2:59 PMby Sebik123,Is the problem like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzqPuzLPdSg
-
Mar 8, 2015 4:06 PMby quadsf,Same here. Late 2013 MBP with retina connected to TBD. When I first start up, sound is fine, but after a while sound playing on videos (primarily in the browser, have not tried with iTunes extensively) becomes garbled. Have to unplug and plug TBD back in.
Anyone know if this is a MBP or a TBD issue?
-
Mar 13, 2015 1:17 PMby MatCartmill,I cannot replicate the issue on my MBP alone. Only happens when the audio is coming from the TBD. I assume it's a TBD issue, but it could be a MBP issue if there's latency to the port that the TBD is connected to.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the amount of items plugged into the USB / FireWire / TB ports on the TBD.
Hmm.
-
Mar 29, 2015 4:02 PMby MatCartmill,This problem is getting really annoying. It's been happening really frequently lately as I've been doing a lot more work at home. If I Photoshop, Coda, Xcode, Firefox, and iTunes open I can almost guarantee it will happen within 10-15 minutes. Then every 10-15 minutes after I unplug the display and plug it back in.
This issue NEEDS to get resolved or I simply won't buy another Apple Display. They're extremely convenient but if I can't do basic tasks without it going all choppy, it's not really a device I want to put my trust in to run my workstation.
-
Apr 10, 2015 5:05 PMby Robert Clare1,I've got the same issue. For me it appears typically after 5-10 minutes of continuous sound using the Thunderbolt display speakers, the sound becomes distorted, with crackling and distortion. I've found that if I momentarily change the audio output to my internal MBP (13" late 2014) and then back to the Thunderbolt speakers, the problem goes away for another 5-10 minutes. Sometimes I get as much as 20 minutes. This also seems to true for *any* external audio. Using a USB Jabra speakerphone yields the same result: after 5-10 minutes the sound becomes distorted. This is also true regardless of the source: skype, itunes, gotomeeting, vidyo... I first thought that it was network related, until iTunes did it as well on locally stored videos.
This did NOT happen on my previous setup, which was a 13" MBA (2012? I don't have it any more...) connected to either USB speakers or the Thunderbolt display. The MBA was running Mavericks, so two things have changed: MBA->MBP and Mavericks->Yosemite. Which was the killer? Don't know.
-
Apr 23, 2015 1:34 PMby therealcbar,Both my colleague and me, who are running 13" MPBs with retina attached to 27" TB displays, have experienced this recently with video conferencing. Once with Skype and once with GoToMeeting. After about 15 minutes, the audio suddenly becomes terrible - all crackling and distorted. The only way to solve it is to unplug the MPBs from the TB and carry on. Frustrating.
-
May 8, 2015 2:21 PMby sgithens,I've just this week started having this problem, the sound becomes garbled and distorted after a bit. If you stop all audio for a while and turn it back on it goes away, but quickly becomes garbled again.
I think this might be an issue with the display, but I think it might also be occuring because my macbook is overheating.
It happened just now with my Macbook Air when I had a process take over the CPU and it started running very hot. As a test I quickly plugged in my Macbook Pro and the static wasn't there. Of course, since it goes away if you stop the audio for a bit, it's hard to tell if it's a legit test. But so far I'm not ruling out that it may be an issue when a Macbook XYZed starts running really hot.
-
Jul 19, 2015 4:16 PMby addesso,Wanted to sound in on this.
This is exactly my issue, although I'm running an older LED Cinema Display on my MBP. This isn't just happening with the Thunderbolt displays, as it's occurring with mine as well. And also right after the Yosemite update--prior to this no issues. This display has two connections, the USB one and the mini DP one (three if you count the power cord--tho that isn't important to this issue).
Same crackling sound when it does occur. The volume control will also be delayed by a second or two and the "pong" sound is distorted, delayed, or mute. If I'm using Mumble, two things will usually happen tho: 1) either the voices coming through will get crackly, but apparently I sound fine to listeners, or 2) people will hear me all crackly or robotic, tho I'll still have sound. (I've though it could be a Mumble server issue, but I've been using the program for years with no issue, and this has also occurred right after the Yosemite update.
Generally the issue will occur when I'm running a lot of media/sound-heavy programs. Having Safari (running sound and video), World of Warcraft, and Mumble open will usually trigger an issue in an hour. Unfortunately, sometimes it will not happen at all for days, and other times it will occur back to back within minutes. It has also happened just running Safari and other sound and media programs. For me, Safari seems to be one of the big culprits that eventually overwhelms the sound system resources.
When the issue occurs, I have been able to solve the issue in 3 different ways:
1) Quit all running programs that have sound, especially Safari. Most times, just quitting Safari will clear up the sound a bit, but it seems I have to quit all programs to completely "reset" the sound.
2) Using SystemPrefs>Sound (or option-click on the menubar volume control) to change the output sound to go to the MBP, then setting it back to the display.
3) Unplug and re-plug the USB connector running from my display to the MBP. This forces the output sound to the MBP speakers, so doing the same as in 2. Unfortunately, sometimes the MBP won't switch the sound back to the display when it's plugged in again (which I then have to manually set).
Reading other posts on the forums, seems that this has been occuring since 2011 in some form or another, so it isn't just the Thunderbolt Display.
