Sound from Thunderbolt Display crackles intermittently

Of course not all users have this issue, otherwise more people would make a stink about it. But we do have a forum here to post our issues if we happen to be in the minority.

And we also hope the replies are constructive.

So I have 2 Thunderbolt displays. One is overheating and intermittently blacking out. I am trying to sort that one out too but my other TBD has the audio issue other folks are reporting. One thing I just tried which seems to be helping is to reroute my TB to go from the TBD direct to the Mac Mini then route a cable from the TBD to my Pegasus drives. In this way the first TB device on the chain is the display. This isn't the best routing for me as I like to swap the display for use with my MBP sometimes (due to my other display not working). Routing through the display would mean not having my TB drives connected to the Mini while I use the MBP...

Anyhow, just testing a theory which is that there is an issue with audio going through chained devices which are under load. Will update this thread after I have tried this for a few days. So far so good though, until this morning I could only get about 30 seconds before the audio went to garbage.

I have this same issue. Had it when I upgraded then upgrade OS and it seemed to fix itself then now I am on the BETA upgrade and it came back.

I have two 27" displays with Thunderbolt. It sounds like interference or "crackling" sometimes I have gone into settings and changed sound output but this doesn't always work. I feel it might be something with Thunderbolt not being able to stream music and video. Kicker is the sound issue is coming from my BOSE USB connected speakers???? Used to work great till I upgraded the operating system.

I have the very same issue with my Thunderbolt Display. I have a 2013 Mac Pro (purchased March 2014) and a 27" Thunderbolt display (also purchased in March 2014). Today, the sound started crackling- switching to the second Thunderbolt port clears it up, but only temporarily. My wired keyboard, which is plugged into a USB port on the display, also sometimes cuts out and letters I'm typing don't enter. My wired mouse is plugged into a keyboard USB port, and it cuts out at random (I had to stop using my wireless mouse because it was intermittently not working and Apple doesn't seem to have paid any attention to it). This is very annoying!

I bought the display recently and am now too having this same issue. It is connected to a Macbook Pro 13", early 2015 Retina. It is a shame because it is a nice looking monitor, but this is a deal breaker. Researching the issue, it looks like it has been ongoing for years, so I'm not even going to bother troubleshooting. Just returning the thing, getting my money back and buying a non-Apple monitor.

When you pay $1000 for a monitor, you shouldn't have to deal with this sort of stuff. 😟 Think my Apple days are coming to an end.

My Thunderbolt display is covered by Apple Care (as is my Mac Pro). The display sound is perfect when hooked up to my MB Pro. After some troubleshooting with Apple, the issue seems to be a bad sound card in the Mac Pro. We'll know more when I go to the local Apple Store for a fix on Sunday.

I'm still having this issue. After a long conversation online with Apple Support, they diagnosed a defective sound card in my 2014 MacPro. I took the unit to the local Apple Store - and the sound card checked out great. So they suggested I come back in with the MacPro and the Thunderbolt Display. I went home, hooked everything back up, and the sound was crystal clear for hours. I figured the issue had resolved itself (foolish, I know) and cancelled the follow up appointment. This morning, after two hours of use, it's back. Ugh. I'm beginning to suspect a bad cable, but one curious thing - the sound preferences options for display speakers show USB connection - but this display connects to one of the Thunderbolt ports. I wonder if that's the issue? Anyway, five days from now I have a new appointment.

Similar here. I have Retina MBP and 2 Thunderbolt displays daisy chained. I can go to sound and flick between the sound output devices (between the 2 screens and MBP internal speakers) and then back again and it seems to work ok. I did think it was because I also run Parallels with Windows10 (have that on one screen for work, whilst Mac OS on other screen for...er...not work !) but by the sounds of it the Parallels complexity is not the issue here. I also have a Henge Dock.....but have stripped out all the cables except thunderbolt (from 1st Thunderbolt display) and power (from 1st Thunderbolt display) - So I'm ruling that complexity out as well.

Software update for the Thunderbolt display perhaps ?

Same issue here. Mid 2013 MBP (with a just replaced mainboard due to broken GPU), on a 2009 19" Apple LED display (where the audio goes via USB, video via TB/miniDV). Every 15 minutes I need to plug/unplug the USB connector to retain audio. Very annoying with skype and/or music playing.

I have this exact issue. Its very annoying. I have two display's daisy chained. I'm amazed on no comment from Apple, which makes me worry.

I found the source of the awful sound crackling in my thunderbolt display. It all went away after I disconnected all the USB connections. Yep... an apple keyboard or apple trackpad or an external drive will cause the sound to crackle. It's that simple.

You may be right. The only thing connected to my TB display is a superdrive (which I use only infrequently), and the sound is fine.