El Capitan USB audio problems.

Yes, I have just upgraded and tested, the issue is resolved:

MacBook Air (Mid 2011)

macOS Sierra 10.12

Pioneer N-50

Hi,

I am also using KEF X300A for desktop speakers. Previously the pair was used with foobar2000 on Windows 7 and they worked perfectly together. When I changed to Macbook Air with El Capitan, the music player has been VOX. It sounds, as I perceived, not as good as foobar2000 did, but the quality still acceptable. There has been no disconnection issue as many people described. My Mac OS is 10.11.6.

The problem for me now is with video players. I tried Media Player, Mac Media Player, VLC. When the volume was increased, it created distortion. The sound effects of movie have not been impressive as they have in Windows.

Has anyone upgraded to Sierra? I read an article online that it would solve the usb audio issues.

Well, my issues with the KEFs were not fixed with Sierra. In fact, a new issue was introduced. Now on every startup or restart, I have to readjust the left to right channel balance.

And, disconnects occur more frequently, but srtill at random. Using the DVD Player app seems to produce more dropouts.

Definitely not fixed with an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red in Sierra.

Certainly minimized, but I've already had several occasions where I needed to remove and reconnect the stick to clear things up.

I've been thinking about rolling the dice and purchasing a Schiit Wyrd: http://schiit.com/products/wyrd But, haven't found any testimonials for its use with KEF X300As.

Probably not a good financial option for use with a AudioQuest Dragonfly.

My Nuforce Icon DAC is not recognized in Sierra. 😟

Same here...my Audioengine D1 barely worked in El Capitan, now it's not even recognized with Sierra. It does appear when I use a USB hub, but it sounds terrible and can't be used for listening. It's like Apple doesn't even care about this.

If by sounds terrible you mean distorted try toggling the format setting between 44,100 and 48,000 in the Audio MIDI Setup app.

MagmaGod wrote:

Same here...my Audioengine D1 barely worked in El Capitan, now it's not even recognized with Sierra. It does appear when I use a USB hub, but it sounds terrible and can't be used for listening. It's like Apple doesn't even care about this.

Most people have reported that USB audio problems were mostly solved in Sierra.

I suggest you try a clean install on a separate drive or partition and test there, before you decide that it's broken.

Most of the problems are caused by other software, and people blame the OS.

I formatted my macbook air and made a clean install of Sierra.

Now it seems that all my usb audio related problems are resolved.

I was having issues with DJM900NXS and Traktor AUDIO6 soundcard.

I recommend everyone a clean install.

I'll try the clean install thing. No need to look down on others by the way. Having to make a clean install just for fixing a little USB audio thingy (that works great with a little win xp netbook and other computers/tvs) is the kind of thing that I wanted to avoid by buying a Mac.

MagmaGod wrote:

I'll try the clean install thing. No need to look down on others by the way.

I didn't mean to. I just pointed out a fact that I have seen time and again on these forums: when something breaks after an update, users typically blame the update (and often say things like "come on, Apple", "EC is ****", "Sierra is ****", and keep waiting for a future update to fix it).

It may seem fair, until you realize that most other users did the same update and do not have the same problem. Then you have to figure out what is different. A clean install determines if the issue is indeed the update or something else. More often than not, it is something else.

Just to update, the Schiit Wyrd, although well built, did not make any difference. I've returned it based on their 15 day money back guarantee. Note that I had to pay for return shipping and there will be an undisclosed restocking fee.

I have also tried clean installs of both Sierra and Yosemite with no success.

> I have seen time and again on these forums: when something breaks after an update

Wow, this ****** me off. So you have no specific knowledge of this issue. But it's fine with you if someone wastes hours, possibly days, doing a clean install and recovery therefrom. Yeah, it costs you nothing just to give this baloney free advice. Apple does this too as a last resort. Saves on engineering this crap not to happen.

MagmaGod: that advice is worth ZERO. I hope you will really think twice about doing a clean install, since it's based on somebody with ZERO knowledge of this case.

mhdapple wrote:

> I have seen time and again on these forums: when something breaks after an update

Wow, this ****** me off. So you have no specific knowledge of this issue. But it's fine with you if someone wastes hours, possibly days, doing a clean install and recovery therefrom. Yeah, it costs you nothing just to give this baloney free advice. Apple does this too as a last resort. Saves on engineering this crap not to happen.

MagmaGod: that advice is worth ZERO. I hope you will really think twice about doing a clean install, since it's based on somebody with ZERO knowledge of this case.

So you are the expert, how?

How many hours have *you* spent helping people in these forums over the years?