Audio glitches with USB headset after upgrade to macOS Sierra 10.12.4

Had stutter problem on my plantronics headset after upgrade. I was plugging the headset directly into one of the two (scarce) ports on my MacBook Pro and before reading this forum had not even tried plugging it into my USB hub because previously, the headset worked only when plugged in directly, and did not work at all when plugged into the hub. Now it seems to be working fine when plugged into the hub — no stutter problem. The hub is a Sabrent HB-0930. Headset is Plantronics .Audio 478 USB. Mac is a mid-2014 MacBook Pro running Sierra 10.12.4

I removed the USB connection thru the USB hub built into my monitor and added a new Anker 4-port ultra slim hub A7516 to the connected peripherals, but no change in outcome.

I still will not be able to use my MS LifeChat LX-6000 on the current 10.12.4.

Spoke to Apple on Sunday and they confirmed there is a problem which will be fixed in the next update.

Workaround (as previously described) is to connect through an external hub or port of apple wired keyboard.

I will chime in too.

2012 MacBook Pro 10.12.4

Plantronics Audio 478 USB headset

Connect to unpowered USB-3 hub works, whether plugged into wired keyboard, other powered USB-3 hub or directly into MBP.

Connect to Wired Apple USB keyboard (current aluminum model) did not work regardless of where attached.

Connect to old unpowered USB-2 hub did not work regardless of where attached.

Hopefully a patch will be released soon.

I have the same issue on two computers, one MacBook Air, and another an iMac Retina display. Both showing the same symptoms when I use a Logitech USB Headset H340. Spent about 30' on the phone with Apple Support. They tried to get it working, to no avail. It definitely looks like a problem with the latest Sierra 10.12.4 since it was working fine yesterday night with a previous Sierra release. Hopefully they'll fix this soon! Although from the forums it looks like it's going already a week and no answer from Apple. Not cool. I sent a note via apple.com/feedback - please use that channel to let the know we need a fix.

This worked for me too! A Sabrent HB-0930 hub fixed the problem with my old Plantronics .Audio 400 DSP headset. My Mac is also a late 2014 iMac Retina just upgraded last night to Sierra 10.12.4. I'm VERY disappointed in Apple. Plantronics headsets are not obscure. Millions of us have them.

This seems strangely appropriate:

https://xkcd.com/1822/

An update on where I'm at - I grabbed a new Logitech H540 headset and it's working fine (we didn't have any hubs around the house and a USB3 hub was going to cost me nearly as much as a new headset).

I've hung onto the H340 as a back up assuming this gets resolved at some point.

I'm continuing to think it's a chipset problem as it seems to only be effecting entry level consumer headsets.

Same issue here with a Microsoft LiftChat LX-4000 on Late 2012 Mac mini running Mac OS 10.12.4 Sierra. No matter if I plug it in directly or in unpowered hub.

No problems on my other Late 2012 Mac mini running 10.12.2 Sierra.

I sure hope Apple gets this fixed soon.

Just had a truly laughable live chat with Apple support. Total denial of any issue, especially as all other USB services appear to to be working. It's for Logitech to resolve, in their view. I reckon Apple won't bother fixing this as it only affects *some* headsets. And who's bigger? Apple or Logitech?

It is truly incredible that such a reputable company doesn't have a better way for its users to communicate issues. I had a really good live chat with an Apple tech support person, and he told me "just wait - it'll be fixed" but there's no way to track the fix at all. Another person told me to go to Logitech, which I did, just to see - and of course their answer was: "we don't write any special software for it - since the headsets use the standard USB drivers provided by Apple". And then I even went to one of the Apple Stores and they looked at me like a deer in headlights. Geez... what a disappointment.

I have 2 x Plantronics 478 USB headsets, that have not given a second of problems since bought years ago.

Since the recent OS Update, both headsets a behaving the same as described here on a MAC Book Pro, MAC Book Air and a Mini Mac.

APPLE!!! Please investigate and fix ASAP. You are affecting my business, to conduct conference calls on 3 platforms through soft phone apps. all applications impacted

I have the same problem since updating to 10.12.4 - Plantronics 400 DSP headphone stutters like crazy - old Microsoft LX-3000 works fine. If I plug in the Plantronics with Windows 10 running in Parallels and tell it to hook up to the Windows VM, the audio is just fine, so it would seem that it's a Mac USB audio driver issue.

Just upgraded to Sierra 10.12.4 after waiting for it to mature, and ran into this stuttering audio issue with my Plantronics 400 DSP. Using a USB hub does seem to fix it, but I had previously stopped using my headset though a hub due to other audio issues (totally unintelligible audio about 30% of the time). I'm hoping Sierra fixed one issue while breaking the other. Nice to know that the Beta of 10.12.5 seems to fix it.

I had the same trouble with my Plantronics 400 DSP and if you hook up to the latest Sabrent hub, it WILL work. I'm using Sabrent Model HB-UMP3. For me this is a nice stop gap until Apple fixes Sierra!

I'm on 10.12.5 Beta and still have stuttering audio with my Aune T1 USB DAC/amp plugged directly to my Macbook Air. I'd provide more detail, but it doesn't look like Apple is monitoring this discussion. Would be nice to have some official acknowledgement of the issue, but can't seem to find any.