Distortion and stutter in external USB audio DAC/Headphone amp (Sierra 10.12.5)

Question

Distortion and stutter in external USB audio DAC/Headphone amp (Sierra 10.12.5)

Hi, is anybody getting audio problems with external USB audio devices with the latest Mac OS Sierra build version 10.12.5? I'm using a Mac Mini 2012.

I'm getting distorted and stuttering audio through my headphone amplifier (Attol Electronique HD120) I did not had any problems with it earlier. I've also tried to do a clean reinstall 10.12.5 from a USB thumbdrive but the problem still persist.

I've also tried the headphone amp on another Macbook with El Capitan and i did not had any problems so, it's not the headphone amp. Any there any know bugs relating to USB audio on the latest Sierra build?

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Jul 19, 2017 6:50 AM

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Answer 1

Rudegar

Level 10

180,696 points

Jul 19, 2017 11:32 AM in response to Michael Björk

usb does not transfer audio as such

so the external audio device depend on 2 things a device driver which works if you updated and haven't installed a newer driver or if the manufacture does not support the newer version of osx this could cause this

the second thing is cpu usb devices takes a toll on cpu compared to firewire and thunderbolt devices because it's pulling based, so if you update to a newer version of osx which your mac is slowed down by then that could also cause this

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Answer 2

Jul 19, 2017 11:32 AM in response to Rudegar

Good thought, but the unit did not come or require any drivers to operate. I forgot to mention that it all worked fine with 10.12.4 as well. After hitting the forums, there seems to be a known issue with certain audio devices with 10.12.4 and 10.12.5.

I'm on 10.12.04 now. I'm happy so far.

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