In recent days there has been a return to a persistent problem, confirmed by many users, which Apple seems to have neglected for 12 years now. It’s 2024 and systems macOS still have an obvious anomaly in the audio balance. In some cases, in fact, the balance of the sound signal shifts unexpectedly towards the right or left channel. The phenomenon occurs, for example, when using the keys for volume control while the Mac system processor is subjected to heavy strain (high workload).
This post published on X triggered a flurry of comments that followed from all over the world. Some users say they have never detected similar phenomena while others confirm the existence of the problem, which has been going on for too long now.
Il bug in question, on the other hand, had been confirmed by Apple as far back as 2012. Surprisingly, the reporting page appears to have been removed in the meantime. However, it is enough to draw on the “historical memory” of Archive.org to find traces of the article.
A real problem, that of audio balance on Mac, can still be managed today with third-party utilities
It is no coincidence that applications such as Balance Lock have been created, which help prevent the balance “drift”. audio on Mac systems. Rather, say the most critics, it is incredible that after so many years we are still forced to use third-party applications capable of intervening on the behavior of aspects related to sound reproduction on Apple systems.
Between 2012 and 2013, several users reported the sudden and seemingly causal change in sound balance on their Mac systems. Similar complaints, however, arose in 2018, with newer models like the Mac mini. They are not immune to the problem Mac Studio based on ARM-derived SoC M1, the MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and other systems.
Previously distributed for a fee Balance Lock has become a free application, to accommodate users. As reported on the project’s official website, Balance Lock checks the status of the audio balance in the background, locking it in the position defined by the user (for example perfectly in the center).
Also available in Europen, Balance Lock indicates when the last check was carried out on the audio configuration and the exact moment at which it was necessary to apply an adjustment.