Crackling/Clipping Noise on Macbook

[MA225]

Crackling/popping/clipping/stuttering issue that I've seen in different forums. Can't find a fix for the mac. Just started noticing it today. 

Please help!

Macbook running macOS Catalina v10.15.6

Retina, 12 inch, 2017.

[Billy-J]

Hey @MA225, thanks for reaching out to the Community!

Could you try restarting your device? If that doesn't help, try a clean reinstall of the app following these steps. 

If you're still having trouble, let me know if this happens when you listen to other content on the Mac, such as a YouTube video or any sound in general. You can also attach a recording of the sound you’re experiencing and I’ll take a closer look for you.

Let me know how this goes!

[Raving_Panda]

I'm having this kind of issue as well. Music changes pitch / playback speed (it's audible) before it crackles and then proceeds to sound normal for a while. Happens maybe around once in an hour. Audio from other sources at the same time aren't affected. This is also on the latest version of Catalina.

I think the issue was not happening on another Mac running older Mojave.

[rossjha]

I have the same problem. I followed these steps and the problem persists.

[Ivan]

Hey @rossjha, 

Thanks for posting - we’re here to help!        
 

If you see no difference after running a clean reinstall of the app, you might need to check the hosts file on your device for entries that need to be deleted. Follow the steps described here on how you can do that.

In case the issue persists, try connecting to a different network to check if you notice a difference. If it works with another connection, it’d be a good idea troubleshooting further the original one (for example, by restarting your router). 

Hope this helps. Keep us in the loop here. 

[singervienna]

Plan

Premium

Country

Austria

Device

Macbook M1 Pro 16.2"

Operating System

iOS 12.0.1 (Monterey) 

My Question or Issue

Scince I have updated to my new Macbook M1 Pro Spotify Playback crackles badly when I set my aggregate device as an output (RME Fireface 800 with Universal Audio Apollo twin). As soon as I set output to any single device everything works just fine. So I guess there must have been some change in the core audio or core2audio that apple has made causing this? It sounds like a buffering issue. No setting I have tried like increasing or decreasing the buffer size or changing the which device provides the word-clock master has made a difference. I have the same issue when I use the brave browser. If I use safari everything sounds clear and well. So there must be a similar issue with how the brave browser handles audio and how the Spotify app does. Please look into this and get in tough with apple. What have they changed/implemented that you guys do not know or have not integrated? 

I hope you can solve this : )

cheers, Stefan

[Amelia18]

Clean reinstall didn't work for me either but this did: Quit Spotify and go to Finder > Utilities and open Audio MIDI Setup.  Select Output and set the Format to 44.100 Hz. 

[antonyfewster]

Same here - https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/697917

[maxikq]

I've got the same problem. Crackling is really bad...

[12173801324]

Same problem here, it's really disappointing since it seems to be apple's fault ever since the monterey update. 

I have updated to the latest version 12.2.1, and the issue is still unresolved. Is there a way to pressure apple to solve it or should spotify do something about the changes produced by the monterey update?

[austinbrady]

Same issue. Apple has no means to fix this as it seems. I contacted them about it, had me to the whole run around of resetting NVRAM and diagnostics test then disconnected the chat. This needs to be solved as it is a very big issue for anyone trying to use multiple interfaces on the M1.

[acdcwillie]

I get the crackling sound with no interface at all, every time I use Spotify desktop app. I am currently running latest Mac OS Version Monterey (12.3). It works just fine when I use the web player on Safari.

[timuric]

Tried clean reinstall (even though it is a new macbook and install was fresh in the first place) the issue still persist

[timuric]

Only cracks when output is set to speakers (speakers are working fine with all other sound sources) works fine in headphones

[Julian]

Hi everybody,

Thanks for posting on the Community.

In this case, could you check is there's any OS update available for your device? If so, we recommend that you install it and restart before launching Spotify again. 

Keep us posted. 

[timuric]

there is no software update available neither for mac os or spotify 

[paulinapro]

Hi! I've got the same issue. Mac Pro with M1 processor, the newest version of OS (Monterey 12.3). The issue has occurred for a few weeks now and only when audio is playing from built-in speakers. I've tried reinstalling Spotify, connecting to different networks, changing settings and audio quality, but the problem persists.

[Drunlade]

I'm having the same issue. I'm running an M1 Pro / MacOS 12.3.

* There are no OS updates

* There are no application updates

* The issues happens at least a few times for every single track I play, a small cackle/pop

* The issue happens no matter the volume level used

* The issue only happens when using Spotify, no other audio-playback causes this issue

[Drunlade]

I'd like to revise my reply above. I jumped the gun rather embarrassingly.

It turns out that the Spotify Web Player suffers the same issue, as does YouTube music, so it's not limited to the Spotify application. This suggests it's an OS or Hardware issue, and an issue related to streaming perhaps.

[sivymy]

I have the same issue. But there's no issue if I use the web version on Chrome. So I think it must be something wrong with the app