10-year old bug still causing headaches for Mac audiophiles

Macworld

As much as we love our Macs sometimes they do things that annoy the heck out of us. That annoyance turns into frustration when Apple does nothing to fix the issue. If you’re fortunate, there’s a third-party fix available.

Take, for example, a macOS bug that’s been pestering some Mac users for years. The issue is with audio balance, where sound is playing more from one side than the other. This problem persists for Twitter/X user Fabian (@ffaebi), who wants Apple to finally do something about it.

The year is 2024 and @apple still has not fixed the audio left/right balance bug in MacOS. I still have to use an app to fix it automatically. The app is from 2015, that means we are approaching the 10 year anniversary 🎉 https://t.co/QegD5tEvaA pic.twitter.com/saoiGubhXV— Fabian (@ffaebi) February 14, 2024

Fabian has been able to address the problem on his own with a third-party app called Balance Lock. The app does what its name implies—it runs in the background and check to make sure the Mac’s audio is balanced between its speakers. If not, it adjusts the audio and locks it in. 

Balance Lock, according to @ffaebi, has been available since 2015 and was released to address this macOS bug because Apple didn’t. So, it’s been a bug for almost 10 years, if not longer. Tunabelly Software, the developer of Balance Lock, offers it for free (and ad-free) and it’s compatible with Intel and M-series Macs.

Several people have responded to @ffaebi’s post saying they have also had the audio balance problem. The online Apple Support Community has several posts about the problem, and the suggested fixes vary, including restarting the Mac, booting into Safe Mode and then restating the Mac, resetting the CoreAudio driver, and disconnecting/reconnecting any external speakers or headphones. None of these recommended repairs work, which leads to the conclusion that this is a bug.

Fortunately, in this instance, there’s a software fix, but it shouldn’t be this way. There’s no way of knowing why Apple hasn’t addressed the problem–maybe it’s because it’s difficult to replicate (I personally have never had this problem), but that’s no excuse. Apple has fixed other “rare” bugs, so it should address this one.

MacOS