More > JRiver Media Center 23 for Mac
Audio drops out periodically [solved]
JimH:
--- Quote from: Peter_T on April 05, 2018, 11:01:34 pm ---Hi all - I've developed an audio problem over the past few weeks. I haven't changed anything on my macbook pro over that time, though there may have been OS updates.
--- End quote ---
Are you sure nothing changed?
Peter_T:
--- Quote from: ballpein on April 06, 2018, 12:15:10 am ---Well, I would grab a free player like vine or vlc, just to rule out a Mac/osx problem.
In MC, I'd want to try a default state. Easiest way to do that is to switch over to a (new, unused) guest account - you should be able to fire up a nice fresh version of MC from there - play back some files and see what happens.
If it starts to look like a Mac issue, the usual questions:
What sort of Mac are you on? Are you using an interface or dac of some kind, or just straight out of the headphone port? wired or wifi audio? Any hdmi devices connected to your Mac? Does Activity Monitor show any unusual memory or disk activity?
--- End quote ---
Great ideas, I'll try VLC for a few hours. Then a guest account with MC.
I'm on an older Macbook Pro, but it runs great. Intel Core i5, 8GB of ram - not a ton but should be (and was for years) plenty for audio. I used to wirelessly transfer audio to a chromecast audio unit, but since this has started I've switched to the headphone jack to eliminate that variable. No HDMI/displayport devices plugged in. Activity monitor never shows anything being stressed... memory usage is somewhere around 50%, CPU and disk activity go up and down but audio problems happen at highs and lows of those activities.
Peter_T:
--- Quote from: JimH on April 06, 2018, 06:33:39 am ---Are you sure nothing changed?
--- End quote ---
Hi Jim. Only as sure as I can be - like I said, there were likely OS and other software updates over the last few weeks or month. There was a big one that ran last night for instance. I'm running MC 23.0.103.
I haven't made any software or hardware changes of any sort. I really only use Chrome and MC on this macbook. Sometimes Photos. In the background Google Backup and Sync, Dropbox, 1Password, and Airfoil run. Airfoil isn't active, but I will try killing it to see if that helps.
Peter_T:
A few more observations:
- most of the time the audio dropouts are very short, 1 second or maybe slightly less.
- I can re-start a song and play through the area that had just caused trouble and it will play well.
- Sometimes there is a "studder" in the UI during a dropout - the progress bar will pause ever so slightly and then jump ahead. Not all the time though.
I know inconsistent problems are a pain to troubleshoot, I'll give ballpein's suggestions (hopefully tonight) a try and let you know if they reveal anything else.
Thanks for your help.
JimH:
What type of files?
Disable memory playback.
Try smaller buffers.
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