Ask HN: Why does MacBook randomly shifts sound balance on connecting headphones?

5 pointsiamyatin2 comments

Macbook Pro M1 randomly shifts the sound balance to either right or left after connecting headphones or earphones. This happens probably 1 in every 20 times. What is the reason for this?

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It's mostly shifting right and it's an issue that existed forever. The reason for it is that the microphones were positioned on the left side, and OS X thinks it's smart enough to move the balance to the right, so that music/audio doesn't interfere with microphones (might be helpful during calls). Skype used to do the same.

I am using a small app called Balance Lock https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balance-lock/id1019371109?mt=1... to automatically restore the balance. No affiliate with the author of the app in any way.

AFAIK there's also another bug that's Bluetooth specific, where Bluetooth headphones + high CPU usage will slightly shift the balance and accumulates over time. I was surprised ~1 year ago that the balance was 20% right on my laptop. I don't know whether this is solved on more recent laptops/macOS though.

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