2021 MacBook Pro users complain about crackling and popping audio issues
9to5mac.com
9to5mac.com
As if SW applications that stress the system in some way are capable of triggering a HW bug?
And if the issue eventually does get solved with a SW update, then it most definitely was a SW bug, because software update that work around a HW bug aren’t a thing.
I’ve seen cases where a functional block of an SOC got used one generation to the next without even seeing an issue.
And then suddenly, due to changing boundary conditions, a bug got triggered.
I’ve similarly seen cases where HW bugs were known but SW workarounds where calculates to reduce the chances of them manifesting themselves to be low enough. Until they suddenly didn’t.
The state space of HW is incredible, and it’s often not possible to foresee or understand the interactions between of SW and HW.
This definitely isn't true. We have seen microcode updates that work around buggy CPUs before. Often by taking a slow path for buggy cases. For example there were microcode updates to "fix" (moderately mitigate) Specter and Meltdown which were almost certainly hardware bugs.
I've observed this but very rarely on my M1 MBP, I wonder if there's some code from iOS in the M1 OS that causes this, or it's caused by running iOS (which are now first-class citizens) or Catalyst apps.
It isn’t a problem when connected to my AirPods, so I just pop them in when I’m doing some heavy work.
Annoying, but not a deal breaker for me.
Seems Apple forgets old bugs after a few years. I recall having crackling audio on my 2015 Macbook pro which was fixed within weeks after release, but required a SMC reset to kill the old code messing with the audio...
As someone who works with macOS, Windows, and Linux regularly, macOS works the best for me as general-purpose/daily-driver, with the other two filling more single-purpose use cases.