I use a Fifine USB Mic on a 2018 Macbook Pro with MacOS Monterey 12.6.1, in clamshell mode with 2 monitors connected through a Caldigit TS3 dock. After some time, coworkers on Zoom will tell me my audio is choppy and sounds like it is repeating. This seems to not be an issue with the mic, but something within MacOS because if I switch to the mic built into my webcam, it has the same problem.
If I open Quicktime and do an audio recording, the time and file size increase rapidly for some reason when using any USB mic source. See the below screen capture of this behavior. You will notice after only recording a few seconds, the length is 11m50s and the file size is 68MB.
If I open the computer up and do the same audio recording test using the built-in mic, there is no issue with the audio quality, time or file size.
This issue is irritating and I only know it’s happening when someone else tells me since I can’t hear it on my end. The only solution I have found is to restart the computer and it will work for some time until it happens again. Here is what I have tried that does not work but my Quicktime audio test always has issues:
- Unplug mic, plug back in
- Unplug mic from Caldigit TS3 Dock, plug into Macbook Pro with USB-C adapter or vice-versa
- Use computer off dock with just USB mic plugged in
- Restart the coreaudiod service:
sudo pkill coreaudiod
Hoping anyone can shed light on what causes this problem or any other fixes. Thanks!