Some owners of Studio Display have sound problems; software fix may come

Developer and blogger Michael Tsai collects anecdotes about a new Apple Studio Display issue: recurring audio issues. Symptoms include audio playback becoming “choppy”or cutting out completely, and some users have reported similar issues with the built-in microphone and even the webcam.

MacRumors reported today that Apple has sent out a memorandum to service providers acknowledging the problem and advising affected users to turn their studio displays off and on. This recommendation is somewhat inconvenient due to the fact that Studio Display does not have a physical power button and cannot be completely shut down or restarted via macOS. But if you unplug the display’s power cable, wait at least ten seconds, and plug it back in, that should fix things while Apple works out a fix.

The Studio Display has more internals than regular computer monitors – it’s essentially a budget iPad inside with an A13 chip, 64GB of storage, and an iOS-based operating system. This means it can do some unique things, like support for the Center Stage pan-and-scan feature or always-on Hey Siri, regardless of the capabilities of the Mac it’s connected to. But it also means that, like any computer, it can have software bugs.

This is the second minor software-related issue that users have noticed with Studio Display. Shortly after the monitor’s release, reviewers and users noted that its webcam quality was inferior to Apple’s front-facing cameras for the iPhone and iPad. A couple of months later, Apple released a firmware update to improve the “noise reduction, contrast, and framing”of the webcam. This update, firmware version 15.5, is still the newest Studio Display firmware version available.