Audio problem with 2.0.4

[deus0ww]

The audio occasionally cuts out with 2.0.4 on my MBP 2011 + Cinema Display with audio set to either DisplayPort, USB or built-in output. This did not happen with 2.0.3. This also happens in a new user account (with clean VLC pref). Any help would be greatly appreciated. For the time being, I have downgraded back to 2.0.3.

When the audio cuts out, this is printed in the "Messages" log, even though no audio configuration was changed:

auhal warning: audio device configuration changed, resetting cache
auhal debug: Set Device: 0x4b
main debug: removing module "scaletempo"
main debug: removing module "ugly_resampler"
main debug: removing module "float32_mixer"
main debug: removing module "auhal"
main debug: looking for audio output module: 1 candidate
main debug: VLC is looking for: 'f32l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
auhal debug: found 6 audio device(s)
auhal debug: DevID: 33 DevName: AirPlay
auhal debug: found 1 stream formats
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: DevID: 65 DevName: Built-in Microph
auhal debug: this device is INPUT only. skipping...
auhal debug: DevID: 55 DevName: Built-in Input
auhal debug: this device is INPUT only. skipping...
auhal debug: DevID: 40 DevName: Built-in Output
auhal debug: found 16 stream formats
auhal debug: supported format: [96000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [88200.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [96000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [88200.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [96000.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [88200.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [96000.000000][mcpl][9][8][1][8][2][32]
auhal debug: supported format: [88200.000000][mcpl][9][8][1][8][2][32]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][9][8][1][8][2][32]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][9][8][1][8][2][32]
auhal debug: DevID: 48 DevName: DisplayPort
auhal debug: found 9 stream formats
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [32000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [32000.000000][mcpl][4][8][1][8][2][20]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [32000.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: DevID: 75 DevName: Display Audio
auhal debug: found 4 stream formats
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][12][6][1][6][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][12][6][1][6][2][24]
auhal debug: supported format: [48000.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: supported format: [44100.000000][mcpl][12][4][1][4][2][16]
auhal debug: using preselected output device 0x4b
auhal warning: failed to add listener for audio device configuration (1852797029)
auhal warning: audio device already in use
auhal warning: could not set alive check callback on device [0x4b]: epon
auhal debug: current format is: [44100.000000][mcpl][41][4][1][4][2][32]
auhal debug: layout of AUHAL has 2 channels
auhal debug: selected 2 physical channels for device output
auhal debug: VLC will output: Stereo
auhal debug: we set the AU format: [48000.000000][mcpl][9][8][1][8][2][32]
auhal debug: the actual set AU format is [48000.000000][mcpl][9][8][1][8][2][32]
auhal debug: analog output successfully opened
main debug: using audio output module "auhal"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 6.133 ms - Total 6.133 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 6.133 ms)
main debug: output 'f32l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: mixer 'f32l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 'f32l'->'f32l' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: conversion pipeline completed
main debug: looking for audio mixer module: 2 candidates
main debug: using audio mixer module "float32_mixer"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.087 ms - Total 0.087 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.087 ms)
main debug: input 'f32l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 1 candidate
scaletempo debug: format: 48000 rate, 2 nch, 4 bps, fl32
scaletempo debug: params: 30 stride, 0.200 overlap, 14 search
scaletempo debug: 1.000 scale, 1440.000 stride_in, 1440 stride_out, 1152 standing, 288 overlap, 672 search, 2400 queue, fl32 mode
main debug: using audio filter module "scaletempo"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.118 ms - Total 0.118 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.118 ms)
main debug: filter(s) 'f32l'->'f32l' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: conversion pipeline completed
main debug: filter(s) 'f32l'->'f32l' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: conversion pipeline completed
main debug: filter(s) 'f32l'->'f32l' 52800 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 12 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "ugly_resampler"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.060 ms - Total 0.060 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.060 ms)
main debug: conversion pipeline completed

[deus0ww]

I should note that this happens every few minutes. It doesn't happen on my Mac Pro 2008 with optical out (where both 2.0.3 and 2.0.4 work perferctly).

[Kithop]

Hi - just curious, I'm having the same problem since the upgrade to 2.0.4, but I think I may have narrowed it down.

In /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.app , what sample rate + bit depth is your sound card set to? I normally leave all mine at max (on a mid-2012 unibody Macbook Pro), i.e. 96KHz, 32-bit float, and I noticed this problem today. However, I tried dropping down to 96KHz, 24-bit integer (i.e. barely any worse), and so far haven't had the issue recur.

I don't think the optical outs support floating point audio, so this would make sense to me if your MBP is currently set up for that. I'm not a dev, but if you can confirm that too I think it'd help them fix it.

Edit: Of course, now I've switched back to 32-bit float to try and test my theory, and can't reproduce this again. Hmmmm.

[deus0ww]

All of my inputs/outputs are set to 48kHz/24bit Integer. I have already tried 44kHz and 96kHz but the problem still occurs. I'll try playing with the bit-depth next. I'm not using optical out. The MBP audio out is set to my Cinema Display (over USB, but the problem happens over DisplayPort, too).

[adcurtin]

I'm having the same problem on a 2012 macbook air 11", all internal audio. I do have Boom installed, but it's disabled.

A quick temporary solution is to revert back to 2.0.3: http://download.videolan.org/pub/videol ... .3/macosx/

[deus0ww]

Changing the audio bit-depth to 16bit in Audio MIDI Setup didn't help. I've also tried running VLC in 32bit mode (x86) with no improvement.

[deus0ww]

I finally solved this problem. There appears to be an incompatibility between VLC 2.0.4 and AirServer. As long as AirServer is off (by disabling auto-launch on boot and restarting; quiting after start-up doesn't work), VLC 2.0.4 works perfectly. Something must have changed between VLC 2.0.3 and 2.0.4 to cause this. For now, I'll leave AirServer disabled.

[bigdave56]

What I have observed: VLC garbling playback of ALAC files (haven't tried any AAC files.). Different rippers same result. Other players play the same files no prob. Just for giggles, I converted the ALAC file that I first observed the problem with to FLAC and the FLAC played perfectly.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This ALAC issue will be fixed soon.