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A quick fix (hack?) to eliminate sound popping...

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Ok, so I got frustrated with the sound popping and devised a workaround. I don't guarantee it'll work on yours, nor do I say it's a good idea if you put your machine to sleep often or have a laptop without using a power supply, but here's what I did.



  1. Launch Terminal
  2. Change to root user (you must have admin privileges to be part of the sudo 'wheel' group.. use 'su -' otherwise.
    Code:
    localhost:~ pzero$ sudo su -
    Password: <your password>
    localhost:~ root#
  3. Edit the root crontab
    Code:
    localhost:~ root# crontab -e
  4. There may be no entries if it's a default install... place the following line, then save by typing exactly the following in edit mode of Vi (press 'i' to get into insert/edit mode):
    Code:
    * * * * * /usr/bin/say " "
  5. Save the cron by typing "<escape>:wq!"
  6. Verify the cron by typing:
    Code:
    localhost:~ root# crontab -l
    *    *    *    *    *    /usr/bin/say " "
    localhost:~ root#

This will cause the /usr/bin/say " " command to be issued every minute. It consumes virtually zero resources, so it's not like it's going to drag the system down. If anyone happens to know what interval the sound hardware is put to sleep, or a way to log that, the increments could be increased by changing the first asterisk '*' to '*/<interval>'. :think:

Let me know if it works for you...
 
MacPro 3.1 symbios have no sound popping...

:think:

I have mine set as an iMac 12,2, and it pops - the phenomenon also occurs with iMac 13,1 and iMac 12,1. I'll try MacPro 3,1; however, performance seemed slightly better when using 12,2 for me, and slightly worse when using 13,1. This is on a Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H with an i7-3770k CPU and integrated sound.
 
As an alternative I am using cron method with following command:
Code:
* * * * * /usr/bin/afplay /Library/Sounds/silence.aiff
You can find silence.aiff (285ms of silence) here:http://www.evl.uic.edu/alan/DOCUMENTATION/HTML/music.html
Just place it somewhere on your drive or use:
Code:
sudo mkdir /Library/Sounds
sudo cp ~/Downloads/silence.aiff /Library/Sounds
"afplay" is using minimum resources vs. speech-synth approach with "say".
 
Or the modern way (artifacts are in the attached archive):
Unzip the content and then use these commands
Code:
sudo mkdir /Library/Sounds
sudo cp silence.aiff /Library/Sounds
sudo cp com.nullvision.popbuster.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nullvision.popbuster.plist
To remove:
Code:
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nullvision.popbuster.plist
sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nullvision.popbuster.plist
 

Attachments

  • Archive.zip
    8.4 KB · Views: 144
So is there no definitive solution to the popping/crackling sound?

(Thanks for this "fixes", though!)
 
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