Hi,
I am using a MacBook Pro 2019 (Intel) running Monterey 12.7.6. After upgrading to Plexamp 4.13.1, it can no longer play in the background. The music will be stuttering. However, if I put it to the foreground (by clicking on the window), it will work fine. Can confirm this problem does not exist in 4.12.4.
I have the log file ready, but I’m not very comfortable sharing it publicly here. I’m happy to share if there is a private channel.
Thanks!
-paizhang
My iMac 2014 running Sequoia with the new 4.13.1 is not experiencing any stuttering as I move from app to app. Audio seems ok through internal speakers as well as using AirPlay to an Airport Express connected stereo.
Hi, i’m experiencing a similar problem on a Macbook Pro M1 Pro (Macos 26.4.1). When i switch / open new apps, the music on Plexamp (4.13.1) stutters and even completely vanish (music still progressing, but nothing is heard).
I tried with multiple apps at the same time (Chrome, VS Code, Spotify Apple TV, …) and the more apps there was, the more likely it was to crash. An app restart fixes the issue for a few instants, before coming back when launching/using other apps.
No problem with the same files playing with the latest Plex MacOS app. PMS is on the latest stable version on a docker NAS.
I was using my Airpods connected with Bluetooth to play Flac files, maybe it’s related.
I had no issue like that with the previous version.
I’ll try after a computer restart tonight or tomorrow or maybe reinstalling the app to see if it changes anything.
EDIT 1: i was able to reproduce the problem with the internal speakers, without Bluetooth involved. It makes crackling sounds, it’s weird. It happens when Plexamp is in the background, by using other apps or launching apps.
Yeah after updating yesterday I started having the same issue. I tried changing sample rate conversion from 16 point sinc to 8 point sinc and it doesn’t appear to have had any effect, so I changed it back. Happens over bluetooth and normal speakers.
macOS 26.3.1, Macbook Pro w/ M4 Pro
I can confirm that this issue has appeared after an upgrade to Plexamp 4.13.1 on both my macOS devices:
Symptoms of the issue are increased stuttering (in form of audio cutouts on bluetooth and crackling noise on physical speakers) until the audio just turns completely silent. It is triggered by Plexamp but propagates to other applications that play music; for example, after Plexamp has killed the audio, YouTube in Safari will be completely silent, too.
To trigger it, simply start playing any song using Plexamp 4.13.1 and then use your Mac. Open some tabs in Safari, compile code in VSCode, open/minimize Mail, etc - every of those action causes an audio cutout, increasing until full silence from which the app doesn’t recover anymore.
On my end the issue is 100% reproducible on Bluetooth, but harder to reproduce on physical speakers. However, it still occurs. Different from Bluetooth where the stutters are mostly just silence, on my physical speakers the stutter is white noise.
After Plexamp has “killed” the audio, muting/unmuting, pausing/unpausing music does not fix anything. Only quitting the app or switching the audio output, i.e., removing AirPods and using MacBook speakers fixes it. I have a strong suspicion that Linux fix for audio outputs resulted in a regression on macOS.
The issue exists for both streams and downloaded files, i.e., any connectivity problems being the root cause can be ruled out because the issue persists on files that are available locally via downloads.
I found a temporary solution on my computer. Do not minimalize the window, and do not completely overlap the window. Keep at least 1 pixel of the window visible on the screen, and the problem was gone. Looks a like a system scheduling issue.
This is affecting me as well on Sequoia 15.7.2 on a M1 Max MPB , reverting back to 4.12.4 has fixed it. So it’s definitely the 4.13 update.
Plexamp also needs to let us stop auto updates on this app. It was convenient but not anymore…
I found a temporary solution on my computer. Do not minimalize the window, and do not completely overlap the window. Keep at least 1 pixel of the window visible on the screen, and the problem was gone. Looks a like a system scheduling issue.
I’m experiencing the same behavior. Apple M1 Mac mini on Tahoe 26.4.
Same here as well on macOS 26.4.1 with plexamp 4.13.1.
Same issue here. 2018 Intel i7 Mac mini running Sequoia. Since the 4.13 upgrade, Plexamp is basically no longer usable as a music player. It may work for a while, but once another foreground process is bit more processor intensive (scrolling in a web browser can be enough) the music starts to stutter until I switch Plexamp back to the foreground. Never had a problem before.
same thing here macOS 15.7.4 sequoia Intel Solved by downloading version 4.12.0
Server Version#: 1.43.1.10611
Player Version#: 4.13.1
The latest Plexamp update has a problem on macOS: when you switch to the background (e.g., select another app that comes to the front), the audio starts to glitche with any type of media, whether WAV, ALAC, or FLAC.
Moderator Edit: Consolidated your post to this thread on the same topic. @FordGuy61
I am getting the same on Sequoia 15.7.5 on a Intel Mac
If I place Safari over the top of the player it starts to stutter, if I show just a tiny piece of Plexamp playback is fine. the player does not need to be fully shown in the foreground to stop the stuttering.
I’m experiencing the same issue on Tahoe 26.4.1 (25E253) on my M3 MacBook Pro. Basically rendering PlexAmp unusable…
Here to confirm I’m also experiencing this issue with Plexamp 4.13.1 on my MacBook Pro (M3 Pro), on Tahoe 26.3.1 and Tahoe 26.4.1 (25E253). Plex server is on version 1.43.1.10611.
I’ve also noticed this problem in the 26.3.1 (a) iOS version after the update. When Plexamp is running in the background, it occasionally starts to stutter.
I’m running macOS Sequoia 15.7.5 on an M1 MacBook Air. After it updated to 4.13.1, Plexamp was horrible to interact with (UI taking fives, tens of seconds to respond to clicks), which made me realize I’d never installed the Apple Silicon version – I was still using the Intel build. Interestingly, it was only after I switched to the architecture-appropriate build that I really encountered the stuttering. The stuttering is there on the Intel build, just not as bad.
I wondered if I could work around the problem by making Plexamp run at a higher priority, or preventing it from entering a background state. Unfortunately, I’ve had no success here. ps x shows four Plexamp processes: the original application binary, two “Plexamp Helper” instances, and a “Plexamp Helper (Renderer)”. I’ve tried elevating the priorities of all four processes with sudo renice -10 $PLEXAMP_PID ..., and I’ve tried changing the task policies with sudo taskpolicy -B -p $PLEXAMP_PID .... Neither works: under high multicore CPU load (parallel compile job), Plexamp stutters very badly.
Great discovery, and thanks for the tip. This seems to be the only workaround for now. It’s a real pain: these 13.3" displays are not very large, and so I like to run with the dock hidden, and Plexamp shoved to a different space. But the easiest way to make this workaround work is to leave the dock visible, and position the Plexamp window so it dangles below your other windows. Still, it’s better than audio stutters. I think.
Same problem. Very annoying.
At least, I discovered how to avoid the bug
I saw another topic got merged into this one that described it as audio glitches when in the background, but that’s how I would describe the issue since upgrading to 4.13.1 on my M4 Max MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.7.4.
When I swap over to a different app in a fullscreen window the music will have frequent pops and stutters. No combination of app settings or file/speaker setups makes any difference, only downgrading lets me use my laptop and listen to music at the same time.
