Audio stuttering/choppy

Date & Time: February 4, 2022; 7:00 p.m. MST
Frequency: Always (even on title screen)
World name: Siren
Character name: Cumulo Nimbus

I have been away from FFXIV for two weeks due to a personal event in real life. While I was away, the 6.08 update released. Upon launching the game for the first time in a while, the audio appears to be "choppy," or stuttering, indicating something is wrong.

I have already checked to see if it was an issue with the audio output, but changing the output to a different device and re-launching the game had no effect on the audio quality. The audio is fine on other applications; it's just a problem when it's in FFXIV.

Before making this post, I consulted various previous threads online of players who faced similar problems, most notably after the 6.01 patch release. I've seen advice to disable the dualshock / dualsense compatibility, but I am operating on a Mac device, and there is no such setting listed under the gamepad settings.

Another suggestion was that the CPU usage on my computer was too high. While monitoring the activity of my CPU, I observed that while FFXIV is selected/tabbed into, its CPU usage spikes over 100%. While tabbed out, it drops a considerable amount to ~60% CPU usage, and the audio is still considerably choppy despite this. I don't have any other large programs open while FFXIV is running; FFXIV is the only program that takes up more than 10% CPU at a time.

Now, I'm not sure what to do to solve this. This problem has never happened to me--neither audio nor CPU--prior to today. No one else has turned on this computer during the past two weeks while I was away. Restarting the game and my computer did nothing to fix this. Most advice I found online was applicable to Windows or Playstation devices, which operate differently from Mac systems.

If there is a way to somehow resolve the audio issue, I would be pleased to hear it. Thank you.

■ PC Specs

To obtain the system information, open the FFXIV launcher and select Config → System Information → Display.

I tried to do this, but unfortunately, there is no such setting on the Mac launcher, so I am unable to provide the information wanted in this space.

In the event that basic specs of my computer are needed, this Mac mini is currently on the "Big Sur" Version 11.0 and is relatively new, being made in 2020.