"Ambient Sounds" has static

I changed audio interfaces (to an RME Fireface UCX II) and now the "Ambient Sounds" has very distracting static. (If I turn off Ambient Sounds in the Sound Settings there is no more static.)

This doesn't happen with other applications — as an audio professional I would notice :)

I captured + recorded the audio for you: https://voca.ro/12GWA2AeIlQX. I've tried 48k and 44k sample rates, both sound the same.

It's lame because I just switched from a different professional interface (Apogee Quartet) and on that interface FFXIV thought I had a surround setup when I don't, and I couldn't hear the dialog because it's on channel 3/center, and I only have two channels, Left and Right. (Yes my audio configuration was set to Stereo in Audio/MIDI setup.) Now with the new interface, I hear dialogue but I get this weird static issue.

I must say FFXIV's audio integration with macOS has given me nothing but trouble!

Computer specs in signature.

Edit: you can see FFXIV sending bad audio to random outputs on my interface: https://ibb.co/2FDpV5g. But I think this is a different issue because I can't hear this since I don't have speakers connected to those outputs. Just another FFXIV audio bug I guess.

I disabled "Ambient Sounds" and while it's better most of the time, there are still sound effects that sound staticy from time to time. Not always.. it seems that it happens when it's loud? The test SFX in the Sound Settings does not have static.

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Does the static occur when an external audio device (such as headphones or speakers) are plugged into the Mac?

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This has been the case since Endwalker released in December and Square refuse to admit any fault. The static ONLY comes from the Ambient audio track, and usually has something to do with their gimicky immersive 3d audio. Only FFXIV does it out of hundreds of games tested. The problem is in the game itself.

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Originally Posted by Dynratygus

Does the static occur when an external audio device (such as headphones or speakers) are plugged into the Mac?

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I listed my external audio device above. I just double-checked and the issue issue happens with both speakers and headphones. It's the audio coming from the game (not my device) which is how I was able to capture it using Audio Hijack for macOS.

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Originally Posted by SilverSurfer

This has been the case since Endwalker released in December and Square refuse to admit any fault. The static ONLY comes from the Ambient audio track, and usually has something to do with their gimicky immersive 3d audio. Only FFXIV does it out of hundreds of games tested. The problem is in the game itself.

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Yes, I have no doubt that it's a FFXIV exclusive issue. I literally work on audio/music all day long for work, and only FFXIV gives me issues.

However as per my previous post, for me anyway, static happens *some times and only for a moment* when Ambient Sounds channel is off — I think it's when the combined audio gets too loud, like with certain SFX. It's very hard to reproduce, but it's useful info because it's in fact not limited to the Ambient Sounds track. (Unless there are two separate issues).

Also, I find it interesting that it started for you in December, but not for me until a couple weeks ago, on the same day I changed my audio interface. Is it possible that you changed hardware/updated software or something that may have triggered this FFXIV issue? We need to give them all the info we got. If it was a patch, do you know the patch date or patch number?

A lot of Mac users have had far better luck using the XIV on Mac launcher. It is a third party launcher, so be warned it is *technically perhaps* against the TOS, but it does solve the audio issues, some graphical flickering and general crashiness of the game. They however only support Big Sur 11.6.7+, so if you go that direction you may need to upgrade your OS.

As for when the sound popping began, it looks like the EW release was where it started to be reported. For me it began a while after release, then seemed to clear up at some point, mostly. Happens on Mac and PCs. Based on a guess, it may be due to the new Immersive Audio added in EW, I'm not an audio professional but the timing matches.

I'm guessing you are using the latest official launcher which would update normally since you're not on Monterey, but thought it worth a check.https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...bef4df96da316e

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Originally Posted by Fiel_Tana

A lot of Mac users have had far better luck using the XIV on Mac launcher. It is a third party launcher, so be warned it is *technically perhaps* against the TOS, but it does solve the audio issues, some graphical flickering and general crashiness of the game. They however only support Big Sur 11.6.7+, so if you go that direction you may need to upgrade your OS.

As for when the sound popping began, it looks like the EW release was where it started to be reported. For me it began a while after release, then seemed to clear up at some point, mostly. Happens on Mac and PCs. Based on a guess, it may be due to the new Immersive Audio added in EW, I'm not an audio professional but the timing matches.

I'm guessing you are using the latest official launcher which would update normally since you're not on Monterey, but thought it worth a check.https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...bef4df96da316e

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I see. For me it started around July 1, which was some time after Immersive Audio was added. But I never used Immersive Audio anyway so it's probably moot.

I appreciate you telling me about the special launcher, unfortunately I'm on Catalina and don't upgrade my OS unless I need to for career-related software.