MacOS 26 (Tahoe) Includes Important Audio-Related Bug Fixes

Back in September, we noted two critical bugs in MacOS 26 (Tahoe), Apple’s latest update to the Mac’s operating system. As a result of these issues, we suggested holding off on upgrading to the initial 26.0 release.
We’ve since been tracking Apple’s progress fixing those bugs in subsequent MacOS beta releases. We’re happy to report that the issues we reported have been resolved with the recent release of MacOS 26.1, and that Tahoe contains several additional fixes for various audio bugs. With that in mind, we’re now able to recommend upgrading your Mac to Tahoe (26.1 or higher).

Below, you’ll find an overview of important audio-related bug fixes found in Tahoe. Each of these bugs previously impacted all five of our audio capture tools:

Airfoil Audio Hijack Loopback Piezo SoundSource

Audio From FaceTime and Phone Is No Longer Lost
A critical bug introduced in MacOS 26.0 led to audio captures from FaceTime and the new Phone app failing in many setups. These issues have been addressed in 26.1. Capturing audio from FaceTime or Phone should now work without any issue.

Sample Rate Mismatches No Longer Cause Failed Audio Captures
A second critical bug introduced in MacOS 26.0 led to audio captures failing when secondary output devices had a different sample rate than that of the system’s default output device. This problem has also been corrected in 26.1.

Improved Audio Capture From Safari at 44.1 kHz
When the default output for the Mac was set to a sample rate of 44.1 kHz, audio played by Safari could have skipping or clicks when it was captured. This issue has been corrected, and all audio capture from Safari should sound flawless.

Reliable “Hey Siri” Access
Previously, the system could fail to recognize spoken requests for Siri when you were capturing audio with our products. On Tahoe, using “Hey Siri” should now always work as expected.

Capture of Audio at Low Sample Rates Once Again Works as Expected
A regression in later versions of MacOS 15 (Sequoia) led to audio capture failures when audio was played at low sample rates. On Tahoe, capturing works as expected regardless of sample rate.

More Reliable Capture With Some Advanced Audio Devices
A bug in older versions of MacOS resulted in audio capture issues with devices from manufacturers like MOTU and Apogee which use stream groups. Updates in Tahoe have addressed issues where the wrong audio could be captured, as well as problems of silenced audio incorrectly being heard.

Low-Pass Filter, Lowered
Prior to Tahoe, a strong low-pass filter was applied by the system to all audio captures. Updates from Apple mean this filter is no longer applied as aggressively.

Consider Upgrading to Tahoe Now

We advise a conservative approach when it comes to upgrading your Mac’s operating system, but with Apple’s 26.1 update, we’re confident in recommending Tahoe for our users. The fixes detailed above make Tahoe the best OS for most users.
Of course, the latest versions of our own products are always our recommended versions. To make sure you have our latest, just select Check for Updates from within the app.