macOS 11.3 Beta has killed audio output

Among other issues, the macOS 11.3 Beta (20E5172i) has killed the Sound Output from my M1-based MacBook Air. Please someone look at the sysdiagnose attached to Apple Feedback Assistant FB8995037.

Since updating this morning, my Mac has made no sound. Any app which is supposed to make sound makes no sound. A YouTube video in Safari took 30 minutes to load, and is now playing at maybe 1/15 of a frame per second with no audio. Clicking in System Preferences > Sound results will typically beachball for 10-30 minutes, and sometimes then present a dialog: “Preferences Error – Sound Preference Pane could not be loaded.”

I have a Yeti "Blue" USB microphone which has a headphone output. The Yeti was connected, and, prior to the update, the Yeti's headphone output was set as my default Sound Output device.

Things I have tried:

• Restarted multiple times.
• Disconnected that Yeti microphone that has the headphone output.
• Disconnected all external hardware – no cables of any kind.
• Removed all third-party preference panes. (I had four: Sizzling Keys, SANE scanner, ChronoAgent, Flip4Mac.)
• Moved ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
• Moved ~/Library/Preferences./com.apple.systemsound.plist



I found the problem. I forgot that I had Audio Hijack (software by Rogue Amoeba) installed, and I had not used it in a month or so. So I launched Audio Hijack, after about 10 minutes of beachballing, a dialog advised me that I had version 3.8.0 and needed an "Urgent" update to 3.8.3. After doing so, and further following the prompts to install Rogue Amoeba's new Audio Capture Engine (ACE) system extension (or whatever it is) that comes along with Audio Hijack, the problem is solved. Apparently the old ACE was the cause. Thanks for the quick fix, Rogue Amoeba!
macOS 11.3 Beta has killed audio output
 
 
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