Created on: February 9, 2015
Last updated: April 19, 2022
It has been confirmed that the audio channels for the headphone jack (Audio Out) on the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock, are flipped. That is, the signal for the left channel will play through the right output and vice-versa. Future shipments will include a fix for this issue, but until we start shipping those units the customer will need to use a simple workaround to fix the problem. (The new units should be here before the end of Q3 2015 – this article will be updated once they arrive.)
The current solution is to use "Apple MIDI Setup" to switch the audio channels back to their defaults. Once this is done the audio channels should work as expected. If you connect the Dock to a different Mac or re-install the operating system, this process will need to be repeated.
1) Make sure there is no audio playing back through the Dock's headphone jack.
2) Go to Launchpad.
3) Search for "Audio Midi Setup"
4) Select "USB audio Codec" in the left window pane.
5) Select "Output" in the middle of the right pane.
6) Select "Configure Speakers".
7) Using the drop-down boxes, change "left front" to "1" and "right front" to "2"
8) You can go to System Preferences --> Sound --> Output --> USB audio Codec and use the "Balance" slider bar to test left and right channel audio.
Notes:
If you have audio playing through the Dock while you are changing the left and right channels in Audio MIDI Setup, you will not hear a change until you go to System Preferences --> Sound --> Output --> USB audio Codec, select another Output device and then select "USB audio Codec" again.