audiomxd high memory allocation port allocation CPU time

I was away from the Mac mini for a few days, and have been recording audiomxd activity sparsely. Almost all of the Up Time after Start Up, no one is Logged In. I'm not running any apps while I'm Logged Out.

audiomxd Memory grows for several days, then appears to reset itself. If successive audiomxd Memory allocation peaks continue to increase, then this might indicate an incomplete freeing of audiomxd Memory.

audiomxd activity after Start Up 2025-07-05 5:16 PM

2025-07-12 11:19 AM CPU Time 143:58:04.97 1.87 GB 234,061 Ports

2025-07-17 4:08 PM CPU Time 264:41:44.71 2.52 GB 305,453 Ports

2025-07-17 5:51 PM CPU Time 264:41:47.63 2.52 GB 305,454 Ports

2025-07-18 1:40 PM CPU Time 19:05:26.32 748.3 MB 14,895 Ports

2025-07-18 3:25 PM CPU Time 20:44:45.76 780.6 MB 35,390 Ports

2025-07-19 8:52 AM CPU Time 37:52:54.32 1,014.1 MB 35,392 Ports

2025-07-19 6:39 PM CPU Time 46:13:51.56 1.10 GB 131,501 Ports

2025-07-20 9:07 AM CPU Time 60:13:08.60 1.24 GB 150,900 Ports

2025-07-20 6:37 PM CPU Time 69:22:57.39 1.33 GB 170,783 Ports

During an attempt to re-visit Sound settings, I discovered that the Output Volume appears to affect every output device detected by the Mac mini on the shared Wi-Fi network.

Apple menu > System Settings... > Sound > Output

Here is a sequence of screenshots.

Screenshot 2025-08-03 at 10.46.47 AM.jpg

Mac mini Speakers Built-in

I set the Output volume of the "Mac mini Speakers" to midrange.

Screenshot 2025-08-03 at 10.47.02 AM.jpg

Enter the AirPlay code for "Streaming Stick 4K"

I Canceled the AirPlay code-request popup.

Screenshot 2025-08-03 at 10.47.21 AM.jpg

Streaming Stick 4K AirPlay

I Muted the Output volume of the "Streaming Stick 4K"

Screenshot 2025-08-03 at 10.47.39 AM.jpg

Mac mini Speakers Built-in

I discovered that the Output volume of the "Mac mini Speakers" had been Muted.

The Built-in "Mac mini Speakers" are located in a room. The "Streaming Stick 4K" is a Roku device located in a second room. The "Master TV" is an Apple AirPlay device located in a third room.

Q1. How do I Reject individual Output audio devices?

Q2. How do I Ignore individual Output audio devices?

Q3. How do I Mute individual audio devices?

Yesterday, I increased the Log-Out After-Inactivity Time to 960 minutes then began the calculation of System Data.

Today, System Data is still being calculated.

Apple menu > System Settings... > Privacy & Security > Advanced >

Require and administrator password to access system-wide settings: YES

Log out automatically after inactivity: YES

Log out after: 960 minutes

Apple menu > System Settings... > General > Storage

Lock Screen

I just now Logged Into my username.

Activity Monitor CPU and Memory screenshots:

2025-05-04 07.42AM audiomxd

CPU Time 36:39:11.84

Memory 1,004.7 MB

Ports 53,378

Is audiomxd actively using the memory it has allocated for itself?

Is it possible to identify all the processes which may be currently using audiomxd?

[Edited by Moderator]

A few days later and audiomxd memory leak continues to grow more slowly after the following actions:

Apple Intelligence: OFF

Siri: OFF

Uninstall the Creative Cloud desktop app

Show items In Stage Manager: Uncheck

Click wallpaper to reveal desktop change to Only in Stage Manager

Drag Windows to screen edges to tile: OFF

Drag Windows to menu bar to fill screen: OFF

Replaced Intel Audacity with Audacity 3.7.3 ARM 64 dmg (Apple Silicon)

Lacie Toolkit > Settings > Launch on Startup: OFF

audiomxd - % CPU 0.0. CPU Time: 82:17:22.45. Memory: 1.42GB. 119,664 Ports. Real Memory Size: 1.52 GB. Context Switches: 11876063. Faults: 392688774.

kernel_task - % CPU 7.6 CPU Time 1:42.55.16

WindowServer - % CPU 36.2 CPU Time: 1:27:21.11

[Edited by Moderator]

No audio in place, except the Mac Mini internal speaker. My monitor is an Apple Pro Display XDR, which has no speaker or microphone.

The only other devices are a LaCie external backup drive, a Magic Mouse, and a Magic Keyboard.

Last year, I used Audacity (Intel architecture) to customize some songs to play at a near-constant volume, which helps when riding a motorcycle.

Here are screenshots of audiomxd memory usage and Port growth since restarting a few days ago.

For almost all of this time I was Logged Out.

CPU Time 102:12:18.58 1.57 GB 166991 Ports.

[Edited by Moderator]

Brief history of audiomxd GB and ports.

2025-05-07 CPU Time 41:17:13.73 1.02 GB 45,087 Ports.

2025-05-08 CPU Time 64:57:45.38 1.27 GB 98,198 Ports.

2025-05-09 CPU Time 82:17:22.45 1.42 GB 119,664 Ports.

2025-05-10 CPU Time 102:12:18.58 1.57 GB 166,991 Ports.

2025-05-12 CPU Time 145:19:56.50 1.88 GB 258,220 Ports.

I was logged out almost all of the time since yesterday. Are these the expected trends of audiomxd? My Mac Mini has only its internal speaker - no microphone or speaker on my display.

At 10:40AM, I Logged In then downloaded Epson ET-4850 Required Software and Manuals only [UNchecked 7 other software apps] for macOS 15.x. Here are screenshots of audiomxd activity immediately after the installation of the new printer and scanner drivers.

2025-05-12 07.45AM CPU Time 145:19:56.50 1.88 GB 258,220 Ports.

2025-05-12 10.56AM CPU Time 147:09.27.88 1.89 GB 285,523 Ports.

[Edited by Moderator]

Brief history of audiomxd CPU Time, GB, and ports.

2025-05-12 Start up.

2025-05-13 05.41AM CPU Time 9:07:06.79 534.5 MB 4,971 Ports.

2025-05-13 03.40PM CPU Time 15:23:23.87 678.4 MB 10,053 Ports.

2025-05-14 07.09AM CPU Time 30:08:04.21 912.7 MB 39,324 Ports.

2025-05-16 Friday

macOS Sequoia - Apple Community

Here's a history of audiomxd activity after Startup on Wednesday 2025-05-14. I'll try to look at it again in a few days. Perhaps, audiomxd is always running.

2025-05-15 06.48PM CPU Time 22:23:46.90 797.3 MB 6,062 Ports.

2025-05-16 06.44AM CPU Time 31:05:06.69 921.8 MB 19,721 Ports.

2025-05-16 08.22AM CPU Time 31:49:12.74 932.0 MB 19,806 Ports.

Digression: Unified memory is unfamiliar; here's a description I just now found.

In the Apple Mac Mini M4 Pro, unified memory means that a single, high-speed memory module handles both RAM and GPU memory, rather than having separate pools for system and graphics memory. When a task requires more RAM, the system can allocate it from the unified memory pool. Similarly, when the GPU needs more memory for graphics processing, it can access the unified memory pool.

Is audiomxd used continually by the Apple-developed processes that dynamically allocate both system memory and graphics memory?

Here's an updated history of audiomxd activity after Startup on Wednesday 2025-05-14. I'll try to look at it again in a few days.

2025-05-15 06.48PM CPU Time 22:23:46.90 797.3 MB 6,062 Ports.

2025-05-16 06.44AM CPU Time 31:05:06.69 921.8 MB 19,721 Ports.

2025-05-16 08.22AM CPU Time 31:49:12.74 932.0 MB 19,806 Ports.

2025-05-16 03.56PM CPU Time 38:34:24.86 1,018.2 MB 44,221 Ports.

Here's an updated history of audiomxd activity after Startup on Wednesday 2025-05-14. I'll try to look at it again in a few days.

2025-05-15 06.48PM CPU Time 22:23:46.90 797.3 MB 6,062 Ports.

2025-05-16 06.44AM CPU Time 31:05:06.69 921.8 MB 19,721 Ports.

2025-05-16 08.22AM CPU Time 31:49:12.74 932.0 MB 19,806 Ports.

2025-05-16 03.56PM CPU Time 38:34:24.86 1,018.2 MB 44,221 Ports.

2025-05-17 01.34PM CPU Time 57:59:42.30 1.20 GB 55,158 Ports.

Here's an updated history of audiomxd activity after Startup on Wednesday 2025-05-14. I'll try to look at it again in a few days.

2025-05-15 06.48PM CPU Time 22:23:46.90 797.3 MB 6,062 Ports.

2025-05-16 06.44AM CPU Time 31:05:06.69 921.8 MB 19,721 Ports.

2025-05-16 08.22AM CPU Time 31:49:12.74 932.0 MB 19,806 Ports.

2025-05-16 03.56PM CPU Time 38:34:24.86 1,018.2 MB 44,221 Ports.

2025-05-17 01.34PM CPU Time 57:59:42.30 1.20 GB 55,158 Ports.

2025-05-18 05.53AM CPU Time 74:18:34.81 1.34 GB 66,484 Ports.

Yesterday, I opened a spreadsheet for a few minutes, and purchased a song from iTunes then closed the Music app. After that, I Logged Out until just now to check memory growth rate.

Here are screenshots of CPU, Memory, iMemory, and iStatistics.

[Edited by Moderator]