I understand if they don't address the problem of sound obstruction (it's hard to fix, and not this particular bug), but AT LEAST they could try improving current sound mechanics. It would definitely help getting the harshness off the sounds, but it would also feel much more natural. Right now, you only listen to sound direction, not so much distance. It feels flat and uncomfortable.
Indeed, a low pass filter would help A LOT, and is actually a great idea. Being a programmer myself, I do not see much difficulties in changing the sound emulator to a curve, but with both effects the result would be amazing! Really, really nice idea, actually.
MC 51363 is not what this is about: It's about shade here. Not holes in the ground (for which I have found a solution). Even when I make the tree trunk larger than the block itself (I thought that the shadow might be caused by the element being inside the block), it's still in shadow.
Also, non-cubic blocks are definitely supported, it was a feature, right? It renders properly, apart from the shadow only.
I added screenshots and the affected model (birch_log)
This bug also applies to Minecraft snapshot 14w30c:
When I tp out to a far place (outside of current loaded chunks) it doesn't unload the inactive chunks and the new chunks don't appear (only if you wait a minute or two).
This issue still exists in Minecraft Snapshot 15w49b.