The notion that consciousness is inherently linked to a clumsy homunculus in our mind that we call an "observer" is itself faulty. This "observer" is an entirely artificial construction that our minds engage in, and subjective experience at its most basic can exist without it. This is the arahant's perception: "In the seeing, there is only the seen; in the hearing, there is only the heard; in the sensing, there is only the sensed; in the cognizing, there is only the cognized. Thus you should see that – indeed there is no thing here; this, Bahiya, is how you should train yourself. ... As you see that there is no thing there, you will see that – you are therefore located neither in the world of this, nor in the world of that, nor in any place – betwixt the two. This alone is the end of suffering." (Gautama Buddha's teaching of Bahiya, as recorded in the Udana.)

As a very rough and basic intuition of this, think about how your basic perceptions might work when you're in the "zone" or in "flow" or a deep hyperfocus state, where the ordinary "default mode network" is temporarily made inactive. Do you ever think then about some clumsy intermediating "observer" that your "seeing, hearing, sensing, cognizing" must all be passing through? Of course not; that would instantly snap you out of your intense focus. Yet you're undeniably conscious, not a "zombie" of any sort! Your qualia are unaltered; if anything, they're perhaps being more intensely experienced.