Headphone Jack sound quality

When I plug my headphones into the jack, the sound becomes distorted and full of wavering bass. I adjusted the EQ, but the problem remains. What can I do?

Try another pair of earphones.

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When external speakers are plugged in to headphone jack, sound randomly goes back to internal speakers or digital audio setting, then back again

I have an essentially new MacBook Pro with Lion and all updates applied, and am wondering if this is a hardware or software problem. Essentially with something plugged into the headphone jack, things work as they are supposed to for a while, then the sound will switch back to internal speakers, or sometimes 'digital out' (I can watch it change in the system settings), and then often switch back. It doesn't seem to follow any sort of pattern or be related to any specific application that could be open, and happens with different sources of audio (iTunes, streaming from the web), and different external speakers or headphones plugged in.

Sounds hardware related. If it's brand new, and you're still under warranty I would have it checked out.
I have not experienced this on my computer.
As I understand it, you have analog RCA outputs from an 1/8" to left and right RCA outputs. when you're randomly using the computer, it'll switch to internal speakers, then to digital audio, back to your stereo analog external speakers.
This should not be happening and if it's happening with streaming content (I am unaware of anything that streams in 5.1 digital audio) then this must be something that an apple specialist should look at and consider.
Does this happen with the headphone jack out? when you hold your finger over the headphone jack area does a red beam come out of it *blinking* or just on? This will be a good indicator that your audio hardware is faulty. are you running HDMI out?

IMac headphone jack sound drop

Hi everyone,
My 27 iMac 3.06 GHz is dropping the sound from the headphone jack after a few minutes of playing audio. If I adjust the volume with the keyboard the sound comes back...for a few minutes again. If I use the on-board speakers for sound output the sound never drops.
Is anyone else experiencing sound from the headphone jack dropping on the new 27" iMacs? Any suggestions on what might be causing it?
I plan to take it to the apple store as I am multiple other problems at the moment with the machine, but I figured I would find out if this is an isolated incident or if others are having the same issues (a search of the forums did not reveal similar problems)

I have a whole lab (30) of new imacs and the headphone jacks need a lot to be desired. My headphones all worked on the emacs I had last year; they work on my laptops, but most are crackling and also in some cases causes Type to Learn to actually pause. When I pay $1000 dollars per machine I would think the headphone jack would work. After all how many years now have people been putting headphone jacks in computers? You would think they would have it down perfect by now. But each time I get a new set of macs I have problems: ibooks - the wire to the LCD was being pinched by the hinge - 15 out of 30 now don't work; macbooks- hard drive failures. It is interesting that I have imacs purchased in 2000 that are still functioning as they should - just can't update them past panther in most cases. Will Apple admit this problem with headphone jacks?

Z1 Compact headphone low sound quality

hello , after i upgraded to loliop i started to have problems with my headphones MH750 , the sound quality became variant und bad , i have tried to change the clear audio+ and dynamic normaliser but not much to mention , any solutions ? thanx in advanced

I have the same issue with audio output on my z1. It is completely random, sometimes the bass will be almost non existent until i restart the walkman app a few times until the bass is there. Sometimes channeling through the headphone types will bring the bass back in, sometimes not. It's a complete pain and unpredictable.

Distorted headphone jack sound

When I connect to external speakers which work fine on other computers, I get this sound which sometimes disappears during the day (not sure why). You can listen to it here:
http://homepage.mac.com/kiwifilms/MacBook/iMovieTheater56.html
I have tried to move and joggle the jack but it is not loose as there is no difference if I press hard or try to slightlu move it up or down. I have reset PRAM and the sound stuff before so I was hoping to hear if there is a diagnostic program which I can use to solve this.

Also, I have tried restarting my computer, messing with the audio settings, and various other settings that I thought might help.

Ipad output jack sound quality not as good as before

just noticed some weeks ago that my ipad doesnt sound as good as before when using headsets. I was wondering if its just me but then, I borrowed my friend's same ipad model and it sounds alot more better (on headsets)! I was wondering if an app has caused it to act this way. I havent dropped or whatsoever my iPad.. anyideas what happened??

Try reset all settings
Settings>General>Reset>Reset All Settings
Note: Data will not be affected but settings will be reset.

Very poor sound quality on bluetooth headphones through HP Envy 700-074 desktop

I recently purchased a pair of Bose AE2W wireless bluetooth headphones to use with my HP Envy 700-074 desktop computer. After successfully pairing the headphones the sound quality is extremely poor. I know the headphones are not the pronblem since they sound beautiful when paired with my iPhone or iPad.
I have tried updating the driver, but I have the most current version installed according to the computer. Adjustment of the Beats Audio controls or any other sound controls does not help.
SKU:H5Q09AA#ABA
CK SN: {Private Information Removed}
704219-001MX
WO:000037025247
Any help or suggestion much appreciated. Thanks

Updated OS to Windows 8.1 and now I have ABSOLUTELY NO SOUND on any bluetooth audio devices. From bad to worse.

Headphone jack dead on Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro front pa

I have the Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro running on a 2.4 GHz, Gb PC?with XP Pro. Everything was running perfectly yesterday evening. I went away for about one hour, came back to listen to some music and couldn't hear anything in my headphones. I hadn't made any hardware or software changes since I last used them. The headphones are plugged into the large (6.5mm) jack on the external front panel. The system is recognising them because the speakers mute?when they are plugged in, but no sound comes out. (If I plug headphones into the 3.5mm jack on the little volume control handset coming from the woofer, they work fine). I've tried two sets of headphones and I know that they are OK. In summary:- No sound from front panel 6.5mm headphone jack.- Sound connections and volumes seem to be OK, because speakers and woofer volume control headphone jack work fine.- Headphones are not the problem.- Speakers are muted when headphones are plugged in, but still no sound from 6.5mm jack.- No hardware or software changes since they were last working. HELP PLEASE!

OK problem solved. The flat connector on the card at the back of the computer was very slightly loose on one side only. I could only tell when I actually tried to move it myself - it certainly looked OK. Strange that the audio made it to the speakers OK but not to the headphones!

IPhones 3GS dead pixel and bad sound quality

As i was going through some photos i notice a small white dot then looking closer to the screen i recently notice about 4 dead pixels and also when playing music through headphones the sound quality is not clear. I tested my iphone and a ipod touch with the same song and the results were the ipod touch had better sound than my phone. Can apple fix this?? Thanks

As for dead pixels, Apple considers a small number as unavoidable with LCD displays and covers only a "high number" under the warranty. Apple would have to inspect the phone and determine if it's a covered defect. Make an appointment with an Apple Store Genius Bar.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1721

How do I get audio from my macbook pro to my receiver with higher quality than the headphone jack?

I recently got a receiver and surround sound speaker system. The quality of the audio from the CD player connected to it is far beyond the quality of the audio that comes from the MacBook pro via headphone jack to RCA connection. This was confirmed by burning a CD from the MacBook, placing it in the CD player then testing the two against each other - the same audio piece from the CD player or the MacBook, both connected to the same receiver/speaker set up. What other options might get better audio quality from the MacBook to the receiver?

The Mac's audio output doubles as a optical Toslink stereo mini jack, just use a adapter to regular Toslink and plug the optical cable to your surround sound system. Fiddle with the sound settings to enable optical output.
Mac's pass surround sound through, they don't do any processing.

No sound on Boot Camp (Windows 8) red light in the headphone jack ?

I have a MacBook Pro 9.2 (i7 3rd gen, HD4000, 750GB, 8GB) and i install Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. I have a issue with my headphone jack only when i use BootCamp i have the latest driver for it (download from bootcamp application OSX). I see that inside of the headphone jack there is a red light i think that it is the optical out of it. I try to reinstall the driver no succes. Now i need help to fix it

The red light means you have jammed the digital audio jack by inserting an analog plug too far. It is not a BootCamp issie--can happen to people without BootCamp. Here is the reason for the problem I posted in another thread:
Background, or "why this happens": the audio-out port on a modern Mac is digital and is held to high dimensional standards. Most headphones have an analog plug not made to such standards. The specific issue is the the "tip-to-stop shoulder" distance on many analog plugs is just a bit longer than on a digital one and jams the "mute" contact inside the port in the muted position. <deleted>'s advice to insert a plug and gently wiggle it in the horizontal plane is exactly on target unless you are under warranty, which would still necessitate a trip to an Apple store for service.
The best action is prevention. When connecting headphones (or external speakers), put on the headphones and have an audio track running BEFORE you insert the plug. Insert the plug slowly, listening for sound on both channels and, when you hear it, STOP INSERTING.
Bottom line is you do NOT want to insert any random plug "to the hilt" until you know it is dimensioned to fit a digital port.
My MacBook Pro has the same jack. I have a pair of decent-quality, name-brand headphones and their plug is not to spec. This picture shows their plug in the port at a position that delivers proper sound and does not let the plug fall out:
Note that the shoulder is about 1/16-inch from contacting the computer case. It is secure in this position.
Every plug is different. I have a pair of El Cheapo external speakers I picked up for US$2 at a yard sale and their plug fits perfectly on my Macs with a digital audio port. Go figure!

Do i need a dac for late macbook 2013 retina? or will sound be good from headphone jack?

i have ordered some desktop speakers and want the best sound quality, i need to hook it up to my mac
ive heard 3.5mm aux isnt the best... i would prefer usb, but then i would need to invest in a dac. would any cheap dac do if the soundcard in the mac is good? or is this not the case
mainly listening to music.. just want good quality
not doing any music production to a professional level...
thanks

For listening to music the headphone jack is more than adequate.

Sound output levels from headphone jack

Has anyone else noticed that the output volume levels from the headphone / external jack are quite low? With my old iMac G5 (rev b) I could have the iMac's volume at 2 bars and it was plenty loud. Now I'm at 6 bars to get close to the same volume with my intel machine.
If I unplug my speakers, though, the volume from the iMac is quite high at this level, so it seems to me that there's a disparity with the output through the headphone jack.
Anyone else notice this?

I agree, and the sound from the onboard speakers is very low as well!
This is frustrating, my first iMac, the purple grape, from about 7yrs ago had kick-***, very good quality sound. Then, when I bought an eMac ,it was far less quality, (as I understood, due to far less cost), but I was bummed at the greatly reduced volume level as well. Also, I really liked the feature, where you set the master volume in preferences, but the desktop reading was relative to that, not the master.
However, now, after buying the top of the line ($$$) iMac, I have the same, if not LESS sound going on What is up with this, ESPECIALLY when Apple knows it's products are favs with we musicians, as well as the many music-lovers that don't play???
We don't appreciate having to set all levels at 10, just to get even a decent level, much less anything loud......very disappointing.

How do i use the headphone jack as an input on a macbook pro 9,2.... the option just isn't in the sound app.

how do i use the headphone jack as an input on a macbook pro 9,2.... the option just isn't in the sound app.
all i have is the internal mic option, can anyone help?
thanks

You should also ask this in the MacBook Pro forum. This is the forum for the white and black plastic MacBooks that were discontinued in 2010. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

I've upgraded to OS 10.8.2 and my Bowers and Wilkins MM-1 Speakers were working fine until today, and now they won't play any sound at all, even though iTunes shows the audio is playing. I've tried both the headphone jack and the USB port. Please help!

I've upgraded to OS 10.8.2 and my Bowers and Wilkins MM-1 Speakers were working fine until today, and now they won't play any sound at all, even though iTunes shows the audio is playing. I've tried both the headphone jack and the USB port. Please help! I don't want to have to be stuck using my internal speakers!
Thank you,
Chris

Michael,
Thanks. I haven't mixed down the audio or checked the number of tracks in Prefs. Good points.
As far as a mixdown goes, I'll definitely give it a try, though I wonder whether or not the tracks will be recognized during mix down recording - given that you can't hear either of those segments in playback. Just have to try.
Re the preferred number of allowed tracks - I'll go check as soon as I send this off, but I'm not sure that applies in this case, since the two Channels containing the segments that are pinked out are not in additional tracks. I should have mentioned that other audio clips and segments on the same Channels in the SAME tracks ARE heard in playback. As are two additional track in the 2nd Sequence. It's only when the two sequences are joined that the pink tinted segments can't be heard. Within the sequence the same audio cuts playback as they should. Thanks again &
Best regards,
David

Headphone Jack sound quality

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