Recent Warbly Sound Quality in iTunes -UGH! 'SUP?

For about 6 weeks now I've been experiencing really terrible sound quality (read: like running the songs thru a flanger and taking out the midrange) from songs played in iTunes, whereas they used to sound Excellent. When I open the same files (many AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless) in Quicktime or Realplayer they sound perfectly fine. Weird. The majority of my songs were ripped from CDs. I haven't changed my EQ settings or done anything unusual other than download the most recent Mac software updates, iTunes included. What's up?
I've always steered clear of using Realplayer (ugh) but if Apple doesn't find a fix soon all those cool new iTunes features are going to go to waste. That'd suck big time.

I have the same problem. I don't think it's the audio enhancer, i disabled that but it hasn't helped. Still hear static from tunes in library. =(

Similar Messages

  • Why such sorry sound quality on iTunes? On some of my purchases the sound level is suppressed on the audio. On others the volume is so low that if I have it set for another song and a new one starts I have to increase the volume to hear it.

    Why such sorry sound quality on iTunes? On some of my purchases the sound level is suppressed on the audio. On others the volume is so low that if I have it set for another song and a new one starts I have to increase the volume to hear it.
    There is so much distortion on some of the music I have to play it with QuickTime to get a "clean" track.
    What can be done to get a consistent volume level or is this another typical Apple product that you have to take what you get and be happy because it's not a Microsoft product?

    If that's the best you can do why don't you get on another forum?

  • Poor Sound Quality with iTunes 8

    I just installed iTunes 8, and all of the songs in my Library play with poor sound quality regardless of the view I have open. The sound is really muffled, but the voices and higher frequencies sound tinny and shaky. I tried playing with the Equalizer and Sound Enhancer settings, but was not able to fix the problem.
    What can I do to get the iTunes 7 sound back?

    I, too, am experiencing a significant decline in the sound quality of recordings in my collection. The recordings sound very muffled on the low, bass end of the sound spectrum, and the treble is significantly diminished. This decline in sound quality occurred immediately after I upgraded to iTunes 8. The sound quality in iTunes 7 was fine, and overall better.
    It appears that my iTunes 8 attempts to improve the playback sound quality of songs with 128 kbps bit rates, as these songs in my collection do seem to actually sound better. However, most of my collection are recordings imported at the higher sound quality standard of 320 kbps from CDs that I purchased, and these recordings all sound poor since I've installed iTunes 8.

  • How do I improve lame, irregular sound quality in itunes downloads?

    I know most of you are way past this, but I'm not Mr Computer Guy. So I download songs and sometimes they come through pretty well, but lots of other times though they complete the download, technically, they're murker, and vocals are lost. If I get the CD it doesn't sound that way. I know fidelity is challenged in downloads what with compression and all, but what do I do if it's really murky? Re-buy it? Pay the added 99 cents? Or is it just that song? And how do I generally improve sound quality in downloads?

    If you buy an iTunes track and find that it is defective, go into your purchase history and use the "Report a Problem" link to get a refund or replacement.
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    Hello,
    I too have noticed poor audio quality from itunes after upgrading to OS 10.5. Even though most of my songs on iTunes are Apple Lossless Format, it still sounds like it is very low bitrate...So much so that I can't listen to most things. My listening is done via headphones or multimedia speakers thru the audio output on a MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz. Has anyone found a solution to this problem? Interestingly enough, I did notice that the same songs played on Quicktime sounds a lot better than that on itunes. I've tried everything that I can think of to rectify the problem. Checked all my connections, checked eq and other audio features on iTunes, I even tried going into App/Utilities/AudioMidi application to try the aforementioned solution without any luck.
    Please, please, please, if anyone has a solution or any idea how to solve this problem, let us know. I cannot live without my iTunes, I use it to study and I have finals coming up next week...and no iPod...
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  • Miserable sound quality in Itunes on my IMAC G5

    Hi there
    I am new to the MAC world and I just finished installing my brand new IMAC G5 with Superdrive, connected my IPOD 60GB and set up my near High End Stereos via Airport Express. I have imported the first say 50 CDs (AAC 128 Kbyte to 320 Kbyte).
    To make a long story short, the sound quality I get is miserable to say the least. Whether I listen to music directly from CD on the IMAC with Sennheiser PX200 or via Airtunes (NAD / Musical Fidelity Stereo) or on the IPOD the quality is really bad. Some music is ok but some songs sound terrible Eg. Maxwell "arroz con pollo" on Embrya the Bass is jittery, Treble as well. It makes one shiver. As said, the CD sounds terrible itself when played on the MAC but is perfectly ok on my CD player.
    I can hardly believe that this is what Mac and Ipod is about.
    Is it possible that there is something wrong with the soundcard? I tried various adjustments but the results remain the same.
    I would highly appreciate any help I can get.
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    Christian

    Sounds like something is wrong with your drive...
    test on another computer.

  • Sound quality from iTunes Store downloads

    Hi Mac Mavens,
    I'm a pretty discerning listener and I'm wondering about the quality of the sound from iTunes Store downloads vis-a-vis a CD. If you play them side by side through a very good sound system would you be able to hear the difference? Any audiophiles out there who have made the comparison? What's your verdict?
    Thanks one and all,
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    I, for one, can hear the difference between 256 Kbit AAC and uncompressed AIFF over my Imac's tiny speakers. Over a good sound system, the difference is not subtle.
    Compressed audio is inferior to the original, and there's very little argument about that. It's my understanding that most people can hear the difference between lossy compression and uncompressed audio.
    Upon hearing it, however, some people can live with the difference, while others can't.
    There are two very good reasons why you might wish obtain your audio on physical CD's: 1) if you care about the artistic intent of the musician and you want to hear everything they created, that's only available on CD, and 2) you might not wish to be overcharged for an inferior product. The "iTunes Plus" compression throws away about 80% of the information in the original audio, yet the cost is about the same as a physical CD. Why anyone pays $10 for one fifth of the data on a CD, when all the data is available for about the same price, is beyond me.

  • Poor sound quality of iTunes downloads

    The huge fault with songs downloaded in AAC format from iTunes is the "buzz" or "interference" that surrounds the clean sounds of a piano or a voice, especially when the original passage is loud. I don't think there is a work-around for this.
    To demonstrate: Listen to the iTunes sample of Vienna Teng's recording of "Gravity" on the album "Waking Hour". Compare this to the mp3 version of the same tune on Vienna teng's own site http://audio.viennateng.com/waking/viennateng-gravity.mp3. The latter is infinitely superior.
    If you buy the album from iTunes, the quality is just as dismal as the sample - a complete waste of money as the "buzz" ruins all the tracks.
    As an avid Mac fan I find this very disappointing. Does anybody have any suggestions or should we just look for good quality recordings from sources other than iTunes. If so where?
    Also how can we voice this disappointment to the iTunes managers? The "Report a Problem" link in "Purchase History" does not work.

    Hi Martin,
    Use the form at the bottom of this page?
    http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/download/
    Regards,
    Colin R.

  • How do I adjust sound quality in itunes - sounds like the chipmonks in a tunnel

    I'm trying to listen to songs I purchased on itunes from my iPad/iPhone on my everyday PC - Compaq.  Never had a problem before!  Now all my music sounds like it's in a tunnel and Alvin of the Chipmonks is the lead singer in Alice in Chains !!  HELP I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING !!  Thank you

    You seem to be asking two separate questions here.
    1) Interfaces
    Interfaces start at around $30 and go into the thousands depoending on what you want to do, You need to define your needs first, then your budget
    Some example interfaces:
    http://www.thehangtime.com/gb/gbfaq2.html#interfaces
    2) How do I Mix and Master
    You'll need to read some books if you have no idea how to mix and/or Master.
    Mixing is making everythnig sound good together, and I have no idea how I could explain that other than to say "you change the levels of each track and add effects as desired, until you get thesound you want.
    Mastering is even harder to define, you'll really need to do some research (even online. There is PLENTY of info on the web).
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  • HELP!!! Have horrible sound quality in iTunes!!

    Here are my specifications
    Mac OS 10.6.8, iMac 2.8 GHz intel Core duo
    iTunes 10.5.3.(3)
    I Use extrenal speakers (Logitech), but its no differenct to the internal speakers on the computer. Sound is just as aweful when using Itunes.
    When I use VLC player or any other player for that matter, the sound is exellent.. Am so sick of this and want it to be fixed, how can Mac not do anything about this issue?
    Hope to get an answer to this soon!

    Similar problem here !
    Mac OS 10.7.3
    iTunes 10.5.3
    Sound enhancer and sound check useless and make it worse.
    No problem  playing with QuickTime player and any other (VLC, RealPlayer) players.
    Also no problem with iTunes 10.5.1
    What a pity !!!!!

  • Why the extremely poor sound quality in playback with itunes?

    I am having problems with the sound quality of itunes music. this applies to both downloads and cd's. This problem is new, I believe, and affects bluetooth speaker, earphones, and macbook pro internal speaker. All have extremely poor playback with itunes. This Problem does not happen with playback of youtube videos.
    Thanks for any advice you can give.

    I would be worth playing some tracks with Quicktime so see what the quality is like there.
    iTunes uses Quicktime to play music.
    Also check this Apple help on audio playback problems:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1362

  • Where on itunes can I adjust the sound quality of transfer from cd's to itunes?

    I know there is a way to get the best possible sound quality on Itunes but I can't remember where to go once I open itunes.
    Can anyone point me in the direction?

    How to rip CDs with iTunes - http://www.macworld.com/article/156861/2011/01/howto_rip_cds.html
    Introduction to iTunes CD Ripping Settings - http://ipod.about.com/od/introductiontoitunes/ss/importsettings.htm

  • Muffled and flat iTunes sound quality

    While listening to iTunes, the sound quality I'm getting is muffled and flat. I launced Audacity (recording/sound editing program) and all of a sudden my sound quality in iTunes ate it. I reinstalled my entire system software and it began working again...that is until I launced Audacity again. I've deleted all of the files associated with Audacity and recreated the iTunes preference, but nothing is working. Any suggestions? I see that a lot of people are having this issue but there's no real solution that I could find.

    I have noticed for a long time that recordings sound much better outside of iTunes. Better even in the Finder when using the Preview in an Info or Regular Window.
    In a major mistake, I just accidentally updated to 7.0.2 from 6.0.4 and the first thing that I noticed was more of a quality difference between iTunes 7.0.2 and the Finder. Not so much, but some, from 6.0.4. That was why I stayed with it.
    It doesn't make any sense to me. You would think that with the intensity that they put behind iTunes, that it would be perfect. Or at least not so easy to compare with something as simple as the Finder.
    G4 FW800, 2GB RAM, 2-DVR110s, 4-500GB HDs, 3-Monitors, 2-Turtle Doves, 1-iTTUSB   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   Totally Stuffed/Max'd Out with lots of great toys.

  • Reset iTunes sound quality

    After I installed Bose Companion 5, the sound quality of iTunes, and iTunes only, has gotten much worse. The tremble sounds too sharp and the voice is much lower and dirty. Messing with EQ doesn't help. Is there a file or files that I can replace to reset the sound quality to the way it was?

    I dunno if this will help, but I've been dealing with a fuzzy sound the same as you described... After putting up with it for a few weeks and occasionally trying to fix it, I finally decided to fix the problem once and for all. I went into "edit" then "preferences" then the "playback" tab, and if they aren't already off, turn off the crossfade playback, sound enhancer (this one made the biggest difference for me) and sound check. Sorry If this doesn't do anything for you.

  • Poor audio  quality with iTunes 9

    Hi.
    This is my first posting and I am hoping members of the iTunes development team look in here.
    I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard and I noticed a marked improvement in sound quality using iTunes 8 . Please note I am playing AIFF files through the digi out of my Macbook into a high quality Dac, amp and speaker separates system, in fact the sound was as good as any cd transport I have ever used. I then "upgraded" to iTunes 9 and noticed a deterioration in audio quality, the bass has become woolly and indistinct and small details in songs are harder to hear resulting in a un-involving sound.
    I know I am not imagining this as I have done repeated tests using the same file played back via iTunes9, Songbird and Cog and iTunes is clearly the inferior of the three and the poor quality of 9 is being discussed on many hifi forums.
    So come on iTunes team either sort out the audio output of 9 or give us audiophiles an easy way to get rid of 9 and go back to 8 without losing our libraries.
    ps. love all the bells and whistles but sound quality is paramount.
    Cheers
    Andy.

    I had exactly the same problem on my new, beefed-up laptop and couldn't figure out how an "upgrade" could ruin my music (which I take pretty seriously). I am embarrassed to say what actually fixed the problem. I started by turning off the EQ and it improved somewhat. I kept searching the web without luck until I noticed something by accident. My system volume was low and the iTunes volume was peaked at max. I turned the iTunes volume to 40% and turned up the computer volume to compensate and voila! The bass distortion and indistinct vocal range was immediately fixed. I turned the EQ back on and was able to use it however I liked. I guess it is like turning up the volume on a radio to max. You get sound, but it gets distorted in the upper range. Hope that helps!

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