Sound quality not as good as older iMac

At work I have a 2.4GHz Intel Duo Core 24" iMac. The sound is awesome. It gets quite loud and the bass is deep. My new LED display sounds like a tin can. It has such high treble and no bass even though this is a 2.1 system. I can tweak it using the equalizer in iTunes but when I am on the web, I am stuck with this poor sound quality. Could there be something wrong with the speakers or is did Apple make them worse?

You are right actually....
there was one review somewhere (maybe engadget or ars technica?) that stated the sound was NOT as good as the iMac speakers.
I was looking for some kind of mod to upgrade the internal speakers , but have not found it !

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Sound Quality not as good as ipod

I was hoping someone could help me with this. The sound quality coming directly from my powerbook to my JBL creatue speakers is crackly. I thought that it was just the speakers, however, when I plug my ipod directly to the speakers the sound quality is excellent. Is there a problem with the headphone jack that I plug the speakers into or is it somehow an iTunes issue? Any help would be great!
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Try pluging your iPods headphones into the port. If there is something wrong with the port, you should hear the same crackly sound. I seriously doubt it's an issue with iTunes though, I use Sony external speakers and the audio quality is crystal clear.

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.

Why is playback video quality not as good as the source?

Hi. I'm not new to PrE but am new to the forum.
I've been using PrE 2 for about 7 years. I got a newer computer running Windows 7 and basically was forced to upgrade to PrE 12 because PrE 2 didn't run very well on the newer machine. Once I installed PrE 12, I was eager to jump into my first project on this machine.
I expected that with a newer machine and the latest software, I would get outstanding results--hopefully much better than what I always got with PrE 2 on the old machine. With PrE 2, it was not uncommon that the imported video seemed lossy on playback or for whatever other reason seemed not as good as the source video.
Unfortunately, the results on the new/new were no better than the old/old. So I switched to my wife's (even newer) machine running Windows 8 and got the same results. Then I thought that perhaps the output to DVD would be better than what I saw in the PrE editor. No dice.
The video quality of the source isn't the greatest (see below), but I expected that the PrE 12 would be no worse.
What went wrong?
Here's what i'm working with on the current project:
Machine 1:
HP EliteBook 8560w
Intel Core i7-2640M 2.8 GHz CPU
Window 7 Enterprise SP1
2 GB RAM
360 GB available HD space
Machine 2:
Dell Inspiron 3521
Intel Pentium 2117U 1.8 GHz CPU
Windows 8 Touchscreen
4 GB RAM
400+ GB available HD space
Video Source:
iPhone 4 video (MOV format)
Thanks for ANY help you can give me.
BTW, I noticed that Steve Grisetti is one of the frequent commenters on this forum. In case you're reading this, Steve, I want to thank you and Chuck E. for your PrE books. I purchased one several years ago and found it extremely helpful. And surprisingly, I found that with PrE 12 I could still use the book that I purchased before because most of it was still relevant to the new software. Still a great purchase!!

kcarter
Please excuse if I mention things you may already be aware of, but I did not want to take anything for granted.
The installed RAM on Machine 1 is too low for HD work, and I wonder about the processor on Machine 2 even though it has more installed RAM than that on Machine 1. For now, I will bypass the usual drills and get to the source media and project settings.
1. From what I can put together, your source media from iPhone 4 are 720p up to 30 frames per second. That usually translates into a variable frame rate which can be problematic for Premiere Elements. The variable can lead to audio out of sync, but not necessarily. If all else fails, then it is onto HandBrake or the like to change the variable into a constant frame rate.
2. One of the features of version 11 and 12 is the program taking over the setting of the project setting based on the properties of the first video drag to the Timeline. Some times it does it OK, sometimes not. When not, then you set the project preset manually yourself based on what you know to be the properties of your source media. Please refer to the following which includes how to set the project preset manually.
http://www.atr935.blogspot.com/2013/04/pe11-accuracy-of-automatic-project.html
Based on what I have read about the properties of the iPhone 4 video, I would suggest the project preset (assuming a NTSC set up)
NTSC
AVCHD
AVCHD-LITE 720p30
One of the important things to remember is that Premiere Elements 11 and 12 have as their default project preset
NTSC
AVCHD
Full HD1080i30
and not the NTSC DV Standard of versions earlier than 11.
When 11 and 12 do not get the automatic project preset correct, they do not give you the closest fit, rather they give you their
default NTSC AVCHD Full HD1080i30 which is not going to be appropriate for 720p video.
Classically it is written if you have the correct project preset you should have no colored line over the content when you bring the video to
the Timeline manually set. But, just the variable frame rate can trigger the unrendered indicator (orange instead of red in versions 11 and 12).
So, rendering the Timeline would be indicated to get the best possible preview under these circumstances.
Do you have the latest version of QuickTime installed on either of your computers?
More later.
ATR

Quality not as good as shown on laptop why ?

Hi please can anyone help when after editing my photos and printing them they look nothing near as good as they did on my laptops display.The sharpness is nothing near as good and the colours don't look quite right the whole picture looks a lot darker why could this be.I know my printer is capable of better as it has done before with only basic JPEG photos.

You're not giving us anywhere near enough information on what you are doing. I still can't answer your question based on what you have told us.
It sounds like you are new to the whole process. You ought to read up on colour management, colour spaces, calibration and display/printer profiling, etc.
Step one is calibrating and profiling your computer display. Without this, you have no idea that what you are seeing is accurate, in terms of brightness, contrast, and colour balance. You'll be processing your images to compensate for any inaccuracies. e.g. if your screen is too bright and slightly magenta, your images will end up too dark and slightly green. You may then find that this can be improved by adjusting the print settings, but this is just a workaround, and not a sensible course of action.
I wrote an overview on the subject, which contains a link to an overview of colour management:
http://yphotography.co.uk/articles/calibrating-your-workflow/
it doesn't go into any detail. For that, you'd need to Google "Photoshop color management workflow" or something similar, and spend a while digesting the subject.
By the way, this is the Camera Raw forum, and printing isn't really relevant here. You still haven't told us which application you are trying to print from, so I am assuming it's Photoshop, nor have you told us what settings you are using, both in the application and the printer setting dialog. But I think your best course of action would be to read up on the subject before going any further.

Is there any difference in sound quality in streaming music over Airport Express in IMac, MacBook Pro and iPad?

I've noticed a difference in quality when streaming my iPad wirelessly to my Yamaha receiver and high quality speakers versus my Pro or iMac. The iPad sounds like a toy in comparison to the computers. I'd like some expert advice on what I should expect from the three mentioned devices when streaming wirelessly through a pretty good audio system. Like for instance, should there be much difference in sound quality between the Pro and the iMac?

First, don't hang onto the hope that next year's MBP won't have an optical drive; instead, you'd be advised to purchase a 2011 MacBook Air, which doesn't have an optical drive but relies on SDD. If you need a CD/DVD drive, you can get that separately, if you need. The latest Air has received better reviews than anything else in the Apple lineup.
I'm not an expert on the different brand of keys available. But you'll want to make sure the color is an exactly match to the model. Replacing thes keys is relatively inexpensive but tedious, you might do well to email sellers to guarantee the color and fit.
Good luck with the repair!

Can not download PDFs to Safari or Firefox. 27" iMac running 10.8.2. Have disabled two Adobe plug ins per search in community. Did not work. Dowloads fine on other computer (older iMac, 10.6.8). Advice appreciated. Lyman

New iMac 27" running 10.8.2. Can not dowload PDFs. Have taken two Adobe plugins out of library (as suggested in comments I found last night). Did not fix proglem. Older iMac running 10.6.8 sitting next to new one can download fine. Then have to move downloads to new machine to use them. Thanks for help and suggestions. Lyman

My own answer. This was solved by a simple restart of the computer. This is the second time in a week that a restart has been needed to resolve "refuseal to work" type problems. I don't recall restarting being a regular fix in earlier OSs.Hope this doesn't become a standard fix as that could be really tedious. Lyman.

Airtunes sound quality

I have an iTunes library in my iMac with all the music files ripped from my CDs in Apple Lossless. The iMac is connected to an Airport Extreme as my wireless router and I have 2 Airport Express as repeters. In the iMac I have the Squeezeserver running.
In one of my HiFi systems I have one of the Airport Express connected via Ethernet cable to a Squeezebox. The digital coax output of the Squeezebox is going to a Genesis TimeLens De-Jitter and from there to my PS Audio PerfectWave DAC. The output of the DAC is feeding my Woo Audio tube headphones amplifier.
Last night I connected the digital Toslink output of the Airport Express to the Genesis TimeLens to then follow the same sound chain as above.
I compared the sound of the exact same song (file in iTunes) one from the Squeezebox and the other from Airtunes. To my surprise they sounded different. The sound using the Squeezebox chain was significant better. More focus, better bass, more realistic and with better texture. The sound using AirTunes was lean and difussed with a huge and un-realistic soundstage.
I don't undrestand if I am using the same source file and the same electronics from the Airport Extreme on why it is so different. I tried the equalizer route with minimal success.
Is iTunes or AirTunes doing something in the processing? I would liekto eliminate the Squeezebox solution but not at the cost of quality of the sound.
Message was edited by: Musicman159

I am not a big fan of using the AirTunes feature of iTunes because it is not Applescriptable and because you can only output to one stream at a time. The sound quality is quite good as far as I can tell. The only time it suffered is when I was using iTunes on my laptop that was playing from the shared music on my server. The stream would get choppy and sometimes choke, but it is working better after changing my wireless router channel to the other end of the spectrum.
It is really nice that it outputs to optical, preserving the digital signal and eliminating the need for expensive shielded cables to reduce noise from all the other wires behind my stereo.
If I were to do it over, I would have saved the money that I spent on airPort Express to use on my irTrans project.

How can I improve the sound quality of my new iPod?

Hey there,
I just received my new iPod with my new MacBook Pro computer.
I have read every bit of documentation i received plus I have scoured resources here on the forum, but I am baffled.
I just synced my iPod for the first time to my Macbook, iTunes,
With the supplied earbuds (from the iPod), the sound is not very good at all. In fact, it the sound of each song seems to break up quite a bit, and the clarity is not very good.
As an experiment, I plugged the earbuds directly into my MacBook using the same songs, same quality, etc, and the MacBook sounds decidedly better.
What can I do to improve the tonal quality that is so lacking in my iPod compared to the same recordings on my computer?
Any tips? Tricks?
Thanks for your input.
Joel
www.readyacoustics.com

Ok Joel, I think I have the answer for you.
First, the iPod sound. The 5th Gen iPod is a good sounding unit. It has been designed to have a flat, neutral - uncoloured - sound, which is a good thing.
There should not be that much of a difference in sound quality between the iPod and the MacBok Pro. Are you sure that all settings are equal on both units? For instance, make sure that the eq is flat on both units, and same goes for the output level. For the same material being played, the louder one will be perceived as sounding better.
There are ways to improve dramatically the sound you hear from your iPod: (a) better headphones (b) a mini, portable headphone amp.
(a) better headphones: For a good roundup, check out these two sites:
http://store.earphonesolutions.com/shureearphones.html
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=2
I would say that the new Shure E500 (around US$450) would be on top of my list, price not being an issue. It seems like they're good no matter what you're listening to. All others seem to sound good on, say, classical/acoustic, but are way too flat - read boring - for modern music, such as techno or house, or R&B. The brand "Etymoyics" fall into this category, for example. But then again, some people would disagree, so read as much as you can on one of the forums I mentioned above, Headfi - really good.
(b) mini headphone amp: These are very small and portable, and people who have bought them swear by them. Check out Headfi again, this time on their amp forum:
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=3
Think about spending about around $500 for a great little portable amp. They're made by enthusists, small-scale companies. Real jewels, some of them, and I mean jewel in terms of quality, not just looks.
Anyway, this should get you started...Good luck.
A.

Using latest Airport Extreme with older iMac and 10.4.11

Airport Extreme Utility does not recognize the base station, unable to complete set up, please advise.
Not looking for the older iMac to have a wireless connection--have Ethernet cable running from Airport Extreme to iMac.
(Another Ethernet cable runs from Cable Modem to Airport Extreme.)
Looking to have a wireless network for WiFi enabled devices.

Not the first time I've seen this type of scary issue with Tiger. The OS is so old, looks like we are going to have issues setting up the extreme. We could find a work around... by using either an iOS device, or even a PC. What else do you have there that's handy?

Why is the sound quality on my imac so poor when watching you tube

I have no problems with sound quality on my Imac(snow leopard 10.68) except when I try to watch you tube.
Then the sound is really low,muffled and there seems to be some sort of static in the background.
As far as I know all flash player updates have been installed.
Cant find anything on google.The problem seems to have started over the past 6 months to a year.....there wasnt a problem before.
Can anyone help?
Cheers

Hi @Gobbling_Monkey ,
Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forums and Welcome. I have looked into your issue with the sound not working correctly from your HP ENVY 17j100 Notebook. The first thing to try is this
1. Right click the Speaker icon in the bottom right corner by your time.
2. Click Playback Devices.
3. Click Speakers.
4. Click properties.
5. Click the advanced tab on the Properties window.
6. Change the Default Format drop-down to the highest quality.
7. Apply the properties.
8. Click OK to close the properties window. Restart your Notebook.
If this does not help try HP support document No Sound from Speakers. It has a number of good troubleshooting steps including using the built-in Windows troubleshooter.
Here is a link to the HP Support Assistant if you need it. Just download and run the application and it will help with the software and drivers on your system that might need updating. If an update is needed this could cause sound issues.
The Troubleshooting tool in Windows 8 can automatically fix common problems with your computer, such as audio recording. Here is a link to this.
If you still want to disable or uninstall the Beats follow these instructions. To enable or disable Beats Audio, press the fn key in combination with the b key. The Jack does have influence on the Beats Audio which might need to be turned off.
Here is a document on how to uninstall software. The bottom link shows you how to disable software.
Hope this is what you need.
Thanks.
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom to say “Thanks” for helping!

I have an older iMAC that once burned CD's with no issues. Now I get an error message saying "The attempt to burn a disc failed. The device is not accessible, probably because it was removed". I have never had it touched so the device was not removed.Help

I have an olde iMac that once I have an older iMAC that once burned CD's with no issues. Now I get an error message saying "The attempt to burn a disc failed. The device is not accessible, probably because it was removed". I have never had it touched so the device was not removed. Please advise as to what could be the problem. How to fix. Thanks

Try resetting the SMC and PRAM first, if that doesn't help try a cleaning disc.....and then buy an inexpensive external burner. Slimline super drive failures are all too common.
To reset the SMC
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
Resetting NVRAM / PRAM
Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

I have an older iMac 5,1 and the disc drive no longer works. I was hoping that I could the Apple USB super drive as a replacement, but the info on the super drive page says compatible with iMac 2012 or later. Does anyone know why it would not work for me?

I have an older iMac 5,1 and the disc drive no longer works. I was hoping that I could the Apple USB super drive as a replacement, but the info on the super drive page says compatible with iMac 2012 or later. Does anyone know why it would not work for me?

A reply to similar question (Q & As , in product page Apple Store) says:
"...dissable the internal reader hardware from devices setup. Then plug the external usb superdrive and that's it." Answered by Enrique T from Lima Oct 25 2013.
If you can locate an external Apple USB 'Air" superdrive for earlier model MacBook Air, that should work. The newer one for the Air is the same as for iMac, now.
You may be able to use other brands of external USB optical drive with your older intel-based iMac, as some of them function capably. A few should also be able to see system discs or other bootable utilities on DVD.
Hopefully this helps.
Good luck & happy computing!

IPod not recognized in older iMac

Hello out there!
I have an older iMac probably 1999 G3 (green and grey) and it wont recognize my 80 gig iPod (1year old). It is using the standard USB to iPod cable. This cable is good since it works on my Macbook. when I plug it in the iPod icon does not appear in either iTunes, the desktop or the HD. I have an older iPod and it uses the Firewire to iPod cable...and is fine??? Any suggestions?
Thanks

Again, please post the version of OS your iMac is running and what version of iTunes you have. It's going to be really difficult for anyone to offer advice without having basic information about your setup.

Intel-Duo 20" iMac/Intel Chip Not As Good as Motorolla/Memory/System Delays

I admit - I am a World of Warcraft type guy. If I boot up the system - and just chose WoW - all is good. If I start Safari, it hangs for a bit - then loads. If I am running WoW - and Safari is up, WoW gets choppy. If I close Safari - and I have been playing a while, WoW remains choppy.
It seems to me that memory management of the iMac is not very good. Either ram is not flushing or there is a conflict between Safari and other programs. I have not put it through lots of tests- but I notice a major difference.
My old G4 portable - 17" PowerBook, actually handles this so much better. Am I the only one to notice a quality difference between Intel and Motorolla?
Thanks.

There's no difference in memory management based on hardware. Memory management is a function of the operating system and would be the same regardless of which platform is running OS X.
The problem you describe may more likely be related to the GPU and amount of VRAM and installed RAM as well as the screen resolution and bit depth.
Inasmuch as you did not provide the hardware configurations of both machines it's pretty difficult to identify any differences. Safari should not "hang" during startup which may suggest your system needs repair.

Sound quality not as good as older iMac

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