Audio Quality suddenly failing speakers or card?

Question

Level 3

612 points

Audio Quality suddenly failing speakers or card?

Hello

Recently the audio quality if my music files is awful

some songs are distorted, just a rasping sound from speakers

some songs, things like back up vocals, guitar, etc. sound "far away" / not as prominent as they are supposed to, sometimes non existent as opposed to how i know the song is supposed to sound.

but then there are other songs that sound just fine, its confusing.

I am working on narrowing down the prob.

so far i have played known problem songs on another computer, and all sounded fine, so i know my files are okay.

so that leaves either some card in my machine or speakers themselves.

I have those clear Harmon Kardon vertical looking speakers + clear woofer w/blue light.

any suggestions?

I dont wanna go out and buy new speakers if thats not cause of prob.

thnaks
wayne

Posted on Jun 19, 2005 10:49 PM

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Answer 1

Moko

Level 1

65 points

Jun 20, 2005 8:03 PM in response to Nut Case

I don't mean to patronize, but you don't mention the iTunes Equalizer settings in your post, so can I ask if that is the problem? Is it stuck at an inapproriate level set?

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Answer 2

Jun 20, 2005 8:18 PM in response to Nut Case

Wayne:

One way to test if it's your Mac hardware or iTunes is to try to play the song in another program. Go to your music folder and select a single track. Control-click (or right-click) to bring up the contextual menu. Select Open With... and when it pops out, select Quicktime.

If you still have the problem, then you've at least elimated iTunes from the source of the problems.

Have you attached your powered speakers to another computer?

Have you checked the physical connection between your Mac and the speakers?

You don't list what type of Mac you have - do you have sufficient RAM? Are you running any other programs at the same time as iTunes that may be eating up your available RAM? Have you tried rebooting?

Please keep us updating on your progress.

Lita

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Answer 3

Jun 23, 2005 7:56 PM in response to Nut Case

I am experiencing the same thing. It is the weirdest thing. I have attached headphones straight into the front of my G5, and it is still the same, so it is not the external speakers.

Also-My equalizer is off, and soundcheck and sound enhancer are off.

This just started happening in the past few days. It is weird. I have played these songs over and over...

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Answer 4

Jun 23, 2005 8:06 PM in response to Daniel Semsen

Daniel:

Have you tried using the audio out port in the back of the G5?

Lita

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Answer 5

Jun 23, 2005 8:07 PM in response to Lita Kaufman

no, but i will

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Answer 6

Jun 23, 2005 8:19 PM in response to Nut Case

I am also experiencing bad quality music from my iMac G4. previously good sounding music is now not tolerable to listen to. Additionally, my wireless Apple airport to Airport extreme connected to my stereo is now not bearable to listen to.

When logging on to itunes and listen it also sounds bad. i do not know where to go for help...ideas/

sg

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Answer 7

Jun 23, 2005 8:50 PM in response to Lita Kaufman

I have tried several songs in quicktime and they sound perfect, so it is not a problem with the soundcard or external speakers.

This is definately in iTunes problem...please fix!!!

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Answer 8

Jun 24, 2005 9:51 PM in response to Nut Case

Funny thing. I am having the same problem with 4.8 on a PC. Songs sounded great and now they sound garbled (imagine listening to WinAmp on a Pentium 90 with 32MB RAM, skipping, garbled crap).

MP3s work fine in any other app (don't know about AAC files since I have no way of testing them). Not my sound card or speakers, not the files, as they play fine in any other app or on my iPod.

I have tried everything I can think of, my equalizer is off, sound check and sound enhancer are off.

What do I do?

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Answer 9

Jun 28, 2005 8:04 AM in response to Nut Case

I am having also the same problem. I have also connected the speakers to other computer and it is working fine. I have also opened the songs using Quick Time and it works fine as well.

So the problems seems to be with iTunes. However, I have reformatted my disk and reinstalled everything and I still have the same problem. Somebody had advised me that the problem might be with the Logic board which I find hard to believe but you might wanna check.
Bulent

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Answer 10

Jun 29, 2005 1:20 AM in response to Bulent Hicsonmez

I've encountered the same problem, but I suspect that it's Tiger's doing.

I just installed it this evening, and previously my audio was fine - now all my music files sound as if they're coming through a crappy transitor radio (including AAC and MP3). They sound like crap in Quicktime as well as iTunes, and my MOV files are equally effected.

Please help!! I did not just shell out $140 for Tiger to ruin my audio!

OOPS: My mistake - apparently it IS an iTunes problem. Immediately after installing Tiger I upgraded to iLife '05, and that's the issue. There's another thread where someone else upgraded his iTunes and is encountering the exact same issues.

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Answer 11

Jun 29, 2005 5:44 AM in response to Nut Case

I am having the same problem. I am on vacation and on the way here my ipod mini worked fine. I was trying to listen today and the music sounded so distant and "tinny." I have tried to fix this with the equalizer but I cannot seem to get the equalizer to go into any mode but "OFF"
Prior to this I never thought I changed any settings!
So no matter what I did no music quality was gained. I am so disappointed because I was looking forward to using my ipod mini at the beach and on vacation!
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
DiamondHeart

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Answer 12

Jul 1, 2005 4:31 AM in response to Nut Case

Okay - I think I've discovered a temporary (or hopefully true) fix for this...

I happen to run a subwoofer with Altec Lansing speakers on my setup. I experienced the same horrible rasping with all of my audio output, and blamed everything from updating Tiger to updating to iTunes 4.9... however, I tried this and it seemed to work.

Go to your System Preferences -> Sound panel, select 'Output', and at the bottom where it shows your volume output, decrease it to about 70-75%, then use your speakers to increase the sound.

This seems to have done the trick for me - I hope it's helpful to everyone else...

Best of luck!

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Answer 13

Jul 24, 2005 8:47 AM in response to Nut Case

I have been keep an eye on this thread, but it really does seem many are having this problem with no real solutions. I also have iLife and the sound is bad, but i do not know if it is the reason for the bad sound. How does one communicate to Apple about this kind of issue? Feel like we are being ignored.

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Answer 14

Jul 24, 2005 1:37 PM in response to Stephen Graham1

Did you try changing the output from your Sound panel and using the speakers to increase the volume. It's worked for me since I first posted it. The only problem I've run into is when I need to reboot, and sometimes the Sound panel will default back to 100% output, but other than than, it seems to be working.

And yes, I'm really surprised that Apple hasn't been more responsive to this thread or similar ones. The only other suggestion I can make is to phone them directly.

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Answer 15

Jul 24, 2005 6:53 PM in response to Nut Case

I'm experiencing this same issue with Itunes after upgrading to Tiger. Am getting distortion on audio files that have previously worked well. Tested files via quicktime player to eliminate sound card issue as per suggestion. Equalizer settings are unchanged from levels that previously worked fine. Sound enhancer is off - I know I haven't blown out my speakers! (iSub and round Apple speakers)

Any ideas?

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