I play lossless music in Apple music streaming service and it play fine for an hour or so. And then suddenly music gets distorted and sounds really bad. I connect Mac to speaker system with a DAC. I tried it with different Macs - Macbook Pro and iMac. Tried different DACs as well.
Any thoughts? Appreciate your response.
Hi perfectmusic,
As this behavior only occurs with those devices connected, it's possible that you may need software/drivers from the manufacturer to support designed operation on your Mac. If your macOS software is up-to-date, you may try testing in safe mode per How to use safe mode on your Mac to isolate possible software/setting complications and then consult the manufacturer of the equipment you're connecting for further support.
Regards.
Hey perfectmusic,
We'll be happy to help with the audio distortion that you are experiencing with Apple Music. You've tested with different devices, which is a great step to help isolate the issue. For further isolation, can you also test on different networks? Or does this happen even when downloading songs or is it only when streaming a song? And to just confirm, it only happens when connecting a DAC? This information will help make sure we're on the same page and can help us in isolating the issue.
Keep us updated!
Many thanks for the quick response. It happens when streaming and network doesn't matter - different wifi networks in my case.
Based on your above response, I tested with no DAC and the streaming seems to be fine for hours. So, it looks like DAC connection is causing the issue?
perfectmusic,
Thanks for trying those steps out. It does sound like the DAC may be the cause of the issue if it is working well without it connected.
To help isolate it a bit further, you may try testing with another DAC, if possible.
Cheers.
Hi,
As I mentioned in my original post, so far I have tried with 4 different DACs - best of the best DACs in the industry. So, I'm sure it is not the specific DAC issue for sure.
Apple Music sudden distortion of music
