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Just Upgraded to iTunes 10 and Noticed WORSE SOUND QUALITY!! Please Help!

I have been using iTunes as my preferred media player ever since I can remember. I have never noticed a decline in sound quality. I recently upgraded to iTunes 10 and for the very first time found the sound to be simply inferior.

Initially I thought it was in my imagination, then i started testing to see if the speakers were at fault and they were not. I ignored it, but it kept on bugging me.. Eventually i loaded up old Windows Media Player and played THE SAME FILE and it sounded WAY BETTER!!

I tried fiddling with the sound enhancer and the sound check but it just isnt great.. I played songs off iTunes 9 on my sister's computer and the sound quality is higher..

Am I the only one having this problem? I have upgraded iTunes many times and this is the first time I'm experiencing this lack in audio playback quality.. I would hate to back up my library and re-install iTunes 9... Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

PC, Windows 7

Posted on Sep 7, 2010 9:02 AM

37 replies

Sep 8, 2010 5:21 AM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

ok wow i just used quicktime to play the same file, and the quality IS 100 TIMES BETTER THEN IN iTunes!!!!!!!!

Sep 8, 2010 6:38 AM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

Oh, so you're running Windows? I'm on Mac, odd we have the same issue.

TK_apple

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2010 4:51 PM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

Sound quality is horrible on my MacbookPro after the Itunes 10 upgrade.
First I thought something went wrong with the speakers.. and a quick search brought me to this discussion.
I am looking to downgrade to Itunes 9.

TK_apple

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2010 4:53 PM in response to TK_apple

BTW, this is on Mac OS .. I guess its not just windows Itunes 10 version but also Mac version that got screwed up.

Sep 10, 2010 4:10 AM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

I have spent the past 4 days researching this problem and have found NO solution! My sound check/ sound enhancer etc. are all off. The same files are sounding crisper and clearer in quicktime/vlc/WMP. This is clearly not an iTunes 10 specific issue as upgraders from all past upgrades have experienced this in minority. There is nothing wrong with my speakers/sound card. APPLE PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sep 10, 2010 1:17 PM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

Same here: MacbookPro and iMac (Snow Leopard 10.6.4). I just upgraded both computers to iTunes 10 and sound quality is much much worse and it's even much MUCH worse when you import a new file into your iTunes Library. Just do it, with one file that you already have in iTunes. Re-import it wiht a different name and compare both songs: they seem from different historical periods. I think I'm going to downgrade to iTunes 9. Maybe Apple was so much worried about changing the new iTunes logo and including Ping that they missed something at Cupertino.

Adrian_W

Level 1

10 points

Sep 10, 2010 2:44 PM in response to oscardemadrid

Yes. Same problem on my late 2009 iMac. I justed started a thread in the Mac section on this, as it appears the problem is not just on the Windows side.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2576529&tstart=0

armhold

Level 1

0 points

Sep 11, 2010 12:46 PM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

I can also confirm that the very same mp3 file sounds great in VLC, but tinny & quiet in iTunes 10. This is on a MacPro with OSX 10.6.4.

Sep 12, 2010 12:51 PM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

yep its 100% true. I tested iTunes 10 on my friend's PC and the same issue. Since I have received NO SOLUTION I downgraded back to iTunes 9. WHAT A RELIEF!! Everything sounds normal again!

Sep 19, 2010 2:12 PM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

Same issue here! I didn't play any music for a few days after upgrading until yesterday and wow! Awful! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I started playing with the system sound settings and thinking it was my system. How could Apple be so sloppy? The sound quality sounds muted and distorted like some old LP or decayed 8 track. I'm an amatuer musician and the moment I played the first song on iTunes 10, my ears bled from disorientation and disappointment. I'm downgrading back to iTunes 9.2.1. Here are instructions how:

http://appletoolbox.com/2010/09/how-to-downgrade-itunes-10-to-itunes-9-2-1/

Sep 20, 2010 2:48 PM in response to applsauce

same here. Super bad audio quality after upgrading to itunes 10. Going to downgrade as earlier suggested. This is lame. You would think iTunes would have been tested a bit more before Apple released this. IMHO, iTunes 10 is a step backwards. Fingers crossed theres either a fix or update released soon.

Sep 25, 2010 10:04 AM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

Had the same problem, thought Adobe player update caused it but no. Eventually restored from a Ghost backup made several months ago. Now running iTunes 9.1.0 and afraid to do any updating.
Apple does this periodically so years ago I started downloading all versions separately, rather than auto-update from within iTunes, and SAVE them in case I need to go backwards. Unfortunately Apple didn't have any issues for several versions and I became lax.
Doesn't Apple know how much anguish and work they cause by screwing up the sound quality? On XP WMP does not stand up to iTunes on sound quality - but on Windows 7 WMP sounds just as good. Wake up Apple!

Larry E

Level 1

19 points

Oct 7, 2010 8:13 AM in response to pickyjohn

I wonder if this is what I am experiencing. I just got a refurbished iMac i7 and had the data transferred. The computer obviously has iTunes 10 preinstalled. I was listening to music for the first time last night and it sounded awful -- very tinny, etc. and I have very good speakers hooked up. I thought there was something wrong with the output jack, but maybe it's just iTunes?

Oct 20, 2010 4:44 PM in response to ParanoidAndroid2010

I'm also suffering terrible sound quality in iTunes 10, though for me the problem actually started in iTunes 9...

There is a nasty distortion present in the audio that is not there if I play the same file in Quicktime. The problem becomes much worse if I stream audio out to my Airport Express (distortion is on the computer side doing the streaming, not necessarily at the Airport Express end).

I have submitted bug reports for both iTunes 9 and iTunes 10.

This problem is very reproducible and even happens if I use internal Mac audio with headphones attached.

Oct 24, 2010 1:07 PM in response to Salvatore Orlando

I just want to know how to fix the bad sound of 10 or how to get back to 9.2
please someone! The version 10 sound is driving me crazy!!!

Just Upgraded to iTunes 10 and Noticed WORSE SOUND QUALITY!! Please Help!