Why does music on iTunes suddenly sound odd?

Question

Level 1

7 points

Why does music on iTunes suddenly sound odd?

Today when I plugged my earbuds into my PC and fired up iTunes, all the music sounded very odd. The vocals were faint and distant, although the overall volume was normal. I know it's iTunes doing this, because I tried playing clips at an online music store and they were normal. Looked through the iTunes Playback settings and didn't see anything off. Tried tinkering with those settings anyway but got no change. These are songs I've listened to many times before and never had a problem. Any tips??

Windows 7

Posted on Jun 5, 2012 9:42 AM

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Answer 1

wiclee

Level 5

6,992 points

Jun 5, 2012 10:37 AM in response to okieseeker

See if this article will help:

iTunes and QuickTime for Windows: Audio does not play or plays incorrectly

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1362

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Answer 2

okieseeker Author

Level 1

7 points

Jun 5, 2012 1:33 PM in response to wiclee

Well, more strangeness. The Device Manager said all my drivers were up to date. But a visit to the sound card manufacturer's (RealTek) website showed a new driver recently uploaded.

I installed the new sound card driver and rebooted. Launched iTunes and immediately noticed that all the vocals sounded like they were way down at the end of a hall 500 feet away. Made sure via the Sound control panel that all speaker enhancements were (still) disabled, and checked for any plug-ins in the iTunes folder (it was empty). Tested sound again. Same terrible-sounding results.

Bummer. Never thought iTunes would spontaneously break itself. I'll download Winamp if there's no other solution.

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Answer 3

okieseeker Author

Level 1

7 points

Jun 5, 2012 1:45 PM in response to okieseeker

Whoa! Created a Winamp playlist of all my mp3 files and started playing them back. Same distant vocals again! My Win 7 (64-bit) is seriously foobared somehow. Any suggestions, or do I need to take this to a W7 forum?

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Answer 4

wiclee

Level 5

6,992 points

Jun 5, 2012 2:23 PM in response to okieseeker

See if this will help:

Control panel

Sound (Hardware n Sound)

Under Playback tab, highlight each device and click Properties button

Go to Advanced tab and change Sample Rate to 16bit 48000hz (DVD Quality) or 96000hz (Studio Quality), OK n OK.

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Answer 5

okieseeker Author

Level 1

7 points

Jun 6, 2012 6:46 AM in response to okieseeker

Wiclee, wish I could say this helped but there's no change.

Wish I knew enough about how my PC handles audio to know which settings and/or pieces of software affect the playback. This is really frustrating.

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Answer 6

okieseeker Author

Level 1

7 points

Jun 12, 2012 2:50 PM in response to okieseeker

SOLVED!

Someone in another forum suggested I run the K-Lite codec repair tool and instruct it to fix anything it finds wrong on my system. My sound has returned to normal. Here's a link to the (free) tool ...

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/K-Lite-Codec-Tweak-Tool.shtml

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Answer 7

okieseeker Author

Level 1

7 points

Aug 17, 2012 8:23 AM in response to okieseeker

SOLVED AGAIN: After the problem returned for no apparent reason, no suggestions I fouind in this forum or on the Web worked. While reading one post, however, about a headphones plug that didn't fit, I tried something just on a hunch. I grabbed the part of my earbuds where they plug into a Radio Shack 3-foot 1/8 inch stereo audio extension cable that connects the buds to an audio port on the front of the PC. I started pulling the plug out of the cable very slowly. The vocals immediately "popped in." I released the plug and it fortunately remaind in the not-quite-all-the-way-inserted position. So now I can enjoy the songs.

Disappointed the Radio Shack has a defective cable. I know they're not exactly considered high-end audio, but this is a very simple extension cable. It doesn't take rocket science to make sure the design matches the specs for earbud connectors. No the fault is not my earbuds; they're standard Apple issue and work fine in all other situations.

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