iTunes 11.1.2 playback distortion

Try reinstalling your audio drivers. I did this with my PC, I do not have a Mac, and it worked. Since I had changed all my audio files to play through iTunes and its equalizer because I preferred the sound of it nothing sounded right accept on YouTube. So I just uninstalled and then reinstalled my drivers and now it works just fine. In a nut shell your audio drivers could have gone corrupt and are no longer compatible with iTunes more than likely because of the new update. With computers we never really know. All I can say is that it worked for me and I am happy now.

I also got mad at the muddy sound that Itunes wanted me to listen to.

I turned off sound enhancer (in preferences - playback) and until now everything seems to be ok

strangely first the VLC also distorted on the same audio file but Ableton Live played it all correctly

Yes. This was the trick. Its interesting that they still haven't fixed this issue unless you manually apply that change to the library. Moreover, if you dont fix it, the songs you want to buy from store also sounds distorted. Nevertheless, Thanks Dude/Dudette....

old thread but I scoured the web for this issue, tried every solution to no avail...uninstall, reinstall, different versions of iTunes, audio drivers etc, I just about gave up and then l checked the equalizer in iTunes, View/show equalizer...for whatever reason, the preamp was on and cranked all the way up. Turn off the preamp. I'm now on iTunes 12 w/ windows 10 and with no problems. Wish the answer wasn't so far buried in the thread...

Hello all,

I have Windows 10, and iTunes 12.3.3, and this is what fixed it for me.

I found that it was the equalizer setting - any sliders that were above +0 decibels started distortion in the audio. All I had to do was turn down the "pre-amp" and then turn up the regular volume.

Hope this finds someone and can help them!

Sorry to add more junk to the pile, but I thought I would take the time to say what fixed it for me.

seems that since steve jobs is no longer around; quantity sales seem to be the priority rather than quality as is shown with charging for radio when it was originally free to get us hooked. im listening to Pandora for free- and not apple radio. Apple needs more competition to redirect the priority.