Quicktime on Mavericks outputs stuttering audio.

I've been having the same issue which I believe now could be a latency problem as I use a DAW (Saffire Pro24) with in my setup on my iMac. I have only noticed the issue in Safari version 7.0 and Quicktime version 10.3, works fine in Quicktime 7.6. This issue does not happen when using internal speakers. Could be audio drivers for a specific DAW that might be causing the issue? or maybe a Firewire issue as the DAW I use is FW?

Anyway I managed to solve the problem on my setup by opening up the Saffire Mixcontrol app and I initially changed the sample rate from 44.1 to 48khz which made it clearer but the interferrence was still there. I then went into the settings of the app and changed the latency from 'Short' to 'Very Long' and bingo, clear sound once again :-) This works for Safari and Quicktime 10.3.

I also tested through another DAW, that being a TC Helicon Voicelive Touch hooked up via USB and all worked fine.

Anyway hope it helps in some small way and hope you can solve your issue.
Kirby

I use quicktime pro 7.6.6 with AC3 audio and before the mavericks it work fine, but after the upgrade quicktime pro doesn't play the AC3 audio, the funny thing is quicktime 10.3 it can play the AC3 audio... I really don't like the new system.

Please Apple fix all the bugs!

yes, i have same problem too!
after update to 10.9, cracking when playing in quicktime player both my own stuff and in browser!
pls fix it asap! 😟

I have Same problem too!!!!

After update cracking on quicktime but on prewiew work fine!

Please fix it!!!!

BUMP -> Animation/PNG codec & spacebar to preview in finder (not working) is killing me. Is there a plugin that will solve this issue w/o converting everything? I fear I will fry my processor if i try to retro-fit all my animation codec files. Is it an alpha channel thing?

I'm a motiongraphics pro, my workflow is all jacked up, need answers / solution.

Please apple, please.

P.S. Tags, on the other hand, have increased my life! This is the best feature of mavericks by far ... but is tainted with the preview issue :/

Urbangorilla, I know of no such plugin. Adobe Bridge should let you play those files, but still the whole thing is a big nuisance. We have gone back to Mountain Lion for the time being (and are much happier with it), but I guess the long-term solution is for apple to fix all these issues. Otherwise the scenario will be much lesser attractive for professionals...

By the way, a couple of times it has been pointed in this thread that Apple was devoting resources to iOS rather than computers' OS. Well, I don't want to start a new subthread, but my iPhone has never had so many blackouts as in the past two months. I do hope things will improve soon...

Hello !

Same problem here. I'm so glad i finally found this post and see i'm not alone !! (not english-native, so i didn't have the word "stuttering" in my vocabulary)…

just to chime in :

- i have a thuderbolt audio interface (UAD apollo) so it's defenitly NOT related to Focurite, neither to firewire, but i'd say to external highrate audio interfaces (problem stops when on internal sepakers)

- I have this problem in QTx and on video player in safari but not in youtube. Found out i never switched to the html5 Youtube player, so the problem is related to only HTLM5 players, which i guess, use the QT plug-in in safari

- I have no ADOBE products installed, so it's NOT an adobe problem, and as i don't do much video converting, i guess it's NOT a conversion problem. Just an format/codec PLAYING problem.

- also : no prob at all in VLC. So instead of installing QT 7 and mess with a dozen codecs (which still doesn't allow preview), maybe just using VLC as the default video player is a simple workaround for a time.

- When i play a song in iTunes in the same time as a video in QT or in safari, the problem stops (even with iTunes volume at 0, which has been a weird workaround for a time)

- When i launch Logic pro (which makes direct use of core audio) even with no project open, the stuttering stops. So, as it's an audio-only, QT-only issue, i guess it's a QT <> coreaudio problem

Same problem. The problem is not isolated to Focusrite. In my case, it's rendered Soundflower completely useless as it causes constant stuttering. The problem exists on in iTunes, Quicktime, and the built-in HTML 5 player in Safari.

The Boom developers also had the stuttering problem but it was mostly fixed in an update. System sounds (like the volume up/down sounds) are delayed still though, and throughout an audio transmission via Boom, the audio will at some point freeze and distort for a moment before resuming.

There's something really wacky going on with OSX Mavericks audio.

EDIT on my workaround :

- It works with garageband (which everyone has on mac) ! So : simply let garageband open (and reduced, with an empty project), and all work fine ! QT player X, plug-in in safari (with HTML players like vimeo, or Youtube if you switched to), and preview ! for both .mp4 and .mov

OK, it may maybe take a little bit of CPU and RAM, but not much. I think it's good, waiting for a real solution or upgrade from Apple…

I think earlier in the discussion it was mentioned that in System Preferences - Sound -Input tab and selecting the device fixes the problem. That certainly worked for me and if that doesn't give a clue to Apple about what is wrong I don't know what will. Bit less overhead than garageband I expect.

It seems that if anything is also accessing the device things are fine it is only when Quicktime X or the web player in isolation is accessing it that the problem happens.

I would also add that the Chrome implementation of video player seems to be much better in general than Apple's.

Definitely a bug in quicktime. I just open it with iTunes and it works fine. Will definitely look forward to a fix though.

Will the first Mavericks update hasn't fixed anything.

Anyone heard anything from the Audio Interface manufacturers?

Same here. Update did nothing. Audio still stutters. Quicktime still tries to convert videos.

System 10.9.1 latest - Soundcard Focusrite PRO24DSP - Quicktime 10.3 and Quicktime 7

Hi, I no longer consider it a problem as it doesn't happen when using internal speakers, only when I use my soundcard and when it does happen I set the sample rate to 48khz and a long latency which cures it.

Not sure why this is an Apple issue when it doesn't happen with internal speakers set as output?
Could this be a soundcard conflict with the Apple codec?

If using a soundcard, have you tested using internal speaker output?
If hapening when using soundcard have you tried changing sample rate and latency?

Just a thought

Let me know as I'm interested in the findings 🙂

Kirby

As far as I see it, Mavericks gives trouble in plenty of fields. We have installed After Effects CC in our computer running Mountain Lion with no problem. In the computer running Mavericks, it's being impossible. The adobe guys are trying for days to solve the issue, so far to no result. For some reason, the adobe update for Mavericks will not install in our computer...