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Level 1

10 points

itunes bad sound

Hello,

I am experiencing bad sound from iTunes specifically, I mean the sound quality of the playing tracks; it is kind of cracking (like its bass is not clear; noisy, maybe..) and also I feel like the volume is too loud. Actually, I do not know what happened. This staretd directly after updating to iTunes 11.1.2 today's morning, and continued even after updating my Mac to Mavericks..

Worth mentioning is that I used some sound utilities:

- SoundBunny: I tried it for sometime then uninstalled it, and the older iTunes was working flawlessly everafter.

- Boom: I am always using it; however, the Boom feature is alawys "off", while the equalizer is always on "Bass Boost". (Obviously I tried switching it off)

- Soundflowerbed: Always off, only used when in need of recording or sort of this kind of stuff.

That's all folks!

So what do you think? I am really irritated with this issue.

Hope someone can help,

Kind Regards.

-MHD

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9), MHD's MacBook Air

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 9:52 AM

53 replies

tfergus3

Level 1

0 points

Oct 24, 2013 1:36 PM in response to MHD_MUS

iTunes 11.1.2 caused the problem of the equalizer not working. If I turn it off and then back on it works but you have to do it for each and every song individually. FIX THIS ASAP APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Oct 24, 2013 2:39 PM in response to MHD_MUS

Having the exact same issue. Apple fix this asap. Just have to leave the EQ off for the time being until an update fixes the bad code.

Oct 24, 2013 4:29 PM in response to MHD_MUS

Can confirm this is happening to me as well on iTunes 11.1.2 on my MBP running 10.9. Please fix this, Apple.

Oct 24, 2013 4:50 PM in response to MHD_MUS

Me too. it seems iTunes specific. Every new song sounds tinny until I toggle my EQ settings. My library has been around for a while, so perhaps iTunes has added some EQ settings to my songs that it is now interpreting differently/wrong.

Songs recorded from tape, imported from CD, or purchased from iTunes all seem to have the same problem.

Mac mini mid 2011.

MHD_MUS Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 25, 2013 11:13 PM in response to MHD_MUS

Just found another temporary fix and thought to update you...

It came to my attention that enabling "Sound Check" option in the Playback section of iTunes Preferences will maintain the sound loudness.

Generally, I felt like the entire volume was lowered, but at least I can now use the iTunes Equalizer.

Try it and please let me know if you found another solution.

Regards.

-MHD

Oct 26, 2013 9:49 AM in response to MHD_MUS

Sound check also has an affect on sound quality, but that is independant of the EQ error that resets itself to tinny and wrong with every song.

iTunes 11.1.2 (31) 64 bit. Mac OS 10.9 Speakers plugged in to "headphone port"

MHD_MUS Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 26, 2013 10:02 AM in response to deadshift

deadshift wrote:

Sound check also has an affect on sound quality, but that is independant of the EQ error that resets itself to tinny and wrong with every song.

Yes, it is independent of the Equalizer issue; however, with Sound Check (On) and the Equalizer (On), Sound Check will maintain the volume loudness to a certain level. This will result in two things:

1) The final output volume will be slightly lower than normal.

2) The Equalizer will not be able to make the "crazy boost" to the volume of each played song.

Finally, you will have the Equalizer working on your preferred preset, but the volume will be lower a bit - Which, IMHO, is better than either crazy loud volume, or no Equalizer at all!

And after all, you do not keep your volume to the max all the time in origins, do you?

Regards.

-MHD

Oct 26, 2013 10:27 AM in response to MHD_MUS

Finally, you will have the Equalizer working on your preferred preset, ...

This is the part that is not true for me. The EQ setting is still wildly far off of ... anything. Turning EQ off, or off and back on, or to another preset, fixes the problem for that song. There is an EQ setting displayed tat would be resonable, that's not what's being used until I jiggle an EQ control of some sort.

So I logged in to my computer with a fresh account and joined it to iTunes match, and played the same songs. Under the new account, EQ is fine. No problems. Same computer, OS, iTunes, music, different account, problem solved. If I just abandon my account. :-( But that narrows it down to a preference or library file of some sort.

So I closed iTunes, removed all ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes*.plist files, logged out, logged back in, launched iTunes, and ... no change. Still broken. Still has all of my preferences ... Where are the iTunes preferences now?!?

MHD_MUS Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 26, 2013 11:22 AM in response to deadshift

deadshift wrote:

So I logged in to my computer with a fresh account and joined it to iTunes match, and played the same songs. Under the new account, EQ is fine. No problems. Same computer, OS, iTunes, music, different account, problem solved. If I just abandon my account. :-( But that narrows it down to a preference or library file of some sort.

Well well well, that was truly helpful! THANK YOU 😁

Your post lit a lamp for me - I created a new user, logged in, opened iTunes, turned on the Equalizer, tried to preview a song from the Store and it was clean! I tried it over and over, and it is still clean!

So I logged out from the new user, logged back in mine, deleted that new user account, opened iTunes, disabled Sound Check, enabled Equalizer, tested the same song, and it is now clean!

Then I thought to try logging out and restarting the machine, then opened iTunes, checked that Sound Check still disabled, and checked that Equalizer still enabled, played the same song again, and WOW!

I really do not know what happened, seriosuly, and I even stopped for a minute thinking that maybe my ear is now used to the "crazy loudness" of iTunes, but no - it is really solved.

So again; thank you, deadshift!

With all the hope that this will work for you too, as well as other fellows here.

Many thanks.

Sincerest Regards.

-MHD

Oct 26, 2013 6:36 PM in response to MHD_MUS

Since upgrading the os to Maverics today I have discovered that the problem with sound on my new Mac Air is only with the internal speakers. If I go through my audio interface routed to my KRK studio monitors sound is cool.

I am sure Apple will get this one resolved soon.

Oct 27, 2013 3:55 AM in response to MHD_MUS

I had the same problem after upgrade to iTunes 11.1.2 - terrible sound quality with very audible crackling. I'm not using Mavericks. I never use the equalizer and would never have thought to look there, so thanks for the tip. It was switched on and set to flat. I disabled the equalizer and no more crackling, sounds a lot better.

Oct 27, 2013 6:31 AM in response to whateveridontcare3333

This issue has nothing to do with iTunes.....it is a system sound issue. All apps that require sound have this problem. But thanks for the idea.

MHD_MUS Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 27, 2013 7:07 AM in response to Dave Falk

Dave Falk wrote:

This issue has nothing to do with iTunes.....it is a system sound issue. All apps that require sound have this problem. But thanks for the idea.

It was different for me, only iTunes, because when I tried to preview the same song Finder it sounds good.

Have you tried the new account trick? If so, let us know what you found then.

Regards.

-MHD

Oct 27, 2013 9:12 AM in response to MHD_MUS

Alright guys, so a little update from my side. After reading through all of these responses and those in another, similar thread ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5469255?answerId=23544885022#23544885022&ac_cid=tw123456#23544885 ) I noticed several people re-installed iTunes and others made a new user.

I went ahead and did what someone in the other thread suggested. I deleted two of my iTunes .plist files. Specifically com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist and com.apple.iTunes.plist, which are located in ~/Library/Preferences/

After doing this I restarted the computer (this is important, so that iTunes takes in the changes and makes new files to load on restart. Someone here said that iTunes still had preferences after deleting the files. Delete. Restart).

I've launched iTunes and played several songs and messed around with the EQ. Everything is back to how it was. I mentioned before I used to leave my EQ in Flat and still do, but now it definitely sounds the same with it on or off (as it is supposed to when in flat). My issues here had gotten to a point in which by just pausing and un-pausing a song the EQ thing would be severely noticible. No crackling at first but I noticed that after unpausing, the songs would have very high treble and only when turning off/on the EQ would it go back to normal until the song changed or it was paused/unpaused.

Anyways, to anyone still having the issues. I recommend deleting the files and restarting. Check if that fixes your problem. It seems to me that this is problably the shortest and fastest way of resolving the issue.

Hope this helps!

-JJR

edit: Thanks to Greenteabefree from the other thread for this suggestion!

Oct 27, 2013 9:43 AM in response to Falcon413

tried to delete those files but I don't have them there, and didn a whole mac search and nothing comes up. I only have com.apple.iTunes.secure.plist

itunes bad sound