Strange audio issue with Mail and headphones

Hi,

Check System Preferences > Sound.

Check the Sound Effects tab.

This should be the same output as the Output tab but they can be set to different outputs if you have them.

App Alerts are played as if they are System Alerts (Sound Effects).

Having said that I have not heard of them being saved up if the allocated sound output is not available.

9:00 pm Saturday; February 15, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Hi,

If it was just the headphone insertion I would try a different pair.

There is a vague possibility that it is triggering some sort of feedback.

However I am also reading this that you are not necessarily wearing the headphones at the time and the sound is heard over other speakers ?

The fact that opening Quicktime Player has a similar result is also a bit strange.

That would tend to mean it is possibly both Software and Hardware related.

That said, Quicktime is so involved in the Sound anyway it may be a software issue about swapping outputs that Quicktime is involved in behind the scenes.

With OS X 10.5.8 you could try downloading and Installing Quicktime again.
My Leopard (10.5.8) computer is running version 7.7

9:29 pm Saturday; February 15, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

HI,

A once a week issue is just plain irritating.

You know you are going to have to dedicate time to it but at the same time when it happens is never the "right" time to do so.

The extra info does not lead me any closer to an "Ahh ha" moment unfortunately.

Mostly my experience is around iChat and therefore Messages in Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

This tends to center around input/output devices that input Audio using MIDI and using sample rates that iChat does not like. (above 48000)

Related to that is the selection process of those various devices/choices in both System Preferences and iChat or Messages.

A particular quirk is that to use a Blue Tooth Headset in iChat/Messages it must be set up as the Choice in both System Preferences > Sound Output and Input before making the same choices in the App.

You cannot set it up in the app first. For some reason it is ignored.

Another issue, (but a long way form yours) is when the System Preferences > Sound > Input is set too high for iChat or Messages.

If the blue response bar "bangs' into the right hand end the sound it clipped and the Buddy hears nothing.

As Browsers use different plug-ins for different Video content I would check that the Plug-ins are Up-to-date (and Suitable for Leopard).

With your particular set up the Google Video Plug-in for Video chats via the browser and the Flash one will conflict.

(going back to the beginning of GoogleTalk it required the Flash plug-in but later Google developed their own and the two did not play together very well.)

10:09 pm Saturday; February 15, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

I have this same problem. Its been happening pretty much as long as I have owned my mac book pro. When I plug in headphones I will often hear tons of email sounds like it is sending and receiving like crazy. The sounds don't bother me but I do worry that perhaps some type of malware is using my email account. However I see no signs of that. I have also used virus scanners to check my mac. I'm currently running OS X 10.7.5. Checking the email app without headphones I do hear the send and receive sounds as one would expect. But without headphones I never hear the large queue of sounds play.