Songs played through iTunes are horrible quality, but are perfectly clear on any other program

Question

Songs played through iTunes are horrible quality, but are perfectly clear on any other program

I recently imported my music into iTunes and every song now plays with horrible quality. It fades back and forth between ears, is very distorted at low volumes, and sounds very "pixilated." I'm afraid to sync my phone and have my clear music replaced with this. I've turned off all filters in iTunes and got a slightly noticeable change, but very slight. Its bad enough to where I'd rather sit/drive silence. How did Apple manage to do this to iTunes?

Its not a hardware issue. This only happens in iTunes. Thanks for the help!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on May 26, 2015 4:48 AM

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Answer 1

OldGnome

Level 3

813 points

May 26, 2015 5:00 AM in response to everyusername

From what did you import your music into iTunes?

What filters did you turn off in iTunes? I am not aware of any filters.

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Answer 2

May 26, 2015 5:11 AM in response to OldGnome

I imported it onto a used Macbook from my iPhone 6, also from a few CD's. Filters, as in the "Sound Enhancer," sound check, and equalizer. But I just tried VLC player and it was exactly the same, so maybe it is hardware? Sound quality in Safari is perfect, but my music files sound horrible and they all have the same pattern of distortion.

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Answer 3

OldGnome

Level 3

813 points

May 26, 2015 5:22 AM in response to everyusername

So the problem exists only on your MacBook?

What output device are you using to listen to your music? Have you tried restarting iTunes? What are your current Equalizer settings?

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Answer 4

May 26, 2015 5:32 AM in response to OldGnome

It happens on both the internal speakers and headphones. I have restarted and updated iTunes. Like I said before, the equalizer is off as are all sound changing features. VLC player plays the songs with the same distortion, so I'm going to reset PRAM and SMC to see what happens.

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Answer 5

OldGnome

Level 3

813 points

May 26, 2015 5:35 AM in response to everyusername

Let us know the result.

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Answer 6

May 26, 2015 6:07 AM in response to everyusername

Reseting the SMC did it!

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Answer 7

OldGnome

Level 3

813 points

May 26, 2015 7:11 AM in response to everyusername

I am glad that worked.

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Answer 8

May 27, 2015 5:46 PM in response to everyusername

It actually didn't! I opened the song in VLC and it played fine, then today I tried to use iTunes again and it's distorted again!

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Answer 9

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

May 27, 2015 8:08 PM in response to everyusername

I use an older OSX version but on my computer there's also an Audio Midi setup application. It may be some of your sampling rate settings are higher than supported by the soundfiles or computer.

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Answer 10

OldGnome

Level 3

813 points

May 28, 2015 5:19 AM in response to everyusername

If resetting the SMC is only a temporary fix, you might be best served by making an appointment with the nearest Genius Bar (at an Apple Store) for a free diagnosis.

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Answer 11

Sep 3, 2015 12:41 AM in response to everyusername

Just downloaded the latest update and it is still happening! Quicktime still plays it completely undistorted, but I haven't synced my phone in months because of this. I can't add any music to my phone. I have a busy schedule so its hard to make time for a genius bar appointment.. This is pretty low on my to-do list, but very high on my list of aggravations.

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