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iPod iTunes 10.5 sounds crap

boss.king

boss.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 8, 2009
6,142
6,899
I used to have no problem listening to low quality mp3s because iTunes made them sound alright, but with 10.5 they sound hissy and flat. What was wrong with the standard equalizer before? It sounded great with all my music, why did they change it?

I checked with Zune player and they sound much better than on iTunes, even though they used to sound similar on both only a few days ago.

Anyone else notice this?
 
Consultant

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Go to Preferences / Playback
- turn off sound enhancer
- turn off sound check

turn off equalizer

Test. Then turn one back at a time and test.
 
TMRaven

TMRaven

macrumors 68020
Nov 5, 2009
2,099
1
Sounds the same to me. I'm running off an external DAC, but it shouldn't matter either way as long as you have any iTunes filters off.
 
boss.king

boss.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 8, 2009
6,142
6,899
Consultant said:
Go to Preferences / Playback
- turn off sound enhancer
- turn off sound check

turn off equalizer

Test. Then turn one back at a time and test.
Click to expand...

Turning on sound enhancer seemed to make it a little better but there's still this horrible hiss that I don't get on Zune. I guess I'll just have to play around in the equalizer for a bit :(

EDIT: I had them all off to start with and that was worse
 
shinerburke

shinerburke

macrumors newbie
Jun 29, 2010
17
0
I updated last night and noticed this as well. The mids seem to be flat sounding and I've noticed that the bass is missing some of its punch. It also seems that the highs are sounding a bit screechy as well but I haven't noticed that nearly as much as the muddled mids and the softer bass.

I have all enhancements turned off and have been playing around with the various settings to see if I can correct the sound, but something has definitely changed.
 
B

blaise84

macrumors newbie
Oct 15, 2011
1
0
same problem here, the sounds seems very flat. I have read somehwere that iTunes 10.5 is the first one that does not use QuickTime libraries, so... Anyone knows how to force iTunes to use QuickTime?
 
TMRaven

TMRaven

macrumors 68020
Nov 5, 2009
2,099
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Any changes would have been subtle, and not night and day differences like a couple of you are reporting. That hints that something is wrong elsewhere.
 
boss.king

boss.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 8, 2009
6,142
6,899
TMRaven said:
Any changes would have been subtle, and not night and day differences like a couple of you are reporting. That hints that something is wrong elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Well the only thing that has changed is iTunes, so I'm not sure what the problem would be. My movies sound the same as before, music through Zune sounds the same as before, I'm not sure what else could be a problem. :confused:
 
TMRaven

TMRaven

macrumors 68020
Nov 5, 2009
2,099
1
Well first of all, the hiss you're reporting sounds like a hardware problem, whether it be a bad jack, bad noise floor from your playback equipment or amplifier, or bad impedance matching. All iTunes gives you is 1s and 0s, it has nothing to do with hiss. Its less than optimal EQ can lead to horribly flat songs (not as in a flat frequency response, but flat dynamics), as it adds harmonics throughout the entire audio spectrum, and its sound 'enhancer' can cause for horrible audio balance, a corruption of the soundstage, and large amounts of clipping, so it's safe to always have those off.

That leads me to a question-- what exactly are you using to playback your music through iTunes?
 
B

bevel

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2009
28
229
play in quicktime

Play it in another app as jdavtz said. Try it in Quicktime player and try it in VLC.

If iTunes is the culprit it should be fixed in both VLC and Quicktime player. If Quicktime is the culprit it should be fixed in VLC only.
 
decafjava

decafjava

macrumors 603
Feb 7, 2011
5,163
7,250
Geneva
Stop listening to low-quality MP3s. :D Seriously I suspect a hardware issue from the hissing as TMRaven says, though that would not explain why Zune sounds better.
 
boss.king

boss.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 8, 2009
6,142
6,899
decafjava said:
Stop listening to low-quality MP3s. :D Seriously I suspect a hardware issue from the hissing as TMRaven says, though that would not explain why Zune sounds better.
Click to expand...

Some of these songs only exist as low quality MP3s though. It's an iTunes issue for me, other programs seem to handle them fine. I'll see if the next update fixes it, but until then I guess I'll be using Zune.
 
J

jkrg

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2011
2
0
iTunes 10.5 mp3 playback is distorted

iTunes 10.5 has a bug for Windows XP users (apparently with an AMD chipset, only). mp3 file playback sounds tinny and distorted. m4a files play just fine. Based on my call to tech support, Apple knows about the bug, and is planning to get a fix out. But no timeline was specified, and they don't seem to be publicizing the bug at all. Got an email from Apple Support Community on how to rollback to iTunes 10.4, but its not that simple, so I'm going to wait for the fix.
 
Fuchal

Fuchal

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2003
2,607
1,086
jkrg said:
iTunes 10.5 has a bug for Windows XP users (apparently with an AMD chipset, only). mp3 file playback sounds tinny and distorted. m4a files play just fine. Based on my call to tech support, Apple knows about the bug, and is planning to get a fix out. But no timeline was specified, and they don't seem to be publicizing the bug at all. Got an email from Apple Support Community on how to rollback to iTunes 10.4, but its not that simple, so I'm going to wait for the fix.
Click to expand...

I'd assume this is going to be fixed in 10.5.1 later this month when iTunes Match is released.
 
J

jkrg

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2011
2
0
Re: iTunes 10.5 mp3 playback is distorted

Sure hope you're right, Fuchal. Apple is being close-mouthed about this issue. Maybe they want me to buy a Mac.
 
W

Wolfpup

macrumors 68030
Sep 7, 2006
2,927
105
Newest iTunes and iOS, everything sounds the same to me...but then I mostly listen to podcasts.

EDIT: Oh, Windows 7, an Asus G74 notebook, and fourth gen iPod touch.
 
K

kakiscos

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2011
5
0
itunes 10.5 is very bad..it doesn't allow album art to sync to ipod. update needed asap
 
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