Itunes sound rubbish off the computer.

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A

Anonymous

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? No, it's a settings problem and or conflict with other windows software. Think you've replied to the wrong thread.
 

idc

Well-known member
JohnDuncan:So def iTunes then, or more correctly, Quicktime, since it's that that plays the music. What's your version?

Er...how do I find out which version of Quicktime I have? Well i did say i was abit of a novice!
 

idc

Well-known member
idc:

JohnDuncan:So def iTunes then, or more correctly, Quicktime, since it's that that plays the music. What's your version?

Er...how do I find out which version of Quicktime I have? Well i did say i was abit of a novice!

Quick time latest version installed without any problem and the crackles are still there.

Googling crackles and itunes finds that there are problems and unfortunately no clear solution. The next options are installing up to date drivers, the easiest way for me to do that is a programme that costs about £20 and phoning the itunes help line, but that can cost £35.
 

chebby

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Latest versions of iTunes/Quicktime here and no crackles. iTunes is on Laptop with Win XP Pro SP3. Connected to Beresford with USB. Never had any crackling issues with the Fubar II USB DAC either.

Start up Quicktime. 'Edit', 'Preferences', 'Quicktime preferences', 'Audio' tab, 'Sound out' panel... set 'rate' to 44.1khz and size to 24 bits. (Yes, 24 not 16)

These settings remain permanent.

Bring up 'Sounds & Audio devices' panel in Windows.

Click on 'sounds' tab.

Under 'sound scheme' select 'no sounds' now click on 'audio' tab and select your USB device under 'Sound playback' and click 'advanced' then in new window click on 'performance' tab.

Ensure Sample rate conversion quality is set to maximum and click ok. Click 'ok' on Sounds and Audio...etc box.

Bring up iTunes. 'Edit', 'preferences' and playback. Un-check effects and crossfade and Sound enhancer. You don't want them.

Always ensure the computer's system master volume (on windows) is set to maximum ('unity gain' is the posh term) and ensure the iTunes volume is set to maximum.

You don't want anything but your hifi controlling the volume. Digital volume uses up part of that 16 or 24 bits. Leaving it on max means the computer's/iTunes' volume controls are not deteriorating the signal.

(Don't use any USB cable longer than 5 metres and don't run it through any 'hubs'.)
 

idc

Well-known member
Chebby, I have followed all of your instructions and I am afraid that the crackles are still there. Nothing I have done so far as made any difference to the god damn crackles. It has made itunes unlistenable. Thankfully I have Spotify and my ipod connected by LODs to amps still sounds brilliant.

One thing of note is that with the ipod I can still hear faint crackles at times. Those crackles were what lead me to sending my amp away to be modified as an attempt to fix the problem. So after all that, it is itunes which is to blame.

Anyone got an e-mail address to contact Apple? All I can find for help is directions to the itunes discussion forum, which has people asking the same questions as me, without getting a resolution.
 

chebby

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93610_4.jpg


Did you move the hardware acceleration slider to maximum as well?

If not, do that too.

Also bring up task manager in windows and click on 'processes' tab.

Select 'iTunes.exe' and right click on it then select 'set prority'. Experiment with setting a higher than normal priority.

Is there any difference when you are playing iTunes music files that are located on your laptop's own 'C' drive rather than the seperate HD upstairs?
 

idc

Well-known member
I have the settings as per the picture above. The first time I went into that tab, that is what the settings were already at.

Re itunes.exe, I went to change priority and got a scary warning that it can cause 'undesired results and system instability', so I just want to check back with you.

There is no difference whether the files are on the hard drive or C drive. I was painting this morning and put Spotify on the laptop through my little Logitech speakers in the spare room for the first time, and it sounded sweet. With itunes there was crackiling, but again I put it down to the speakers.

Damn you itunes, curses on you Apple
emotion-12.gif
 

idc

Well-known member
After reading up on changing priorities I went ahead and changed it to high and it made no difference.

Thanks again for the suggestions, sorry to report back the lack of success.
 

PJPro

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lordmortlock:Might be a good time to have a word with PJ about foobar...
Well foobar is an option but idc should be able to get itunes to work without crackles. There must something which is being overlooked.

Unfortunately, I have no experience of itunes at all, so am unable to help. But I'm sure the many iTunes users on the forum will come up with something...
 

idc

Well-known member
Yes, I am not if not persistant and want itunes to work. The latest idea off the net is to disable each driver in turn to try and isolate possible interference. I am discovering parts of my computer that my computer did not know it has.
 

nads

Well-known member
idc have you tried re-ripping some of these tracks? as it could just be bad rips.

as it seems that most of us do not have the same problem.

do you have another PC? as it might be a Hardware problem.
 

idc

Well-known member
Nads, I am starting to think that it is a track problem and have built up a list of tracks with the most obvious problems to do that.

I have access to another Dell and have put stuff on that that crackles on mine and it crackled there too.
 

nads

Well-known member
idc:
Nads, I am starting to think that it is a track problem and have built up a list of tracks with the most obvious problems to do that.

I have access to another Dell and have put stuff on that that crackles on mine and it crackled there too.

i had some issues with a few track from Fleetwood Mac being poor.

happy hunting as let us know when you find the problem.
 

idc

Well-known member
Right, a minor problem has cropped up with the laptop which is apparently to do with the drivers. Standby has greyed out as an option when I close down. Apparently driver updates will help this issue and may also help crackling. Can anyone recommend a programme that updates the drivers, preferably for free, obviously!? I went into Dell support to try and do it myself, but I got so far and then had no idea what I was agreeing to and chickened out.

Thanks.
 

professorhat

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If you go here on the Dell website, click on Enter a Tag and then enter in your Service Tag (will be on the bottom of the laptop with the barcode) and click Go, you can then choose your Operating System and it will display all the latest drivers for your laptop.
 
A

Anonymous

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Yep, the advice above is exactly what I do at work when rebuilding a Dell after a format.

Judging by the fact you say the 'standby' mode is blanked out, I'd say you've removed a 'fairly' important driver. To find out what one you need open up device manager and look through the list for something named 'Generic xxxx Device'.

Generic drivers are easy as you'll know what the device actually is (i.e. Video card, Motherboard chipset etc).

If on the other hand, you see an 'Unknown Device' you'll need to figure out what component isn't listed, internal modem etc...

Hope that helps a little...
 

idc

Well-known member
professorhat:

If you go here on the Dell website, click on Enter a Tag and then enter in your Service Tag (will be on the bottom of the laptop with the barcode) and click Go, you can then choose your Operating System and it will display all the latest drivers for your laptop.

Thanks prof, but that is what I tried before and got stumped when the download was saved to My Documents where I was then supposed to double click and follow the instructions, but I didn't get amnything to work, so I deleted it all. There were 17 downloads in total.
 

professorhat

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What happened when you double clicked? As I remember, it should unzip the drivers to a folder in C:dell and then automatically start the setup procedure (though it's been a while since I've done this!). You might have got prompted to agree to some license terms but this is standard with any software you install.
 

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