itunes sounds like crap

dpdan · Post by **dpdan** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:41 am

Do a comparison of a stereo audio track playing in DP with no effects at all.
Now, listen to the same file with itunes. itunes has a definate bump in the low and High EQ, and also has a funky "out of phase" crappy sound like they are thinking the stereo spread will be better.... it is horrible.
listen for yourself. I am surprised that nobody has noticed this. It is not my system, and the EQ is totally flat in itunes, in fact bypassed. The terrible sudo-stereo fake surround out of phase crap is horrible too.
I have heard itunes act this way on four different Macs.

This just burns me up that a company as big as Apple would make a player NOT FLAT.

Just venting sorry.
Dan

boonier · Post by **boonier** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:47 am

check the preferences - theres a Sound Enhancer checkbox that adds like a 'loudness' colour to the audio...Is this selected?

its under the Audio tab

Spikey Horse · Post by **Spikey Horse** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:07 am

ie your iTunes EQ switched on? (bottom right corner)

EDIT.......no it's not, you said so in your post..... RTFP .... oops

denne · Post by **denne** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:53 am

iTunes DOES sound like crap to me. That's why I neverever use it.

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:28 am

Per the previous post, is the Sound Enhancer turned off? Also, are you playing AIFF files or AAC/MP3 files?

hammerman · Post by **hammerman** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:33 am

turn off Sound Enhancer

turn off Sound Check

turn off Equalizer

you should be good

dpdan · Post by **dpdan** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:09 am

Boonier, thanks so much, I found what you refer to as "audio tab" (preferences), under (play) I found the sound de-enhancer. iTunes now sounds fine, thank you.
I still don't understand why Apple would have the default set to ON for these hideous sounding settings. It's only hideous to us anal engineers though I guess

Thanks guys.

I guess in the future instead of venting, I should ask the question here, sorry Apple

dpDan

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:22 am

A friend recently emailed me an MP3 as a demo and I inserted it into DP
and completed the song for him.

After completion I dumped the bounced aif mix it into iTunes and
compared and it sounded great.

Was able to do a bit of eq with the iTunes eq but it was unnecessary.
The artist sent aif to replace the MP3 but it didn't help the sound and remained as it was.

The moral to this story is, The codacs are hard to beat these days and iTunes does no harm.

That said, I would still prefer AIF if given the choice.

dpdan · Post by **dpdan** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:43 am

Hi Gary, if you have not changed the settings we are talking about, I don't understand how your mix could have sounded great, unless these settings were unchecked before.

Every Mac so far that I have used has these boxes checked by "default".

I just used an AIFF directly out of DP to check the settings after I found the settings that Boonier told us about.

Dan

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:52 am

You had me scared for a second. Scared that I never noticed it myself which of course makes your doubt your ears. Glad thats over.

newrigel · Post by **newrigel** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:57 pm

Yes they are on by DEFAULT but thats because most people want that pumped up maxed out sound (not me) so it's a shame that is what's really "in"....

dpdan · Post by **dpdan** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:44 pm

I agree that it is a shame that this is apparently what Apple thinks people want. The EQ wasn't the bad part, it's the cheap out of phase imitation surround sound that ultimately removes punchy bass response, what were they thinking?
What is sad, is that when I send an MP3 to someone with a Mac, I have to tell them not to use itunes, yet I know they probably will. It makes me want to make my MP3's lacking lows and highs, and make it out of phase, that way it will be just about right.

Dan

zed · Post by **zed** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:51 pm

Hey folks,

Speaking of iTunes defaults. Don't forget to uncheck the option which makes a copy of every mp3 you add to your iTunes folder.

When my boot drive started getting unexplainably full, I learned the hard way that iTunes was making a copy of every mp3 I added to the playlist rather than referencing the mp3s from their original location.

To uncheck this option, go into "Preferences" and select "Advanced". Uncheck the option which says "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library".

Personally I think it was a bad choice for Apple to make this the default setting.

Regards,

Zed

buddhabelly · Post by **buddhabelly** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:50 am

Apple makes the location preference that way for a perfectly logical reason: consolidated music library. All your music is in one spot. I like it. Just open an MP3 once in itunes, it makes a copy, delete the download when I'm cleaning house later.

MOTUnation.com

itunes sounds like crap

itunes sounds like crap

Speaking of iTunes defaults...