Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!


Click here to return to the 'iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: Quantum Cowboy on May 05, '03 11:05:40AM

Hi,

Been tracking this problem myself and discussing it in another forum. It appears to be a new feature in iTunes 4 to prevent clipping - distortion caused when the sound level goes too high to reproduce the waveform.

If I play a certain track in iTunes 3, I can notice a little distortion on some loud parts. In iTunes 4, this is precisely where the volume drops occur. iTunes 4 is automatically throttling back the levels to prevent that clipping distortion. Unfortunately, this is far more annoying than the distortion ever was!

The fix is to back the pre-amp in the Equalizer down some (1 tick mark worked for me, but your mileage may vary). This drops the sound levels below the clipping threshold while preserving the relative frequency response. You might need to turn the volume up some to compensate though. This has eliminated the fluctuations for me, and I can use my favorite Equalizer and Sound Enhancer settings again.

-Robb



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: daeley on May 05, '03 01:05:48PM

When you back the preamp off, do you have to edit each preset or does it maintain itself?



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: Quantum Cowboy on May 05, '03 01:52:21PM

Near as I can tell, presets stay unchanged. As soon as you move any slider in the Equalizer, it becomes a "Manual" setting. But you can then save the new config as a preset by choosing "Make Preset..." from the pop-up menu.

-Robb



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: JayBee on May 05, '03 01:47:54PM

I've actually GOT it throttled back and still get the volume
problem... maybe not throttled back enough, though - will try
taking it RIGHT down and letting my amp do the work.

The problem with THAT, though, is that the signal might start to
be subject to interference as the s2n ratio will drop considerably
the weaker the signal from the G4.

Also, I'll have to remember to crank the amp back if I ever
reset :D :D



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: Quantum Cowboy on May 05, '03 02:01:54PM

Do you have Sound Check on? That could be boosting some levels beyond the clipping threshold. This was the case for at least one person I know. Sound Enhancer also fiddles with levels behind the scenes (which is why I thought it was the culprit at first).

Do you have per-song Equalizer presets? Those might be overriding any other settings you make in the main panel.

-Robb



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: sjmadsen on May 05, '03 03:42:34PM

I'm so glad other people have noticed this. I thought it was in my head.

When playing the problem tracks in iTunes 3, I don't remember hearing any distortion. I don't recall if there was an increase in the low frequencies immediately before the volume decrease in iTunes 4, either. I'll have to check it out more tonight.

What other forums are discussing this problem in more detail?



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes4 sound balancing feature causes volume fluctuations
Authored by: Quantum Cowboy on May 05, '03 04:04:16PM
Here's the thread I've been participating in over at MacAddict. Has a few details as we tried various things:

MacAddict Forum Thread

-Robb


[ Reply to This | # ]