Music quality fluctuates
Hi! I just got my iPod today, and I absolutely love it. I have been having some problems with it though -
The music sounds horrible. I have noticed that after it goes to sleep and wakes up, the music sounds marginally good - but then after 10 mins it sounds 'tinny' and so bad that I just can't listen to it. The vocals are virtually inaudible and sound hollow.
I find it really weird that the quality of the music can change so dramatically in a matter of seconds. When it is working ok I tested other tracks to see how they sounded - and all was ok. When it started to go bad halfway through a track, I tested other tracks again and all sounded the same.
Everything sounds fine on my computer, so I'm not sure why it sounds so different on the iPod.
I have the latest version of the iPod software (2.01?) and all of my music is in AAC format and is encoded @ 224kbps.
I hope someone can help me!
[951 byte] By [
trinket] at [2007-11-9 12:28:17]
# 2 Re: Music quality fluctuates
I have tried to play with EQ settings - and it doesn't matter what setting they are on, it sounds bad. When they are turned off, the audio still sounds the same (horrible).
I have tried two different headphones - audio still the same
Have not tried the speakers in my mac as I do not have a cord for audio in for my laptop
# 3 Re: Music quality fluctuates
Hmm. So you're listening to songs on the tiny speakers on your laptop, and they sound okay, but your iPod makes them sound worse that the tiny speakers on a laptop? Weird. My guess would be that if your iPod is really playing songs with that horrible of sound quality, there's something wrong with its hardware.
# 4 Re: Music quality fluctuates
I've noticed the same problem. It just occured to me yesterday. I was listening to my 30 gig iPod and noticed quite a bit of crackling at very high points. On top of that the quality is very tinny with hardly and depth. My files are encoded at AAC 192. I'm using brand new Bang & Olufsen earphones, so I know they are not the problem. I used them on my iBook and noticed there are no problems with the sound. I'm hoping it is not a hardware problem, but if I have to send my iPod in to Apple...
Chocky at 2007-11-15 16:54:25 >
# 5 Re: Music quality fluctuates
I called apple tech support and they told me to take it in to a service centre, after trying a restore.
Because the closest apple store is over 2 hours away, and I called on a friday, I had the weekend to test the ipod and write down what was happening and when. I performed another restore, and now the ipod works fine *shrugs*
I'm not sure if I should still take it in. I think for now I'll keep it. I have 12 months to take it back if anymore problems occur.
# 6 Re: Music quality fluctuates
I called Apple as well and the representitive said to 1.)reboot it, 2.) restore it, and/or finally 3.) send it in for repair. I tried rebooting and that didn't work. So, I tried restoring and I thought it worked. there was little or no crackling. I then realized that the equalizer was off. When I turned it on, the crackling returned. So, I was wondering if you have your equalizer or sound check on, and how much it affects the sound quality?
Chocky at 2007-11-15 16:56:23 >
# 7 Re: Music quality fluctuates
I have the EQ off and sound check on. There is little to no difference when the sound check is on/off. When i was having the problems with the sound, it didn't matter what settings were on or off, it still sounded horrible!
I also went into diagnostic mode. I thought that if I was going to send it away, they would do the same thing. While I didn't go through every single test, the ones I did test came back as a 'pass'. Perhaps going into diagnostic mode fixed things as well? i'm not sure. All I know is it didn't work, and after one or two restores and a diagnostic test thing, it works.
