Jittery music from I-tunes

[monstermoo]

I've recently purchased a Caiman from Stan (and an amazing bit of kit it is too :)) and that has replaced my Linn LK1 pre-amp.

To my ears the sounds has improved dramatically, when playing CDs, but now I am also able to hook up my laptop and play apple lossless files straight from my laptop via USB.

Trouble is, when doing this I get a LOT of music jitter, it sounds horrendous and is quite intolerable.

Can anyone help with what may be going on - it's almost as if the laptop is struggling with buffering the music, but this can't be the case because if I play the music straight through the laptop speakers there is no problem???

Steve

[Stratmangler]

By jitter I take it you mean stuttering, which does indeed sound like a buffering issue.
What Media Player are you using ?

[Stratmangler]

It helps if you read the thread title Chris:doh:

I'll see if I get the same problem using iTunes on my laptop into my Caiman and post back.

[Stratmangler]

And my report is that everything works fine on my system with no messing about with settings.
I'm using iTunes 9 on a Windows XP Pro installed laptop.
And I used ALAC files too.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

It sound like you have your caiman pluged into a USB hub to me.... It needs it's own port!
If that's not it, sack of iTunes it's shit anyway... Get foobar and set up aiso support!

[monstermoo]

I am using the most recent version of I-Tunes, with Windows Vista, via my laptop which has 4gb ram.

The USB lead is plugged straight into one of the USB ports on the laptop....

Would like to be shot of I-Tunes, but I need it for both mine and the wife's I-pods, plus I planned to get an Airport Express and stream music using I-Tunes and my I-pod touch to control it :(

[Alex_UK]

Try Windows Media Player - does the same thing happen? (this will confirm if the problem is itunes related or not)

[Stratmangler]

Try Windows Media Player - does the same thing happen? (this will confirm if the problem is itunes related or not)

WMP won't play ALAC, will it ?

[Themis]

I've recently purchased a Caiman from Stan (and an amazing bit of kit it is too :)) and that has replaced my Linn LK1 pre-amp.

To my ears the sounds has improved dramatically, when playing CDs, but now I am also able to hook up my laptop and play apple lossless files straight from my laptop via USB.

Trouble is, when doing this I get a LOT of music jitter, it sounds horrendous and is quite intolerable.

Can anyone help with what may be going on - it's almost as if the laptop is struggling with buffering the music, but this can't be the case because if I play the music straight through the laptop speakers there is no problem???

Steve
Are you sure you don't use iTunes volume ? :scratch:
Have you tried another USB port ?

[Alex_UK]

WMP won't play ALAC, will it ?

:doh: just ignore me!

How about ripping and trying a WAV file via both itunes and WMP?

[dave2010]

I meant to post yesterday. I tried iTunes (9.0.3.15) via USB from my laptop, and it sounded OK on several tracks. This was with WinXP on an Asus 1000H netbook. I assume you're not just talking about something which I'd need golden ears to detect.

One possibility is that there's something on your machine which is grabbing the processor from time to time. I have had that kind of problem before, though some players and servers seem much more resistant to it than others.

Hope you're making progress.

[monstermoo]

I meant to post yesterday. I tried iTunes (9.0.3.15) via USB from my laptop, and it sounded OK on several tracks. This was with WinXP on an Asus 1000H netbook. I assume you're not just talking about something which I'd need golden ears to detect.

One possibility is that there's something on your machine which is grabbing the processor from time to time. I have had that kind of problem before, though some players and servers seem much more resistant to it than others.

Hope you're making progress.

I think you could be right Dave, I've tried it again today, and it can run ok for a while but everynow and then I get the odd crackle and wierd effect on the vocals which sounds like a slow down in the processing.

Hmmm, does this mean I would get the same effect if I were using Airport Express? I assume so, which is not good. I guess it would be better to diconnect from the internet when playing music through the laptop to see if that makes any difference....

[dave2010]

monstermoo

I have wondered about this for a while. If I drive my DAC directly via USB from my netbook, then if I interact with the computer I get disturbances in the sound. I think also that there are programs which may cause similar effects without my intervention.

On the other hand, there is another odd bit of evidence. I run a Squeezebox, and the server is installed on the same netbook. Through the Squeezebox there is no problem, and I can stream data from my networked HDD with no adverse effects on the music. The data does go via my netbook, not directly from the HDD - though I may be able to configure it to do that. However, I note that when I turn the netbook off, the music continues for quite a while, which indicates that the Squeezebox does quite a lot of buffering, and thus smooths the flow of data to the DAC.

Possibly improving the buffering for iTunes might help - see http://theappleblog.com/2008/10/06/change-itunes-buffer-size-for-smoother-streaming/ for some more information from someone who experienced buffer issues with videos.

[Themis]

However, I note that when I turn the netbook off, the music continues for quite a while, which indicates that the Squeezebox does quite a lot of buffering, and thus smooths the flow of data to the DAC.
Indeed, SB has a very large (about one minute) buffer.

[Kris]

which sounds like a slow down in the processing.

Download and run the DPC latency checker http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml "Thesycon’s DPC Latency Checker is a Windows tool that analyses the capabilities of a computer system to handle real-time data streams properly. It may help to find the cause for interruptions in real-time audio and video streams, also known as drop-outs".

It will tell you what the latency of your system is. The higher the latency the less likely you are to live stream/play audio/video without stuttering.

Make sure you've got the indexing service switched off, also make sure that there are no unnecessary programmes running in the background.

If you have a lot of things loading on PC startup, download and run the Microsoft Autoruns prog from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx You'll just be interested in the 'logon' tab for now. Uncheck any progs you don't want to run at startup. If you have any worries, report back here and I'll tell you what's safe to uncheck.

Also don't forget to regularly clean your pc out with CCleaner http://www.ccleaner.com/ and defrag the Hard drive. Actually CCleaner has a good start up tab where you can disable start up progs. maybe better for you than autoruns which is a bit too complicated for first time users

Kris.

[technobear]

Hmmm, does this mean I would get the same effect if I were using Airport Express?

No. Different protocol.

[monstermoo]

Thanks guys, I'll be sure to take a look at the links you have posted and see if things can be improved :)

[dave2010]

Another problem I sometimes have is a program (anti-virus sotware) which insists on giving me an audio message every time it does a database update. One of the hazards of using a PC for audio I feel.

I hope you don't get that one.

[Stratmangler]

Another problem I sometimes have is a program (anti-virus sotware) which insists on giving me an audio message every time it does a database update. One of the hazards of using a PC for audio I feel.

I hope you don't get that one.

Simple answer to that one - remove Avast from your systen and use a different AV software.

Tesco are doing Kaspersky Security Suite for £14 at the moment.

[dave2010]

Chris

Might just go back to AVG. I only tried Avast! to see how it works - apart from the voice thing it seems OK. Is Kaspersky any good? I've never actually succeded in getting that installed - it seemed to produce too many conflicts with other software I have, though I know it's quite highly rated. Last time I tried I wasted half a day.

[Stratmangler]

Kaspersky works just fine.
I've found that it uses less processor time than AVG unless it's doing a scan - when it's scanning it's very intrusive, but then so is AVG.
Also, because the program I bought is a full security suite there are no conflicts between the anti-virus and firewall parts of the program.
I used to find that AVG and Zonealarm on one took large amounts of resource to open, run in the background, and also close down.
I'm thinking of getting another copy of Kaspersky for the other machine.

With the gains in system speed I got carried away with things, and used CCleaner to have a look at the startup programs on the machine, and managed to remove quite a few from system startup.
Things run a lot more quickly now, and if I need to use any of the programs that I stopped from running at startup they still open when required. They just don't bog the machine down with needless process.

[Kris]

Have you tried "Microsoft Security Essentials" Free Anti-virus? It's totally unobtrusive and I find it's better than all the others. Also you can get it to ignore any file types and locations (such as music files and external drives).

I would never usually recommend a Microsoft product, but this really is very good.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Glad you're Pc is running quicker and smoother now Chris. A bit of a spring clean every now and then keeps things in tip top condition :)

Kris.

[Themis]

Have you tried "Microsoft Security Essentials" Free Anti-virus? It's totally unobtrusive and I find it's better than all the others. Also you can get it to ignore any file types and locations (such as music files and external drives).+1
Had it since the Beta. Great product, fast, no false positives and free.

[Stratmangler]

I'm running XP Pro - I thought essentials was for Vista and beyond.:scratch:

[Themis]

You need at least XP SP2. ;) http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/resources.aspx?mkt=en-gb&s=1#mainNav

[Stratmangler]

You need at least XP SP2. ;) http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/resources.aspx?mkt=en-gb&s=1#mainNav

Thanks Dimitri (and Kris)

I should have paid a little more attention to the fine detail and save myself a few quid.

[Themis]

Kaspersky is a very good one too (although not free, as you say).

[dave2010]

Kaspersky works just fine.

With the gains in system speed I got carried away with things, and used CCleaner to have a look at the startup programs on the machine, and managed to remove quite a few from system startup.Malwarebytes works well also, as an additional tool along with CCleaner, and there is a free option.

[Class]

It might not be related but USB sound on a Acer Aspire One 11.6" I bought last summer was unusable, I didn't dig very deep but it seemed like a buggy USB design.

There was all kinds of nasty distortion, not usable at all.
I returned it and bought a Macbook Pro :)

[dave2010]

Simple answer to that one - remove Avast from your systen and use a different AV software.
Another approach - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080107133619AAQYb5I

Hopefully works!