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Music juddering occasionally, gets stuck in a loop

May 2019 iMac 3.6GH Quad-Core Intel Core i3 8GB memory Sequoia 15.0 with paired HomePods.

When playing YouTube music vids and music stored on my iMac instances of music juddering and sticking in a loop. Have to log off, switch off and reboot, then it's OK, for a while.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Oct 2, 2024 11:44 AM

Reply
10 replies

Oct 2, 2024 1:14 PM in response to helstonian

There are a number of reasons why this could be happening.


Here are a few of them:

  • Streaming from YouTube is from the Internet. As such, the Internet download speed, provided by your ISP, is an important factor. What you would look for is data transfer latency. High latency = poor streaming quality.
    • Using a VPN connection to the Internet.
  • Your local network.
    • If you connect your iMac to your local network by wireless, wireless interference could be a factor. Even if interference it not present, where your Mac is located to your wireless access point or router will be important.
    • If you connect your iMac by Ethernet, neither of those two factors would apply, but the overall network bandwidth will. Lower bandwidth = poor streaming quality.
    • Other household members simultaneously accessing the Internet, especially if they are also streaming video content.
  • Your Mac itself. For example, if you are running numerous apps simultaneously while playing a YouTube stream can affect playback performance.
    • Running a software firewall.
    • Running 3rd party anti-virus apps.
    • Running a "cleaner" app, like CleanMyMac.

Oct 19, 2024 1:46 PM in response to BDAqua

Spoken to a tech person from my internet service provider and asked if my router settings might need changing, but he said there haven't been any other clients of TalkTalk in the UK who have experienced the problem I'm having. Tried downloading EtreCheck again, but once again it's not allowing me to select a full disk check. I have a pair of Apple HomePod Minis, I'll install them and see if the sound problem occurs with them. Thank you all for your advice, I'll keep trying to solve the conundrum. By-the-way, I've tried turning off all my digital hardware which have Bluetooth capabilities just incase they are contributing to the sound problems, but that hasn't had any beneficial effect.

Oct 3, 2024 1:25 PM in response to helstonian

Are you running any VPN, Anti-Virus, or Cleaning apps?


We need to see what all is running, a report from this will not display any personal info...

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community


EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info. Give it Full Disk Access.

https://www.etrecheck.com/


Give etrecheck Full Disk Access before running.


Thanks for Old Toad’s etrecheck instructions…

Slow iMac 2017 - Apple Community


For a test you couldtry disabling the Firewall.

Oct 3, 2024 1:11 PM in response to helstonian

FWIW, I'm running macOS Sequoia on two of my Macs (2020 MacBook Pro & a 2024 Mac mini). With either I'm not having any issues streaming to AirPlay-enabled devices. However I do not have an Apple HomePod to test with, so I can't exactly duplicate what you are seeing.


Hopefully someone else here will chime in with their experience. Good luck!

Oct 10, 2024 12:30 PM in response to BDAqua

No VPN, Anti-Virus or Cleaning App. Downloaded EtreCheck, ran it and it didn't come up with anything. I then realised I hadn't given it full disk permission so tried again. Unfortunately it wouldn't let me select full disk access but ran the original check again. Feeling frustrated I dragged the EtreCheck installation files to the Bin and deleted them. I'll attempt another install and post report later. For added info. music now cuts out completely occasionally, also the volume is so low sometimes that on sliding the volume bar to the right I have to go to max, volume catches up after a few seconds then it's full blast. Sliding bar to the left I have to go to the minimum before volume decreases. I apologise for my ineptitude, I'm not computer illiterate but as I age my patience runs out a lot quicker than it did just a few years ago.


Music juddering occasionally, gets stuck in a loop

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