Streaming soud quality

Question

Streaming soud quality

When streaming music (from the Music App) to an external speaker, the sound quality is very poor. Almost no bass. The music sounds very "thin". Any idea what the problem might be?

PowerBook

Posted on Jan 9, 2020 9:52 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Michael Weiss5 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 10, 2020 2:49 PM in response to Tesserax

Streaming from an iPhone next to the router produced the same results - no improvement. I finally discovered an "Audio" button on my Pioneer amp remote. After changing settings, the quality improved significantly. So I think this is the best I can expect. Thanks for all the tips.

All that is left now for me is to figure out the horrible Apple Music App. In iTunes I used to be able to export a song from Logic into iTunes and play back via Apple TV on my external speaker system. Now when I do the same with the Music app, the song doesn't even show up on Apple TV even though I can see it in my library and I can stream it from there. Go figure. Apple has made this stuff so complicated that it is very hard to use and it may not function in the same way it did on iTunes.

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Answer 2

Jan 9, 2020 7:59 PM in response to dialabrain

Before I try that, here is some more info. The sound is perfectly normal on speakers directly connected (via audio interface) to my Mac. The problem is only when I stream to external speakers. Does NVRAM control streaming sound in any way? If it does wouldn’t I have the same problem with directly connected speakers? Or does NVRAM have a component that only controls sound over WiFi?

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

152,320 points

Jan 9, 2020 8:05 PM in response to Michael Weiss5

When streaming is it via AirPlay or Bluetooth? That is, are your B&W speakers AirPlay-enabled? Also, when streaming, are the Mac, speakers, and wireless router in the same room? Which Mac do you have and which version of OS X or macOS is it running?

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Answer 4

Jan 9, 2020 9:47 PM in response to Tesserax

Streaming via AirPlay. No idea if my B&W speakers are AirPlay enabled. How does one do that? The Mac is in a different room, about 20 ft away from the router and the speakers in an adjacent room. Late 2016 PowerBook, running Catalina.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

152,320 points

Jan 10, 2020 8:15 AM in response to Michael Weiss5

Michael Weiss5 wrote:

Streaming via AirPlay. No idea if my B&W speakers are AirPlay enabled. How does one do that?

I suggest taking a look at your amp's user manual to verify AirPlay support. Most newer systems today do.

The Mac is in a different room, about 20 ft away from the router and the speakers in an adjacent room. Late 2016 PowerBook, running Catalina

Your notebook (I assume you meant to say MacBook or MacBook Pro and not PowerBook ... correct?) will first stream to your wireless router, and then, that stream will travel to the amp via the same router. In your next reply I see that the amp is connected by Ethernet .... a bit unusual, but not an issue.

Regardless, if the first wireless path the stream needs to travel through walls, ceilings, floors, etc; this could affect the signal quality, and thus, the stream's fidelity. I suggest trying to stream with your notebook near the wireless router that the amp is connected to, to see if there is any improvement. Please post back your results.

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Answer 6

Tesserax

Level 10

152,320 points

Jan 10, 2020 8:46 PM in response to Michael Weiss5

Michael Weiss5 wrote:

All that is left now for me is to figure out the horrible Apple Music App. In iTunes I used to be able to export a song from Logic into iTunes and play back via Apple TV on my external speaker system. Now when I do the same with the Music app, the song doesn't even show up on Apple TV even though I can see it in my library and I can stream it from there. Go figure. Apple has made this stuff so complicated that it is very hard to use and it may not function in the same way it did on iTunes.

You just provided us with a whole new issue. I suggest that you start a new post as this one appears to be solved. Thanks!

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