Muffled Playback Quality

[zallbritton]

Hello,

I have been using Audacity for just under a year now, and I have had perfect playback quality all that time. However, as of today, my audio playback has been giving a “muffled” sound quality. Before, my audio playback was perfect, exactly the way my music players have played it. I have tried playing the same file on different music player programs, and all of them play the file just fine. Is this an issue with Audacity? Or is it something else? I will be reinstalling the program soon, and I will update to say whether or not it works.

[DVDdoug]

I have tried playing the same file on different music player programs, and all of them play the file just fine.

Same computer? Same speakers?

The only thing I can think of is that there is some driver “enhancement” (such as an Equalizer effect) and that Audacity is using a different driver than your other audio players. If your computer has a sound utility (something from SoundBlaster or Realtek, etc.) check the settings. (For Windows, there are MME, Direct Sound, and Core Audio WASAPI drivers, and there are ASIO drivers for some higher-end hardware & software.)

[Gale_Andrews]

@zallbritton

I have been using Audacity for just under a year now, and I have had perfect playback quality all that time. However, as of today, my audio playback has been giving a “muffled” sound quality. Before, my audio playback was perfect, exactly the way my music players have played it. I have tried playing the same file on different music player programs, and all of them play the file just fine. Is this an issue with Audacity? Or is it something else? I will be reinstalling the program soon, and I will update to say whether or not it works.

What is your Audacity project rate bottom left? The default 44100 Hz allows reproduction of frequencies up to 22050 Hz which is higher than most humans can hear.

If the project rate is say 22050 Hz then you will only hear frequencies up to 10025 Hz.


Gale

[zallbritton]

@Gale Andrews

@zallbritton

I have been using Audacity for just under a year now, and I have had perfect playback quality all that time. However, as of today, my audio playback has been giving a “muffled” sound quality. Before, my audio playback was perfect, exactly the way my music players have played it. I have tried playing the same file on different music player programs, and all of them play the file just fine. Is this an issue with Audacity? Or is it something else? I will be reinstalling the program soon, and I will update to say whether or not it works.

What is your Audacity project rate bottom left? The default 44100 Hz allows reproduction of frequencies up to 22050 Hz which is higher than most humans can hear.

If the project rate is say 22050 Hz then you will only hear frequencies up to 10025 Hz.


Gale

@DVDdoug

I have tried playing the same file on different music player programs, and all of them play the file just fine.

Same computer? Same speakers?

The only thing I can think of is that there is some driver “enhancement” (such as an Equalizer effect) and that Audacity is using a different driver than your other audio players. If your computer has a sound utility (something from SoundBlaster or Realtek, etc.) check the settings. (For Windows, there are MME, Direct Sound, and Core Audio WASAPI drivers, and there are ASIO drivers for some higher-end hardware & software.)

My project rate has remained at the default 44100 Hz, no driver enhancements, only the defaults set.

So far, reinstalling seems to have done the trick. Will update if anything else seems to go wrong