Question iTunes audio stuttering ?

[Shpeckledorf]

Hi all,

I have a concurrent thread running on the Apple Support website for iTunes, but wanted to post here in case anyone knows anything. It seems that while this problem is intermittent, it notice iTunes audio has awful stuttering at high CPU usage. I can reproduce the problem and send a video if needed.

Things to note:

iTunes audio output is running at 192kbps native to my Focusrite configuration and studio monitor rating, also set to 24 Bit Per Sample. Sound Enhancer is enabled and on High.

My computer specs:

i9 12900k
RTX 2080 Ti + an ASUS 1070 Dual (I run 6 monitors and need 2 for display outputs)
32GB Corsair Vengeance 4266Mhz RAM
NVME Storage

I have gone through 2 different processors on an unrelated note and have experienced the same issue with both configurations. I have the most up-to-date iTunes version. This seems to happen extremely bad when I am rendering videos and CPU usage is high, so it seems to be hardware related to this piece of software. When I watch YouTube videos playing the exact same song, I get no audio stuttering and the quality is perfect.

Please help.

-Zach

 

[Lutfij]

Make and model of your motherboard? BIOS version for said motherboard? Since you've stated being on Windows 10, what version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you working with? As a side test, can you try the same iTunes + rendering task on a donor system and see if the issue crops up there? I render sometimes for clients(architect by education) and when rendering I tend to stop anything I'm doing in order to allocate as many resources to the rendering tasks, this includes listening to music or watching a video.

Make and model of your PSU and it's age(if it's been in service for a while)?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Stutters are usually a driver issue and could be ram related as well

 

[Shpeckledorf]

Make and model of your motherboard? BIOS version for said motherboard? Since you've stated being on Windows 10, what version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you working with? As a side test, can you try the same iTunes + rendering task on a donor system and see if the issue crops up there? I render sometimes for clients(architect by education) and when rendering I tend to stop anything I'm doing in order to allocate as many resources to the rendering tasks, this includes listening to music or watching a video.

Make and model of your PSU and it's age(if it's been in service for a while)?

Hi,

I'd also like to mention I've gone through multiple motherboards on unrelated notes and still experienced the issue. The motherboard is an ASUS Prime Z690-A. I have always known drivers to cause stuttering issues. The user who commented above saying it could be my RAM, honestly, it could be. I have never been able to reliably run it at 4266mhz, so I have to run it at 3200mhz. I don't know if that would cause any issue.

And yeah, I typically close everything when rendering, but that was back when I had a 9700kf, with only 8 cores. I have 16 now with the 12900k so I figured it would be able to handle some music, chrome + video, and a render. And it did. Although the audio was stuttering pretty badly in JUST iTunes.

I'm on Windows 10 version 21H2.

This doesn't happen on any of my laptops. Just my PC.


Edit I've never updated the BIOS on any of my motherboards and don't know what version. PSU is Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W RGB damn near brand new

 

[faalin]

Just throwing it out there but could this be an issue with the 12900k and windows 10 not knowing how to handle the P & E cores with iTunes.

 

[Shpeckledorf]

Just throwing it out there but could this be an issue with the 12900k and windows 10 not knowing how to handle the P & E cores with iTunes.

What about my 9700kf having the same issue? It only has 8 cores. I am really leaning towards my RAM or something..