Song quality sounds like an MP3

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Sacco Naz
Sacco Naz Member Posts: 130 Advisor

I just bought a Hi Rez Album Tears For Fears AAIF 96K and it sounds amazing on everything but Traktor... It sounds amazing on Audacity, iTunes etc... but in Traktor it sounds like an MP3... and the panning of the drums is lost... I've noticed this sort of thing before but I can't understand why some tracks sound horrible in Traktor...

Please Help

Sacco

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  • zephry
    zephry Member Posts: 586 Pro
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    Are you listening through a sound system connected to a controller or on the laptop through headphones?

    Also Traktor with a controller might have trouble depending on the driver if you choose anything above a 48kz bitrate.

  • zephry
    zephry Member Posts: 586 Pro
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    There have been issues depending on what drivers for windows, and issues with certain versions and file types for Mac. So be sure to check what version Traktor you are on and browse support and this forum for what you specifically are using with Traktor.

    Depending on headphones and the different applications you definitely might have other audio enhanced or changed compared to Traktor. My laptop adds Dolby and other enhancements for gaming of I don't disable it, sounds completely different from Traktor through my controller.

  • Sacco Naz
    Sacco Naz Member Posts: 130 Advisor
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    At this time just headphones and laptop... but even the waveform is tiny.. like an MP3... but in Audacity which I used just to sound test the file it was a full waveform and sounded amazing... and why would the Panning be lost...? I've noticed drums loosing their panning in Traktor before but I just can't imagine why...

    99 percent of tracks sound great in Traktor but occasionally you get a 100 megabyte "MP3"

    I'm on Traktor 3.9

    Thanks

    Sacco

  • Isotoxin
    Isotoxin Member Posts: 123 Helper
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  • Sacco Naz
    Sacco Naz Member Posts: 130 Advisor
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    I don't understand?

  • Isotoxin
    Isotoxin Member Posts: 123 Helper
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    I'm too.

    You know why? Because you have provided exactly 0 information to us about your equipment. Instead of this, you just bragging about your 96kHz quality songs.

    I hope your speakers recreates this spectrum of frequencies? At least I, don't know what system and how much it cost, can do this.

  • Sacco Naz
    Sacco Naz Member Posts: 130 Advisor
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    It's just a MacBook Pro with Traktor 3.9... nothing special... it's just that when I play this particular file in Traktor is sounds thin like an MP3... but when I play it in Audacity or iTunes it sounds full... and also in Traktor the panning of the track is lost for some reason... that is all.. I don't have a system... and I wasn't trying to brag about the Hi-res file... it's just frustrating because when you pay extra for the 96K but...for some reason it still sounds like 16K

  • Isotoxin
    Isotoxin Member Posts: 123 Helper
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    What Your Traktor settings when this issue appears?

    And how the hell You can tell the difference between 96kHz and 16Khz??? Actually I doubt You can hear the 14kHz frequencies.

  • Sacco Naz
    Sacco Naz Member Posts: 130 Advisor
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    It's not that I can tell the frequencies... it's just that it sounds like an MP3... Songs form the Big Chair form Tears For Fears cam e out 40 years ago... I I bought several versions of this in different formats and they never translate well in Traktor...

    Can you tell the difference between a 4Meg MP3 and an 80 meg AAIF?

    Seriously... All I'm asking is if you've ever noticed Traktor does something to some file and they don't sound awesome...

    If you don't have anything constructive to say then stop... and stop sending links that are irrelevant

  • Toxicaudio
    Toxicaudio Member Posts: 26 Member
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    You can try to convert your audio file with the same settings into wav or flac and open it again in Traktor to check if the audio quality is still bad.

    Maybe Traktor have a problem with 96khz AIFF files.

    I have a handfull 96/24 flac tracks and they don't have any qualitiy issues. But I am on Win10.

    You can also open a ticket and send a testfile to NI.

  • zephry
    zephry Member Posts: 586 Pro
    edited June 2023
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    His comment wasn't totally irrelevant. The extreme bitrates like that are not really used for Djing, and rarely in production.

    Most music anyone listens to is at most 48kz and even then depending on headphones or speakers (and even more, the room the speakers are positioned in) will have an impact on sound quality.

    Are you using keylock and sync? And if so are you staying close to the correct bpm. In Traktor that will make a difference in how tracks sound. This is something ITunes or Audacity doesn't do.

    The thing that intrigues me is the loss of panning. That could be something to do with the driver you are using in Traktor. I am on Windows and when using higher bitrates with Wasapi drivers strange things happen in Traktor speeding up or slowing down of tracks in my testing. Maybe something similar is happening with Mac?

    Most the testing as far as I know, is with some type of controller or external soundcard for most Dj software and typically with common quality MP3, Wav, or Aiff. So it isn't surprising if you get some strange results.

    I am not saying you are wrong to try for such quality and high bitrates, just that maybe the technology hasn't really came to Djing yet?

    I could be wrong here, just my thoughts and experiences. Maybe open a ticket in the support section, but be sure to explain key points.

    Using Mac without a controller.

    Hi resolution tracks (state the exact type of track and encoding).

    Send pictures of your routing (laptop speakers I presume)

    Send pictures of the driver selected in Traktor.

  • Isotoxin
    Isotoxin Member Posts: 123 Helper
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    If You think the single explanation "sounds like an MP3" is a very constructive and detailed description of the problem, then You need to rearrange Your dictionary. The word "constructive" especially.

    P.S. If You measure sound quality in MB, then I have a very bad news for You.

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