It can be really helpful and enlightening to hear your own mixes in a shootout with your favorite CDs. But iTunes has some preference settings that will attempt to “alter” spacing, general eq, and volume settings. You will need to temporally turn these off in order to make legitimate comparisons. Here’s how:
Go into iTunes PREFERENCES, and DISABLE these three items:
1 – Crossfade Playback
– Or else the space between your songs will be shorter than on a CD
2 – Sound Enhancer
– This boosts both the bass and treble response from the original CD, you don’t want this!
3 – Sound Check
– iTunes attempts to make all of your songs play back at the same volume, thereby altering their individual playback volumes. Great for casual listening, but not good for judging mixes and masters.
Make sure these three items are UNCHECKED, as below.
You can turn any or all of these items back on when you are done.