[MaxCast]

I have noticed different volumes from songs of different albums via the box.  Is this normal or do I have a setting wrong. 
I use EAC, mp3tag, squeezeserve, SB3.

[ted_b]

What you are hearing is simply the differences in the mastered output gain.  Some albums are way louder than others!!

There is a plugin called replaygain that will volume adjust whole albums, songs, etc.  I think you can probably replaygain your whole library...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_Gain

[MaxCast]

Thanks Ted. I thought as much but surprised not much complaint so I asked. Will check out the link, but I will wonder how much it will affect the A phile in me      It seems the volume control is one of the biggest hurdles on audio.

[ted_b]

I've done replaygain in foobar and it seemed quite benign, but that was not with the big rig, but with a pc and Audioengine 5's.

[firedog]

Is replay gain bit-perfect? Or does it reduce bits to reduce volume?

[Vincent Kars]

Replaygain is a matter of analysing the audio and write the result in a tag.
This of course won’t affect the audio part.
On playback with Replaygain on, each sample is multiplied with the gain.
This is by design not bit perfect
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/ReplayGain.htm

[toddbagwell]

Is replay gain bit-perfect? Or does it reduce bits to reduce volume?

See VK's post and link, but yes it alters the bits during playback to normalize the volume. It does this in such a way that the actual data is not altered until playback occurs. If it helps to think of it as a separate tag for each file that tells the player software to increase or decrease the volume for each track, but is completely reversible by setting the gain (or soundcheck, or whatever your player calls this feature..) back to 0db of adjustment. try it for yourself, and if you like the more uniform track to track volumes great, and if you feel you can hear a difference, turn it off and grab the remote to adjust the volume another way!

later,
todd

[MaxCast]

Ahh!  We can't have anyone altering our bits. 
I may give it a try.  Not so much of a problem on whole albums but rather playlists and late night listening volumes.

How bout the volume control on the SB3, degrades sound?

[lcrim]

I have used Foobar to set replay gain per track on all my music (flac) files.  The Soundcheck tool bar instructions caused me to undo all replay gain tags.  Unfortunately, (and this was most apparent after adding the volume control mod) the playback levels on certain music can be so entirely out of scale to all other  previously played music that I found myself leaping for any thing to turn it off during late night listening.  I then used Foobar to add Replay Gain to those selections that were dramatically louder (and sometimes softer) than what my ears liked.
I do tend to listen to a random playback list out of laziness, more than anything else.  Listening to entire ripped CDs, once you get it right, its fine.
Again, I use a Squeezebox Touch, with all the Soundcheck Toolbar 2.0 in place. 
Rich, if you decide to go this route, Foobar can attach the Replay Gain tags to all w/o your intervention.   I can't tell if there is sound degrdation, its just for convenience. 
On a Touch, you also need to select volume control on or the replay gain tag gets ignored.  I can't remember back to whether this is necessary playing back w/ a SB3.   

[Thump553]

I don't have replay gain set in any of my library.  I generally don't notice any problem listening to an album straight through but I have a number of mix-type playlists I've made where the volume changes can be quite jarring.  Will replay gain fix my problem? 

I'm using the Squeezebox software.

[lcrim]

I don't have replay gain set in any of my library.  I generally don't notice any problem listening to an album straight through but I have a number of mix-type playlists I've made where the volume changes can be quite jarring.  Will replay gain fix my problem? 

I'm using the Squeezebox software.

It is a matter of opinion certainly but the idea by David Robinson was to optimize playback at, I think it was 89 dB and than there was a lower level later on..  But it may rob Peter to pay Paul.  The dynamics and the drama can be sacrificed

[Dan Driscoll]

How bout the volume control on the SB3, degrades sound?

It is a digital volume control, so it does mess with the bits. I keep my SB3 set to 100% and use the analog volume control on my preamp.

[Len_Dreyer]

Hope this helps some. In order to have Squeezebox Server use replay gain or sound check tags, you need to change your player settings. The player needs to be powered on then select the following: Settings (bottom right hand corner), the Player tab, the drop down menu arrow next to Basic Settings, Audio and lastly make a selection from the Volume Adjustment/Replay Gain option. The default was no volume adjustment for my player.

[Johnny2Bad]

I think what is needed is a regimen that changes a 16-bit file to 24-bit by padding only (no resampling). With a 24-bit word length it should then be possible to reduce levels to a suitable average with all files, and maintain whatever fidelity existed in the 16-bit original.


When I transcript LPs to digital I record at 24 bit to a 32-bit float working file (which creates a 24-bit file when saved but allows room for processing), and normalize to an RMS value (that's what my recording app calls it; I think technically it's should be called 'average level') of -13dB which avoids digital clipping on almost all music. There are a few exceptions, so I check for clipped samples and if any exist, I undo the average level and normalize to -1dB peak. Since the average setting produced a clipped sample, this will further reduce the average level to the maximum the song will support, but it will be some value lower than -13dB average. The -13dB value is basically what I determined to work best through trial-and-error.


Done this way, levels are very consistent from song to song if you're shuffling by song. Of course since they were recorded at 24-bit in the first place, there is information there and the file size is larger than a Redbook file would be.


With a ripped Redbook CD, assuming you use a lossless compression format to store digital audio files on a music server (Apple Lossless, FLAC, Shorten, etc), storing the padded 24-bit files shouldn't significantly alter the file size versus the same (original) 16-bit lossless file, since the compression algorithm will ignore the padded bits (there's no information there). If you don't use lossless compression (eg store as WAV or AIFF) file size will increase significantly however.


This is in contrast to using a sound check-type function (that's what iTunes calls it; but they all work similarly) operating in real time which has to resample, employ dither, or throw away bits.


Note that iTunes v7x and earlier throws away bits, later versions use a proper dithering digital level control. So, if your version is current, it should be reasonably transparent (which shouldn't be interpreted to mean 'perfect'), but if you're using v7x or earlier 'sound check' should be avoided and the iTunes volume control should be at maximum as well. It would be worth your while to investigate the methods used by your particular music server's software, as this is a critical factor in overall fidelity.


This doesn't address what possible remedy you might need for a 24-bit high-resolution original, but since these are supposed to be mastered for maximum fidelity any engineer that allows himself to be conscripted as a soldier in the "volume wars" should be summarily shot at dawn. Just kidding. Mostly.

[lcrim]

SqueezeBox Server operates @ 20 bits not 24.  This thread is not about i-anything, thats for another circle.
The Touch needs to be adjusted on its internal menus to use replay gain or any volume changes.  The Touch has its own OS, as it is an ALSA(linux) computer.  The SB3 is not and all settings are through the server side.

[playntheblues]

oops