What is good about rockbox?

EQ and replaygain are not useless, and it's your loss for not using them.

The main purpose of rockbox is support for extra formats and especially replaygain. If you don't need those features, then don't use it?

I liked Rockbox because it allowed me to play .flac on my 4th gen iPod.  But the battery life was horrible (which I expected but it was worse than I thought it would be).  The software is neat, but if you aren't going to do tweaks then it's probably not for you.

EQ and replaygain useless? Amusing. You do realize that it's impossible to know what the recording was supposed to sound like without using the same equipment (speakers) that the sound engineers originally used, and using them in a room of the same dimensions? And lets not forget that headphones all apply their own sound signature to a recording.

If you don't want to use EQ or replay gain, that's your prerogative. But to call them useless is little more than a demonstration of ignorance. It's just another example of why the professional market and "audiophile" market are so vastly different. By the way, I'll give you three guesses as to which products cost more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunwolf 

gapless playback = something that all worthwhile players should already have

They should, but don't. That's why there's Rockbox.

Serious question: what is good about gapless playback?

Gapless playback is necessary for audio mixes (particularly DJ sets and some albums that have seamless transitions like a Pink Floyd) so you won't hear any audible gaps in between tracks.

Rockbox is great because you can throw any audio format on your RB-enabled player and know that you can play it!

Throw in extras like Gameboy emulation and you've got a winner.

I absolutely agree. Some albums are very difficult to listen to unless there is gapless. One such album is Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon. There is no way I can listen to that if there are gaps in between. Of course I've solved the problem by just making the album into one file anyway since sometimes I put my dap on random and I get one of those 30 second blurbs from that album and one file prevents that.

Oh okay that makes sense.  I gotta listen to Dark Side of the Moon with gapless now lol

Well I think it varies with each person. I would only use it if I got an iPod so I wouldnt' have to 

A) Use the stock firmware

B) Have a custom EQ

C) Not have to use iTunes.

Now I've never used Rockbox but these are some of the good things I've heard.

You make it sound like there are rules that sound engineers must follow to get a mix "right" or correct -- not so.  Usually, the mixer works with the artist(s) to create the tone the artist wants; sometimes the mixer mixes the way he/she likes, coloring it with EQ, reverb, and many other effects.  Bottom line, there is no right/wrong when listening to music.  There is absolutely no way you will ever recreate "the original intent" because no speakers or headphones are going to replay music the same exact way it came out of the speakers in the mixing booth. 

Another thought: artists are constantly telling us there is no certain meaning to their lyrics, just however I the listener wants to interpret them.  And that same artist would tell me I'm doing his/her music an injustice by "distorting" it with some additional bass or less treble?  I don't think so.  Let me encourage you to loosen up, enjoy coloring outside the lines some, and color the music you are listening to however you want to!

Anyway, with any EQ (and Rockbox has several different ways to EQ sound) you can do many things.  I like to try to equalize my headphones toward each other some.  I appreciate the inherent differences between 2 headphones or IEMs, but I don't like to hear completely divergent versions of the same song if 2 headphones have very different inherent sound signatures.  So I try to bring them a bit towards a more common sound (not completely, just closer) that I like to hear.

In sum, if you find a particular thing that is useful in your life, that's great. If not, like a great number of things that you will never know or use, ignore them and get on with your life. There is no reason to question why other don't live in your house, don't have your job or don't marry your wife/husband.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunwolf 

Replay Gain is basically useless. If the tracks were mastered such that some have levels lower than the rest, that was done for a reason and that's how I intend to listen to them. If the whole album is that way, so be it (but generally all albums are in a very similar range anyways).

No, there's not a reason. Albums where replaygain sets a value of over -4db generally sound like it came out of someone's pooper because the range was squashed and/or driven into clipping by an incompetent or weak willed engineer who won't say no. If some exec tried to force me to master an album that piss poorly, I'd tell them to F themselves and I'd quit.

Replaygain seldom sets +gain values except on classical, but as long as the peaks don't go over 0db it's harmless. Album gain is your friend, instead of leveling the volume it will set the entire album to a set value so quieter tracks will remain quieter.