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Foobar2000 Dolby Headphone config - Comment & discuss! - Page 27

post #391 of 655
5/19/12 at 7:04am
I just tried this out, and I'm really liking it so far.

Before I only used a crossfeed plugin, which already improved it quite a bit, but this is even better.
I'll be trying it out for some time to get used to it, and see if I still like it after a while.

Thanks for writing this awesome tutorial, RPGWizard! biggrin.gif
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post #392 of 655
5/25/12 at 6:39am
-- 6 days later --

I AB'ed a setup without any DSP's and this setup (forward sounding one) several times.
Bass seems a little recessed with Dolby relative to without. Sound stage is larger with Dolby, but there is a slight reverb.
Without Dolby it sounds a bit more muffled and the instrument separation seems less clear

Overall I prefer this Dolby over no DSP's.


However, before I got this plugin I used crossfeed. A comparison to this:
Crossfeed first of all is about 6dB less loud. In AB'ing I have therefore pre-amped the crossfeed setup with 6dB.

Treble is recessed with crossfeed, but bass has a nicer thump to it. Sound stage is bigger with Dolby. Stereo image is more realistic with Dolby. Vocals especially are a lot closer with crossfeed than with Dolby. Cymbals are better with Dolby as the top end is recessed with crossfeed.

Overall I prefer Crossfeed over no DSP's, but I prefer Dolby over Crossfeed. Although there are some songs where the opposite is true. The echo can be annoying at times, especially on songs where there is already a slight reverb applied in the mastering. Also the muffled sound of crossfeed can be nice on more harsh songs.
In the future I'll try doing more detailed comparisons between the forward and laid-back setups, and I'll also try to EQ the crossfeed DSP chain to make it sound less muffled.
If it's possible to remove the reverb from the Dolby setup without affecting soundstage then that would be awesome as well.
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post #393 of 655
5/25/12 at 11:52am
Thread Starter 

Dolby Headphone's "amplification" slider affects amount of reverb as well as volume but it's also tied to soundstage quite a bit. Although in the current tweaked  version I've been auditioning for a while now I reduced amplification from 106% to 105% (laid-back config from 113 to 110%) and it keeps a very similar soundstage but a slightly less noticable reverb. At 104% the soundstage starts suffering too much for my liking, especially the depth, 105% is like the last stopgap where soundstage still sounds awesomely spacious and deep. But I also wanted to reduce the reverb just tiny bit in order to help keep complex bassy passages especially more transparent. I also did some VERY minor EQing to "forward" config and got it slightly more towards neutral balance (should be in between the current config and your crossfeed setting in terms of warmth, the highs are ever so slightly less sparkly and uberclose to stock foobar2000 balance)

 

I think you will like it, I'll try to update it by today still. I've kept auditioning it for many days already but I can't get my hands off the EQ doing the smallest possible adjustments (you'd be suprised of how small adjustment is enough to get a slightly audible difference with Electri-Q tweaking the gain and bandwidth settings for the peak filters) and keep doing some critical listening over and over to various instruments or small details in the song to get the best possible result while comparing on/off against stock foobar2000 sound.

 

Especially the laid-back config has now been improved quite a bit and is made much more usable and offers a less drastic modification of the soundstage and placements of mids/vocals especially. The forward config is meant to have a slightly more in-your-face mids & highs without breaking the balance compared to stock foobar2000 and laid-back config's purpose is to have ever so slightly less drawed-back / distant sounding mids & highs to allow for somewhat larger soundstage space (orchestra-suited sound). Forward config mimmicks Grado style sound signature and Laid-back config is more like AKG 70x, HD800 etc towards kind of presentation, it's not meant to be a DRASTIC modification but TOWARDS that kind of sound signature, I could exaggerate both presets much more towards their targeted sound signature but then it wouldn't be as nice sounding for a wide range of users (and their tastes), I try to stick as close as possible to stock foobar2000 kind of sound, yet offer a slightly different kind of sound to it, if that makes sense so users can either pick their preferred sound signature, Grado and AKG 70x are polar opposites in terms of soundstage and neither is better than the other, it comes down to taste. I'm personally the "forward" / Grado guy and would dislike the soundstage of AKG 70x and find it disengaging to listen to music with. ^^


Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 5/25/12 at 12:23pm
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post #394 of 655
5/25/12 at 5:25pm

i"m using the laid back config i downloaded  a high def album ,i get

 

Unrecoverable playback error: Unsupported stream format: 192000 Hz / 24-bit / 2 channels ,what do I do to play these?

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post #395 of 655
5/25/12 at 11:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluzeboy View Post

i"m using the laid back config i downloaded  a high def album ,i get

 

Unrecoverable playback error: Unsupported stream format: 192000 Hz / 24-bit / 2 channels ,what do I do to play these?

 

This Dolby Headphone dsp only supports samplerates up to 48 Khz.  So you have to use a resampler  in the first position of your dsp order. There are some resamplers for foobar. I like the Sox-resampler: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=67373

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post #396 of 655
5/26/12 at 5:38am
Thread Starter 

The forward and laid-back configs have been updated now again, extremely pleased with these settings. 

 

 

The "forward" config is suitable for: People who prefer a more forward/"in-your-face" sounding soundstage (but improved/larger stage with better imaging/positioning and separation over stock foobar2000), more engaging listening experience. Suitable for people who like the Grado sound or listen to lots of rock, EDM, dance, pop and acoustic etc music. If unsure I'd first try this one as it's more closer to stock foobar2000 sound.

 

The "laid-back" config is suitable for: People who prefer a more laid-back sounding soundstage with better transparency and more spacious/wider soundstage, more relaxed listening. Suitable for people who prefer sound signatures by for example AKG K70x or Sennheiser HD800 or listen to a lot of classical/orchestra, blues etc. music. Try this if you think the "forward" config is fatiguing or the vocals too "in-your-face".

 

Portable foobar2000 v1.1.6 "Forward" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.6.Dolby.Headphone.(Forward)-RPGWiZaRD.zip (Updated on 26.5.2012)

 
Portable foobar2000 v1.1.6 "Laid-back" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.6.Dolby.Headphone.(Laid-back)-RPGWiZaRD.zip (Updated on 26.5.2012)
 
Note: For best result I also strongly recommend changing to WASAPI output manually in the foobar2000 File -> Preferences -> Playback -> Output afterwards, it's been set to Direct Sound by default for compatibility reasons. If you use WASAPI you'll need to match your output device setting with the same bitrate as set in foobar2000 and make sure the music files are using same sample rate (for example 44100 Hz) as set in the output device properties in windows control panel or else use a resampler in foobar2000.

Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 5/26/12 at 6:03am
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post #397 of 655
5/26/12 at 9:50am

got it thanks 

 

musicreo 

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post #398 of 655
5/27/12 at 9:28am
Thread Starter 

Ninja-updated the "forward" config, I think I uploaded wrong preset and tweaked it a little bit at the same time, should be fine now. =)

 

 

 

The "forward" config is suitable for: People who prefer a more forward/"in-your-face" sounding soundstage (but improved/larger stage with better imaging/positioning and separation over stock foobar2000), more engaging listening experience. Suitable for people who like the Grado sound or listen to lots of rock, EDM, dance, pop and acoustic etc music. If unsure I'd first try this one as it's more closer to stock foobar2000 sound.

 

The "laid-back" config is suitable for: People who prefer a more laid-back sounding soundstage with better transparency and more spacious/wider soundstage, more relaxed listening. Suitable for people who prefer sound signatures by for example AKG K70x or Sennheiser HD800 or listen to a lot of classical/orchestra, blues etc. music. Try this if you think the "forward" config is fatiguing or the vocals too "in-your-face". NOTE: The laid-back config may cause slight metallic highs here and there, try the "forward" config if it bothers you.

 

Portable foobar2000 v1.1.6 "Forward" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.6.Dolby.Headphone.(Forward)-RPGWiZaRD.zip (Updated on 27.5.2012)

 
Portable foobar2000 v1.1.6 "Laid-back" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.6.Dolby.Headphone.(Laid-back)-RPGWiZaRD.zip (Updated on 27.5.2012)
 
Note: For best result I also strongly recommend changing to WASAPI output manually in the foobar2000 File -> Preferences -> Playback -> Output afterwards, it's been set to Direct Sound by default for compatibility reasons. If you use WASAPI you'll need to match your output device setting with the same bitrate as set in foobar2000 and make sure the music files are using same sample rate (for example 44100 Hz) as set in the output device properties in windows control panel or else use a resampler in foobar2000.

Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 5/27/12 at 9:29am
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post #399 of 655
5/28/12 at 3:09pm

Hi RPGWiZaRD

 

Thanks for new config, I am enjoying it much much more than stock foobar

 

but I was wondering why I am not able to hear first 13 sec of Steven wilson index with either of Dolby setup, I have flac and with stock foobar is quite clear on same vol and setup

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHn2KVBpDAg&feature=fvst

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post #400 of 655
5/29/12 at 7:42am

This looks excellent RPGWiZaRD thanks for all the work you've put into this for us!

 

I was playing around with the Forward setup last night and I seem to be missing something...

 

Setup:

Via 1708S sound chip on MB, I know it's no where near a dedicated DAC but it's all I have at the moment.

Audio controller is set for 2 speaker configuration, plugged into my Corsair SP2500 2.1 speakers. (Front Speaker Out to RCA In on the SP2500 no digital)

I use the headphone jack on the Control Pod of the SP2500. (Which should be no different than plugging the headphones into the Front speaker out on the MB)

 

When I load up the Forward version, I set the output to WASAPI (Speakers).

Play a 6 Channel ID wave file and all is good, I can hear all the tests LF, RF, Center, LR, RR and Sub Noise.

When I go into the Channel Mixer plugin configuration, none of the volume sliders do anything. I can set them all to 0 and I still get the same sound out.

The Dolby volume works, the EQ works, I just can't change the volume of Front / Back / Center...

 

I have also tried this with Jethro Tull's Aqualung (Quad & DTS 5.1) as well as Toccata and Fugue by Ales Barta (Multichannel)

 

What am I missing, or is this configuration a waste of time and not going to work?

Thanks!


Edited by TrollDragon - 5/29/12 at 7:43am
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post #401 of 655
5/29/12 at 11:33am

If you want to adjust the volume of different channels you should use the Matrix Mixer dsp. The channel Mixer dsp can't do it. It is just for up/downmixing to 6 ch.

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post #402 of 655
5/29/12 at 11:47am
Thread Starter 

Yea well I found it not working particularly good with matrix mixer either with the "forward" config. The channel mixer settings should do an audible difference (not night and day) moving the sliders but it doesn't behave like you'd expect it to do, I use those sliders to adjust the soundstage of this config, not to balance the different channel volumes. :)


Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 5/29/12 at 11:48am
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post #403 of 655
5/29/12 at 12:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD View Post

The channel mixer settings should do an audible difference (not night and day) moving the sliders

But only for stereo files. TrollDragon played a 6ch file which isn't changed by the ChannellMixer dsp.

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post #404 of 655
5/29/12 at 12:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by musicreo View Post

But only for stereo files. TrollDragon played a 6ch file which isn't changed by the ChannellMixer dsp.

 

Ahh ok yea I figured he was only verified it quickly with the 6ch and then went on to his music library.

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post #405 of 655
5/29/12 at 1:00pm

Thanks Guys!

 

My misunderstanding of what Channel Mixer does, I'll check out a stereo file tonight when I get home home and see what gives.

 

Still an excellent piece of work!

 

 

Quote:
What am I missing, or is this configuration a waste of time and not going to work?

I was referring to my hardware setup by that comment NOT RPGWiZaRD's config. After rereading the post it sounded nasty and misdirected...

 

beerchug.gif

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