[sonci]

OK, never used reply gain, usually I control the amplifer volume by remote,
so I can change it as many times as I want,
but since I`m hearing a lot of clipping I discovered that RG is a good way to prevent it, as "hard -6dB limiter" plugin doesn`t work for me,
I`m just using it with album gain, which is the way I usually listen to music,
so, do you use it? Am I ruining somehow SQ?

 

[Head Injury]

No, you don't ruin sound quality. Not as far as I know.

Don't think you're really preventing that much clipping either, because if the mastering is clipped then nothing short of complex file editing is going to cure that.

But it's a great way to get the Death Metal on the same level playing field as the Classical. Also ruins heavily compressed songs' only advantage, so good mastering is that much easier to appreciate.

I used to use Track Gain with MP3Gain, but after adding more FLAC to my library and switching to Foobar, I've removed all of those tags and rely on Foobar's Album scanner.

 

[krmathis]

No, I stay clear.
I rather want bit-perfect output.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

I don't use replay gain. I have thought about it for the reason you mentioned, just haven't bothered to do it to give it a good test.

I also do pretty much only album listening. I've never used the shuffle feature on my iPod or in my PC media player. It's easy enough to set the volume at the beginning of an album and you're pretty much good for the entire album.

One thing I don't like when I have played with replay gain is that it makes it more difficult to note when you've got a "hot" album. Without the replay gain enabled it is easy and obvious to know when you've got a hot or loud album. When replay gain is enabled the obvious "loud" is gone and you end up needing to look at the replay gain values to see what's up.

If I was to do replay gain it would be album gain only, no track by track style replay gain. I also like to listen to classical and classical doesn't do right with replay gain. When classical music is soft it is soft for a reason and you want to listen to it soft. You don't want it replay gained up just to have to turn the volume on the amp down. That kind of defeats the convenience purpose of using replay gain in the first place.

 

[ROBSCIX]

I don't use it either. Some use it and some do not seems like any other setting on a PC.
I think some seem to mix up replay gain and smart volume management so they avoid it.

 

[gurubhai]

I use replay gain in album mode.
If you know a bit about replay gain implementation, then you can easily set it up on a suitable audio system without any risk of losing bits.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think some seem to mix up replay gain and smart volume management so they avoid it.

Yeah, that's a good point. Ugh, smart volume management. Before my audiophile days I thought it was a good idea, but that lasted about five minutes when I figured out it sounded terrible.

SVM: We Brickwall Your Songs So You Don't Have To!

 

[sonci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head Injury /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, that's a good point. Ugh, smart volume management. Before my audiophile days I thought it was a good idea, but that lasted about five minutes when I figured out it sounded terrible. SVM: We Brickwall Your Songs So You Don't Have To!

So, yo`re saying that album gain preserve the different loudness between tracks of the same album?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich /img/forum/go_quote.gif I also like to listen to classical and classical doesn't do right with replay gain. When classical music is soft it is soft for a reason and you want to listen to it soft. You don't want it replay gained up just to have to turn the volume on the amp down. That kind of defeats the convenience purpose of using replay gain in the first place.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonci /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, yo`re saying that album gain preserve the different loudness between tracks of the same album?

Yes. Well, I wasn't actually saying that, but it does. That's the point of album gain. Track gain sets every song to 89db. Album gain sets the average of the album around 89db, so a song that's 10db louder than another song in the same album will still be 10db louder after album gain.

So, the 10db louder song would be at like 94db and the 10db quieter song will be at about 84db.

 

[HeatFan12]

I use it, I don't use it...Now I'm using it more than before. Remember, you can set the output volume via the preamp feature to whatever you choose if 89db is too low.

For me, it is more of a convenience since I use Foobar and my ipod is Rockboxed and also has that feature, and I take my ipod in my car everyday, so volume control is good.

I used to use track gain when I would "shuffle" but since I have ripped everything and compiled it as separate albums, I use album exclusively.

 

[KingStyles]

I use album replay gain. I dont like getting up changing the volume when I skip around to different geners and such. Going from beethovens 5th to the red hot chilli peppers can nearly take your head off.

 

[HeatFan12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingStyles /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use album replay gain. I dont like getting up changing the volume when I skip around to different geners and such. Going from beethovens 5th to the red hot chilli peppers can nearly take your head off.

lol...I can just imagine Blood Sugar Sex Magik kicking in....

 

[Effusion]

I've recently discovered some interesting issues while using and not using replaygain in Foobar2000; I'm thinking that the culprit may be my DAC chip, but the verdict is still out.

sonci what is your PC feeding, external/internal DAC?

I too get a lot of clipping when I don't use replaygain; I'm estimating around 60% of my flac files. Like others, I prefer not using it, but it is now almost essential.

When I first started using Foobar and ripping my CDs to flac, I tweaked with the output settings quite a bit to try to get close to bit-perfect output as I could. I did notice the clipping then and the immediate solution for me was to lower Foobar's volume control about a tenth of the way down from max. I left this setting for quite a while, until I started to think that the digital attenuation was negatively affecting the sound (most run everything at max on their PCs).

My problem is that running the volume at max allows the clipping to come through; even if I lower Foobar's preamp or run DSPs. The only thing that prevents this clipping when the volume is at max is the replaygain.

Anyone else ever run into this same problem?

 

[ROBSCIX]

Are you using any type of effects such as EQ etc that might boost the output?
There would have to be some sort of reason for the clipping.

 

[Effusion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you using any type of effects such as EQ etc that might boost the output? There would have to be some sort of reason for the clipping.

I agree and it is very strange from what I currently understand. I'm only using the Advanced Limiter... I heard that this doesn't effect the output like attenuation does, there is no difference with it on or off.

My DAC is 16 bit/44.1 and that is what I'm running from my transport - motherboard optical. Some of tracks are hot recordings, but not all. Most just shouldn't clip this much and do not do so on other redbook systems.

Not really sure why... if you have any suggestions/ideas or info on replaygain, it would be greatly appreciated!