cel4145
Headphoneus Supremus
I've been looking forward to the release of the new FiiO X3 because I feel it would be awesome to have a good portable DAP with a good headphone amp built in. So far the reviews look good: http://www.head-fi.org/t/671656/fiio-x3-review
However, there is no replaygain support. This is important to me because I usually listen to playlists or a specific genre or the entire library, and almost never whole albums. It is annoying to have to frequently change the volume because of the different volume levels of recordings, and especially to be blasted in the ear after listening to a particularly quiet song with the volume turned up, and then the next song is some modern recording where the dynamics have been compressed and the recording level is up very high. This is particularly a problem when walking around, working out in the gym, or doing other things that require my attention where I just want the player to play without needing attention.
Now I have a Note G2 phone, Android tablets, Windows desktop, Windows laptop, an HTPC, a Sansa Clip+--volume normalizing via replaygain is available for all of them. In fact, it seems hard to find mainstream DAP sources that the feature is not available, either natively or by installing a different media player. Other than my car receiver, every player I have used in the last five years has this feature. Yet "audiophile" products seem to be ignoring what is now a basic feature (e.g. Cowon and Colorfly).
So I thought a poll would be useful to see if I am in the minority or not.
Thoughts? Disagreements? Discussion of replaygain merits or pitfalls?
However, there is no replaygain support. This is important to me because I usually listen to playlists or a specific genre or the entire library, and almost never whole albums. It is annoying to have to frequently change the volume because of the different volume levels of recordings, and especially to be blasted in the ear after listening to a particularly quiet song with the volume turned up, and then the next song is some modern recording where the dynamics have been compressed and the recording level is up very high. This is particularly a problem when walking around, working out in the gym, or doing other things that require my attention where I just want the player to play without needing attention.
Now I have a Note G2 phone, Android tablets, Windows desktop, Windows laptop, an HTPC, a Sansa Clip+--volume normalizing via replaygain is available for all of them. In fact, it seems hard to find mainstream DAP sources that the feature is not available, either natively or by installing a different media player. Other than my car receiver, every player I have used in the last five years has this feature. Yet "audiophile" products seem to be ignoring what is now a basic feature (e.g. Cowon and Colorfly).
So I thought a poll would be useful to see if I am in the minority or not.
Thoughts? Disagreements? Discussion of replaygain merits or pitfalls?