[gdg]

My portable rig consists of a 5g Ipod/ALO Cryodock/Hornet(m) in a gigabag. This setup is nice and compact but I find it a little tricky to reach in with 2 fingers and adjust the volume on the Hornet. Since the level of CDs varies significantly I find myself continously needing to adjust the volume to get a satisfying level which is not to loud. For that reason the soundcheck feature of the Ipod is appealing. I can set the volume once and don't have to keep making adjustments. ? I suspect the stock variable out on the Ipod utilizes digital volume control and clearly one can get away with some without paying a sonic price. My instinct is that the small amount of digital attenuation/gain that might be applied to equilize all the CDs is probably relatively benign but of course I could be wrong. Any opinions on the sonic impact or issues I should be aware of?

Ps I'm going for max sound quality. (full rez files)

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdg My portable rig consists of a 5g Ipod/ALO Cryodock/Hornet(m) in a gigabag. This setup is nice and compact but I find it a little tricky to reach in with 2 fingers and adjust the volume on the Hornet. Since the level of CDs varies significantly I find myself continously needing to adjust the volume to get a satisfying level which is not to loud. For that reason the soundcheck feature of the Ipod is appealing. I can set the volume once and don't have to keep making adjustments. ? I suspect the stock variable out on the Ipod utilizes digital volume control and clearly one can get away with some without paying a sonic price. My instinct is that the small amount of digital attenuation/gain that might be applied to equilize all the CDs is probably relatively benign but of course I could be wrong. Any opinions on the sonic impact or issues I should be aware of? Ps I'm going for max sound quality. (full rez files)

I can only suggest you try it and find out if you like it.

I just tried it with my 4G iPod > ALO Cotton Dock > "M" Hornet > DT880 2005 and PXC300. With just a few brief tests, some passages are hard to tell apart (between Soundcheck On/Off), other passages sound a bit nasal or veiled with SC On. Overall, though, especially with music that has wide dynamic range, the compressed dynamics make my skin crawl after a while. Hard to explain why, but I find it irritating and kind of creepy on some music. One example: Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" which is a light-spirited Opera/Operetta with a huge orchestral sound, big soundstage, extreme dynamics... and it just sounds/feels odd with SC On. Some voices are pushed way back and muted, and often the sound has the "air" squeezed out of it. (No point trying to get scientific when it's about whether or not it sounds good.)

One thing to remember, though, is that listening in noisier environments will level the playing field somewhat. You might find the sound acceptable when there's a lot of background noise, and you won't have to "ride gain" with the Hornet's tiny/resistant volume knob. The stiff action is great to prevent accidental volume changes in transit, but it's a bit challenging as you noted.

Experiment and let us know your findings.

 

[Febs]

I'm not that familiar with this feature, but I was under the impression that it operated similarly to replaygain, which simply scales volume. Does sound check really compress dynamic range?

 

[gdg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs I'm not that familiar with this feature, but I was under the impression that it operated similarly to replaygain, which simply scales volume. Does sound check really compress dynamic range?

It is indeed just supposed to "scale the volume" and that's how Ipod literature describes it:

Setting Songs to Play at the Same Volume Level
iTunes can automatically adjust the volume of songs, so they play at the same relative volume level. You can set iPod to use the iTunes volume settings.

I would be very annoyed if compression was used because that's a very different process and should be described as such.

 

[Bob_McBob]

It's crap. Use mp3gain

 

[lolos]

I have tried MP3Gain some while ago and it was pretty decent. Plus, it is free

Here is the link.

It has excellent reviews and recommended by many.

Here is a quote from their website: Quote:

MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear. Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding.

 

[gdg]

Problem is that I don't use the MP3 format. Never have, never will. Let me put that another way...
Never ever have, never never never never ever will.
I'm not sure how you can talk about the audio quality of the Ipod "soundcheck" feature being crap and use the words MP3 in the same breath. (note I was inquiring about audio quality, not over functionality)

 

[vapman]

I never use sound check. It eats up the battery and nothing is worse than listening to DSotM with gaps and varying sound levels. I should check out MP3Gain though.

 

[Bob_McBob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdg I'm not sure how you can talk about the audio quality of the Ipod "soundcheck" feature being crap and use the words MP3 in the same breath.

Have fun with soundcheck

 

[lolos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdg Problem is that I don't use the MP3 format. Never have, never will. Let me put that another way... Never ever have, never never never never ever will. I'm not sure how you can talk about the audio quality of the Ipod "soundcheck" feature being crap and use the words MP3 in the same breath. (note I was inquiring about audio quality, not over functionality)

What fromat do you use?

 

[gdg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lolos What fromat do you use?

Oh,oh ...
I'm not sure I should answer because a previous thread got a little heated on this topic (I wasn't happy with ALAC or at least how the Ipod handled it). Currently I'm playing it safe with full rez WAV, but there seems to be buffer issues with the Ipod (a slight pause about 3 seconds after the song starts) so I going to experiment with AIFF and see if that solves the problem.

Gerry

 

[threEchelon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdg Oh,oh ... I'm not sure I should answer because a previous thread got a little heated on this topic (I wasn't happy with ALAC or at least how the Ipod handled it). Currently I'm playing it safe with full rez WAV, but there seems to be buffer issues with the Ipod (a slight pause about 3 seconds after the song starts) so I going to experiment with AIFF and see if that solves the problem. Gerry

I have that same issue when I use ALAC with mine; sometimes the entire song is skipped when the pause occurs. I'm wondering if this is limited to 3rd. gen. ipods. Which generation is yours?

 

[lolos]

Hi Gerry,

LOL, yep I just noticed the other thread.

Could you please report back your findings here? Thanks! It is helpful and interesting.

 

[gdg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threEchelon I have that same issue when I use ALAC with mine; sometimes the entire song is skipped when the pause occurs. I'm wondering if this is limited to 3rd. gen. ipods. Which generation is yours?

Mine's a 5th gen but I should clarify that was not the problem with ALAC. It only occurs when I use full sized WAV files.

 

[gdg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lolos Hi Gerry, LOL, yep I just noticed the other thread. Could you please report back your findings here? Thanks! It is helpful and interesting.

Well, the feature seems to actually work fine. When I use it I definitely don't need to ride my volume control. I havn't ABed the audio quality and that would be problematic since volume changes are percieved as increases or decreases in quality anyway. I was mainly curious about whether there were technical issues I should be wary of. For example if digital gain was applied to equilize volume that could be a bad thing if it wasn't implemented properly ie could result in an over modulated situation and digital clipping. Don't get me wrong, I havn't experienced this, I'm just wary.