[karljs]

First, the reason I have been curious about this: I have mp3s on my ipod which I just recently "normalized" using mp3gain because I really like having a somewhat consistent volume.  I realized today that some of my classical pieces, particular choral/opera pieces, were replaygained LOUDER, up to the 89db reference, and that this introduced clipping in some of the peaks in the vocals which is painful to hear.  BZZZZZZZZZZTTT!
 
Is this common?  I often let my jukebox software handle replaygain on my (stationary) FLAC library but always assumed any clipping was from a poor mastering job.  Is there a way to only allow replay-gain to lower volume, or do I need to just give up on having consistency?

 

[salannelson]

Do you use iTunes with your iPod? Or is it rockboxed? If you use iTunes, you can use this...

It sounds like a dynamic range problem to me though.

 

[karljs]

I've seen sound check before but have always read that replay-gain uses a more advanced (better?) algorithm for finding the perceived loudness.  I'll certainly give it a fair shake, although I tend to like album-based volume adjustment instead of track-based so I am not optimistic.
 
On the other hand, I think I'm going to strip my FLAC replay-gain adjustments altogether since it's easy to adjust the volume once in a while when I'm sitting still.

 

[salannelson]

Hmm, it certainly works for me, but it's your call. For some reason I thought that it adjusted the volume across the entire library, but iTunes isn't so great at telling you about it's features so I wouldn't know. There is not one paragraph of info about Apple Lossless on their website. They merely mention it.
 
EDIT: I just remembered that there is an independent "Sound Check" feature on the iPod