[SilverEars]

Hey john, drag the file to a free program called audacity and it will show how compressed the waves are.  There is an option to show clipping and it will show up in red.  Here is one compressed file.
 

 
Comparison to another file
 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Will do... I have and use Audacity.  Thanks!

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Here it is (at least the first part... rest was similar... wow!
 

 
That amp shows everything!
 
Bass distortion starts at 33 sec... just where the amplitude starts pegging all the time!

 

[SilverEars]

  Here it is (at least the first part... rest was similar... wow!
 

 
That amp shows everything!

It would be useful to see how compressed same track looks that is sourced from itunes and another format that is not from itunes.  If itunes has "kind of blue," it would be useful to compare with file from another source.  I'm sure you can do that with your bass pushing files.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Yeah if I can find it... only place I could find that song besides iTunes in what was said to be lossless was a site in China, with Chinese notes.  I'll try to download it.  It is not distorted, so that is why I was wondering if it was an AAC/iTunes encoding thing.

 

[SilverEars]

John, a track sourced from itunes.  

  It sounds like crap.
 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

OK... brushed up on my Chinese sufficiently to log in and got a FLAC version of the file... here they are above one another...
 
FLAC (below)...
 

 
iTunes (below)...
 

 
 
both seem clipped, but a bit of difference. Maybe it IS something in the AAC encoding in addition to clipping.

 

[SilverEars]

Not much difference in compression.  That rules out the itunes for this track.  I found the track on youtube, it says itunes.  

  No distortion here with Anedio D2.  The bass isn't enormous like you'd get with closedbacks, but yeah, no distortion.  To me, the treble sounds a bit harsh with this track.  Either my D2 don't output that much bass or the HD800 is bass shy.  HD800 isn't for bassy music, but bass toned instruments with the right recording it shines.  This is one example of bass the I believe HD800 isn't meant for.
 
 

 

[SilverEars]

You want bass, try Dr. Dre Chronic 2001 

  Best ghetto bass ever!
 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Curiouser and curiouser...
 
When I play the "Throwback" file on my PC with iTunes (routed as before via USB to the HDVD 800 and then the HD 800), I get that distorted sub bass.
 
When I play the same file on my PC with Windows Media, same routing, there is NOT the sub bass distortion.
 
Must be something in the iTunes player on my PC.
 
No distortion on the above YouTube link for "Throwback," either.
 
And no distortion on the next one...Dr. Dre Chronic 2001.
 
Weird!

 

[SilverEars]

I got a copy of 320 of throwback and audacity shows me this.  

  This is the most distortion I've ever seen!!  This is not an itunes file.  John, have you heard of Foobar 2000?  If not, install a copy and see if you hear improvements with it too.  It's used by lots of people here.
 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Wow... why didn't my iTunes look like that in Audacity?  I did Import/Audio (rather than Import/Raw). Where did you get that file (not iTunes, was it?)
 
But I FOUND THE PROBLEM...
 
Unbeknownst to me, my iTunes had its EQ turned on, with a +12 dB boost on 32 Hz band and +6 dB boost on the 64 Hz band.
 
Turned off the equalizer... everything is OK now!

 

[62ohm]

Can someone give me a brief explanation on how to read the Audacity waveform graphs and what to look for?

 

[62ohm]

Well even though I'm still trying to get a grasp on waveform graphs, I guess now I finally figured out why I'm getting headaches when listening to 'We Are Not An Island' album by Vib Gyor.
 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

  Can someone give me a brief explanation on how to read the Audacity waveform graphs and what to look for?

At the point when a file in Audacity reaches saturation (often detected by several samples in a row being at the same highest or lowest number that Audacity allows), Audacity draws a vertical red line at that point in the waveform.
 
If the file saturates a lot, Audacity draws a lot of red lines.  If it is almost always saturated, the red lines run together into a red band.  The example in the previous post shows that.
 
Saturated waveforms sound distorted.
 
Another thing folks look for is volume compression. In this case, the "envelope" of the waveform is all about the same level (same width of blue band) even if not saturated.