[Tarkovsky]

I've been experimenting with VLC, somehow it seems that there is more 'punch' to anything I put out through VLC as opposed to itunes and I was wondering what general opinion on this is.
I run an optical cable out the back of my imac to my azur 540r which does the decoding.
I have a number of theories as to why this could be:
-VLC is upsampling
-Itunes is applying filters even without the equalizer, volume leveling or that sound enhancer BS
-or VLC is doing something similar that i've yet to turn off
-I'm imagining things

VLC also has an encoded output function which you have to use if you want proper multichannel. Does anyone know whether this will make a difference on music?
Does anyone know of anyway to use a library with VLC?
Cheers

 

[patgod]

I've been wondering the same things myself.

Played around with VLC doing some testing b/w iTunes and VLC and had a hard time getting settings right on VLC to get output to sound right. I was easily getting distortion on files. The volume settings seem extremely "hot" (you can set volume far above 100%?).

While seemingly powerful, VLC's settings are many and confusing.

Is there a guide online somewhere (a dummy's guide of sorts w/ step by step) for properly setting up vlc to output? (usb, m-audio transport, in my case).

 

[`danny]

I was wondering the same thing, I always thought when I played music through VLC it didn't sound as good. It was louder but that was about it

 

[poo]

The Benchmark guide is the best I've found so far, and the recommend that VLC is one of the better (if not best) for audio quality.

Setup for individual apps and OS are towards the bottom of this page:

Computer Audio Playback - Setup Guide - Benchmark

 

[maarek99]

VLC is actually 100% when you set it to 50% of it's volume slider. When you go over huge clipping will occur. This when playing videos that is, never used it as a music player.

 

[krmathis]

Interesting.
I should probably give VLC a try as audio player. In case it makes a noticeable difference

 

[Tarkovsky]

You can change the overcooked volume in it's preferences if you hti advanced.
Whenever listening to my morning's Jethro Tull somehow VLC seems to do it better...

 

[Tarkovsky]

If you go to the audio codecs class and have a look at the options with advanced you can turn off dynamic compresion and turn on upsampling for some codes.
As a note if you're using a mac you have to use VLC to get DTS or dolby digital.

 

[s4nder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poo /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Benchmark guide is the best I've found so far, and the recommend that VLC is one of the better (if not best) for audio quality. Setup for individual apps and OS are towards the bottom of this page: Computer Audio Playback - Setup Guide - Benchmark

Weird, this guide insisted that all digital volume controls be kept at maximum levels. I've read on this forum and elsewhere that without an external DAC (and thus putting out an analog signal) it's best to keep the master volume control in Windows at around 75%, go higher than that and clipping is said to occur.

The result - confusion

 

[The Actual]

That's interesting that 50% is really 100%. The biggest difference I notice between VLC and Windows Media Player is just volume.


Off topic, but I pretty much only use for m4a files friends email me to check out. Anyone know how to easily convert these into Windows Media Player compatible files?

 

[poo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by s4nder /img/forum/go_quote.gif Weird, this guide insisted that all digital volume controls be kept at maximum levels. I've read on this forum and elsewhere that without an external DAC (and thus putting out an analog signal) it's best to keep the master volume control in Windows at around 75%, go higher than that and clipping is said to occur. The result - confusion

Yeah I know what you mean. I had read in the past (years ago) that the higher you increase the volume in such applications, the more the audio was distorted. Doesn't seem to be the case - if anything the opposite is true (perhaps with the exception of VLC it seems).

 

[Tarkovsky]

That article seems to hint at itunes not being bit transparent. If we buy hardware that upsamples, why don't we want our software too though?

 

[`danny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Actual /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's interesting that 50% is really 100%. The biggest difference I notice between VLC and Windows Media Player is just volume. Off topic, but I pretty much only use for m4a files friends email me to check out. Anyone know how to easily convert these into Windows Media Player compatible files?

try dbpoweramp and install the wma & apple codecs

 

[poo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarkovsky /img/forum/go_quote.gif That article seems to hint at itunes not being bit transparent.

iTunes can be bit perfect, so long as you have it setup correctly (explained in the same article).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarkovsky /img/forum/go_quote.gif If we buy hardware that upsamples, why don't we want our software too though?

Not sure exactly what you are asking here. You wouldn't want or need both your software and hardware to upsample - just one or the other (if either). My understanding is that if you have hardware that can upsample it will generally do a better job of it than software. I am not advising this from experience, just what I have read.

Some suggest that upsampling is not benificial (or is actually detrimental), and you are better to have the same rate right through the chain ("if it isn't there to begin with you can't make it appear" seems to be the basic argument here). I don't have enough experience to comment either way.

 

[Tarkovsky]

I thought upsampling helped with jitter... and I had also read that software upsampling was better than hardware as it was even less prone to jitter. I have the link article saved on my laptop, so I'll upload it tomorrow.