[HPiper]

I was and still am using Foobar2000 but I bought Jriver and am slowly moving over to it as I learn how to use it properly with my dac and stuff. I especially like the fact that it has a bit-perfect cd ripper built in.

 

[PotatoEars]

I use Foobar with WASAPI or Winamp.

 

[RonaldDumsfeld]

Are you saying that that the VLC player slightly compresses the dynamic range sometimes?

 
Not sure yet if it's a hard limiter or a soft compressor. I only just noticed the phenomena since you pointed it out. Anyway it's all theorycrafting until we check what you are doing in detail.
 
Start VLC and look at the volume slider in the bottom right corner. It will go up to a max setting of 125% (200% on older versions). For music playback you want to set it to no more than 100% and leave it there.
 
The quality of audio engineering is generally much better on film and video than music. It doesn't have the same DRC in an attempt to be louder, or rather as loud, as the competition. Dialogue on film might be recorded 20dB down. So punters might find that quiet passages are inaudible whilst the opening credits and adverts are too loud. So they give you the option of boosting the low levels (125%) whilst preventing the high levels from creating distortion (<100%). 
 
That's not useful with compressed pure audio because every tune you play will be at max. So set the slider to 100% and leave it there. 

 

[bbmiller]

 

Are you saying that that the VLC player slightly compresses the dynamic range sometimes?

 
Not sure yet if it's a hard limiter or a soft compressor. I only just noticed the phenomena since you pointed it out. Anyway it's all theorycrafting until we check what you are doing in detail.
 
Start VLC and look at the volume slider in the bottom right corner. It will go up to a max setting of 125% (200% on older versions). For music playback you want to set it to no more than 100% and leave it there.
 
The quality of audio engineering is generally much better on film and video than music. It doesn't have the same DRC in an attempt to be louder, or rather as loud, as the competition. Dialogue on film might be recorded 20dB down. So punters might find that quiet passages are inaudible whilst the opening credits and adverts are too loud. So they give you the option of boosting the low levels (125%) whilst preventing the high levels from creating distortion (<100%). 
 
That's not useful with compressed pure audio because every tune you play will be at max. So set the slider to 100% and leave it there. 

OK I’ll have to give that 100% to try. I’ve been using 200% and updating my version too, so for some reason my version goes up to 200%. The 10 o’clock position on my found in control was all that was needed with the 200% setting so I thought I was getting more headroom and thus better audio. And the audio has sound fantastic on the mostly music videos I’ve been playing.

 

[jiiteepee]

  OK I’ll have to give that 100% to try. I’ve been using 200% and updating my version too, so for some reason my version goes up to 200%. The 10 o’clock position on my found in control was all that was needed with the 200% setting so I thought I was getting more headroom and thus better audio. And the audio has sound fantastic on the mostly music videos I’ve been playing.

 
It's always best to make the volume boosting in analog domain (94%-100% output from digital source gives you max resolution).

 

[jiiteepee]

For music,
I'm still using the NI Traktor Beatport SYNC from '07.
 

(minimized)
 
and for videos, mostly WMP (occasionally VLC for formats not supported by WMP).

 

[RonaldDumsfeld]

^^ Beatport Sync.
 
I've still got a copy of that. Brilliant isn't it? Hours of fun. Shame they stopped giving it away.
 
If you like it and don't mind spending money on software the full version of Traktor is only ~$100.
 
I got a full copy almost by accident when I bought an NI Audio 2 (~$100) for my portable. They give out vouchers now if you buy any of their hardware rather than a free copy. Much more powerful and almost as easy to use.
 
Don't use it as a media player for regular rock and acoustic music but for House (EDM) it's tremendously useful.

 

[bigshot]

So I don’t know if it’s something psychological and worth another listen, but what do you think

Unless you're pegging up to 90% of your amp's maximum or more, I don't think it would make any difference. Best to just take line level out of the player and let the amp do the rest.