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detmek · 26th November 2014, 22:25

Quality loss??? I use EBU R128 in foobar to make my music equally loud and it acts as automatic volume knob. How much quality can you loose by using volume knob?

It may reduce dynamic range if your audio file is 16-bit and has more then 86-90dB of dynamic range (like to see one, movie track or song) but human ear usually can't hear more then 35-40dB of dynamic range. And every song I have does not have nowhere near that high dynamic range.

You may change audio in unwanted way if you use plugin that adjusts loudness level by not scanning whole file. That leads to reducing dynamic range and altering loudness of some parts it unwanted or unexpected ways. So, just scan whole file and calculate loudness for it.

BTW, I asked a few months ago if it would be possible to add a feature to video players or audio decoders to read ReplayGain tags and adjust loudness during playback, just like audio players, but I didn't get any answer. That way audio would stay untouched and user can choose to use or not to use ReplayGain during playback. So far I can scan and tag MKV and MP4 containers using foobar2000.

26th November 2014, 22:25	#7 \| Link
detmek Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 463	Quality loss??? I use EBU R128 in foobar to make my music equally loud and it acts as automatic volume knob. How much quality can you loose by using volume knob? It may reduce dynamic range if your audio file is 16-bit and has more then 86-90dB of dynamic range (like to see one, movie track or song) but human ear usually can't hear more then 35-40dB of dynamic range. And every song I have does not have nowhere near that high dynamic range. You may change audio in unwanted way if you use plugin that adjusts loudness level by not scanning whole file. That leads to reducing dynamic range and altering loudness of some parts it unwanted or unexpected ways. So, just scan whole file and calculate loudness for it. BTW, I asked a few months ago if it would be possible to add a feature to video players or audio decoders to read ReplayGain tags and adjust loudness during playback, just like audio players, but I didn't get any answer. That way audio would stay untouched and user can choose to use or not to use ReplayGain during playback. So far I can scan and tag MKV and MP4 containers using foobar2000. Last edited by detmek; 26th November 2014 at 22:29.