On Fri, 2005-12-09 at 02:46 -0800, Andrew B. wrote: > It seems to be reducing the sound quality rather than just > the volume. Is that correct?
Its not supposed to. But with a hardcore audiophile setup, it might. We've had occasional discussions of redithering algorithms. I have not kept up with where the current firmware implementation. So dither could be a problem if you are reducing the volume by something other than a full bit of PCM data (6.02 dB) And of course any reduction in volume/amplitude hurts signal to noise ratio. Fundamentally, the noise doesn't change, so when you cut the signal, the ratio gets worse. That said, I think these two effects are usually minor to inaudible. The human ear is very sensitive to perceived loudness. And with near certainty, humans select the louder music as "better reproduction" Additionally, for most people, the 'realism' sense is not linear. Music has to be as loud as your experiences expect. I find this most obvious in small groups of unamplified instruments and voices. Obvious examples being chamber music, bluegrass and jazz trios. For me, they have to be as loud as they are in person, and then it snaps into being real sounding. At lower levels, it sounds like a good recording, but not like a real performance. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
