CommanderROR wrote: 
> @mynb
> 
> Now you've got me curious... What is this 5 db reduction, and where can
> I turn it off? I always have the problem, that apps like Deezer seem to
> be quieter than webradio streams, but that probably has nothing to do
> with this... 
> I'd also be very interested in a scientific comparison btw, I even
> started a thread in the "Music" subforum, but didn't get far. Doing an
> audio-diff and listening to the resulting diff file could be a start.
> Sadly I failed at that... Maybe somebody else could manage it? 
> With Wimp it is actually very plausible to hear the differences from mp3
> to FLAC sincw they ise 256kbit mp3 on Squeezebox with a pretty loe
> cutoff frequency. Spotify Ogg should be a lot closer to lossless, same
> as Wimp AAC. In the end it also comes down to the encoding
> parameters...and the way they affect a certain piece of music.

It's in the player setting for each player " default adjustments for
remote streams " in 99% of the cases you have the opposite problem web
radio is typically very loud compared to local files .

And also LMS respects replay gain tags in remote content if it's present
! This default -5 volume is used if this is not known .
So if you comparing turn of the replay gain in the player settings even
if you not tag your own files with this .

Another thing to try when removing variables is to force server decoding
of lossy formats , as I said before in some rare cases the mp3 decoder
in the squeezebox is not perfect it has some compromises it is audiable
on some rare tracks ?
No one have reported similar findings for ogg or acc ,but if the decoder
ideally wants floating point math they too would be "compromised" agian
only heard of it on mp3 maybe the ogg and acc decoder is good enough and
afiak if you are using LMS the majority of us have the server decoding
acc  already ! Because the acc decoder in Touch and Radio are buggy and
don't accept all sample rates and if you have a SB3 or transporter they
don't do acc at all . So,the LMS default is server decoding for acc
unless you use a very weak server or no server ( mysqueezebox.com )

And being slightly pessimistic what's in it for the streaming services
to improve their lossy services sound quality ? When they can sell that
to the listener who cares for 100% more $$$ .
The lossy stream users won't care and there would be no discernible
difference to sell for a premium anymore . But getting even more
pessimistic :) it would work just fine selling the premium stuff even if
there where no difference as the audiophile quite happily spin thier own
illusions. But it would not be worth the effort to improve the lossy
streams as these uses won't care anyway .

I think you have a hard time to nail differences even using audio
diffmaker , you must choose music where you can be sure that there is
not an abundance of different masters going around or actually get good
intel on what the service is sending you ? And there could be a volume
difference it would show up as a fairly large difference signal .

I'm not a huge classical listener but I can imagine that altering volume
on these works is a no no as they go together in a complete concerto or
opera or symphony , track gain on a movement in a symphony would be a
disaster :/ adjusting the volume of the whole work maybe beneficial for
many listeners , but again make it hard for you to compare them .

I can imagine older digitalisation of some pieces actually not using all
16 bits and just normalising them to use the msb would be at thing they
would do routinely .

I can actually imagine a streaming service normalise everything as even
the majority of classical listeners are not audiophiles and they just be
wondering why they have to change the volume all the time and complain
about that .

I just assume that a streaming service gets more complains if the volume
varies . So being true the source material migth not be thier best
interest as they actually gets less consumer satisfaction .

This is also the basis for the loudness war , the general publics lack
of understanding levels .

Levels is a hard to grasp topic for many listeners , on this forum you
routinely get queries about source compliments having different volume
and how to "fix" this or even worse that the squeezebox is not loud
enough ! :P meaning you actually have utilise the volume knob ! It
usually never over 50% anyway saying something about that hardware
manufacturers given up already , the consumer thinks the product is
powerful if it's loud at even the slightest touch on the volume knob .
Just like the old spinal tap joke in the old LMS web-UI where volume
could go to "11" .

( if you not familiar with this mocumentary comedy one guitar player has
an amp going to 11 while his friends amp only goes to 10 :D )

All this would be a no problem ( and the loudness war too ) if replay
gain tags where universally employed and used properly John Doe would
not notice the audiophile could turn it of everyone would be happy



--------------------------------------------------------------------
Main hifi: Touch + CIA PS +MeridianG68J MeridianHD621 MeridianG98DH 2 x
MeridianDSP5200 MeridianDSP5200HC 2 xMeridianDSP3100 +Rel Stadium 3
sub.
Bedroom/Office: Boom
Kitchen: Touch + powered Fostex PM0.4
Misc use: Radio (with battery)
iPad1 with iPengHD & SqueezePad
(in storage SB3, reciever ,controller )
server HP proliant micro server N36L with ClearOS Linux

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
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