Skip to main content

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality? (Read 5283 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

So, I'm not using ReplayGain because I have heard rumours that it would cause degradation in sound quality. Perhaps this is just another urban legend but I'd like to know for sure 

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #1
It IS an urban legend. Go in peace.

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #2
Not more than the Volume Control.
The problem with digital volume control is, that it reduces the amount of information in the audio data.

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #3
That's what I've meant to ask for a while: how bad is software volume management?

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #4
Without top notch equipment you won't ever hear a thing.

Try it yourself. Adjust the software volume to 10% and your amplifier to match the old sound volume.

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #5
Are all these statements true?

-Replaygain scanning does not affect the mp3 audio data, just the meta data.
-Applying replaygain to mp3 data changes to the mp3 audio data.
-The former and the latter result in the same data being sent to the DAC.
-Using replaygain reduces the dynamic range of the audio (in cases where the gain is reduced).
-Other statements I can't make without an ABX test.

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #6
3)  is off, since you can't adjust mp3s as finely as you can adjust via metadata.

4)  Depends on the system.  Use 24 bit output, and you're not losing anything (for CD audio anyway).

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #7
4 is dubious anyway. If ReplayGain is dramatically reducing the volume, the chances are that the recording didn't have much real dynamic range to start with!

Not always true, but often.

Cheers,
David.

 

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #8
What about MP3Gain?

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #9
MP3Gain has two modes, as does Foobar 2000.

Mode 1 is via tags. On a non-supporting player, the MP3 playback is at the original loudness. On a supporting player it's adjusted accurately.

Mode 2 is by modifying the global gain factor in each frame of the MP3 file (which changes volume in 1.505 dB steps, giving ±0.7503 dB accuracy). Mode 2 also adds a tag that corresponds to the modified file, so players that support Replay Gain can:
a) still choose either Track or Album Gain mode
b) make the fine adjustment to the accurate Gain value, even though 0.75 dB is hardly perceptible. (In this way identical output to Mode 1 can be achieved, because no data was discarded from the MP3 file)
c) apply clipping prevention if desired

Non Replay Gain aware players will just output at the volume chosen when the adjustment was applied (i.e. Track or Album was chosen when it was applied, possibly with clipping prevention enabled also).

In practice, any quality reduction is almost certainly inaudible. 16-bit CD audio with flat dither and no fancy tricks has about -120 dB noise floor per frequency bin, giving roughly 120 dB of audible dynamic range. Often 96 dB is quoted for dynamic range, but this is actually the Signal to Noise Ratio, which is different because it applies to the whole bandwidth, not to each frequency bin. The ear effectively divides sound up into frequency bins and is comparable to a 1024-point FFT Power Spectrum (512 bins).

A professional 18 inch chainsaw is about 113 dB above the threshold of hearing at full revs without ear defenders. You'd have to play your music roughly that loud to notice the increased noise floor of applying about 7 dB replaygain on a 16-bit playback system.

That's why even 14-bit would have been quite adequate for CD digital audio.

In short, while it's obvious that some elements of the electrical signal will sink into the noise floor if you have 16-bit playback, and that freaks people out, none of the audible sound will suffer this fate and it's no worse than turning down the volume to get the track to a comfortable level.

It may actually improve the sound for anyone whose amplifier or DAC is non-linear or otherwise misbehaves at close-to-full-scale, though such problems are rare these days.
Dynamic – the artist formerly known as DickD

Does ReplayGain degrade sound quality?

Reply #10
Well, no question left after that answer... Thank YOU!