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Topic: [TOS #14] From: Does Normalization decrease the sound quality of an au (Read 1286 times) previous topic - next topic
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[TOS #14] From: Does Normalization decrease the sound quality of an au

Any DSP (digital sound processing) degrades sound. This is exactly what the OP experiences. Of course, there are some ways to minimize degradation in a way that it becomes unauditable:
  • Perform DSP at least at 32 bits. As far as I know contemporary studio software uses 64 bits.
  • Use high quality dithering and noise shaping algorithms to finally reduce the bit depth to the one required by your D/A converter (usually 16 or 24 bits, 24 bits preferred).
Because I had the same experience as the OP (I think build-in DSP is mostly done at 16 bits) I started to develop my own input plug-in for Winamp based on high quality (i.e. low noise) 32 bit DSP algorithms offered by the SoX library (http://sox.sourceforge.net/):

Home: http://sourceforge.net/projects/in-ffsox/
Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/in-ffsox/files/

Cf. also a more in depth explanation I’ve just posted in another thread: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....mp;#entry712821

For "normalization" you should use replay gain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_Gain) giving you the opportunity to define the preferred volume at runtime via preamp setting.