Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Xeltos]

I recently bought JRiver after using AIMP for such a long time. (JRiver sounds so much better and i love all the options it provides!)
But anyway i also recently bought the Audioengine D1 DAC to go with my A5+ and i switched to JRiver to get the best sound but i noticed alot of my songs have a constant peak level of 100%. That being said does clip protection prevent this from damaging my speakers? should i use volume leveling or adaptive volume?
(I find with either of these enabled i lose..I'm not sure of the word for it but it doesn't sound as dynamic or crisp? like it's being drowned i guess would be the word for it.)

Just worried that if i keep playing my songs like this that it will cause damage, i find some songs have crackles at certain frequencies.
But honestly i've never had a DAC/good set of speakers to the point that i would hear it.

[Awesome Donkey]

I use both Volume Leveling and Adaptive Volume as they both work hand-in-hand, especially if you use Peak Level Normalize.

[Xeltos]

Hmm maybe it's just in my head but i feel like having these enabled makes songs not sound as punchy.
I know the intended job of these is to do what i'm asking about but will clipping protection handle any damage to my speakers if i don't enable them.  ?

[bryant berry]

i use the volume level and adaptive vol and room  correct at 40.because it keeps levels close to equal ....i tried  without.....levels get  too loud  etc...plus  i  use  shuffle all   songs....to   keep  it   fresh....i  do   like  without  presets....most  levels are  100....seems   mp3  and  lower  are  softer  than  my  new  flac files....

[blgentry]

You're asking 2 or 3 different things.

First, where do you see, "100% peak level" ?  If you see this in the lower left of the DSP Studio, while you are playing songs, that might indicate that you are digitally clipping. Clip protection will help make this less obvious, but it won't fix severe clipping and it's not a good idea to rely upon it.  You should NOT be getting digital clipping unless you are using EQ with boost.  Do you have Parametric or Graphic EQ enabled with some frequencies boosted?   If so you should also engage a volume reduction to prevent digital clipping.

Next, about damaging your speakers:  MC hitting 100% won't make your speakers get damaged.  Too much power over time will kill your speakers.  Analog clipping, inside your amplifier will kill your tweeters.  I think that A5+ have internal amps and I'm not sure if they have clip protection or if they are just like any other amp and will gladly fry your speakers.

Crackling sounds are almost never a good thing.  Generally speaking that means that something in the signal chain is being overloaded.  It might be MC making really hard digital clipping.  It might be your amp(s) clipping.  It might be the speakers telling you that they are very unhappy.  It could be on the recording (unlikely).  My bet is you are using boost eq and you are hearing digital clipping.  Just a guess.

Finally, the "my songs aren't punchy" when using volume reduction:  When ever you reduce the volume, things sound less "fun, alive, involving, punchy, detailed" etc.  Just turn up your analog volume control to compensate.  I mean the volume control on your amp (which again, might be built in to the speakers in this case; I can't remember).

Brian.

[Xeltos]

Yeah in DSP.
I don't use EQ or anything.
The crackling isn't loud or anything it's just very subtle i guess sometimes.
It's more like a brief crack not constant.
It also does this no matter the volume on my AE D1 Dac or Speakers.
Could it be USB issues?
Would just adaptive volume be sufficient?

EDIT:
Actually i think the crack is like a brief stutter.
It just happens randomly.

[blgentry]

Yeah in DSP.
I don't use EQ or anything.
The crackling isn't loud or anything it's just very subtle i guess sometimes.
It's more like a brief crack not constant.
It also does this no matter the volume on my AE D1 Dac or Speakers.
Could it be USB issues?

Maybe.  Hard to say.

Would just adaptive volume be sufficient?

It depends on what you want to do.  Do you want to do volume leveling across your songs so that they have similar average volume levels?  If so, Volume Leveling is the right setting.  Adaptive volume, in "peak level normalize" mode will bring back some of the lost volume from Volume Leveling.  Adaptive Volume, in Peak Level Normalize mode, all by itself, doesn't seem useful to me.

EDIT:
Actually i think the crack is like a brief stutter.
It just happens randomly.

Sounds like maybe you have either very slow hardware, a flaky connection of some sort, or buffering issues.  Perhaps you could work through the Audio Troubleshooting from the Wiki and see if that helps you.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Troubleshooting_Guide

Good luck.

Brian.

[Xeltos]

Well with adaptive volume it lowers the peak levels to what seems to be normal instead of 100% at those points. (instead of 100% it's usually around 75-85%)

[blgentry]

^ That doesn't sound right to me.  What mode are you using with Adaptive Volume?

Brian.

[Xeltos]

Peak Level Normalize
I agree it doesn't seem right but it does lol

[blgentry]

I just tried it and you are correct:  Adaptive Volume by itself does a small volume reduction.  Not sure why, and not sure I really care either.    If it works for you, more power to you.

Brian.

[Xeltos]

Thanks for the help