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[jack wallstreet]

This is probably obvious to audio experts, but I am just finding it out and wonder if there is a solution.  I use MC to volume level and it doesn't work as well as I would like on many playlists.  I think I have found the issue: differences in the level of music compression (maximization).  I am assuming the leveling works but with a high degree of compression and maximizing, a track just "sounds" louder.  Do I have this correct? Is there any practical solution when playlists have files with significantly different levels of music compression (usually compressed and then normalized just below peak).

[blgentry]

Make sure volume leveling is actually being applied.  Turn it off and back on and make sure you hear the difference.  This is especially applicable to DLNA players since you do not apply the volume leveling in the standard DSP Studio interface for network based players.

I spend quite a bit of extra time finding releases of the albums that I like with the least dynamic range compression (and thus the most dynamic range).  To help me find the proper release, I use the dynamic range database.

https://dr.loudness-war.info

Generally speaking, the older the release, the better.  Most remasters and other re-releases have less dynamic range.

Brian.

[Vocalpoint]

I use MC to volume level and it doesn't work as well as I would like on many playlists.  I think I have found the issue: differences in the level of music compression (maximization). 

Brian nailed it. If you have a playlist with tracks from 2021 and 1987 - no amount of volume levelling will smooth that away for you. MC does a decent job - but most if not all of anything released in the last 15 years simply has no dynamic range left in it - so volume leveling simply drops the level and that's it. But you are correct - simply dropping the volume of a track from -11db to -15db will not necessarily make a transition smoother. Some tracks just sound "loud" regardless of where the volume knob is.

I am a huge fan of levelling but when I build my Smartlists - I pay specific attention to the decade and physical makeup (the actual DR levels) of all tracks in the library and make sure that there are not too many crazy swings in a typical playlist where I go from a track from a 1984 first pressing rip of Dire Straits first album to latest Red Hot Chili Peppers single. It's simply not possible to make that sound good.

Cheers

VP