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[dallasgt]

Many rips ago I inadvertently switched encoding formats from flac to ape.  I have read that ape is a "lossless" format, as is flac, so I thought that conversion of the ape files to flac, my desired file type, would be a relatively simple fix.  Having done several samples and in comparing the original ape rips to the flac conversions, I easily notice an 8-9 db (measured) increase in volume.  I am not sure what is happening, but am concerned with this obvious change in sound.

To use another approach to confirm what was happening, I ripped an album to flac and compared that rip to the same album I had converted from ape to flac.  Same result--the converted file was 8-9 db louder than the rip to flac.

I would appreciate someone shedding some light on what is happening and how to prevent it.  The quality of the converted file does not seem to be affected except for level.

Thanks,
dallasgt

[glynor]

I do not believe this would normally be the case.

I wonder if, when you inadvertently switched to APE, you also inadvertently got the Normalize to 95% before encoding option enabled.  That would explain it.  Then, the original APE rips themselves would contain the higher gain levels.

If so, the only reasonable way to "fix it" would be to re-rip them.  I think, but I'm not sure as I've never enabled or tested that option, that it does not compress dynamic range (it is just "sliding them higher" in the dynamic range scale to "use up" empty space).  However, I don't know if it would be a fixed amount per-disc (so keeping the dynamic range consistent between tracks on a particular disc), or if it is per track.  If it is consistent within a disc (preserving inter-track range) then you could just ignore it, but I don't know that answer.

In any case, to fix it you'd have to know what precise adjustment it did to reverse it, and it would be way easier to re-rip the discs.

[rjm]

Might be a dumb suggestion but I would turn off Volume Leveling and then redo the tests.