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More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: nickharambee on July 31, 2003, 08:53:02 am

Title: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: nickharambee on July 31, 2003, 08:53:02 am
is replay gain lossless?  i have heard that it does weird things to files.  I do not want to lose any sound quality as i am archiving all my music using MC9, and want to be able to put together compilation cds, etc.

also, will replay gain settings be applied to tracks when burning onto a cd, or is it only for playback using MC9?

thanks,  nick.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: Matt on July 31, 2003, 08:58:33 am
Replay Gain is applied at playback / burn time so it doesn't alter the actual files on your hard drive in any way.

And since MC uses a 32-bit audio pipeline you'll get the best possible quality when using Replay Gain or any other DSP.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: gkerber on July 31, 2003, 09:04:13 am
Matt, when burning there is a check box to turn on Crossfade/DSP.  Is it Crossfade AND whatever DSP settings are turned on?

I would like to burn with Reply Gain, but I want no crossfading done.

How does it all work out with the box checked?
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: Matt on July 31, 2003, 09:17:16 am
Just pick what you want in the burn dialog.  The settings are separate from the playback settings.

That check box just means: "allow cool stuff if I turn it on"  So, turn on what you want and leave the rest off.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: nickharambee on July 31, 2003, 09:20:13 am
thanks matt,

i don't understand what 32 bit is, except that my sound card is 18 bit i think and i've heard that 24 bit is the sound card to go for.  what are bits??  hey, hey.

up until my recent purchase of a laptop i have been copying cds using a dedictated audio cd recorder and manually altering the digital recording level when putting together compilation cds. as i understand it, there is no loss in quality using this process, and i wonder whether reply gain will perform a similar function, as i'd like to move away from the audio cd recorder to using MC9 with my laptop, for all the advantages this will bring.  but i'll only do so if i won't be losing out on sound quality, cos this is the most important factor for me.  

nick.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: gkerber on July 31, 2003, 09:33:06 am
Quote
Just pick what you want in the burn dialog.  The settings are separate from the playback settings.

That check box just means: "allow cool stuff if I turn it on"  So, turn on what you want and leave the rest off.


Okay, I think I found it all.  I went to options->settings->settings  from the burn screen and found a place to check "Apply CrossFade and DSP effects".  So I choose gapless and set ReplyGain as the only DSP function and then check the box and then click Okay.

However, sometimes the check box in the burn screen gets checked and sometimes it doesn't.  So there is really no way for a user to know if the effects will be applied or not, when setting things via options->settings from the burn screen.

I guess once it's set it can be turned on/off from the burn screen.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: Matt on July 31, 2003, 10:26:06 am
Quote
up until my recent purchase of a laptop i have been copying cds using a dedictated audio cd recorder and manually altering the digital recording level when putting together compilation cds. as i understand it, there is no loss in quality using this process, and i wonder whether reply gain will perform a similar function


Ripping with MC gives a perfect copy.

Using replay gain or other DSP's while burning changes the output.  The original files remain untouched.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: jam on July 31, 2003, 12:15:31 pm
BTW, MC9 DSP replay gain is really working perfectly?  I heard strange sound when I use MC9 replay gain although WMP9 volume works perfect.  I'm using wave out with Digi96/8 PST.  I was thinking the MC9 replay gain mechanism is using not straight gain curve or something.  It sounds really strange...
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: nickharambee on July 31, 2003, 01:20:00 pm
i understand that the file is not affected by replay gain, but i would like to know if the quality of sound is affected when i burn on to a cd (i.e. when i play a cd burnt using MC9 with replay gain on an external cd player).  will the the quality of sound be the same as the original cd i ripped from (albeit at a lower volume level)?, thanks, nick.
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: xen-uno on July 31, 2003, 02:11:16 pm
> if the quality of sound is affected when i burn

Negatively?...no

Let's say you send a bunch of ogg's that have been RG'd to your RW drive for burning. The oggs need to be decoded first. During the decoding stage to wav is where the RG is applied. This is possible because the RG tags for a particular file may be...say +6dB. MC raises the amplitude of the data values in the wav file by the integer equivalent of +/- 6 dB (you could consider it normalizing...preferably it may dither, too). MC now sends the RG'd wav to your drive. If you send RG'd wav's over, then a RG'd copy is what is actually sent to the burner (because the original is only tagged as RG'd, but the data contained within is not).

Matt...do I have the process right?

10-27
Title: Re: sound quality using replay gain in MC9
Post by: nickharambee on August 02, 2003, 12:30:35 pm
thanks xen-uno,

i am still a little confused though about the process.  can anyone clarify this for me more, i.e. the process of burning to cd using replay gain.  is it lossless in terms of sound quality (obviously there will be a loss of volume)?

thanks, nick.