INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 27 for Windows => Topic started by: FunkeXMix on March 18, 2021, 04:20:41 am
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Hi,
I have boosted the right channel by +3.1, this has introduced clipping at some points in the music.
Is there another way to prevent clipping that are not the typical methods: replaygain and lowering preamp gain?
Appreciate the help, thanks
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Run audio analysis on all your files if you haven't already done so, then enable in DSP Studio the Volume Leveling feature. If you want to regain the volume lost because of that, also enable the Adaptive Volume feature with Peak Level Normalize.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Volume_Leveling
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Adaptive_Volume
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Thanks, are there any other ways left? Im not a fan of volume leveling
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Clipping means the level is too high digitally so you have to reduce gain. That's all there is to it. What else are you looking for? Different ways to reduce gain?
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Yes different ways to reduce gain. All the methods mentioned so far change the character of the sound too much for me (happens with all digital players). This issues particularly noticeable with tracks that have good '3d holographic' stereo imaging. Example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsgClB51xlQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsgClB51xlQ)
The stereo width shrinks way too much with volume leveling or even slight reduction in preamp gain. That doesn't happen if you lower the volume on an external dac for example. Digital audio seems to have this inherent flaw.
There doesn't seem to be any way to get around it. So I am basically looking for less known tricks or something as a last ditch effort.
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The easiest way to deal with clipping is to never add boost, just make a reciprocal cut instead. In your example, you boosted the right channel 3.1; instead try cutting the left channel 3.1. Acoustically it's an identical result (the right channel will be 3.1 dB louder than the left), but there's no risk of clipping because you've only reduced volume. This assumes you're in a stereo setup, but the principle is the same for a multichannel setup.
Alternatively, if you use JRiver's internal volume option youcan just turn down JRiver's volume by, say, 4dB then you also won't clip.
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Ok well that doesn't make any sense, the signal is the same in either case (unless one volume control is basically broken)
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The stereo width shrinks way too much with volume leveling or even slight reduction in preamp gain. That doesn't happen if you lower the volume on an external dac for example. Digital audio seems to have this inherent flaw.
Agreed with Matt - sounds like something else is going on as I have used Volume Leveling forever and have never noticed the stereo "width" to shrink.
In digital - the image is the image and the signal is the signal - only less or more of it.
The only consideration here is the gain. Now - might the "image" may appear to be "lessened" when the gain is lowered?
Yes it will - but that's your ears/brain talking - not anything that MC is doing.
You also have not stated what you are listening on - is it a set of circa 2009 ear buds or a pair of $20,000 electro-statics? The "image" may be vastly different depending on the "listening" space.
One thing is for sure - if you are anywhere close to clipping right now - your signal is way too hot.
VP
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If you need to amplify one output with an additional 3.1 offset, to obtain a Stereo image, It sounds like something is broken or you listen in front of the less amplified speaker. If this is not the case there is an easy setup to check you installation.
- Download a tone generator app for you phone.
- Connect this with your installation
- Put your speakers with the front towards each other as close and straight as possible
- connect one speaker in phase and one out of phase
- Set the balance in center
- play a tone sweep 500Hz - 10Khz
When an installation is ok, the output sound should be very low (even though the gain is turned up, as the output will eliminated itself as one speaker moves out, the other moves in), if you hear the sound very clear, something is broken.
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There is one other thing that could cause the phenomenon you are describing. If the OP has used a room correction feature in his receiver or processor, (or the Room Correction module in DSP Studio) there may be "distances" applied to each speaker.
These distance measurements really correspond to delay. The processor adds delay to the channel with the shorter distance, in an attempt to ensure sounds from both speakers reach the listener at the same time.
If these distances are a little bit imbalanced (wrongly, as in deviating from actual physical distances) then the perceived stereo image can be widened or contracted.
However, if the distances become too imbalanced, then a psychoacoustic effect called the "precedence effect" comes into play. This is a form of temporal masking, where the brain deemphasizes the signal that arrives later and focuses on the first sound that arrives (this is a biological form of echo cancellation that aids in locating the source of the sound). This will be perceived as a lowered volume of the sound from the speaker with greater delay. The listener will need the volume of the delayed channel boosted, by perhaps 3 to 6 db relative to the other channel, to perceive them as having equal loudness. This is not an audio system malfunction but an innate human response.
So you might want to check your speaker distances.
There's no inherent flaw with digital audio with regard to stereo imaging being affected by small amounts of volume change, other than humans generally perceive louder music as being "better".