Anyone using Replay gain to increase volume control?

Posted by: sjbabbey on 29 January 2016

I've recently upgraded my amp from SN2 to NAC252/SCDR/NAP250DR which has given me much better definition at lower listening levels but also makes adjusting the volume control on the preamp very sensitive i.e. the useable range for a lot of recent remasters/CD releases is between 7 and 8 o'clock on the volume control.

I use Asset UPnP for streaming and see that this has a facility to apply replay gain (together with increasing bit depth from 16 to 24 bits) and was wondering whether anyone on the forum uses album or track replaygain as a means of extending the useable volume control range for their amplifier. I'm assuming that I could simply add an album replaygain tag of say -3dB (I use mp3tag for tagging) to the problem flac files which Asset will then transcode to wav and apply this replaygain. Using this method would seem OK as presumably it would be a simple matter of deleting the tag or disabling the feature in Asset to revert to the original audio file playback.

Is anyone using this facility and, if so, has there been any effect the SQ e.g. compressing the dynamics of the tracks (other than the volume reduction) due to the additional processing by the UPnP server software?

 

Posted on: 29 January 2016 by Sloop John B

I use this but I let dBPoweramp add the replay gain while ripping and this makes all music play at a relatively similar level.

it can be turned on and off in asset quite easily so no need to delete the tags. 

There is however some loss of quality when you do this not that I've really been aware of it, but I tend only to have it active for when I'm listening to playlists, where it's a very useful, if not essential addition.

Any time you mess with the audio there is risk of sound deterioration, I sometimes think this is overstated but perhaps it's my hearing. In reality unless it's playlists, I'd stick with bit perfect and put up with very little useful volume knob movement.

 

Possibly not much help to you, but hey I tried!

SJB

Posted on: 29 January 2016 by sjbabbey

go raibh maith agat SJB.

If it's just a matter of adding a tag, then I can't see that the original audio file is being altered at all but, as you say, the file being served by Asset will not be bit perfect and there could be some loss of quality during playback. Easy enough to do an A/B test I suppose with a tagged and untagged copy of the same album. I suppose it will be a question of whether or not the convenience is worth any possible trade off in terms of loss of SQ.

thanks again

Steve

 

Posted on: 29 January 2016 by Simon-in-Suffolk

unless only marginal volume changes, I suspect you might be better off with good quality attenuators on the line out if you want AC bigger volume play...reducing the sample word size without careful dithering will reduce quality.. This will be most apparent if the original source is 16 bits.

Simon

 

Posted on: 30 January 2016 by sjbabbey

Thanks Simon,

Re dithering, the Asset setting has the option to increase the bit depth for 16bit files to 24bit when applying replay gain. Nevertheless, I think I'll stick with the original bit perfect streaming. I guess that's the remote control is for.