Does WinAmp sound better than iTunes playing the same MP3s?
It could just be that the volume is slightly higher on the system with Winamp. People almost always perceive louder sound as being “better”, even if the sound is otherwise exactly the same. Even if you can’t conciously tell which one is louder! To do proper comparisons of audio between two sources, you have to carefully match their volume levels. Almost nobody actually ever does this, of course, so you should take anyone’s subjective impressions of “this one sounds better” with several grains of salt.
The decoder does matter. But I am skeptical of people that say you can improve the sound from Winamp for example with a plugin. I guess “improvement” is subjective, but professional recordings tend to mastered at fancy expensive mastering houses where they spend plenty of time tailoring the sound of each track. If you can improve all music with some $20 shareware plugin, there must be something wrong your speakers or something.
squidlarkin, no. The “loudness” setting on a receiver will boost certain frequencies — usually bass, and high treble. Because human hearing isn’t linear, when you turn down the volume, these frequencies appear to lose volume faster than other frequencies. Loudness compensates for that – it’s basically an EQ. Compression reduces the gain of a sound when the sound crosses a certain threshold. So you can use a compressor to say “if a sound is louder than THIS, then reduce it by 50%”. Compressors are also used for the DJ talk-over effect. “If sound A is louder than THIS, then reduce sound B by 1.5 times the level of sound A.
I think they use different MP3 decoders, which could cause a difference in sound. I use a 3rd party mp3 decoder with my Winamp, because I’m a big jerk when it comes to my audio. Not that this answers your question about iTunes, which I wish I could. I honestly can’t understand how anyone likes that interface.
I think they use different MP3 decoders, which could cause a difference in sound. I use a 3rd party mp3 decoder with my Winamp, because I’m a big jerk when it comes to my audio. Jairus, could you tell us a little more about that particular decoder and why you chose it. I’d like to understand why you use it without having to download/unzip the actual component.
