Plexamp 3 Limiter Possibly Causing Distortion on Android

Plex Labs
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1

Plexlabs just an FYI. I was listening to FLAC files over WiFi no transcoding direct stream coming through just fine. 44.1khz, I noticed distortion on several tracks over a few hours of listening. I was using default settings. So limiter on, fades on, preamp +4. Distortion was coming through both on my headphones and through my phone’s speakers. There was crackling happening.

I turned off limiter and that seemed to stop the distortion and crackling. I don’t know if this was a fluke or not. But I did notice it.

After a few more songs I turned off the loudness leveling and preamp was set to zero db.

For me this resulted in a much nicer listening experience for my taste. So I will be leaving those off.

Just wanted to share just in case more people hear crackling or Distortion not sure if it’s my setup or not or if the file type has anything to do with it.

2

Is the crackling still there with
Limiter: OFF but
leveling: ON ?

3

I tried it with these settings
Limiter: OFF
Leveling: ON
Preamp: from 0db, and then preamp at 4db and then preamp at 6db
Equalizer: OFF

There was no crackling or distortion as I listened through headphones and through my phones speakers. I have a Pixel 2 android.

When I turned on the limiter at +4db preamp, the crackling and distortion came back. More pronounced when the phones volume was up to max.

4

Which type of phone do you use?

5

I am using a google Pixel 2.

The headphones I use are the Sony MDR7506

6

Weird… the limiter runs like this:

  • Gain = 0
  • Threshold = -1
  • Attack = 5
  • Release = 100
  • Ratio = 10

So there’s no gain here, and it should work to prevent clipping.

7

Thanks Elan.

Ok so I have to apologize here. I was playing around with the equalizer and didn’t realize I had left it on. I was just messing around with it. This was causing the distortion I was hearing. The headphones and the phone’s speakers couldn’t handle the ridiculousness of the EQs. I had cranked them all in weird ways playing around.

Everything is just fine. I just turned off the EQ. Sorry to post about it. Human error.

Thanks again for such an enjoyable app.

8

Ah wow, thanks for the update, glad you figured it out :slight_smile:

9

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