I have a very strange issue with Plexamp, that is more audible with a specific song, right at the beginning. The song is “In a Sentimental Mood”, by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. If I play the song with any other player, even with the lossless file, it plays normally. I’ve tried with Neutron player, Poweramp, VLC and the native that came with my phone (Oppo Find X3 Lite), and it’s the same on all players.
In Plexamp it’s very audible a shift in volume that appears to be only on the left earpiece. I’ve tried different headphones and it’s the same on all of them, so it’s not from the headphone.
I’ve tried several music player apps and there’s no issue on them, so it’s not an hardware issue.
I’ve tried on other devices (Asus Zenfone 3 and Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus with Linneage 17.1) and it’s the same thing (perfect with music player apps but with Plexamp there’s a noticeable volume shift more audible on the left side).
But it’s strange that it only happens on wired headphones! With bluetooth headphones this doesn’t happen, the playback is just as in other apps!
I’ve also tried listening to the song on Youtube Music and it’s normal.
It’s only on Plexamp that this happens and only on wired headphones.
I’ve already deleted cache and data, it’s the same streaming from my plex server and downloading (Opus at 160 kbps).
If anyone could do this, please listen to this specific song, and see if you notice this volume shifting right at the beggining of the song, with the piano intro. I believe it may happen with other songs, but it’s really noticieable with this song.
Thanks
In Plexamp, in Settings - Advanced what are your settings for “Preamp” and “Limiter”?
The below can only be applied when you have
Preamp = 0dB
Limiter = off
If you listen to Jazz or other sometimes very delicate music, I strongly recommend you to stick to the above settings, even if this means that the general volume of Plexamp is lower than from other apps.
Only then you can be sure that no limiter is changing the signal ever so slightly.
Shift in volume in which direction? up or down?
Do you have precise timestamps?
If your phone/player has an automatic muting of the channel when no signal is present or is applying the “ear protecting” loudness limitation independently on the left and right channels, you might experience this as a shift in volume.
The reason why this doesn’t happen with the other players might be caused by the fact that plexamp usually outputs a lower volume than these, caused by how its volume levelling is done.
So the various signal processing things of the operating system and the device are cutting in at different moments than when you use the other players.
It could also be in particular noticeable because of how this album has been mixed. I’m noticing this particular album has been recorded before stereo had been used as it is nowadays.
There is a noticable imbalance in general loudness between left and right. The majority of sonic events happens in the right channel, while the left channel is almost exclusively carrying the saxophone.
It is sometimes almost unpleasant when the sax is not playing. One could perceive this as if the speaker is damaged.
Thanks for the answer.
It’s the same when setting preamp to 0 and limiter off. I’ve already tried those settings before.
The shift in volume is at about 2,5 seconds, then 4 seconds, 7 seconds, 9 seconds… I notice it mostly at those seconds. And when the saxophone starts playing, I lose that notion. Maybe because of what you said about left and right channel, it makes sense.
The shift in volume is down, but mainly like the sound is muffled on the left side, not so much as a decrease in volume.
But that doesn’t happen when using bluetooth headphones!! So I believe it’s something with Plexamp andio engine that’s not right… It happens only on wired phones.
I’ll try finding another song that this may happen, more recent, to see if it has anything to do with mono or stereo recordings.
Are you always testing with the same pair of wired headphones?
Or do you have several?
No, different headphones. Mainly in-ear.
I’ve tried with the ASUS ones that came with my asus zenfone 3, and they are not that bad… Also with a JBL T210 and a TinAudio T2 (which are supposed to be very good).
I’ve also a pair of over the ear Edifier W830BT, that can connect both wired and wirelessly (with AptX), and I do notice that “muffling” on the left ear, but only on wired. No issue with bluetooth. There’s another song in that album which is My Little Brown Book that I also notice this muffling.
I believe it may have to do with the mastering (note that I have a 1963 album version and a 2007 remastering, and happens on both), but what puzzles me is why does this only happen with Plexamp… I’ve played around with a setting on Neutron that is Crossfeeding, and I get the feeling it may have to do with that, but I don’t know anything about Plexamp audio engine to say if it uses crossfeeding or not…
I’ve also changed between AAudio (which I’m using) and OpenSL ES, and it’s the same.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
