Couple of Audio Questions

CAA · 01-19-2006, 12:11 AM

Hey guys just a few questions...

First of all, does anyone know of any "software" that would give me an equaliser (ideally 30 band), I've done some google searches, and checked the plugins available for Windows Media Player and not found much.

Secondly, without starting a big debate ... audio codecs. I've been using WMA (Lossless) which results in tracks being around 45Mb, but I find I still want something better, other than WAV format. Is there anything anyone can recommend that is effectively lossless ?

Thanks in advance.

daPyr0x · 01-19-2006, 12:38 AM

as far as equalizers... 30 band software EQ? Damn man, what in the world do you need that for? I mean 10 bands is too much for me; why not go with a 3-5 band parametric EQ?

As far as lossless, here is a listing of a whole load of diff lossless codecs you can check out. No comparison is going to give you all the facts, as there are tons of different "features" and "issues" with different codecs. How well they recover from errors, what kind of metadata they support, what kind of software support is available, etc etc etc. Personally I use FLAC for lossless encoding, as it recovers well from errors, is supported with every player I currently use, supports lots of metadata (including replaygain built into the codec), and it's free and open source. For "near lossless" or "effectively lossless" I use Ogg Vorbis, q8; for the same/similar reasons as above.

CAA · 01-19-2006, 12:48 AM

Thanks for the detailed info bud. I'll check out FLAC now (and how well its supported for Windows Media Player.

In terms of EQ ... some where or other I have documented my detailed audio system (optical output from pc, external ppi dac, audiocontrol mvc, Veritas HLCD's etc).

I really need the 30 bands to smooth out the resonances in my horns...

daPyr0x · 01-19-2006, 01:04 AM

FLAC decoding is supported well enough in WiMP. However WMP can't figure out how to read the info from the files, so you'll be playing stuff with no tags. I think it's the same case with Ogg, but I don't remember... I remember reading that the capability is in the plugins but they can't figure out why WiMP won't use it...

As far as EQ is concerned, best I know of is parametric, not graphical. Your sound card and your audio program are the two best places to look for EQ stuff, and I doubt either will give you a 30 band EQ...

CAA · 01-19-2006, 01:28 AM

Damn! on both fronts. LOL!

I'll keep on the hunt and post back if I find anything for future reference.

Incidentally ... I use WMP for my front end, as I have a 12" touchscreen (and find I don't need a small frontend) but with all the plugins and support floating around for WiMP, I might have to consider a change.

Does anyone know if there is a full screen mode type skin for WiMP ?

dagnasty · 01-19-2006, 01:34 AM

I always figured lossless is almost pointless because the fidelity of the speakers. Am I somewhat correct?

techy101 · 01-19-2006, 03:35 AM

The people on here are correct, a 5 band parametric will be MUCH more powerful than any graphic will ever be. The catch is that you have to know how to use it properly. If you don't/don't want to take the time to learn, then sticking with a graphic will be your better solution. They're much more simple, and make a lot more sense to most people

CAA · 01-19-2006, 03:39 AM

I've used graphic and parametric for years, and agree to a degree in regards to parametric.

But - when you are dealing with HLCD's and using a 1/3 octave 30 band RTA to test, a 30 band EQ is the only way to deal with it. I have a hardware Precision Power one here, that I might just have to put in the signal chain