What music player is everyone using?

anon24860

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Well, if you are trying to have all the tracks playback at the same volume so you don't have to change the volume every time the song changes and gets really loud or really quiet, then you want the have Replay Gain "activated." It will analyze all the songs in your cue and play them back at the same peak volume. Keep in mind, peak volume means the loudest point in the song. So if you have a classical track that is very quiet in the beginning and then gets epic/bombastic later in the track, it "should" be quiet in the beginning, and if you turn the quiet intro up so it's adequately loud, then later when you get to the epic/bombastic part, it'll just completely distort and blow out the sound into a mess of fuzz.

If you don't want all the songs to play back with the same loudness peak level, then turn Replay Gain "off."

So it's basically like a broadcast compressor, right?
 

LunatiqueRob

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So it's basically like a broadcast compressor, right?

No, not a compressor. It doesn't compress the signal at all. It's not a limiter either. It doesn't squash the dynamic range of the audio in any way. All it does, is detect the highest amplitude in a song and then raise/lower the playback volume for the entire song when it starts playing, so that at the loudest point in the song never surpasses the Replay Gain setting for loudest peak. The dynamic range does not change at all. So for example, if we have our device set to maximum volume, and we have a song like this when played back normally:

Quietest point = 40 dB
Average loudnes = 90 dB
Loudest point = 100 dB

If we listen to the song as is, it's going to damage our hearing, because it's beyond safety threshold.

And if we have another song like this:

Quietest point = 10 dB
Average loudnes = 60 dB
Loudest point = 75 dB

When we play this much quieter song back-to-back with the other much louder song, one of two things will happen:

1) If the louder song plays first, we would need to adjust the volume so the song isn't too loud and hurt/harm our ears. But when the quieter song plays next, we can barely hear it, and have to raise the volume.

2) If the quieter song plays first, we have to raise the volume so we can hear it at satisfying levels. But when the louder song comes on next, it is ridiculously loud and instantly damages our hearing, and we'd have to fumble for the volume control to bring down the level before we experience permanent hearing loss.

Now, if we activate ReplayGain, this is what happens:

Both songs are analyzed, and both playback so each song's loudest peak does not go over the set limit (I would set this at around 85 dB. If you don't know how to do that, I'll explain later). Now, the first song would playback like so:

Quietest point = 25 dB
Average loudnes = 75 dB
Loudest point = 85 dB

And the second song would playback like so:

Quietest point = 20 dB
Average loudnes = 70 dB
Loudest point = 85 dB

The dynamic range stays exactly the same, and its only the entire song's volume level that's been raised or lowered.

You can learn all about ReplayGain easily: https://www.google.com/search?q=replay+gain&oq=replay+gain&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

As for setting the volume level exactly to a number. This is how you can do it:

1) Buy a sound level meter: Sound Level Meters | Instrumart

2) Pick a song that is one of the loudest songs in your library, with consistent volume throughout (as opposed to a song that has quiet and loud moments). Usually really aggressive and pounding heavy metal or electronic dance tracks during its most dramatic moments, where all frequencies have ample presence is best.

3) If listening to speakers, simply use the sound level meter (set to A-weighted, fast or slow isn't that important) at where your ears would be and point at the speaker(s) and measure, play your loud song, then set the volume of your player/speakers until the loudest peak does not go over 85 dB. This is a pretty safe threshold in general.

4) If listening to headphones, then you need to measure the headphone's driver directly. If it's an over/around the ear headphone, use an optical disc of some kind (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray) and cover the headphone's earcup, as if the disc is the side of your head. Now place the measuring mic of the sound level meter at where the hole of the disc is, and then measure. If listening to earbuds or in-ear-monitors, then just put the measuring mic right up against the driver and measure. If you can seal off the sides to block off the leakage of sound (maybe with a piece of cloth or tissue paper), then do that.
 

kkilcoyne007

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I'm new here and new to smart phones. Just splurged for christmas. Anyways, I'm hoping this is inline with topic, but do any of the players discussed here, have the ability to just play the contents of the folder without a playlist as well as importing itunes libraries easily? I'm looking for something free and don't plan on streaming in the car. I have a samsung player, google music and the player w/ easy file explorer. I couldn't find any setting for playing folder contents sans playlist and I'd prefer to have one player that does all.

And if anyone knows of a movie player that does this I'm all ears. I just had a son and I have 30 movies named solely by numbers. I would love to just hit next without creating playlists or going back and forth between player and folder.
 

JudH

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Maple Player Classic. First installed it for the audio book support but it has replaced my other music players.
 

Solrighal

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Thanks for the explanation of Replay Gain. I actually knew that but I wasn't aware it was turned on in the first place. Now it's off I expect no problems. Hopefully.

@ 007 - I think all players will do what you're looking for. Both Neutron and Poweramp certainly do. As far as video players are concerned you won't go far wrong with MX Player.

Sent from my SM-N9005
 

jakedsnake

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I used to be a Poweramp user until I tried Neutron. Poweramp has a nice interface, but in terms of sound quality Neutron is the best I used so far. For me sound quality is everything.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 

Dirtdawg57

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I am on Rocket player. The main selling point for me was you can set and save the equalizer for each band or cd. I use my phone for all my music in the car and I have many different styles. Some have too much bass and distort while others do not have enough. I can set a default equalizer setting and then specific settings for the cd's that need help. The interface is pretty nice also. I use Amazon music player to buy and download songs with and then transfer them to my external sd.
 

Solrighal

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I used to be a Poweramp user until I tried Neutron. Poweramp has a nice interface, but in terms of sound quality Neutron is the best I used so far. For me sound quality is everything.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

This.

Particularly if you're using flac files I see no point in compromising the sound for a flashy ui.

Sent from my SM-N9005
 

kkilcoyne007

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I ended up going with neutron and am very happy. I haven't found any features for.video or music players that let me just play through a folder sans play list. There is an app called folder player that purports to do that so I might give it a go.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
 

anon8380037

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For those of you who are using PowerAmp's headphone crossfeed, I need to tell you guys that it is not a proper crossfeed and sounds terrible. The algorithm is incorrect because it does not properly process the bass frequency, thus accumulates buildup that muddles the lower frequencies significantly.

If you want a proper crossfeed that's audiophile quality, Neutron Music Player is the only true audiophile quality music player app on Android currently: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neutroncode.mp&hl=en

Thanks so much for this pointer to Neutron. There is a 5 day evaluation app or the full app for ?4.99 in the UK.

I drag my WMP files across, I think lossless or high bit rate. Never used mp3 or iTunes. Burn everything from CD.

I found a decent tone with the built in settings which already sounds pretty amazing through Grado SR80's; just too up close and needing a wider 'soundstage' I guess.

I look forward to trying this out and playing with the settings as you suggested.
(At my age I have to be in the right 'mood' and environment!)

I had been a keen researcher of audio equipment in the past. Not so much into photography.

So I saw you did an epic volume on the camera in another thread.
You have a powerful foot in both camps.
Great work. Good explanations.
Kudos!

Posted on my N9005 via Android Central App