Can tell me your settings/plug-in and what type of song u use the settings for? Thanks

This post has been edited by genjo: Oct 7 2010, 04:08 PM

No special settings. Only plugin I have is the APE decoder. Other than that-- nothing.

i only use the built-in EQ to add little bass.

has none dsp installed, deleted everything to save that few KB of space and only asio support
then everything else is for GUI, like wshpanel and columnsui

I still use DS with Resampler(PPHS) upsampling to 192000, then Monkey Audio plug in.

APE, Tak, TTA plugins... with output setting to DAC. No changes in the EQ or such.

I have loads of DSPs, but haven't used any at all. Not for months now. Bro Bonchi, I believe that DSPs are only those extras that affects sound production and processing in the player: all the other things we download are necessarily not considered DSPs, yes? I agree however that the GUI is MUCH better with WSHPanel and Columns UI. Can't live without them!

if the .dll is a dsp, usually it is mentioned in the filename itself basically i deleted all the dsp.dll to make room for png files which will later become custom buttons ... i love to keep my foobar under 3mb .. makes it alot easier to back up too

[attachmentid=1823178]
Foobar buffer @ 50ms
ASIO buffer @ 64 samples

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Full file buffering max 2GB
cpu usage nearly zero and mem usage orignally is 6MB+size of song i'm playing(max 2GB)

[attachmentid=1823219]
set foobar's priority to realtime

btw, 64samples ASIO buffer on my lappy is only possible when i enable full file buffering, i think it's because it's faster to access from RAM than HD...
Windows volume control @ 100%,
Speaker volume @80%+. Volume is controlled from foobar... said to give better headroom/dynamic range, and prevents overload/clipping when using lossy formats...

[attachmentid=1823234]
Peak meter when playing an MP3 shows crossing the 0dB line... by reducing the volume in foobar it wont clip the windows volume when sent to hardware...

but try it yourself and see the results...

Remember to set the volume in foobar at at least -35dB if u set 100% at windows to avoid sudden burst. To see volume figure, right click on the bottom bar and tick "show volume"

no dsp used, dont wanna color the sound



This post has been edited by andrew9292: Oct 8 2010, 10:48 AM

Hmm...it does help to lower clipping.
I haven't realize it does give some difference

@bro andrew.. nice guide there ..thanks!
also did the same on the hardware buffering part tho i didnt set mine to 2gb on full file buffering but i will try that later (i think giving it 2gb of space will also imrpove smoother song playback)

btw i would like to suggest setting apply gain under playback to "none" as that will eliminate album gains.. those situation where some songs are loud while some are very soft.

but it won't be bit-perfect anymore doesn't it?

@andrew9262

wah nice settings down there bro. I'm thinking that with the full file buffering, probably help me a little when using foobar2000 on battery with less HDD activity.

Bit perfect?

I just slight reduce the volume from foobar....not related to data those...

i read somewhere it is best to change the volume on your audio interface/speaker volume knob and leave foobar and windows audio volume to 100%. Because when you lower the volume on foobar you'll lose some data. I'm not sure and i don't remember the original detailed term, but that person told me it won't be close to bit-perfect (as it is hard to get 100% bit-perfect, lots of factor can manipulate it). I for sure didn't hear any difference wheter it is bit-perfect or not, so it does not matters to me.

Need to search on the architecture 1st.

But for windows volume, i'm not sure too about the bit perfect stuff but i can confirm that some amplifiers if you low down the input power, it will loose out the details even though you crank up the amplifier volume because the input signal is too low.

hmm, lower the volume on foobar2000 can lose data?

Used to have many setting, but now none.

what is replay gain for? any setting for tat?

The RAM buffering settings refers to the maximum RAM Foobar can use. The memory usage will be Foobar's original memory usage+the file size of your song. Unless you have a 2GB song, it will never go that far... In fact for most users, setting to 512MB (524288kB) should be enough as most lossless files wont cross 200MB per track


True statement there. Lowing the software volume will affect the noise floor as it pushes the bits near the noise floor "down", to be out of range of most DACs... but unless you have music that has data/music at near -100dB, there wont really be a difference... I used to be a big fan of bit perfect (100% all digital volume control, 44100khz 16bit) until i realize it's disadvantages

-Setting 100% at application volume will be bit perfect, when outputing from the application to windows mixer.
-Setting the windows volume to 100% will allow Foobar to play in the full dynamic range.
-Setting both of above to be at 100% will allow True bit perfect in theory. Eg... what is at -3dB at foobar will also be -3dB at windows mixer, and that will be that.
-But setting both at 100% will cause clipping with lossy formats. Eg... +1dB overflow at foobar, will be "flattened" or clipped to 0dB at windows volume. Disadvantage 1.
-Setting both to 100% will cause very high output in the hardware, dac, opamps, whatever u name it. And such high output isn't ideal for most usage, you are driving the hardware at 100% or sometimes even overloading, oftenly this will cause distortion+heat. Disadvantage 2.
-Setting both to 100% will send a very high analogue output to your speaker, which has it's own preamp/amp inside, if the music is over the range of the amps, it will clip again+heat. And advance/high end amps with anti distortion control will further clip the sound by removing the peaks that are causing the amp to clip, either by using a hard limiter, intelligent limiter, or dynamic range compressor (also a kind of limiter) and this will affect the sound. Disadvantage 3 & 4.

-Setting the volume in foobar will prevent clipping at windows mixer.
-Setting the volume at your speaker/amp to 60-100% (varies amp to amp) will again open the dynamic range (what is soft can now be heard clearer in most cases)
-Setting the volume at foobar low, windows volume@100 = no clipping + high or [full volume at speaker(low gain amps)] = u get a loud sound without overloading anything
-Setting the volume at foobar too low, u push the lower range of the music out of range, but oftenly there is no information at such low level (around -100dB for most DACs)

I'm actually using live sound concept, in live sound setups, the final output stage or amps are normally at full or around 80%, so that there can be huge range to play with at the mixing console. If u set low output volume at final level, u will have to push the volume at processing stage to a very high level to get the same volume a.k.a loudness maximization... basically, the input must not be too loud, neither must it be too soft to the point where the really soft passages of instruments go missing...

but again, this is for most cases... different hardware will behave differently...
use yor ears to decide

This is also true, but it really depends on setup to setup

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My setting might work well for me, and for some, but not all Use your ears to judge what's best! This issue on bit perfect has been debated many many times and is very very controversial... most importantly... enjoy the music

This post has been edited by andrew9292: Oct 8 2010, 11:29 PM