Replay Gain bit perfect?

Hello Damien and everybody here!
I’ve been a happy user of Audirvana for some time and am looking forward to Mac 3.5 version
with the new interface. Any news when we can expect it?
But this is cosmetics, my main question is more technical. I am in pursuit of a “bitperfect” signal
served to my Schiit multibit DAC. Does the ReplayGain function on Audirvana preserve the original bits?
I don’t use any resampling and the digital volume is “DAC only”. If not bitperfect, is the ReplayGain realized
in the 64 bit domain?
My secondary question is about the difference between “preserve album dynamics” and “all tracks equal loudness”.
I see the same RG dB figures for both. I have “limit bit depth to 24 bit” permanently on.
And the last one: does the replay gain work in the same way for Tidal playlists as for iTunes library playlists ripped
from CDs in Apple lossless codec (with dynamics calculated).
TIA for your help.
PS. Seems like the online manual is not up-to-date. Eg. “integer modes 1/2” are still there.

RG is bit perfect. It doesn’t augment or drop any bits. It just compensates to keep the gain relatively equal across tracks or an album.

I am currently using the trial. I love the ReplayGain album support, but unfortunately in my experience it is not bit perfect and I had to turn it off. Currently Audirvana assumes it can add positive gain to some tracks/albums and I have experienced audible clipping.

I had it set to preserve album dynamics, which is the only way I would use this feature. In the case of the soundtrack for Sabrina it applied +0.8 gain to the album. The fourth song on the album, Growing Up In Paris, has audible clipping at around 2:30 with that gain applied.

I think the program is assuming that level of gain is safe based on the peak data, but apparently it was wrong. As soon as I turn off volume levelling the track does not clip. If I set the volume levelling to make all tracks equal it also doesn’t clip because it applies a -2 gain to the track.

ReplayGain is very useful, and I wish Audirvana handled it properly. In my opinion it should never apply positive gain, even if it thinks it is safe (right now it doesn’t seem to actually know when it is safe). I would like to turn it back on, but I do not want clipping and distortion, and I don’t want to turn on per track levelling because it destroys the experience of listening to a whole album.

This is currently one of the things making me question whether or not I want to buy the app. The other is the awful and very inconsistent interface. If this problem were fixed I would probably buy with the hope that the interface improves over time.

Hello @Fleet, using ReplayGain modify the audio signal and you’ll need a step of 6db if you don’t want to loose the bitperfect capability.

Hello Fleet,

Can you please describe the audible clipping you speak of? I’m having problems with certain specific streamed Tidal/Qobuz songs having loud pops/clicks at (I think) the loudest peaks in the songs.

Thanks

It sounds like a click or pop similar to what you are describing.

I wonder about a method to set a reference level gain. My streamer has an app that will adjust volume, and seems to set a max volume for the source. Here I don’t have a stated out put figure, but I might be able to set up a test tone and measure @ 100% volume and see in mV what it is putting out. I know the preamp section of my integrated amp has a sensitivity of 390mV, so that would be a target.

After that, I’d like to understand what Audirvana is doing with the gain. I can accept that different recordings sound different. I just want as accurate a representation of the recording. I know that in the remote app I sometimes see on the volume control below the album cover graphic an attenuation state, like -3.2 dB or something. Other times the volume simply appears as 100% even if I’ve attenuated the signal in the renderer using the native software.

Ideally I could set and lock it all so the only active volume know was the one on my integrated amp. I suppose the hierarchy of software volumes is just a fact of life.

Hi @Antoine can you please elaborate on what that means? Turning the down the Volume Control down by -6db inside audirvana?

Also by running the replaygain function, is one running the risk of clipping / insufficient headroom on tracks that have gain applied to them? If so, is there something that can be done about it?

If I do understand this concept wrong then please educate me :slight_smile:

I am curious about this as well.