Does rockbox solve ipod EQ distortion problem?

[xtony]

as the subject. does it?
Because i heard that the distortion problem on ipod is not a hardware fault.

[saratoga]

as the subject. does it?
Because i heard that the distortion problem on ipod is not a hardware fault.

Rockbox doesn't use the Ipod EQ, so whatever problems it has will not be in Rockbox.

[n16ht5]

it doesnt distort, although i cant get it to work with more than 2 bands of eq before it starts skipping the audio.. :-/

[Febs]

As we've mentioned time and again, the skipping problem is a matter of optimizing Rockbox for the ipod platform, and that will  be corrected in time.  In the meantime, at least on some ipod platforms, you can can reduce or eliminate the skipping by using a WPS with no peakmeter or by keeping Rockbox on a menu or in the file browser while music is playing. 

[dcr693]

as the subject. does it? Because i heard that the distortion problem on ipod is not a hardware fault.

Interesting question. I know the distoration that you speak of. The iPod distorts where other DAPS do not.

I fixed the problem by using mp3gain to lower the volume on tracks that were distorting. Typically, those tracks had volume of 93+ db. But since I don't like a huge variation in track volume, I just applied mp3gain to everything and have it all around 90-93 db.

mp3gain is fast and it fixes the problem more or less permanently.

[Febs]

You can use the "Precut" feature in Rockbox's EQ to reduce pre-amp gain when using the EQ, and thus avoid the type of distortion that occurs in the ipod EQ.

[soap]

By the way, mp3gain works by changing the audio data, not the tags, and thus causes "damage" to your mp3s by destroying original audio data.

The precut feature (as previously mentioned) and ReplayGain are far superior alternatives.

[xtony]

By the way, mp3gain works by changing the audio data, not the tags, and thus causes "damage" to your mp3s by destroying original audio data.

The precut feature (as previously mentioned) and ReplayGain are far superior alternatives.

I disagree. mp3gain also only changes the mp3s's tag not the content. Actually, mp3gain has some advantages over replaygain. please read its manual.

anyway, precut is very interesting feature. i dont like the way of using mp3gain to fix this problem. it's a firmware problem not the player or mp3s. That's why i'm hanging around here. 

[senab]

MP3gain changes the gain on each frame in an MP3 making it work across all players that support MP3. It usually also adds an 'undo' APEv2 tag to the MP3 so you change the gain back to normal.

It does not destroy any MP3 data or the like. Replaygain is a very similar solution, except the gain values are kept in tags/LAME header meaning the decoder has to know to look for them, if it doesn't the volume will be unchanged. But this also means it's completely lossless.

I prefer Replygain for two reasons:

1.) The target loudness is always set to 89 dB, meaning all my files are gained to the same value.

2.)Replaygain is truely lossless, unlike MP3Gain which if you lose the APE tag (which can happen very easily with crappy taggers) there's not way you can get the gain back to its original value.

[xtony]

Very clear explaination  .