Question about sound quality

suh8lim3 · 16th July 2010, 19:58

I just purchased the PRO version of Winamp thinking the sound quality would be different but it seems to be the same. I have a pair of 7.1 surround sound headphones and it just seems like the sound quality didnt change whatsoever. Is there something I need to configure in the settings or did I upgrade for the wrong reason? Thank you in advance.

Batter Pudding · 18th July 2010, 17:10

Err - how can you have "a pair of 7.1 surround sound headphones" when there are only two speakers in the headphones? So I guess it is mixing down the multi-speaker setup to stereo.

Of course, most music is stereo anyway... so are you talking about a film? With it's Dolby surround soundtrack?

Paying for winamp just means it will rip CDs to MP3 quicker, and a something else that slips my mind for now. There is no different to sound quality.

One of my PCs that uses Winamp is connected to an Onkyo Amp which does true 5.1 surround to the standard six speakers. When setting this up, I had to make sure the sound card was processing the audio correctly. (or, more accurately, passing the audio untouched to my amp).

To do this I needed to start in the WINDOWS control panel. In here I had to make sure the "Sound" control panel was configured to correctly understand that I had a 5.1 speaker setup.

I then had to go into my Creative control panel and make sure it was passing the audio out the Digital socket in the same format as it came in without adding extra conversion. In your case, this would be the control panel for your headphones if they are trying something clever with the stereo signal.

Remember - a crap MP3 will always sound crap. You need to be working with FLAC files or some form of lossless digital file. At this moment I am at my main computer desk, and I have a Pink Floyd album that was ripped to FLAC sounding rather glorious out of standard Yamaha 2.1 PC speakers.

So lets see what it is in the chain of settings that is causing your troubles. My first question being - what is the source file you are playing? Are you testing with FLAC? Or a CD? Or a rough MP3 file?

16th July 2010, 19:58	#1
suh8lim3 Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 1	Question about sound quality I just purchased the PRO version of Winamp thinking the sound quality would be different but it seems to be the same. I have a pair of 7.1 surround sound headphones and it just seems like the sound quality didnt change whatsoever. Is there something I need to configure in the settings or did I upgrade for the wrong reason? Thank you in advance.

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18th July 2010, 17:10	#2
Batter Pudding Major Dude Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,665	Err - how can you have "a pair of 7.1 surround sound headphones" when there are only two speakers in the headphones? So I guess it is mixing down the multi-speaker setup to stereo. Of course, most music is stereo anyway... so are you talking about a film? With it's Dolby surround soundtrack? Paying for winamp just means it will rip CDs to MP3 quicker, and a something else that slips my mind for now. There is no different to sound quality. One of my PCs that uses Winamp is connected to an Onkyo Amp which does true 5.1 surround to the standard six speakers. When setting this up, I had to make sure the sound card was processing the audio correctly. (or, more accurately, passing the audio untouched to my amp). To do this I needed to start in the WINDOWS control panel. In here I had to make sure the "Sound" control panel was configured to correctly understand that I had a 5.1 speaker setup. I then had to go into my Creative control panel and make sure it was passing the audio out the Digital socket in the same format as it came in without adding extra conversion. In your case, this would be the control panel for your headphones if they are trying something clever with the stereo signal. Remember - a crap MP3 will always sound crap. You need to be working with FLAC files or some form of lossless digital file. At this moment I am at my main computer desk, and I have a Pink Floyd album that was ripped to FLAC sounding rather glorious out of standard Yamaha 2.1 PC speakers. So lets see what it is in the chain of settings that is causing your troubles. My first question being - what is the source file you are playing? Are you testing with FLAC? Or a CD? Or a rough MP3 file?