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Beyond MusicBee / Do we have to deal with clipping ?
« on: January 12, 2021, 11:51:54 AM »
Hi, 
I remember a few years ago asking about my concerns with saturation/clipping sounds with musicbee, and while I probably got used to it after that, it's starting to bother me again.
And to be fair, this is not really a musicbee specific issue (so I post in this part of the forum), since I'm really bothered by it EVERYWHERE, and I don't know why. These days I can barely listen to a full album without hearing some sort of audio problems in specific parts of songs. Whether it's a way too saturated guitar riff, some quick but noticeable clics/pops in calm moments, the end of a guitar note that oversaturates, a noisy bass beat...
I'm not really an expert audiophile but I'm pretty sure these are things that aren't supposed to be here. And even if it may be like one or two seconds here and here in a whole record, I hate it.
And yeah, this happen whether I try the song/passage in musicbee, on spotify, on apple music, on youtube, even if strangely enough I've noticed sometimes I can find a version on Youtube where the actual saturation isn't present. For example the intro from "The House That Pain Built" from Killing Joke is some saturated trash almost everywhere I try it except from the first uploaded version that's on Youtube (the other ones sound worse). And there many examples like that.
I've even tried using FLAC versions, that are supposed to be lossless and clipping-free. I can even see the track is apparently clean and perfect in Audacity, no clipping mark or anything, but I keep hearing the same artifacts in specific parts, how is that possible ? Even changing some normalization/pre-amp settings in musicbee, or using the desktop equalizer "Equalizer APO" don't do anything.
And it's probably not my setup either, since such problems appear both on computer, on my phone or when I try listening to the song directly on my TV using my hi-fi amp. I have two different pairs of headphones as well and it doesn't change anything. To be fair it's even worse on headphones, with speakers I'm not as close to the sound so it becomes harder to hear slight saturation/clipping. Sound with my vinyle collection seems fine too but it's maybe also because I never listen to them with headphones either, I should try it to compare.
Is it just me then ? Am I becoming paranoid trying the same song in 10 different configurations/formats and keeping hearing weird "defaults" ? Maybe people are not sensitive to the same frequencies ? It may be cause I don't see too many people complaining about such things.
Or is is just the way it is ? That saturation/clipping is a common thing because music is sometimes badly recorded/ripped ? Do you just have to deal with it unless you have like some 5,000 $ hi-fi setup ?
Some people say you just have to "forget clipping" but it can really ruin my enjoyment. If you'll be kind enough to share the best thing you can do to avoid/reduce saturation/clipping (in musicbee preferences for example) I'll take it !
Anyway sorry for the long "rant" !
I remember a few years ago asking about my concerns with saturation/clipping sounds with musicbee, and while I probably got used to it after that, it's starting to bother me again.
And to be fair, this is not really a musicbee specific issue (so I post in this part of the forum), since I'm really bothered by it EVERYWHERE, and I don't know why. These days I can barely listen to a full album without hearing some sort of audio problems in specific parts of songs. Whether it's a way too saturated guitar riff, some quick but noticeable clics/pops in calm moments, the end of a guitar note that oversaturates, a noisy bass beat...
I'm not really an expert audiophile but I'm pretty sure these are things that aren't supposed to be here. And even if it may be like one or two seconds here and here in a whole record, I hate it.
And yeah, this happen whether I try the song/passage in musicbee, on spotify, on apple music, on youtube, even if strangely enough I've noticed sometimes I can find a version on Youtube where the actual saturation isn't present. For example the intro from "The House That Pain Built" from Killing Joke is some saturated trash almost everywhere I try it except from the first uploaded version that's on Youtube (the other ones sound worse). And there many examples like that.
I've even tried using FLAC versions, that are supposed to be lossless and clipping-free. I can even see the track is apparently clean and perfect in Audacity, no clipping mark or anything, but I keep hearing the same artifacts in specific parts, how is that possible ? Even changing some normalization/pre-amp settings in musicbee, or using the desktop equalizer "Equalizer APO" don't do anything.
And it's probably not my setup either, since such problems appear both on computer, on my phone or when I try listening to the song directly on my TV using my hi-fi amp. I have two different pairs of headphones as well and it doesn't change anything. To be fair it's even worse on headphones, with speakers I'm not as close to the sound so it becomes harder to hear slight saturation/clipping. Sound with my vinyle collection seems fine too but it's maybe also because I never listen to them with headphones either, I should try it to compare.
Is it just me then ? Am I becoming paranoid trying the same song in 10 different configurations/formats and keeping hearing weird "defaults" ? Maybe people are not sensitive to the same frequencies ? It may be cause I don't see too many people complaining about such things.
Or is is just the way it is ? That saturation/clipping is a common thing because music is sometimes badly recorded/ripped ? Do you just have to deal with it unless you have like some 5,000 $ hi-fi setup ?
Some people say you just have to "forget clipping" but it can really ruin my enjoyment. If you'll be kind enough to share the best thing you can do to avoid/reduce saturation/clipping (in musicbee preferences for example) I'll take it !
Anyway sorry for the long "rant" !
