Sound quality compared to WMP

[Harriers9]

I have been using MusicBee for quite a while now but when I recently upgraded to Windows 10 I noticed that the sound quality of the software deteriorated with sound levels dropping down then back up again.

My first thought was that my soundcard was playing up so I downloaded the latest drivers from ASUS and installed them but with no difference. I then considered replacing the card altogether but first tried an experiment.

I opened up Windows Media Player and played the same tracks side by side and straight away the sound from WMP was perfect. I have checked all the settings in MB and have also re-installed it but the problem is still there.

I don't want to junk MB because I think it's brilliant replacement for my old favourite Winamp but where do I go from here?

[Alumni]

I'm not sure I understand your issue, but if I were to guess it might be related to replaygain - it's enabled by default in MusicBee (found under main menu and controls). Try turning that option off. If that doesn't help, you'll have to provide us with more information.

[Harriers9]

I have turned that off already.

I'll try and explain better: I'm playing a track off an album and the sound levels keep going up and down. Not quickly or regularly and not just parts of the music. Just some. The low level vocals or guitar will dip down to almost inaudible then come back up again.

Play it in WMP and it's perfect.

What kind of info do you want?

[Alumni]

Ok well I did some research and I found this post which may or may not be relevant, in particular check out the user comments.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-pictures/media-player-volume-fluctuation/22c2a2fa-3253-43b5-81c9-85d0b563bc63?auth=1

[Harriers9]

Thanks.

Although that link refers to problems with WMP and not MB I went through the advice given but without any joy.

I have just downloaded some software called Cool Edit so that I could record the same track through both MB and WMP but when I played it back there was nothing there. Sods Law.

Is there a way to set MB back to default and I can go from there?

Phil...

[Alumni]

Let's see if you experience the same bug with the latest beta of MusicBee, check the first post of this topic: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15050.0

[hiccup]

This is likely a result of either Windows, or third party software or drivers taking some control over the volume.
You could check for tools or features that Asus added with it's driver software, and see if you can change settings there, or disable them.
You can also try changing the player output within Musicbee's preferences to wasapi, or possibly asio. That might also prevent other software from messing with MB's volume.

[Steven]

in additional to using WASAPI output already mentioned, the only other thing is to confirm you are not using any DSP plugins set in the Preferences/ Player panel

[Harriers9]

I'm not using any plugins and AFAIK Asus hasn't added any other software apart from their console (Zonar Audio Centre) so I'll try that WASAPI ect change.

It'll be tomorrow now so I'll report back then.

Phil...

[Harriers9]

I had a spare five minutes so I tried to install V3 and got this. Windows tried to block the .exe so I ignored that and ran it anyway:

Error Log

20/01/2016 18:57:57 - 10.0.10586.0 - 3.0.5862.39843 - System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for '#=qzK1_w3uFLe4zondzAk0GyqAvVO94Ga8kDqaBqH$_qXQ=' threw an exception. ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'D:\Users\phil\Downloads\MusicBee3_Patched\Configuration.xml'.
   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
   at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy, Boolean useLongPath, Boolean checkHost)
   at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options)
   at #=qzK1_w3uFLe4zondzAk0GyqAvVO94Ga8kDqaBqH$_qXQ=..cctor()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at #=qzK1_w3uFLe4zondzAk0GyqAvVO94Ga8kDqaBqH$_qXQ=.#=q8Y2egKneOA3uWQvCpl8Npw==()
   at #=q89Id81Zh7A45OyvL55HYIieUUzqC7RjGj$Rt4sRbbbo=.#=qzVczGtnZPdzT8casRQFyuw==(#=qrXeJFipWfHCq$cp4s4bueJs1A$uNm_DfiWix8xHuCjw= #=qDL7qQ6cC6S8av$kNrPBqnA==)
   at MusicBee.MusicBeeApplication.#=qinUSYFDtWeBB5Ni485Msvg==(String[] #=qTtmS_SkHYt2y7hVU8sQCQQ==)

20/01/2016 19:03:01 - 10.0.10586.0 - 3.0.5862.39843 - System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for '#=qzK1_w3uFLe4zondzAk0GyqAvVO94Ga8kDqaBqH$_qXQ=' threw an exception. ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'D:\Users\phil\Downloads\MusicBee3_Patched\Configuration.xml'.
   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
   at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy, Boolean useLongPath, Boolean checkHost)
   at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options)
   at #=qzK1_w3uFLe4zondzAk0GyqAvVO94Ga8kDqaBqH$_qXQ=..cctor()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at #=qzK1_w3uFLe4zondzAk0GyqAvVO94Ga8kDqaBqH$_qXQ=.#=q8Y2egKneOA3uWQvCpl8Npw==()
   at #=q89Id81Zh7A45OyvL55HYIieUUzqC7RjGj$Rt4sRbbbo=.#=qzVczGtnZPdzT8casRQFyuw==(#=qrXeJFipWfHCq$cp4s4bueJs1A$uNm_DfiWix8xHuCjw= #=qDL7qQ6cC6S8av$kNrPBqnA==)
   at MusicBee.MusicBeeApplication.#=qinUSYFDtWeBB5Ni485Msvg==(String[] #=qTtmS_SkHYt2y7hVU8sQCQQ==)

[phred]

It appears that you're missing a file from the v3 zip.
All the files from v3 zip you downloaded need to be unzipped into your current MB folder.  Then run MusicBee3.exe.

[Steven]

please catefully re-read the instructions on the first post of the v3 topic

[Harriers9]

Oops. Said I only had 5 minutes.

Done that and working. I'll try it all out tomorrow

[Harriers9]

I think I'm getting somewhere at last.

My soundcard gives me 2 settings for output. The default is (Speakers - ASUS Zonar U3 audio device) and the optional one is (Digital Output - ASUS Zonar U3 audio device).

I have set MB to the optional setting (digital) and it is now much clearer without any drop out while the default sounds muddy and drops out. The side effect to this is that the pc will not play two sound outputs at the same time and comes up with an error if another programme/app (like a game or Facebook) running in the background sounds an alert or sound effect.

With a bit more tweaking I might be able to sort that but at the end of the day I cannot see why the default settings for my soundcard do not work with MB any longer.

[Bee-liever]

I have set MB to the optional setting (digital) and it is now much clearer without any drop out while the default sounds muddy and drops out. The side effect to this is that the pc will not play two sound outputs at the same time and comes up with an error if another programme/app (like a game or Facebook) running in the background sounds an alert or sound effect.

MB is designed to have exclusive use of the sound output so you don't get system sounds ruining your listening pleasure.

In your Windows sound playback device settings under Properties> Advanced is your default sound format and exclusive mode settings.
You may need to turn off "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"