How well does the mono feature work?

[russosborne]

I asked for ideas on converting stereo to mono and this app is one of the replies I got.

I've read the advertising stuff, and didn't get a good feel for the mono feature. And searching for mono here on the forum didn't give much more info, but sometimes I don't get great search results.

I can only listen with one ear at work. I bought an earbud that says it converts stereo to mono, but it doesn't work on all songs. And that is the case whether I am listening to my phone with Google Play  or a standalone Mp3 player.

So I am looking for other options. Having songs play that are missing the bass line or vocals  or whatever really doesn't work for me.

Thanks,

Russ

[andrewilley]

A mono feature will simply merge both channels into one. This works fine for proper stereo encoding, but if any content has been recorded with a phase inversion (the same way the old Dolby Surround encoding used to work, where the rear channels are recorded 180-degrees out of phase) then the inverted parts of the signal will cancel each other out. This will apply to either software or hardware solutions.

Andre

[russosborne]

 I was thinking it must be the way they were recorded, but didn't know why.

I'm thinking that must be what is going on as some songs are great and others missing so much. I guess I have to spend some time weeding out my playlist at some point.

Thanks!

Russ

[andrewilley]

You can test this out in an audio editor. Get a mono piece of music (or one channel of a stereo track) and mirror it so the exact same audio is on the left and right channels of a stereo mix. Then invert (180 degree phase shift) just the left channel. It will still play fine in stereo, and even sound a bit 'spacey', but as soon as you re-combine the two channels to mono playback they will cancel each other out as you'll be left with complete silence.

Andre