Arbitrary limiting and tone changes

[Animos]

My Poweramp is applying limiting to my tracks. The tone changes throughout the track and the music often sounds like it's going through a choke point.

I've reset the output to default and there's no change.

I'm using skull candy wireless headphones which are fine as I've tried another pair of wired headphones which had the same issues.

 

I'm using Poweramp 3 build 826 on a Samsung J6

[Animos]

Also, I've just uninstalled power amp and reinstalled it again and this hasn't fixed it.

The limiting isn't happening because something loud has sounded, like the music ducking a voiceover. It is random and unpredictable.

[blaubär]

That's probably the limiter. See

 

[Animos]

It's not the limiter as it's turned off.. I'm a music producer and I know what limiters do and fail to understand why a music player would even have one, or why it's set to default. 

I checked to make sure it's not connected to the phones system sound by using another app, which is a simple file browser with a built-in audio player, and it plays the music perfectly, so the issue is directly connected to power amp. 

[blaubär]

2 hours ago, Animos said:

It's not the limiter as it's turned off.. I'm a music producer and I know what limiters do and fail to understand why a music player would even have one, or why it's set to default. 

A music player would have a limiter to limit the volume in case it exceeds certain thresholds.

Call it dynamics compression from above if you like. It's set to default so that users don't blow their equipment or their ears.

Well, as a music producer you'll probably know what data is needed for further analysis.

[Animos]

Most professionally recorded music has already been peak limited, so limiting it again only introduces distortion and clipping.

With my issue there is no distortion. The first second of a track plays normally, and then is very abruptly turned down, in the complete absence of any peaks. 

There is absolutely no need for a limiter, except in the actual music making process. 

I don't want a music player that's trying to be a studio. I already have a studio. I simply want a music player that isn't gonna try and nanny me.

I won't be using power amp anymore. 

[blaubär]

1 hour ago, Animos said:

Most professionally recorded music has already been peak limited, so limiting it again only introduces distortion and clipping.

No, it prevents distortion and clipping . You might search in this forum to find out how Poweramp's limiter works. That is, if you're interested.

 

[maxmp]

If you can hear limiting (usually “around” loud bass / base drum) that means no headroom exists in the signal. Poweramp has DVC mode (Settings / Audio / Direct Volume Control in builds 829+, Settings / Audio / Advanced Tweaks in older builds) which greatly helps with headroom (on moderate volume levels), alternatively you can reduce preamp or reduce offending bass tone/equalizer band(s).

(Usually recording itself already “occupies” all the dynamic range available, meaning you can’t amplify signal for equalizer or tone controls too much, as maximum possible value is easily reached and you hear distortion. Limiter makes this distortion softer, but that’s still a distortion. To be able to use tone/equalizer/other DSP freely, you need a “headroom” - an available “empty” room in the signal to amplify to. This is traditionally implemented as negative preamp gain or by things like DVC which is closer to how hardware audio equipment does it.)