bug Volume is inconsistant on Android 12

[Silverfrost]

Checkout the attatched archieve. It contains:

• a logcat captured when the bug happened
• a spectrogram/explanation video at the same time when the bug happened
• a music file used recreate the bug
• a note on what time (internet time) the bug happened

Timestamp & clock is shown in the video. Tell me if you need anything more. Also, please consider adding hi-res support for Android 12 like what we had in Android 9. 

Poweramp build number: build-941-bundle-play
Device model: Mi 12S Ultra
Android version: 12
Custom ROM name/version: MIUI 13.0.8.0(SLACNXM)
Steps to reproduce: Clean install of Poweramp, play a song (particularly with medium to large volume difference in different parts of the song) and listen for the volume changes that shouldn't be there.

941-issue.zip

[andrewilley]

Hi-res is supported on Android 12, but MIUI devices don't always seem to provide the necessary OS information. @maxmp might be able to comment further.

For volume, have you got the Limiter function enabled in the EQ screen? That can cause dips during playback if the source content, along with the EQ/ReplayGain/pre-amp values, get too high, which would otherwise cause clipping distortion. Enabling DVC also helps reduce that possibility.

Andre

[Silverfrost]

Andrew, I appreciate your help here!  

On 9/6/2022 at 10:29 PM, andrewilley said:

Hi-res is supported on Android 12

Yes but not completely. I got 192kHz output working but stuck at 16bit. On the previous Android versions (specifically Android 9) I could get 192kHz/24bit to work. 

On 9/6/2022 at 10:29 PM, andrewilley said:

For volume, have you got the Limiter function enabled in the EQ screen?

I have not turned on the Limiter. I also tried switching on "No Equ/Tone", "No DVC", "No Duck", "No Headroom Gain" and tried all 3 native outputs as well as switching off "Enable Direct Volume Control" on the dedicated DVC page, but am still getting the volume dips/increases. Also, I've got "Smooth Equalizer/Tone Gains" turned off even during normal usage. 

The volume dips/increases are not temporary (or are said to be less than 1 second). It persists for ~10-30 seconds before the next change. Each change has a soft stepping (either the effect from system or Poweramp itself) and the volume will be overall louder/weaker after the change. 

I have also tried to increase buffer size to large though I don't think that's the problem. Since if buffer is too small, the music will sound stuttering and hitching. However, for this case that is not what I heard before so it shouldn't be the culprit. 

Hence, I suspect it's something to do with Poweramp's volume control. I also tried other players, i.e. MiXplorer's built-in audio player and YouTube, but found no such issue. 

Attached images are some more info on the audio. 

  

Edited September 8, 2022 by Crericper
adjust image position for scrolling on desktop version

[MotleyG]

12 hours ago, Silverfrost said:

Attached images are some more info on the audio. 

Your EQ is showing a huge amount of boost (+12dB), especially in the very high energy band at 31Hz. This can be driving the DAC in your device into some kind of protection mode that takes time for it to come out of. To confirm this, move the preamp slider on the left down to -12dB, effectively making the EQ peaks at 31/1k/2k/4k etc. at or below the normal 0dB reference levels. Play some files that you know had issues in the past, do they still show the same behaviour? If not, you can decide how you want to set the preamp moving forward, somewhere between the -12dB low mark, and 0dB.

Of course this will reduce the overall output levels, but that is the nature of the beast - there is only so much power available for your DAC and amplifier.

[Silverfrost]

2 hours ago, MotleyG said:

do they still show the same behaviour?

Yes. I have already confirmed the issue still persists even after clearing & resetting Poweramp. The following quote was about switches I've tried during the factory reset. 

15 hours ago, Silverfrost said:

I also tried switching on "No Equ/Tone", "No DVC", "No Duck", "No Headroom Gain" and tried all 3 native outputs as well as switching off "Enable Direct Volume Control" on the dedicated DVC page, but am still getting the volume dips/increases.

Btw, I don't think +12dB will trigger any kind of protection since I only put at max 20% system volume on my device, while also having DVC turned on to prevent clipping. 

[MotleyG]

2 hours ago, Silverfrost said:

while also having DVC turned on to prevent clipping. 

DVC does not prevent clipping.

Did you try playing with preamp at -12dB to confirm?

[andrewilley]

47 minutes ago, MotleyG said:

DVC does not prevent clipping.

Did you try playing with preamp at -12dB to confirm?

DVC does help a bit with clipping, as the dynamic processing range is increased.

I would try with everything flat (all EQ and Tone turned off, ReplayGain turned off, etc).

Andre

[Silverfrost]

2 hours ago, andrewilley said:

I would try with everything flat (all EQ and Tone turned off, ReplayGain turned off, etc).

Yes. That's exactly what I did. 

@MotleyG Because that makes pa play the default sound which every other player makes, it shouldn't perform much different from the other players. (Though apparently it did.) 

I'll probably backup and try Flat -12dB tonight. Though I think all it does is probably making me harder to notice the volume dip/increases since this will drop the overall perceived volume by quite a bit. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Silverfrost
easier to read

[Silverfrost]

Here's an update: 

• This issue still persists within the latest version (build-943-bundle-play)
• -12dB didn't help fixing the issue

Is there anyone else experiencing the same issue? 

 

Another update:

Since the update of improved Hi-res support for MIUI (added AUX Out, in October), I switched to that and never experienced this issue again. 

I did try to switch back to AAudio for a minute and have not yet experienced this issue. But don't take my word for it because I literally only listened for a minute or two. 

 

More updates: 

I've listened ~5min with AAudio and found the volume still dips/increases after a minute or two. Seems like this issue is not yet fixed at least with AAudio. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Silverfrost
Update on the issue