Man I can’t figure this out. Sound quality issues

[mparrott]

Hardware: Cayin N30LE, Focal Cear MG.

Settings: Type A amp, Low Gain, Hyper off, Power Mode P, Tibre on Tube Classic. Power amp settings are set to the defaults.

Media: 44.1 kHz 1421 kbps FLAC copy of Pet Sounds.

The sound is really off. What settings within Poweramp should I be looking for? Is there a settings guide for flagship DAPs?

[mparrott]

7 minutes ago, Fitzian said:

If it's the player (and not standalone EQ): What output method is active? Have you tried with DVC on/off?

Yes. DVC off is slightly better. Happy to explore more once I get in the correct area. Sorry again.

[Fitzian]

Any luck with other output methods?

The audio output menus at first can seam a little convoluted. You'll see a list of the output methods (opensl, audiotrack, hi-res, aaudio, and chromecast). Whichever method you select, you then see a list of all the output devices, with toggle switches and a settings gear next to each. Clicking the settings gear gets you to where you can set (or have Poweramp define) the output bit depth and sample rate.

 

At the moment, you don't have any forced resampling happening, which for 44.1 kHz content is a good sign. If you were stuck to using opensl output (which hopefully you won't have to be), from the screenshots alone I don't see any settings that would cause issue just yet.

[andrewilley]

Have you had any success with either turning DVC mode on, or choosing a different Output method - e.g. instead of using OpenSL ES, try AAudio, AudioTrack, or HiRes.

What exactly is the problem with the sound, beyond being "really off"? Is it possibly volume related rather than actually quality of audio?

Andre

[mparrott]

Andre and Fitzian, 

I’ve tried all of the output modes. They all work. I tried all of the various rates and bit modes. Auto is what I use with all my other DAPS. It will not play DSD files at their native quality. 384 and 32 is the most it will do. When using the default software, which I believe is a version of Hiby, the indicator light of the N30LE shines white, which indicates decoding above 768 kHz. The most I’ve been able to get out of Poweramp is the Violet indicator (384 kHz) playing those same DSD files.

I don’t think the lower sample rate is what I’m hearing though. Andre, you asked what I’m hearing. It sounds like distortion. The kick drums especially are VERY buzzy. Snares on occasion too. One of my test tracks is “Wouldn’t it Be Nice,” by The Beach Boys. That first drum hit plays extremely distorted only on Poweramp.

Thanks for the help. I sincerely hope to get this working because the Poweramp UI and skin I love so much, are far superior to the crap available for the Hiby app or Neutron.

[andrewilley]

First, Poweramp processes all audio in stereo PCM (32/64 bit). It does not pass any formats through natively, they need to be converted to PCM first. So no native DSD I'm afraid.

And as for above 768kHz? That would make a great app for annoying bats I guess, but I'm not sure how much mainstream traction such a feature would attract. As far as I know, 384kHz is the highest you'll get.

Andre

[mparrott]

Fair enough. I didn’t know if that was part of helping identify the issue, which is that it sounds bad. If it sounds great, I’m not too concerned about the numbers.

[Fitzian]

3 hours ago, mparrott said:

Fair enough. I didn’t know if that was part of helping identify the issue, which is that it sounds bad. If it sounds great, I’m not too concerned about the numbers.

I can understand it might be frustrating that a $1500 DAP and $1500 "sounds bad" you're kind of on an island where likely no one is going to have your setup 1:1 to troubleshoot.

We here just try to keep folks away from overzealously chasing numbers and stats. If you're not using any EQ/DSP, the precision/sampling rate shouldn't really factor in much anyways (384kHz vs 768kHz).

In contrast to UAPP and Neutron, Poweramp has a set output rate that everything must go up to before it reaches your device's DAC. If you have enabled SoX resampler in Poweramp, that process is going to be as transparent (or error free) as you can get. If your library is mostly 44.1kHz content and assorted DSD files, setting an output rate inline with those (44.1kHz, 88.2kHz, 176.4kHz, 352.8kHz) is appropriate. I DO NOT THINK SAMPLE RATE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR BAD SOUND ISSUE. THIS IS JUST "THE MORE YOU KNOW".

See the above feature voting request that would bring automatic sample rate switching to Poweramp.