Preamplification gain does not work uniformly
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#353 Preamplification gain does not work uniformly
I use EqualizerAPO to increase volume beyond factory maximum on my laptop. So, I set the +20db gain. But does not work uniformly and applies some additional hidden filters.
For instance, if the volume of a Youtube channel for a few seconds belomes lower, the amplification level "intellectually" decides to increase, so when the volume comes back to normal, the amplification exeeds the device's maximum and the sound becomes fully corrupted.
Conversely, one loud sound makes the amplification to decrease for a few seconds after.
A keyboarcd sound click feedback utility makes Youtube sound too low so to make it not recognizable while typing.
This does not happen when the preamplification plugin is off. I would expect a constant boost instead.
It isn't Equalizer APO doing this. The issue is that Windows has its own APO (anticlipping sound effect). This kicks into gear when setting the pre amp in Equalizer APO too high or when the sound source is clipping too much. This Windows APO constantly tries to mitigate the peak value of the sound preventing distortion by clipping. This is a good thing as this distortion can get pretty bad. However, this Windows APO is pretty rudimentary. There are improved ways to do this. But I don't know how to disable this Windows APO. So despite of your need for a pre amp of +20 dB unfortunately this is way too high.
The bad thing, it cannot prevent distortion by hitting the ceiling/clipping. If in a video the volume for a few seconds becomes lower and then normalizes, then the later flow is totally incomprehensible because of hitting the physical max of the device.
Also, I noticed that there is absolutely no such effect if EqualizerAPO is off, even when the volume is high or fluctuates.
Of course it does. But it isn't the volume that fluctuates. It's the gain of the sound after having a high gain amplification, either by pre amp or by EQ-ing. If you lower this to a point that the gain only reaches 0 dB then everything is the same when not having Equalizer APO engaged. I explain this in this Peace YouTube tutorial. Btw. Peace is the most popular interface for Equalizer APO.
The AI says: "To disable the CAudioLimiter in Windows—which often causes volume drops during loud scenes—the most effective method is using Equalizer APO to bypass Windows audio processing. Alternatively, select "Disable all enhancements" in the Sound Control Panel or use Exclusive Mode in media players". But I do the both!
AI got a few things mixed up, I'm afraid.
Disabling the CAudioLimiter creates distortion by clipping hence its function of trying to mitigate this distortion. But it does this badly as AI tries to point out. But this effect of volume drops only becomes worse when having a high gain. For minor gain amplification it works quite nicely. Windows usually don't have to deal with high gain amplifications of 20 dB of higher.
It isn't only about bypassing CAudioLimiter with Equalizer APO (this is probably done by unchecking the 2 Use original APO checkboxes although I'm not sure of this as CAudioLimiter is a system APO). But the next suggestions by AI is wrong in the sense that both bypasses any APO like Equalizer APO. In other words, Equalizer APO can't be used when disabling enhancements or setting (WASAPI) exclusive mode for an audio device. Btw. This is done by the app (music player, streamer, etc.) so unchecking the exclusive mode checkboxes ensures that Equalizer APO remains working on that particular device.
Well, I just solved the issue by unchecking "Use original APO" at the EqualizerAPO's setup in troubleshooting section of the device.
Oh no, sorry. the issue is still there, I was wrong.
That's what I was afraid about.
Worse, I disabled CAudioLimiter, but it did not help:
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/dts-dch-driver-for-realtek-hda-dts-x-apo4-dts-interactive.279972/post-5009515
Do you think it gets enabled again? Btw. As CAudioLimiter is an APO it might automatically be installed on all output devices. Also, this APO should be removed completely (well at least unregistered) from the registry. And at any Windows update it may be registered/installed again.
This mod solves the issue: https://windhawk.net/mods/disable-audio-limiter
That's a neat trick 😃 Nice