It sounds like I should at minimum give RJlov's patch a try

For what it's worth, here are my experiences with rjlov's Voladj kernal.

It did just what it was supposed to do -- make the quiet parts louder and the loud parts quieter. If this is your only goal, you will probably be happy. However (you knew there was a however coming, didn't you?) the price I had to pay for that on-the-fly normalization was more than I was willing to pay.

On very quiet passages, the three-second ramp-up of volume was disconcerting, and if it was an older recording, along with the increase in volume came an increase in floor noise, i.e., "tape hiss" or equivalent.

I bought the 1812 Overture CD discussed here and to my surprise voladj completely neutered the cannon fire, as it did to the mirror-shaking bass hits in Crystal Method's "Busy Child" on the Vegas album.

While Voladj did bring up detail in bass and mid-bass that I hadn't heard before, it also "smoothed" over the dynamics of mid-bass and treble to such an extant that clarity and brightness were greatly compromised, and "punchiness" of attacks was made much more mellow.

I couldn't live with the loss of dynamic range. I listen mostly (95%) to classical music, and doggone it, some passages are just supposed to be softer than others! Ravel's Bolero becomes elevator music when the whole piece is played at the same dynamic level.

Please don't think I am impugning Richard's work with his Voladj kernal. It is a tremendous accomplishment. But if, like me, you value the sound of a piece of music as much as (or more than) the music itself (how else would you explain my having Crystal Method and Tchaikovsky in the same playlist? ) then chances are that Voladj or any other compression scheme will not be to your complete satisfaction.

But, do try it and see if you like it. Far be it from me to tell you what your music should sound like. Except... that's kind of what I've been doing for the last five paragraphs or so, isn't it?

tanstaafl.



"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"