[pulseaudio-discuss] Mixing streams

[Tanu Kaskinen]

On Thu, Nov 15, 2007 at 02:56:47PM +0100, Lennart Poettering wrote:
> I think normalizing a mixed stream is perfectly ligitimate. Don't
> forget that normalization through DRC would only take effect when
> otherwise we'd clip. So the option you have is not DRC vs non-DRC. But
> it is clipping vs. DRC. And in this case DRC is certainly the smaller
> evil.

I wasn't considering DRC in my answer, and I'm not strictly
against it. I hope that it will be optional, though (and
judging from other features, I believe it would be optional
even if no-one didn't specifically ask for it).

Personally, if the sound is clipping, I'd like to know it's
clipping instead of the sound system pretending everything's
ok, and then increase the headroom (lower the stream
volumes, that is). I believe I'm in the minority with this
wish.

> Uh. That way you practically decrease the bit depth of your audio
> output to 15 bit. (Unless you happen to have a 24 bit soundcard) Not
> a very good idea for most people.

I haven't compared 15 bit signal to 16 bit. I have a
24-bit-only sound card and don't feel like setting up any
elaborate listening tests, so I'll take your word that
there's a perceivable difference.

-- 
Tanu Kaskinen
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