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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
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    New Zealand
    Search Comp PM
    Can Foobar adjust volume via Replay Gain like mp3's?
    Seems you can only scan and update tags, not apply the correction to the files.
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  2. The "apply replay gain to file content" options only work for MP3 and AAC audio, because for those formats each audio frame contains info regarding it's volume, so foobar2000 can adjust the info in each audio frame to change the file's over-all volume.

    You can apply replay gain while converting though, once you've scanned and tagged the files. Right click - convert - select the 3 dots at the bottom of the preset list to open the converter configuration, and click Processing. The ReplayGain configuration is at the top of the Processing window. Select flac under Output Format, convert, and it's a lossless process. Well... it's lossless source to lossless output, but the volume change probably disqualifies it as being truly lossless, given the process can't be reversed.
    Last edited by hello_hello; 7th Jan 2021 at 16:35.
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  3. Member
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    Jun 2012
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    New Zealand
    Search Comp PM
    Thanks very much. It was the batch feature that appealed. But it would mean the files are no longer "lossless" ? Maybe better to load them into say Abobe Audition, manually adjust and Save as flac. Or is that also negating the lossless status. I have seen a compression setting for flacs, suggesting something is lost with each resave ?
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  4. Member
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    Jul 2009
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    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Assuming the intermediary is lossless in both, using either foobar or Audition to change the volume and reencoding in flac is still lossless it is just not identical to the original.

    As to flac compression, higher compression means more processing is needed to decode / play back.
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  5. Member
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    Jun 2012
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    Thanks Zing that's handy to know.
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  6. As Zing explained, the compression setting for flac just effects the output file size, not the quality. In fact when the audio is encoded, there's a checksum calculation saved to the new file for Flac and WavePack (it's also lossless). If there's nothing touching the audio in the conversion chain (no DSPs or volume change etc) you can convert between flac and wavepack and flac and wave files and flac and flac all day long, and the checksum shouldn't change, even if you change the flac compression.

    If you happen to have the fb2k "Selection Properties" UI element included in the GUI somewhere, it can display the checksum.

    Image
    [Attachment 56679 - Click to enlarge]



    Anyway, I described the conversion from flac to flac while changing the volume as maybe not being "technically" lossless, because the audio won't be exactly the same due to the volume change, and the checksum will change too, but flac encodes the audio you send it losslessly, so I guess I was just being pedantic about how I described it.

    PS Are you aware there's a ReplayGain option in preferences under playback? If it's enabled and the files are scanned and tagged, fb2k will adjust the volume on playback. If you right click on a toolbar you'll see an option "ReplayGain mode". It adds a drop-down selection menu to the toolbar, for enabling/disabling ReplayGain adjustment during playback, or for changing the playback settings, rather than having to wander into fb2k's preferences to do it. Of course if you're also using another player/device that doesn't support ReplayGain tags, you have to physically change the volume of the files to make them the same.
    Last edited by hello_hello; 7th Jan 2021 at 23:17.
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