Windows 7 (or perhaps Vista) introduced compression of sound volume when multiple sources produce sound at the same time. While it might avoid clipping, the reduction in volume is noticeable, and since I put volume at 20~40-ish I would avoid clipping anyway if the sources are summed.
Is there anyway to disable this compression?
Is there anyway to disable this compression?
Do you literally mean compression (DRC), or just a static level reduction?
I did notice that output levels in Vista were 3 dB quieter in shared mode vs. exclusive mode, but haven't looked extensively at how Win7 behaves, let alone with multiple streams.
When Win7 was still fairly new, people used to complain that their sound output was very quiet or would fluctuate - turns out it was a misbehaving feature for communications use that automatically reduced output levels whenever mic input was detected. You obviously shouldn't have sound effects like "loudness equalization" on either (which does DRC).
A bit of level reduction when multiple streams are involved definitely is a good idea - your volume control may only affect levels after the DAC after all, which means clipping in the digital domain would still be a possibility.
I did notice that output levels in Vista were 3 dB quieter in shared mode vs. exclusive mode, but haven't looked extensively at how Win7 behaves, let alone with multiple streams.
When Win7 was still fairly new, people used to complain that their sound output was very quiet or would fluctuate - turns out it was a misbehaving feature for communications use that automatically reduced output levels whenever mic input was detected. You obviously shouldn't have sound effects like "loudness equalization" on either (which does DRC).
A bit of level reduction when multiple streams are involved definitely is a good idea - your volume control may only affect levels after the DAC after all, which means clipping in the digital domain would still be a possibility.
Media Centre, you can use it for replay of TV, streams and sound, is known for it's usually crappy sound... In one of it's settings you can select the type of sound reproduction in 3 steps. One of them is "normal" the last one "night" and one in between. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last one (high compression) is selected by default... select the "normal"setting (least compression)
One of many crappy Microsoft (-s h i t) features in their software
One of many crappy Microsoft (-s h i t) features in their software
Click on the speaker icon in the taskbar. Click on the button at the top of the volume slider that denotes the output device. On mine it says Speakers (name of sound card/driver). This brings up a properties interface. Go to enhancements tab and scroll down to and disable loudness equilization.
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