How can I volume match easily?

[nhatlam96]

I posted my volume match experience here, some interesting points have been made.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Well you mostly have response based on faith, or appealing to someone else as an authority, or false equivalencies. Then those comments saying your method would have been not good enough if you had used some other phones. Well duh? You didn't use those other phones and it is fine for the phones you did use. Then the comments you amps were for pro use and not music enjoyment. Well if an amp is transparent and true to source anything else is colored. There is no magic component that can add something not there without also sometimes covering up what is there. People's faith in expensive gear to accomplish magic is quite deep.

You kept your claim to the need for volume matching and everyone keeps wanting to criticize it putting words into your mouth that you did not claim. Sometimes you can do much. Mainly such people will fall back on trust your ears listening. But they aren't willing to trust their ears in blind testing. They can't trust their ears unless they also use their eyes. If such people won't really use their ears in honest unbiased listening nothing much you can do for them.

 

[nhatlam96]

I would like to experiment with flac vs mp3.
Does this work?
1. convert flac to mp3 v0
2. volume match the files
3. compare the files via foobar abx

 

[nhatlam96]

I also would like to compare two audio setups.
Setup1: PC USB -> SMSL M500
Setup2: PC USB -> SMSL SU-9 + SP200
How can I output to two devices at the same time?

 

[somebodyelse]

I would like to experiment with flac vs mp3.
Does this work?
1. convert flac to mp3 v0
2. volume match the files
3. compare the files via foobar abx

I'll not suggest specific software as I assume you're using Windows. While many of the things I use in linux can be made to work in Windows, it's not always easy, and there are often good alternatives.

The general steps are good, though I have reservations about some of the methods linked.
1. flac to mp3 - I'd use a local application like lame rather than an online conversion service. This is for control and repeatability - record the version of the app and the settings you used and you have something repeatable, whereas an online conversion service could change encoder, settings etc. at any time.
2. volume matching - it's a good idea to check, but I don't think The Levelator is the right tool for the job as it's messing with things within the files rather than applying a fixed gain to the file - this would require a decode then re-encode, which would be unfair to a lossy codec like mp3. My initial reaction was that it was unnecessary anyway - none of the encoders I'd looked at in the past changed the level - but that was some time back and things may have changed. I'm not familiar with foobar, specifically how it treats ReplayGain if present, so I would want to test levels at the output to be sure. Some experiment may be required with the tools you have at hand.
EDIT: foobar replaygain support can probably do the level matching for you.
3. foobar abx - no reservations here.

 

[m_g_s_g]

I also would like to compare two audio setups.
Setup1: PC USB -> SMSL M500
Setup2: PC USB -> SMSL SU-9 + SP200
How can I output to two devices at the same time?

If you’re using Windows, you can use VoiceMeeter Banana to output to up to three hardware devices. It‘s not easy to configure, but you can find many tutorials online (like this one, doing a quick search).

 

[nhatlam96]

Comparison between SU-9 + SP200 and M500
1. voltage match them.
2. use VoiceMeeter to output to two devices at the same time and adjust the delay to synchronize.
result: no audible differences between SU-9 + SP200 and M500.

VoiceMeeter settings

battlefield:

 

[escape2]

Use a sine wave of ~3kHz to level match the amp outputs using the multimeter on AC voltage.

Is there a reason you suggest using 3kHz as opposed to using pink noise?

 

[Doodski]

Is there a reason you suggest using 3kHz as opposed to using pink noise?

Well... this might sound awkward although I suggest using 400 or 440 Hz instead. The multimeters have frequency response and the bandwidth might not be able to sense 3KHz. I suggest a sine wave because it is a AC waveform and that is what the multimeter is designed to measure on AC volts.