On 2012-10-15 22:48, Thomas Martitz wrote:

>> In a probably futile attempt to get anyone to reply, if nobody does by next
>> weekend I'll turn on prevent clipping by default :)
>
>
> I don't think we should turn it on by default.
>
> a) It imposes quite a CPU load on affected files, since it requires more DSP
> processing (in contrast to just replay gain).

Clipping prevention is free if ReplayGain is on. If ReplayGain isn't on, then
the cost is same as turning on ReplayGain.

By the way, ReplayGain, clipping prevention and the equalizer pre-cut all adjust
the volume, but the cost is only paid once (scaling of the audio samples), even
if more than one feature is enabled.

> b) Also, I think it may alter the sound (even if it only affects volume) too
> much in certain cases. Especially on albums the songs may become unequally load
> (because the clipping protection turns down some songs more than others).

It only affects volume, but whether it is too much or not is subjective.

> I can see clipping protection be a useful feature for many people. But it's not
> without drawbacks and for me it's more of an anti-feature, so I vote against this.

One drawback I see is that the clipping prevention setting is independent from
the ReplayGain setting. This means that users who have turned off ReplayGain
would now have the clipping prevention part turned on (for files that have the
peak information). They'd need to go back and adjust the settings again,
assuming they're aware of the change in the first place.

-- 
   Magnus