[GeoRanger]

Hi,

I had a Dell M65 laptop with Windows XP. This was attached to a docking station and I would use Windows Media Player to listen to MP3s over headphones attached through the docking station. The docking station and the laptop have been upgraded to a newer Dell model with Windows 7. I transferred those MP3s and am using the new WMP on Windows 7, but am stilling using the same headphones. The problem is, the MP3s now have a subtle tinny sound, as if the bands are inside a tin can. Also, and even more noticeable, the volume level on some of the songs fades when the songs get louder, then returns back to normal during quieter parts of the song. (This volume fading is within a single song, not from one song to another.)

These two effects have greatly reduced the enjoyment level of this music. Does anybody know what could be causing it? I've looked all through the WMP settings and options and can't find anything which seems to be causing it. There's a setting to make WMP automatically adjust the volume from one song to another, but that is turned off.

What can I do to fix this? Is there something wrong with the codec?

Thanks for ideas :-)

[GeoRanger]

Bumping...

The new computer is a Dell Precision M4400 (in case it matters-- sound card?) Does anybody have any ideas of what I should try or what the problem could be? I know very little about media players and sound files. Any suggestions would be appreciated. :-)

[stantley]

Go to Start > Run and type in devmgmt.msc and see if you have any yellow icons under Sound in there. If you do you'll need to install the drivers for your sound card.

If everything's OK with the audio drivers try installing the Win7 codecs from here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Win7codecs_d5959.html

[GeoRanger]

Thank you for your response and your suggestions. I really appreciate your taking the time to try to help me. :-)

I tried devmgmt.msc but it did not show any yellow icons under the sound settings. Next I tried the Win7 codecs via the supplied link but that didn't help either. In the Shark007 setup application that came with the codecs, under the SWAP tab, I tried changing from the Microsoft codec to the FFD codec, but that didn't make any difference either. (I didn't try rebooting after selecting FFD. Do I need to reboot?)

I took one of the worst MP3s, put it on a memory stick, and tried it on a Vista computer. There it sounded like the work of art I expect. The problem is more noticeable on some MP3s than on others.

With that particular song, the problem (on the Windows 7 box) reminds of how casette tapes would sound when they started wearing out. (Am I dating myself?) That is, the sound is as if the tape is dragging, slowing down slightly, and getting quieter while the motor bogs down through stiff spots. Some of the songs which don't have that problem still have a subtle but substantially unenjoyable tin-can-ish sound.

Is there a way I can copy the codec used on my Vista machine to my Windows 7 machine to see if it makes a difference? Where would I find the file on the Vista machine and where would I copy it to on Windows 7? Are codecs DLLs (and so would I need to run a regsvr command to install it?) Both machines are 64-bit in case that alleviates any compatibility issues.

Does anyone have more ideas I can try?

Thanks for your interest. :-)

[stantley]

Originally Posted by GeoRanger

Both machines are 64-bit in case that alleviates any compatibility issues.

I didn't realize you had the 64 bit version. See if this codec pack helps: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5535

[thebigguyconnor]

Perhaps one somehow when you upgraded the equalizer got enabled? Check the effects section and try turning the equalizer off if you could, or perhaps the SRS effects are on.

I know that I've occasionally left my equalizer on and forgotten why my songs sounded so boomy or trebly.

[GeoRanger]

Thank you both for your replies. I've been gone over the weekend and am just getting back into this.

Stantley, based on something I saw last week (which I'll describe below) I think Thebigguyconnor might be onto something. Please allow me first to describe what I've observed both last week and today and then I'll still try the codec download if you think that may be a fruitful direction to go. :-)

Last week I happened to notice that the volume control you get when you click on the the speaker in the taskbar was behaving in a way I would not expect. Specifically, it had/has the sliding volume bar, but then it has not one but two bars which jump up and down as music is played. One is green and the other is gray. The gray bar is alway's higher than the green bar. Furthermore, the gray bar jumps up the implied scale far beyond the setting of the volume slider. On the particularly troublesome song I am using for testing, the fading of the music seems correlated to the topping-out of the gray bar (though I can't be sure because it happens so fast).

So, today I read Thebigguyconnor's post and things got even more interesting. The graphic equalizer is completely buried on Windows 7. I was able to find it only with the aid of the instructions here <http://www.windows7mods.com/2009/01/19/enable-equalizer-in-windows-media-player-12/>. Once I did get to it, the settings were all set to the very middle of their sliders, except for the volume which was slightly below the middle. Here's where it get's weird; after the mere act of looking at the equalizer (but without changing anything on it) the sound on the troublesome song got better (though I don't think its completely repaired yet). I assume this must mean the mere act of looking at the equalizer turned it on? I didn't see anywhere in the watered-down "skin" interface to turn it back off. The sound stayed in that partially-better state even after I reverted back to the normal looking WMP.

After that, now when I play the troublesome song, the gray and green bars behave differently in the volume control. Where before the gray bar would readily jump to the upper end of the scale, it seems more closely tied to both the slider and the green bar. More specifically, it is almost (though significantly not quite) as if the volume slider is describing a logarithmic curve on which the gray bar travels but a lineation on which the green bar travels. That is, if you turn the control down, the gray bar will jump around between the top of the scale and the top of the green bar (still in significant excess of the slider position, however). When you move the slider up, however, the gray bar begins acting as thought it is pinched between the top of the scale and the top of the green bar, thereby jumping around much less.

Finally, on the troublesome song, both the green bar and the gray bar rise up in excess of the slider position. Interestingly, however, on a completely different song, they behave themselves much better and for the most part stay underneath the slider. That song doesn't have the problems with the fading volume and the tin-can sound.

This is both mysterious and frustrating. What's the point behind a volume control that doesn't really control the volume? On XP, this simply just worked.

1. Does anybody know what the difference is between the gray bar and the green bar?
2. Why do both bars often exceed the setting of the volume control?
3. Would the codec pack recommended by Stantley possibly change the volume control to a new one which will work, or possibly let the existing control work better?
4. With the "troublesome song", If I turn the volume down enough so the gray bar stops topping out on the scale, the softer and quieter parts of the song are too quiet to hear well unless I turn the volume (in this case meaning the actual physical knob) on the speakers up. I have no idea why it is like this. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?
5. Is there some group of controls, either in WMP or in Windows 7, which might be messed up and of which I am thus far unaware?

Thank you Stantley, Thebigguyconnor, and anyone else for your help so far and for your time. :-)

[stantley]

It sounds more like a software problem than a codec problem, but I would still install the 64 bit codecs to replace the 32 bit ones.

Just as a test I would try a different media player instead of WMP and see if you get the same thing. If you don't have a different media player try AIMP2.

[GeoRanger]

Thank you for your interest in my issue. I apologize for taking so long to get back to you.

I've now installed the 64 bit codecs and AIMP2 and tried the troublesome song and another song. The codecs did not seem to make any difference one way or the other, however AIMP2 has the same problem as WMP. Interestingly, with AIMP2 the problem even seems worse.

With AIMP2, when I play the "troublesome song", the sound is very bad. When I look at the volume control on the Taskbar the green and gray bars behave differently. When I first start the song, the green bar oscillates just below the slider for about the first two seconds of the song. Then it goes to the slider position and stays there steadily, neither going below or above the slider, for as long as I can stand it, which is about twenty seconds. I didn't pay as much attention to the gray bar but I think it continues to oscillate near the top of the entire scale or stay at the top.

The other song I tried sounded fine and the green bar did not peg itself at the slider position on the control.

Just for comparison again, I tried the "troublesome" song on the Windows Vista machine I mentioned earlier, because it too has the volume control with the green and gray bars. I payed more attention to it this time and noticed it behaves quite differently. The green bar stays well below the slider position, never going above it. The gray bar does go above the slider, but never gets close to the top of the scale. Even more strangely, when you turn up the volume with the slider, the gray bar doesn't change very much. It only increases a little bit overall, and the green bar seems to increase and cover it up such that when the slider is high enough, you never see the gray bar at all. However throughout this the song sounds like a work of art and the green bar never goes above the slider.

1. Does the fact that two different media players both have problems help narrow down the source of the problem? I know very little about how media content and players work but it seems like something is going haywire downstream from the players and upstream from or at the Taskbar's volume control.

2. Does anybody know what the gray bar on the volume control is supposed to be? Is it just a red herring?

3. Why would the one song be so much trouble in comparison to others? If it makes any difference, the "troublesome song" is hard rock/alternative (so louder voices and percussion) and the songs that behave a little better are soft rock. However even many of the soft rock songs have that "tin can" sound I have grown to detest, and other hard rock songs don't seem to have the problems as severely or at all.

Thanks for your patience. :-)

[stantley]

Well, the next thing to try is reinstall the audio drivers. Go here and download the audio drivers: http://support.dell.com/support/down...nConsent=False

You can also enter your service tag number to get the drivers you need.

[GeoRanger]

Thanks for the ongoing work.

I've installed the audio drivers, but alas, they didn't make any difference.

Here is a little more I noticed: There's a volume control on WMP itself to which I don't think I've previously payed attention. It is set to half. If I turn it down to around 10%, the problem on this one song does get much better. The green bar doesn't top out as much at the slider on the volume control in the Taskbar. If I turn the volume on WMP up all the way, the green bar stays topped out at the position of the slider on the Taskbar volume control, and of course the sound is terrible. The WMP volume control appears in the "Mixer" option on the Taskbar's volume control. When you look at it, it too has a green bar which stays topped out around its slider.

With that in mind, I looked at AIMP2. It also has a volume control, but it was already set to 100% -- thus the noticeably worse sound from it. If I turn it down to 50% it is comparable to WMP.

Then, for comparison, I tried this again on the Windows Vista machine. There, the volume control on WMP is also set to 50%. However, the way it interacts with the Taskbar volume control is much more sensible. The WMP control clearly behaves as a percentage of the Taskbar volume control. So the green bar on the Taskbar control doesn't top out on the slider until the WMP control is set to 100%. This is much more intuitive than what I'm seeing on the Windows 7 machine where, apparently, the Taskbar control is conflicting with the WMP and AIMP2 controls. It's as if the Taskbar control is an interfering limit with what the WMP control is trying to do. On the Vista machine, the WMP control seen in the "Mixer" doesn't show a green bar at all.

Does this information help? I appreciate your time and your attempts to assist me. :-)

I won't be able to post responses to any new suggestions on this issue until after September 27th, but am still interested in solving it.

Thank you for your time.

[GeoRanger]

Bumping...

Thanks for all the help so far on this issue. Does anyone know what could be causing this or where I need to look next?

Thanks :-)