{"id":7468,"date":"2011-08-24T19:50:28","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T17:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/?p=7468"},"modified":"2020-06-05T10:23:57","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T08:23:57","slug":"optimizing-winamp-5-for-windows-xp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/audiophile-insights\/digital-insights\/optimizing-winamp-5-for-windows-xp\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimizing Winamp 5 for Windows XP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winamp 5 has a few settings you should know about that have a large influence on the sound<\/h2>\n

Winamp 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some, winamp 2 may be preferred for its simplicity and tighter, more dynamic sound, but overall I find that Winamp 5 sounds more organic, more fluid, more subtle and more colorful. Winamp 2 may sound more articulate and precise, but like Foobar, in an already accurate system it may prove too much and overall Winamp 5’s smoother presentation may be preferable.<\/p>\n

Winamp 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn’t like Winamp 5 much at first instance. The app has dynamic compression built-in which should only engage in case of potential overdrive, but it seems that there is always some minor rounding off of peaks. Shame, because otherwise, it’s a pretty impressive app, with a smoother sound than Winamp 2.<\/p>\n

However, this observation above was done with standard settings. After some more digging, I managed to find some settings that make a profound difference for the sound quality. If you set them as I will explain below, Winamp 5 will sound a lot livelier than it does using default settings. Winamp 2 will still sound livelier but is also quite a bit drier, less “colorful” sounding.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Plugins – output – select your soundcard or device directly, don’t use windows soundmapper, disable volume control.<\/li>\n
  2. Plugins – input – nullsoft module decoder – enable FIR interpolation (HQ) instead of Interpolation<\/li>\n
  3. General prefs – Playback – disable 24bit playback<\/li>\n
  4. General prefs – Playback – disable dither<\/li>\n
  5. General prefs – Playback – eq tab – disable limiter<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    With the above settings, you’ll rid Winamp 5 of its “compressed” quality, and the feeling that the music was playing with the handbrake on will be almost gone. Everything will sound much faster and more dynamic while maintaining a smoother character.<\/p>\n

    Winamp 5 (version 5.58) is currently my app of choice.<\/p>\n

    Read Also<\/h3>\n

    Kernel Streaming for Winamp 5<\/a><\/p>\n

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