Dynamic EQ & PLII "Music" / iTunes 9 reference volume readings

1) When listening to two-channel music decoded with Dolby ProLogic II "Music Mode" with Audyssey's Dynamic EQ engaged, will the surround level boost be accurate considering the music was not mixed in 5.1 to begin with? (assuming the 'reference-volume' setting was correct)

2) The newest version of iTunes has volume readouts embedded within the track's information page. The value is given as a negative (e.g. -3.2db) or, much less likely, a positive db reading. I was wondering if you guys would be able to verify the reference level iTunes was using and if it correlated to my receiver's calibrated reference level. If so, this would make setting the Dynamic EQ's reference level setting an accurate breeze.

Brad4rdhay -
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1 Comments

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    Audyssey Labs

    1) Since the original music is not mixed in surround we don't really know what they surround level "would have been". The upmixing method you use (Dolby PL II) makes some decisions about what levels to send to the surrounds. Dynamic EQ will make sure that these decisions by PLII are preserved as you lower the volume. This is necessary because our perception of loudness from the back falls off faster than it does in the front.

    2) I don't know what the level reading means in iTunes. It's most certainly not the mix level as they would have no way of knowing that. The music industry does not have a standard for mix levels like the film industry. This makes setting the reference level next to impossible. In our experience, setting the Dynamic EQ reference offset level to -10 dB works well for the majority of music content.

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