I have a Clip 2G and i have noticed that the volume loudness changes erratically. For example with the Volume at arbitrary level and the EQ on any setting I select Music>Artists>“Artist A”>Song “A” and the loudness is typical. Now if i select Music>Playlists>“Playlist A” of which Song “A” is a part of and select Song “A” within the playlist the playback volume has dropped in half (audibly, as the slider position is unchanged). Now if i select Settings>Equalizer and scroll up or down from the current EQ setting the volume “jumps” up to the normal level. If I return the EQ setting to what it was originally the volume is still noticeably louder verifying that the various EQ gains are not what I am noticing. Aside from this Ive had no issues.
The volume inconsistency is not caused by the Clip but the music itself. Nowadays, when music is mastered to a CD, the sound engineer will either pump up the loudness or tone it down, depending on his/her taste. Depending on the music, the EQ can alter the loudness of your songs or diminish it. Have you tried playing your music with no EQ enabled?
Yes Im aware of that. But i doubt the song is able to differentiate if it is selected by artist or song tiitle and adjust the playback level accordingly. What im describing is a significant shift in loudness. If I played a continuous tone say 5K Hz and selected the song from a different listing as described above. The sound shift is apparent. With no eq (eq on normal) if I select a different eq setting say jazz the volume jumps back up. Now if scroll back and select normal eq again the loundess hasnt changed ( ie it is up from the initial state but unchanged from the second state) of course the gain for the specific freq. are modified as expected from the different eq settings.
