<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">Hi Ian and Bob </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Thanks for doing this leg work on this.</div><div dir="ltr">I really appreciate your reporting on this.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Also, it all makes sense from an engineering perspective.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">All my best,</div><div dir="ltr">Bob L.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">On Mar 30, 2022, at 11:03 AM, Bob Katz <bobkatz@digido.com> wrote:</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<p>Yes, the setting is there, but not activated by default. I'm glad
you made me look!</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Of course the "85 dB" is ficticious.... maybe it's tied to the
sensitivity of Apple Ear buds. But it could be VERY far off for
any other earphone. <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Bob</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/30/22 10:32 AM, Ian Shepherd
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:E7ED7D26-5C8C-496B-9804-EB575CBE800D@mastering-media.co.uk">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div class="">I think the setting will be there but maybe not
active by default ?</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On 30 Mar 2022, at 15:17, Bob Katz <<a href="mailto:bobkatz@digido.com" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">bobkatz@digido.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=UTF-8" class="">
<div class="">
<p class="">To complicate matters, European (and UK I
think) phones are subject to the Cenelec legislation,
which is up for revision. So I'm not sure if this
applies to U.S. phones</p>
<p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<p class="">Bob</p>
<p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/30/22 6:31 AM, Ian
Shepherd wrote:<br class="">
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:722DA312-252C-4E76-938F-B4C2DA657DCF@mastering-media.co.uk" class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=UTF-8" class="">
<div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div class="">Hi All, </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I thought you might be interested to see
this.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Ian</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica,
sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Ian
Shepherd <<a href="mailto:ian@mastering-media.co.uk" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">ian@mastering-media.co.uk</a>><br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica,
sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">iPhone limiting issue solved ?
(Headphone safety)</b><br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica,
sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">30
March 2022 at 11:30:15 BST<br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica,
sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Buddy
Judge <<a href="mailto:buddy@apple.com" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">buddy@apple.com</a>><br class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<div class="">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break:
after-white-space;" class="">
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
Hi Buddy,
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I emailed you recently about
apparent limiting I was hearing &
measuring on my iPhone when Sound Check was
enabled, and I think I’ve got to the bottom of
it. Apologies if this is something you’re
already aware of, but it seems to be related
to a setting that I didn’t previously know
about:
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class="">Sounds
& Haptics > Headphone Safety >
Reduce Loud Sounds</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class="">In a
nutshell, disabling this makes Sound
Check behave as I would expect, ie. no
limiting when enabled. It was enabled by
default for me as a European user, and
set to “85 decibels”. It seems that when
this setting is enabled, the increase in
level due to Sound Check is sufficient
to trigger this safety limiting,
resulting in aggressive dynamics
attenuation. Specifically, the gain was
reduced by over 4 dB on the classical
piece I first noticed it with, which is
highly audible and unfortunate.</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class="">I
realise that this behaviour isn’t a bug,
it’s a feature. With Sound Check
enabled, the music is lifted far enough
to trigger the safety limiting. For
classical you could argue that this is
unavoidable, because of the wide dynamic
range, but as I mentioned I’ve also
heard and measured it when playing back
Atmos mixes with Sound Check enabled,
which is a much more mainstream
use-case, and seems a shame.</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; letter-spacing: normal;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space:
normal; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class="">
<div class="">Having said all that, the
main reason for this message is that
in my testing the safety limiting is
being triggered independently of the
volume control. I’m not in the habit
of listening super-loud on my phone,
and even when I turn the playback
volume way down, far below 85 dB even
at the loudest moments, I’m hearing
the aggressive volume reductions when
Reduce Loud Sounds is enabled. In
fact, I can hear it affecting the
level simply by changing the threshold
in settings, even with the volume only
a few steps up from the minimum.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">This seems unnecessary, if
its intentional. Shouldn’t the safety
limiting be dependent on the actual
playback level ? Otherwise it will
affect the music even when the volume
is low, and perhaps more importantly
won’t necessarily protect users’
hearing when they choose to turn up
the volume for loud music.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;" class="">Two Atmos mixes where the
safety limiting kicks in when Sound
Check is enabled are “Chandelier” by
Sia and “Roar” by Katy Perry. The
classical piece I’ve been using for
testing is here:</div>
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><a href="https://music.apple.com/gb/album/the-shepherds-carol/695609721?i=695610093" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">https://music.apple.com/gb/album/the-shepherds-carol/695609721?i=695610093</a></div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class="">The safety
limiting is clearly audible at 1:30 to
1:40</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class="">Again
apologies if this is all something
you’re already aware of!</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class="">Cheers,</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class="">Ian</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class="">***<br class="">
Ian Shepherd<br class="">
<a href="http://mastering-media.co.uk/" class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Mastering
Media Ltd</a> - Audio Mastering,
Blu-ray and DVD Excellence<br class="">
<a href="http://twitter.com/ianshepherd" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">http://twitter.com/ianshepherd</a></div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;
font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;" class=""><a href="http://twitter.com/ianshepherd" class="" moz-do-not-send="true"><br class="">
</a><span style="font-size: 11px;" class="">Mastering Media Ltd,</span><br style="font-size: 11px;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 11px;" class="">Kemp
House, 152 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX</span><br style="font-size: 11px;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 11px;" class="">Registered
in England and Wales </span><br style="font-size: 11px;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 11px;" class="">Company
No. 073500450</span><br style="font-size: 11px;" class="">
<br style="font-size: 11px;" class="">
<span style="font-size: 11px;" class="">Tel.
+44(0)1487 842498</span></div>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br class="">
<pre class=""><font class="3D""" face="3D"Courier"">
If you want good sound on your album, come to
Bob Katz 407-831-0233 DIGITAL DOMAIN MASTERING STUDIO
Author: <b class="">Mastering Audio</b>
<a href="https://www.digido.com/" class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Digital Domain Website</a>
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of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.</font>
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</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
</blockquote>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<pre><font class="3D""" face="3D"Courier"">
If you want good sound on your album, come to
Bob Katz 407-831-0233 DIGITAL DOMAIN MASTERING STUDIO
Author: <b>Mastering Audio</b>
<a href="https://www.digido.com/">Digital Domain Website</a>
No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However a large number
of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.</font>
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