Does sound check on the iPhone have album mode

Question

I know that iTunes sound check on the Mac has album mode, but does sound check on the iPhone have album mode as well?

Answer 1

Answer

Yes, I am pleased to tell you that Sound Check respects both the track gain as well as the album gain (album mode).

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How to use it

Go to Settings > Music > Playback and enable Sound Check.

Please be aware that Sound Check's Album Gain it only works if you

• play an album directly
  • (Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Play)
• play an album directly
  • (Library > Artist > 'Album Title')
• play all albums by an artist
  • (Library > Artist > Play)
• play all albums by an artist shuffled
  • (Library > Artist > Shuffle)

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This enables Sound Check's Track Gain:

• the song appears in a playlist
  • even if you exclusively add all tracks of an album a play it in the correct order
• you play a single song using (Spotlight) Search

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Validation

To understand the algorithm in iOS' Music.app I have tested it with an iPhone 6s running iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 11 beta 5 and two albums from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS):

• Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (I) (1969)

SC = Sound Check

Examples:

Led Zeppelin's song Communication Breakdown (track 7)

• Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Play SC on: Volume is higher
• Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is higher

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• Library > Playlist> 'SC test LZ' > Play SC on: Volume is lower
• Library > Playlist> 'SC test LZ' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is lower
• Library > Playlist> 'Sound Check test' > Play SC on: Volume is lower
• Library > Playlist> 'Sound Check test' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is lower

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Pink Floyd's song Money (track 5)

• Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Play SC on: Volume is higher
• Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is higher

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• Library > Playlist> 'SC test LZ' > Play SC on: Volume is lower
• Library > Playlist> 'SC test LZ' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is lower
• Library > Playlist> 'Sound Check test' > Play SC on: Volume is lower
• Library > Playlist> 'Sound Check test' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is lower

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Pink Floyd's song Brain Damage (track 8)

• Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Play SC on: Volume is higher
• Library > Artist > 'Album Title' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is higher

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• Library > Playlist> 'SC test LZ' > Play SC on: Volume is higher
• Library > Playlist> 'SC test LZ' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is higher
• Library > Playlist> 'Sound Check test' > Play SC on: Volume is higher
• Library > Playlist> 'Sound Check test' > Shuffle SC on: Volume is higher

Note:

• The playlist called 'SC test LZ' only contains Led Zeppelin's 1969 album.
• The playlist called 'SC test PF' only contains Pink Floyd's 1973 album.
• The playlist called 'Sound Check test' contains Led Zeppelin's and Pink Floyd's album.

Additional resources:

• iTunes' behavior with Sound Check turned on explained by Bob Katz (Hydrogenaudio forums)
• Apple's documentation for 'Mastered for iTunes' (2012) (PDF)